Day 07 - Jerusalem : Hezekiah's Tunnel, Western Wall, Davidson Center, Southern Steps, Model of Jerusalem, Yad Vashem

From witnessing (and participating!) a Bar Mitzvah processional at the Western Wall, to eating lunch with a Palestinian family in Bethlehem, today we were fully immersed in the vibrancy of Jerusalem! In the morning we stood high within the City of David, overlooking the Kidron Valley and learned of Mount Moriah’s importance to the Jewish people. As Ronen says, when you hear a name in Hebrew, the first thing you do is ask, “What does it mean?” The Hebrew language is one of few words, so each word is dense with meaning. For instance, “Shema” means “to hear,” “to understand,” and “to obey.” In the same way, Mount Moriah’s name has several meanings.

For King David, Mount Moriah was “the place where the Lord points the way.” A place of triumph and victory where a kingdom had been united, and enemies vanquished as God went before him. David selected Mount Moriah as the location for the future temple (2 Chronicles 3:1) in order to tie his reign to the covenant God made with Abraham because it was in this place that he tied his son Isaac to an altar.

For Abraham and Isaac, Mount Moriah was “the fear of the Lord” a place of grief and tearful obedience (Genesis 22). It then became “the awe of the Lord” as Isaac was redeemed by God’s provision of a ram. The Lord said to Abraham “All the nations of the earth will be blessed because of your descendants, because you obeyed me.”

Once the temple was established on Mount Moriah, it became a “teaching-place.” A place where the Sanhedrin met to discuss the Law and rabbis taught their disciples on the Southern Steps. We, too, were taught while sitting on the Southern Steps, continuing the tradition in our small way. 

All these definitions come from a single word: teaching, fear, awe, the Lord’s direction. A multilayered word for a multilayered place much like Jerusalem itself. A city filled with deep meaning for so many, but no two people can agree on what that meaning is. Differing sects of Christianity, Judaism and Islam fight each other and amongst each other, only agreeing that this is “a place where the Lord points the way” but all believing He points in different directions! 

We are here during a unique time when Passover, Easter, and Ramadan are all converging on one weekend. The air is thick with tension and anticipation; trepidation and joy; fear and awe. Through it all, the promise of God to Abraham still stands, “Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22:17-18) All nations, in all their diversity, are blessed by Jerusalem.

This is a place where a loving father willingly gave his son and a son willingly followed; where God provided a lamb to redeem, where his presence rested on the earth so that we might have relationship with him; where the Law and God’s love were taught. All these things happened on Mount Moriah for God’s people. All these things happened in Jerusalem through Jesus Christ.