Jerusalem

 March 21, 2023  1 Comment on Jerusalem  Posted in Becca, Faith, Kids, Nate, Photo
We only had one day to tour Jerusalem due to the rain so we had to fit a lot into one day. We started the morning in “The City of David” with some older ruins and walls from the time of David but everything has been built on top of it so there wasn’t much to see except the view. David’s palace would have been in a high place looking down on the city so the story of Bathsheba makes a little more sense. Walking around photos. City of David photos.
Following that, we toured Hezekiah’s tunnel. Prior to David, the water for the city was outside the city walls as show below. Recorded in the bible is the story that David’s men are able to conquer Jerusalem by climbing in through the caves where the water was flowing. Also recorded in the bible is the fact that Hezekiah built a tunnel to bring the water from these springs into the city walls and that is how they survived the siege by the Assyrians. They actually started the tunnel from two different ends and met in the middle which is amazing. We didn’t walk through the wet part although you can (it still flows around knee height and is pretty chilly) but we walked through quite a bit of side tunnels close to the water tunnel. Pretty cool if you like spelunking. Tunnel photos.
After that we saw a brand new dig site, the Pool of Siloam. Until very recently the land was owned privately and Israel’s historical group was able to acquire it so now they are excavating the pool. So far they have a number of steps. But it was fun to see the progress being made. Photos here.
And after that we headed to the wailing wall to say some prayers and then to lunch. I was surprised by how tall the wall was, I knew the temple was on a plateau above the city but it is a lot higher than you imagine. In the group photo below you can’t see the dome of the rock but it is just up and to the left where the 2nd temple used to be. And now when you read “they went UP to the temple” you understand that means a little bit more than a few steps. 😉 Wall photos.
After lunch we had communion on the Mount of Olives which overlooks the city and also serves as a cemetery. The Jewish place their dead with feet facing the temple so they can rise and head that way when the resurrection occurs. Then we walked down to the Garden of Gethsemane and saw some really old olive trees. There is a large cathedral there called the Church of the Agony. Garden and Mount photos.
Then we headed to the Pool of Bethesda.
This photo really gives a good sense of all the ‘layers’ in Jerusalem. All the invaders just built on top of the previous buildings so we were constantly going down 20, 40, or 60 ft to get to the time frame of ruins we wanted to see. Crazy! More pool photos.
We walked by the cathedral that is built over the cave where they say Jesus was buried. There was a really long line to go in so we didn’t stay long (Jesus isn’t there anyway). A couple of photos. Then we walked the Via Dolorosa – the way they think Jesus walked when he carried his cross. Photos from the walk. And then we shopped for souvenirs before heading back to our hotel.
Whew!

1 thought on “Jerusalem”

  1. Terry R Thanks for sharing.

    Charlie M Looks cool! Did you guys see any protests? I look forward to going, too, one day. 😇
    Rebecca Yes, we saw some of the demonstrators driving down the road. We were in Jerusalem on a weekday and the big stuff happend on the weekends. But it was definitely on the news.

    Mary M Love seeing this. It’s really amazing. I’m going in Oct and am so excited. Thanks for sharing@

    Terry R What a great experience.

    Stephanie E Yeah, the day in Jerusalem was actually my least favorite because, with all the people and lines, it felt like Christian Disneyland with a crapton of stairs. Don’t get me wrong, it was still amazing, but the rest of the trip felt much more authentic.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *