Israel Trip-Day 9

 Today we went to the Mount of Olives for a group picture and an amazing view of the Old City.  Above, you can see the Dome of the Rock over my shoulder.
Directly below us was a Jewish cemetery (their coffins are above ground).  Brings new meaning to when Christ returns, the dead in Christ shall rise first...

  We also visited the Dominus Flevit church (“tear drop” architecture marking the spot where the Lord wept), the Church of All Nations (Garden of Gethsemane) and an adjacent garden for some quiet time.

 Above is the Garden of Gethsemane-so amazing to actually be there!  Below is the supposed spot in the garden where the Lord prayed.  The Church of All Nations is built on top of this spot.

 Below is a picture of the outside of the Church of All Nations.  I really enjoyed the artwork in this church.

 Here is a view of the Temple Mount from the Garden of Gethsemane.  Jesus would have been able to see the Temple area while He was in the garden praying.

 Then we went down to the Old City and walked the Via Dolorosa, visiting stations of the cross and ending at the Church of the Holy Sepulchure. Below is where we began our journey on the Via Dolorosa, the path that Jesus would have taken as he walked to his crucifixion.

 Below is the Church of the Holy Sepulchure.  I loved the story about this ladder on the church.  This church is cared for by 5 or so different orthodox churches, all of which quarrel with each other and have trouble agreeing on who has responsibility for what.  Because of this, the church has fallen into some disrepair.  As the story goes, someone put up this ladder about 100 years ago to try to fix something and someone else got mad about it and everyone has disagreed ever since, with the work never getting accomplished.  Now that is death by committee!!!  This church is the probable site where Christ was buried and resurrected and it is quite ornate.

 We also visited St. Peter Galicantu (cock crowing; house of Caiaphas).  Below is a beautiful stained glass window in the ceiling of this church.

 The next two pictures show the underground caves of Caiaphas' house where Jesus would have been kept while under arrest before the crucifixion.

 Below is the church of St. Peter Galicantu which is built in the spot where Caiaphas' house was and the supposed place where Peter denied Christ.  

 Then we went to the Garden Tomb and saw where some believe Jesus was buried.

 He was not there-He is risen!

 Some people believe that this is Golgotha.  You can kind of see the face of a skull in these rocks.  Many believe that Jesus was crucified here, on top of this rock mountain.

We were able to have communion together at the Garden Tomb.

 Lastly, a beautiful overlook on the city of Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock.

      Finally, we had a sumptuous dinner at the American Colony Hotel (founded by Horatio Spafford, writer of “It is Well with My Soul”) where we reflected on our trip and departed for the airport.  
It was truly an amazing trip-the trip of a lifetime-and I am so thankful to my dad and his wife Jeanne who wonderfully cared for our kids for these days that we were gone.  It was so amazing to see the stories of the Bible more clearly through visiting these places!

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!

Israel-Day 7

On Wednesday we took an excursion into the Shephelah which is the ancient buffer zone between Israel/Judah and Philistia.  
We started the day with an overlook of Bethlehem where we discussed the Shepherd’s Fields and the Herodium (Herod’s fortress/tomb).  I was really struck that this was the actual field where the shepherds were watching their sheep when the angels appeared to them to tell them of Christ's birth.  There are still shepherds who are with their sheep in this field! You can see the city of Bethlehem in the distance.  

 Then we visited a site in the Elah Valley where David slew Goliath (and some of us collected a few smooth stones).   Below is a picture of Ken unpacking the David and Goliath story for us as we stood in the very valley where it all happened so long ago.

 Below is our pastor Ed and Travis (another guy on the tour) acting out the David and Goliath story.

 After this we visited the tel of Lachish which was second in significance only to Jerusalem in the time of Hezekiah.   It was a very impressive site!  

We had lunch at McDonalds (kosher, of course!) and Aromah Espresso Bar. 

 Then we visited the Philistine street at Kibbutz Revadim where we learned about Ekron from a docent (who spoke Heblish/Englew).  They were really into olive oil at Ekron so we got to see what olive presses would have looked like at that time.

Finally, we concluded with a brief visit to the tel of Beth Shemesh where Samson grew up and the Ark was returned after it had been taken by the Philistines.  A very fun day that was predominantly Ken's day to teach (since it was so focused on the Old Testament).  

Israel Trip-Day 6

On Tuesday we began at the Western (“Wailing”) Wall where we could touch the stones and leave a prayer.  We entered the Old City at the Dung gate and walked through the “Rabbi’s tunnels” along the Western wall which empty out into the Muslim Quarter.  

