Day 11: City of David & Bethlehem
Today was ALL walking, no bus. We took a few interesting detours along the way where David pointed out the tomb where King David “wasn’t” buried in. The men and women had to enter into separate sides to view the tomb with a partition in between. (Seen in pictures). We also stopped at a place representing the Upper Room where Jesus ate the Passover meal with His disciples. As we tour Jerusalem, there are several “traditional” sites that can’t be proven but are in the general vicinity. Whenever a discovery is made, a church will try to build on that site to represent it.
Next we stopped to see Oskar Schindler’s Grave. It is a Jewish custom to put a stone on a grave marker when you visit. Before we descended the steps to view it, David asked if we could pick out which grave might be his. It was covered in stones. His burial place can be seen in the final scene of the movie, “Schindler’s List”. He is known as the “Redeemer of 1,200 Jews”. In an adjacent cemetery, Horatio Spafford is buried. He is the author of “It Is Well With My Soul”. Being reminded of the story of the loss of his family in such tragic circumstances makes the song all the more impactful. Just beyond Schindler’s Grave, you could see the Potter’s Field, where poor people are buried.
As we walked outside the Zion Gate, Brent spotted a sign indicating an archaeological site of the University of NC at Charlotte is working. Drew’s tuition payments at work. LOL
When we got to the City of David National Park, we watched a 3-D movie of the story of how King David and his men, led by Joab, captured Jebus, home of the Jebusites. (Now Jerusalem) We got to view an ongoing archaeological site that they are fairly certain was the location where David built his palace. They have found 3 seals in that area from the assistant to Solomon (David’s son) on that slope. (Note: That isn't the only evidence.)
A few interesting side notes. It is illegal for Arabs to sell land to Jews. They can be executed for doing so. When Israel purchased areas, they went through a lawyer but all was handled secretly when purchasing land from Arab families. Once the deal is made, the family will pack up a few suitcases and pretend they are going on a vacation to Cyprus. They end up in the U.S as millionaires and change their names to be protected. The view from the palace location looks down into the houses beyond, which would have made it fairly easy for King David to have seen Bathsheba bathing.
We walked on from there to the entrance of Hezekiah’s tunnel. We had to go down quite a bit before we got to the entrance of that section and there was a deep well that they believe was where King David’s men use lengths of wood and snuck up the shaft to sneak into the city.
Brent braved Hezekiah’s tunnel, which was built for people much shorter than he is. I opted to go through the Canaanite Tunnel. I was glad I could stand up straight in it. You can view a short video of Hezekiah’s Tunnel. It is the same one we saw before entering the area. See link below:
“When Jerusalem was preparing defenses against the approaching Assyrian army in the 8th century B.C.E., King Hezekiah decided to protect the water source by diverting its flow deep into the city with an impressive tunnel system. It was Hezekiah who stopped up the spring of water of Upper Gihon, leading it downward west of the City of David; Hezekiah prospered in all that he did. (II Chronicles 32:30) This engineering feat was accomplished by digging a 1,750-foot (533 meter) tunnel into the mountain. An ancient stone carving found near the entrance describes the incredible operation.” The people dug from both ends and met in the middle with only slight difference in level.
Brent loved the wet tunnel, which required a headlamp or flashlight and quite a bit of stooping, sloshing and squeezing through some tight places. The Canaanite Tunnel had some pretty narrow places but I could stand straight up. One thing I learned is that it isn’t wise to try to take off a sweater while wearing a backpack in a tight spot. Thankfully, Paul, who was behind me came to the rescue…that could have been my moment to hyper-ventilate but I stayed calm. 🙂
Once our group was all reunited, we walked past the pool at the exit on to the Pool of Siloam (originally thought to be where the tunnel exited) We came to a seating area with steps and ruins nearby. Those had been discovered in 2004 when a water pipe was being repaired under the road Archaeologists found steps typical of Herodian steps going to a pool. Josephus (a first century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader) had written about the tunnel and pool including the length and it hadn’t matched up until this discovery was made. The story of the blind man who was healed by Jesus spitting into the clay and anointing his eyes, then instructing him to go and wash them in the Pool of Siloam is recorded in John 9:1-11.
