Wednesday, June 6

I've not had the best internet access the last few days so I still need to go back and fill in Monday and Tuesday but wanted to get some more information up.

We are staying in a nice hotel (nicest place yet) right on the sea.  Unfortunately the only place to get internet is inside the lobby, but I did go out wandering around the grounds some.  The highlight so far is that this has the best shower of the trip so far - both hot water and water pressure.  When you hike several miles a day and sweat so much your face is covered with salt a shower becomes the focus of the end of the day!

I did not get a picture of me fishing here yet, but I will.

We started the day with a hike across some fields in the area of Nazareth.  We hiked up to the top of a low hill which turned out to be a rock quarry.  John explained that while Joseph was described as a carpenter in most cases the original language of the bible was someone who builds things or works with his hands.  There has been very little evidence of the use of wood in building things from his time.  Perhaps short table legs but everything else is stone, rock, and pottery.  So one school of thought is that he was a stone worker who would have known how to cut stone from a quarry.  That means Jesus would have learned the same.  Jesus did use stone in his parables, not wood which may support this idea.  If that is the case then chances are they would have worked in the quarry we were in and may have helped build a palace used by Herod the great's grandson which was next to the quarry.  There are documents which say that when that was built (early AD) that almost all stone cutters in the area were used to help build  it.  Even if not, Jesus would have seen the palace since it was just a few miles from Nazareth.  

From here we traveled out to yet another mountain.  As John quipped 'you have probably learned that when we park at the bottom of a hill, chances are we are going to climb it'.  This was no exception.  He said it would take about an hour but looking up at the steep cliffs and amount of height to climb I would have guessed 3 hours at least - but up we went.  It was windy which was nice except when climbing near the edge of the trail when it almost felt we would be blown off the side.  As far as I could tell we were the only ones climbing up.  However it appeared to be a popular site for school tours as there were probably 200-300 school children we encountered in groups of 30 or so climbing down.  It did not help that the first group we encountered within the first 5 minutes told us in broken English that the way was 'not good'.  I guess the best way to describe it would be an hour and 1/2 of climbing stairs with stops about every 15 minutes so we could breath.  There was a path, not man-made stairs, but they had cut steps of sort into the hill side.  The reason we climbed the hill (small mountain) was that this was a common place for rabbis to come to pray and meet with disciples so it is likely that Jesus spent time on this spot and probably followed a similar trail if not the same.  In fact, this was the location that the bible says he met with his disciples after he rose and it was from here that he told them to go and teach all nations and make disciples of them.

All along this trip it has been so invigorating not only in body and thought but also spiritually as we have gone to all of these places.  And it seems that God also provides times for me to be able to take some time and meditate on what I've seen and read each day.  Today as I was putting together this description a priest walked into the reception area dressed for mass to get a cork screw for the wine.  I asked if he was getting ready to say mass and could I join them.  He of course agreed but let me know it was going to be in German (third mass, third language for the trip).  It was a great experience as we met in just a room with benches around the side and a table for the alter in the middle.  They even had someone playing the guitar so they could sing.  Many of the people spoke English very well and we chatted afterwards.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a very full day again with 5 biblical sites to visit but less hiking - or at least not as strenuous.  I think today we walked 5 miles - most of it up hill.

Sunday, June 3

This was a relatively easy day.  We did not have to be down for breakfast until 7 AM, only walked about 3 miles today and visited 2 bible sites.

The first stop was down near the South West corner of the Temple Mount.  Here we saw the other end of the Western Wall (saw the Northern end during the tunnel hike a few days ago).  It was above this point that the pinnacle of the temple mount was located.  A couple of items made this very interesting.  First here you could see large blocks which had been pushed from the top of the temple mount by the Romans when they destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD.  You could tell they were from the wall because they had that same chiseled pattern on them.  Second, they were sitting on the original road surface that would have been used in Jesus’ time.  It is along this road that merchants would have had stalls set up to sell food as well as animals for sacrifice.

Around the corner is the southern entrance to the Temple Mount called the pilgrims entrance since this is where most visitors to the Temple would enter.  At the bottom of the steps are over 40 ceremonial bathing pools.  Worshipers had to spiritually cleanse themselves before entering the temple area.  They think the idea of baptism evolved from this practice.  The steps to the entrance were intentionally cut unevenly – different heights, different depths, etc – so that you had to concentrate on the walk up and not just casually climb them. 