 Then we visited St. Anne’s Church (pic below) where we sang a couple of hymns and looked at the ruins of the Bethesda pools (pic above) where Jesus healed the lame man.  St. Anne's was the childhood home of Mary, Jesus' mom.  

  After this we boarded the bus for Yad VaShem (the Holocaust Museum pictured above) where we ate lunch and beheld Schindler’s actual “List”, real train cars used for transport to concentration camps and the trees planted in honor of those who helped save the Jewish people from the camps (on the Avenue of the Righteous, pictured below), among many other moving displays.

 A very moving section to me was the section dedicated to the children who were killed in the camps.  Below is a tribute to them, a future that was cut off.  There was another area where the names of the children who died are continually read aloud in a dark room with many mirrors and only 5 candles but the mirrors made it look like there were millions of stars in the sky.  We only had a short time to see this museum but I could have spent all day there.

 Finally, we concluded at the Israel Museum where we visited the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea scrolls are housed (pictured below).  It was designed very uniquely depicting the jars in which the scrolls were found and the inside feeling like you are entering a cave.  We also saw the massive model of Herodian Jerusalem, and the museum.  Some of us went various ways to see items of interest in the museum, and Ken guided a large group in the Archaeology wing where we saw many interesting things including the "house of David" inscription found at Dan where Ken is currently digging. 

   

Israel Trip-Day 5

On Monday we checked out from our hotel on the Dead Sea and we visited Masada where we took the cable car up and down (no snake trail, thank you!).   The story of Masada is an amazing one and has become a story to promote modern Israeli patriotism.

 Herod, being the paranoid man that he was, had built a palace on Masada, a place immune to attack.  Below is a model of waht Herod's palace would have looked like during his time. 

Fastforward a few decades and the Romans were conquering Palestine but there were a few rebels who stood against them.  Many of the rebels went up to live on Masada.  In a show of their strength, the Romans decided to squelch any rebellion and they had Jewish slaves build a ramp up the side of Masada.  The Jews on Masada watched this for months, unwilling to attack the Jews building the ramp because they probably knew some of them from before their capture.  The Jews on Masada had a difficult future to face-when the Romans finally came up, they would ravage the women, enslave the children and many would lose their lives.  Soooo, the Jews on Masada decided to take the lives of their families and then kill each other (rabbinical law forbade suicide).  When the Romans came up, they found everyone (except 1) dead. 

Above is the area they kept pigeons and other birds for food.  They had plenty of food and water.
Below is the siege ramp that the Romans had built.  Many of the Roman camps are also visible from the top of Masada.

 Then we proceeded to En-Gedi where we enjoyed a waterfall (and a few of us hiked up to see a few more).  This is the area where David hid from King Saul when Saul was trying to kill him.  There are loads of caves and hiding spots here.  And it is beautiful!

 Then we visited Qumran where the Essenes livedand stored more than 800 scrolls in the surrounding caves. 

 And finally, we made our pilgrimage up to Jerusalem and got the first glimpse of the Old City from Mount Scopus. We checked in to our final hotel—the Dan Boutique which is on located on the southern bank of the Hinnom Valley and has a view of the southern walls of the Old City. Jerusalem’s weather was much more comfortable than the Galilee or the valley.

Israel Trip-Days 3 and 4

I became very sick on Saturday and stayed back at the kibbutz with a few other people from our group who were also sick.  I was really bummed to miss out on seeing Dan where Ken is currently digging!  The rest of the group traveled into upper Galilee and the northern borders.  It was another VERY hot day.  They visited Hazor, Dan, Banias (both the waterfall and Caesarea Philippi), and finally, the bunkers at Har Bental where we could see the national borders, Mt. Hermon and the Golan Heights.  In the evening, we held a meeting where we shared our thoughts about the tour so far and we were also treated to hearing the testimony of Tali, our Israeli (Messianic) guide. 

On Sunday, we rose early to baptize 6 of our brothers and sisters in the Sea of Galilee.  After breakfast we departed the Kibbutz and visited Mount Arbel (scenic overlook of the Sea of Gallilee) and Beth-Shean.  Beth-Shean contains many Roman ruins as well as an ancient tel.  Ken and an elite group hiked up the ancient tel but I opted for a posicle. 

 Above you can see the Roman ruins in the foreground and the ancient ruins of Beth-Shean in the background. 

Then we drove down the Jordan Valley and checked into a new hotel on the Dead Sea. I got a “mud” treatment at the hotel spa (wrapped in 20 lbs. of mineral-rich, Dead Sea mud), and, of course, did some floating in the Dead Sea. My skin felt amazing after it all and it was nice to relax for a while! 

 This was the amazing view from our hotel room on the top floor.  Awesome!

 Next stop...Masada...but that's another day's blog entry.