Israel Trip-Day 8

We spent Thursday in the holy city of Jerusalem.  We started in the most ancient section—the city of David—where we looked at the remains of David’s palace, Nehemiah’s wall, the stepped stone structure, the spring tower, Warren’s Shaft, Hezekiah’s tunnel and the Siloam pool.  

 Above you can see the view from David's palace and you could imagine how David was able to see out across his city even seeing Bathsheba bathing on her rooftop, etc.  Below you can see some of the remains of David's palace.  I don't know why we don't hear more about this place because it was incredibly impressive!  There was also a view of the Temple Mount from this palace area.

 More remains of David's palace!  It's very hard to narrow down all of the pictures that I took (almost 600!) and decide which few to share on the blog.

 Hezekiah's tunnel was absolutely amazing!  It was built sooooo long ago and still carries the water as it was intended! As the story goes, men started from the entrance and exit and followed a natural fissure in the rock, hoping to meet each other in middle (which they did!).

 Once you enter the tunnel there is no natural light so we used headlamps and flashlights.  It is very narrow in some places, deep water (up to my waist) in other places, and very low ceilings in other spots.  But it was absolutely amazing to walk through this ancient water system!

 We walked a staircase and ancient gutter (all underground) that ascends from the Siloam pool to the SW corner of the Temple Mount.  When the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, many Jews his in the gutters that we walked through for a few weeks.  Cooking vessels and pottery from this time has been found there (as pictured above).  

 Above: This would have been the gate entrance to the Temple that Jesus would have used (it is now closed off). Below:  This would have been where Jesus was tempted by Satan to throw himself off the southeast corner of the Temple and have his angels save Him.

 Along the outer walls of Jerusalem, you can see many gunshot holes in the wall from all of the fighting that took place when Israel was being resettled by Jews after World War 2.  And I liked this painting (below) that we saw in the markets in Jerusalem.  Everyone (male and female) must serve 2 years in the Israeli army and be trained in the military.  Everywhere in Israel, especially Jerusalem, you hear people say, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem".  And with good reason since 3 major religions all claim holy sites in this city and they all live together, side by side.

 At the Temple Mount we looked at the Herodian Street (and Roman destruction) and sat on the southern steps where Jesus walked.  Above you can see my foot on the very steps where Jesus would have walked!  

Finally, we enjoyed some free time in the afternoon when we all went separate ways: most of us ate and shopped in the Old City markets; some of us went to museums, walked the ramparts, or just got lost in the labyrinth of streets.  Ken, Emily and I walked to Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem and looked at the museum of artifacts from tel Dan (where Ken dug this summer).  Then we spent some time shopping in the Old City markets and then we walked along the top of the wall around Jerusalem.  

 Above is a Bes figurine, protector of women in childbirth.  Below is a model of the Israelite gate system at tel Dan.

 The markets in the Old City were fun, although a bit daunting.  People selling all sorts of stuff and very eager to have some American dollars.  Below is a spice shop that I thought was pretty cool.  The guy had made that tower, all with various spices!