 Sunday, March 4, 2007
Garden of Gethsemane
We got off the bus at the top of the hill near Bethany on the eastern side of the Kidron Valley. After walking down the steep hill called the Palm Sunday Road where Jesus entered the city on a donkey we went to the Garden of Gethsemane and had a Bible study on Luke 22. Although this garden is not the same as it was when Jesus was here it is still close to what it was like. The Romans stripped the entire hill of all of its trees during the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD so these trees have grown since then. Much of Israel was treeless until 1948 when Jews around the world began to plant trees here. As we site here listening to the words of the betrayal of Jesus and his tearful night before the cross our focus comes back to the purpose of this trip which was to draw nearer to the reality of that day 2000 years ago. As we look out at the city and see the Dome of the Rock there it is easy to see the vision Jesus must have seen when He paused near hear and wept over the things that were to come of this city.
This view above is from the Garden area. The Dome of the Rock is located according to some scholars exactly where the Holy of Holies of the Second Temple was located. The gate you see on the lower left is the Eastern Gate where the Bible says Jesus will enter the city on his return. The Muslims sealed it up and placed a graveyard in front knowing that now Jew would walk on a dead body or grave. I guess they don't know that the dead will be raised before that happens. The Old City which the Arab nations want to make all their own is off in the background.
It is interesting to note that in 70 AD when the Temple was destroyed by the Romans Judiasm was not destroyed. Only the temple worship and the ministry of the Saducees was ended at that time but the practices of Judiasm continued. One of the things this trip will do is cause us as Christians to begin to see much of the New Testament through the Old Testament eyes of a Jew. Because Christianity mistakenly thought that it replaced the Jews in the promises of God much of our history is missing the history of the Jewish people that have kept them going until their nation was re-established in 1948 just as God said it would be.
 City of David
After our walk in the Garden and down the hill from Bethany we step back on the bus for a short trip up the hill and southwest along Maaleh Hashalom Street to the City of David. We drop down into Warren's Shaft down into the hillside and see Hezekiahs tunnel and come out in the Hinnom Valley to see the Pool of Siloam. During the excavations, Warren's Shaft (named for Ch. Warren, an English archaeologist who pioneered systematic excavations in Jerusalem between 1864-67), the earliest water system of the City of David was cleared. This underground system, constructed at the end of the second millennium BCE, enabled the citizens of Jerusalem to draw water from the Gihon spring without leaving the fortified walls of their city. The photo on the left is of the Arab housing in this part of town. Again there is a BIG contrast in life style and economic level in this area.
 David's Tomb & The Upper Room
Our bus met us at the bottom of the hill after going down into the water system and visiting the Pool of Siloam. From here we went up the hill to Mount Zion where we went to see both the Upper Room and David's Tomb. The room visited by tourists today is a Crusader structure as evidenced by the architecture. On the first floor below this room is the traditional tomb of David. The location of this "tomb" outside of the City of David precludes its authenticity but some suggest that evidence in the "tomb" indicates an early Jewish-Christian presence (or synagogue). If so, this could support this general area as the location of the biblical "Upper Room."
Jewish Quarter
From outside the wall we entered through the Zion Gate into the Armenian Quarter and turned right and walked down Batei Mahasse street into the Jewish Quarter where we eventually had lunch just outside of the Burn House area of the city. We had a chance to visit a few shops and look around the narrow streets of this part of the city. This was one of the rare times we actually purchased lunch. Until now everything was included on the tour.
The food at this Falafel place was great although seating was hard to get. The weather cooperated and was warm today.
 The Cardo
The remains of an elaborate north-south colonnaded street – the Cardo – were found in the center of the Jewish Quarter, exactly as depicted in the Madaba map. A 200-meter-long section of the street, four meters below present-day street level, was exposed. Its northern part was laid upon several meters of earth fill, whilst the southern end was on leveled bedrock, which created a six-meter-high rock scarp on its western side. During the Byzantine period (4th-7th centuries) Jerusalem was a Christian city with many churches.The main thoroughfare, the Cardo maximus (Cardo, in short) was a colonnaded street bisecting the city from north to south, from today’s Damascus Gate to the Zion Gate.
This photograph is inside the Cardo which now has a shopping mall of great stores. This photo was turned into black and white to better capture the look of t he stone inside without having the colors distract from the look.
Burnt House
In January 1970, Israeli archaeologists excavated the remains of a house in Jerusalem where a well-off Jewish family had lived before Jerusalem was destroyed by Roman soldiers in AD70. The house had an area of about ten metres (32 ft) square. Within this area, the archaeologists found a kitchen, work rooms, and a small ritual bath.
Shorshim Biblical Shop
After the Burnt House we walked around the city in the Jewish Quarter with our guide. He took us to Shorshim Biblical Shop pictured above. Moshe Kempinski then closed the shop and set out chairs for us and spent about 30 minutes telling us about his life as a Jew and how Judiasm relates to Christianity. We all then spent some time shopping and returned to walking about town before returning to our bus and to the hotel. I would have to say this was one of the highlights of the trip for me as it got me thinking about the practice of Judiasm and how much there was to be admired in their devotion. Wearing the kippa cap to remind them that they are under God's watch and in his service also marks them to the world as being a Jew. Do I as a Christian mark myself in my actions or in some way that all know of the Lord that I serve? It has gotten me to be more serious about my walk with Jesus and it has given me a new found reason to pray for Israel as the Bible teachers us to do.
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