Further development of that area will soon be under way. The land adjacent to it was supposedly owned by the Greek Orthodox and they wouldn’t allow further digging. Two months ago it went to court and they couldn’t prove that they owned it. They will now be able to excavate the entire pool. Seeing so many excavation sites that are relatively new has surprised me. How many more treasures and mysteries lie beneath the Old City of Jerusalem’s stone streets?
We traveled on to Bethlehem which is in the West Bank as well. There was a huge traffic jam due to a roadblock in honor of Rachel (Isaac’s wife) who is buried in Bethlehem. You could only go through the baricade if you were Jewish. I was surprised to hear just how much unrest has been experienced in that area and the reality of the tensions between the Jews and Muslims became more real. In the past there were so many people shooting at cars that they created a barrier along the major roads to protect the cars. Bishara, our bus driver, knew the back door to Bethlehem so we were able to get there safely and quicker. He has been driving busses for 43 years.
We stopped for lunch at Sababa (means ‘groovy” or “awesome”) Tent Restaurant, frequented by many tour groups, and enjoyed the meal. We were swarmed with street vendors selling their wares outside. David handled it really well as he tries to maintain good and respectful relations with them. He would call out something that was being sold after getting the best deal and give the group opportunity (quickly) to purchase things. A man named Joseph was at the restaurant and they were friends with him. He owns a shop across from the restaurant and they set up a time later in the day for us to have the shop all to ourselves to shop. Joseph is now a believer and I enjoyed hearing David tell the story about Joseph. His wife had become a believer first through Bible Study Fellowship. Joseph wanted nothing to do with her new faith and would often become angry about it. Once he went to church with her and got angry because he felt like the pastor was talking about him specifically and the bad things he had done. His wife explained that the things he was doing were common issues for other men and he repented and decided to follow Jesus, which changed his life.
After lunch we visited the Church of the Nativity, which holds special significance for Christians as the birthplace of Jesus. The grotto is the oldest site continuously used as a place of worship in Christianity and the basilica is the oldest major church in the Holy Land. The original church was built around 325 BC but was destroyed by fire in the 6th century during the Samaritan revolt (several churches were destroyed) and rebuilt by a Byzantine emperor. It has remained basically unchanged since that time but had some repairs an additions during the Crusader period. The compound was expanded and has 3 monasteries (Catholic, Armenian and Greek Orthodox). We visited the Greek Orthodox Church in that area as well. It’s door was quite small during the time of the Crusaders to keep them from riding their horses into church. Now that isn’t an issue in most churches! Eventually it was enlarged to make it more accessible.
During renovations they saw black columns but discovered paintings in the limestone underneath and mosaics on the walls. During the Persian conquest, they were going to destroy the Church of the Nativity but they saw people dressed like them (the Wise Men) and changed their plan. Thank goodness. It is beautiful and the “Christmas in Bethlehem” service takes place each year there and is broadcast worldwide.
We traveled down narrow stairs to view the crypt and saw the apartment where they think Mary and Joseph stayed for a time (at least the first 40 days before taking Jesus to Jerusalem). The cave is also where Saint Jerome (Hieronymus) spent 30 years translating the Greek and Hebrew Bibles into his Latin Vulgate Bible. That Bible was the only Bible of Christians in the Middle East until John Wycliffe and other translators did their work on the English Bible. There was a prominent statue in the courtyard of him as well.
We were excited to see the Shepherd’s Field and learned that there are many shepherd’s fields near that area so they aren’t certain which one it was. Thankfully, Brent snapped a picture of an area that he thought might be a shepherd’s field because the sun was setting by the time we finished shopping at Joseph’s shop and no glimpse of fields could be seen by the time we left.
There was a lot take in today. Still processing it all but so very thankful for all we have seen and experienced thus far.
Comments
Post a Comment