It is believed that after Jesus ascended into Heaven (from the Mt of Olives), his disciples returned to the temple area to praise God.  The bible says that ‘they were together in the house’ but as I’ve been learning here almost all words from the time had multiple meanings and they often referred to the temple as ‘the house’.  It makes sense because it says that after the Holy Spirit descended on them they went out in front of the people there in Jerusalem from all over and began speaking and all heard them in their own language.  The main place that pilgrims from all over would have assembled in an area big enough to hold them (their streets are the size of small alleys) would be on the pilgrim gate steps.

After this we were free to go explore Jerusalem however we wanted.  A group of us decided to head over to the Israeli Museum where they have a 1:50 scale model of the city of Jerusalem as it would have been in 66 AD just before it was destroyed by Romans.  It also houses a sample of the dead sea scrolls.

Pictures and more to follow…

Saturday, June 2

It is early morning on Sunday.  Yesterday was the first day I did not have a chance to summarize the day at the end of the day since John took us all out for ice cream at his favorite spot so this summary may be words only until I can get pictures uploaded.

We started discussing and tracing Jesus’ last days yesterday.  We started the morning at the top of the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem.  

Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives

This is where Jesus stopped and told his disciples to go down into the city and bring back the donkey for him to ride into the city on.  That is what we now celebrate as Palm Sunday.  Evidently the Jews believed that the Messiah would arrive on the feast of Passover and there had already been people who claimed to be the Messiah show up on that day.  That is why Pilate was in town at that time.  Normally he would have been at one of his more luxurious homes.

Probably not the same Donkey

Not even close

From there we began our walk down the hillside.  We had a great discussion about the Last Supper and then came to the garden of Gethsemane.   

It may not have been the place where Jesus prayed that night but would at least be very close.  It is one of the few placed in Israel where there are old trees.  In 70 AD the Romans came through, destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and cut down every tree as they totally destroyed the area.  It is thought that these trees were not cut down because Titus made his camp here. 

As with most significant biblical sites there is a church at this location.  I went inside briefly and found it was just at the end of the consecration and stayed to pray the Lords Prayer.  Again most of the people said it in a different language but this one is easy to follow along with.  Jenny will understand how glad I was to have stepped in at that point.

 

Entrance to cave

Not a block from here there is an old olive press inside a cave.  Many scholars believe that this is actually where Jesus spent the night with his disciples and that he prayed just a short distance from that entrance. 

We continued down the hill, across the valley, and up to the gates of Jerusalem.   The bible says the Messiah will enter Jerusalem through the Golden Gate (the East Gate).  As an example of the deep animosity which has existed in this region for ages, the Muslims, when they had control of the city hundreds of years ago, walled up this gate and then used the area in front of it as a Muslim burial ground, knowing the Jews would not be able to enter the area for religious reasons then.  There are not such overt tensions now but there still is not a sense of cooperation either. 

 That afternoon we passed the location believed to be where Mary was born and raised.







Not far from there is a church to St Anne, her mother.  The unique thing about this church is that it has perfect acoustics!  As we were coming into the church there was an oriental group up near the alter singing Holy Holy Holy in their language.  The sound filled the church and was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes.  We also stood at that spot and sung amazing grace.  Even we sounded good in there.  I lit a candle for Mom there.

The steps are where people sing

St Anne and Mary

Just outside are the pools of Bethesda.  This is where Jesus met up with a man who had not been able to walk for 38 years and when He commanded him to stand up and walk, he did. 

We had the rest of the afternoon to do what we wanted.  I choose to find the Via Dolorosa (way of the cross) and follow that along to the church of the Holy Sepulchre.    It is considered by many to be the path Jesus took after being condemned to death out to the crucifixion site and also his burial site.  I had expected it to first of all be much better marked but also to have a more devotional feel to it.  Instead it is lined with shops making it difficult to walk along here without being pursued by people trying to sell you things.  The stations themselves are obscure and there were a few I never located.    In a way it gave me a sense of how along Jesus might have felt as those around him were caught up in the Passover preparation and did not notice yet another prisoner on his way to death. 

Altar of the Crucifixion

The church itself suffers from the same problems as the church of the Nativity in that it is under the control of 3 churches (Greek Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic) and they cannot seem to agree on how renovations should be carried out.  The result is the feel that the church is chaotically laid out and unfocused.  That said, it was still very moving to kneel at the locations thought to be where Jesus died, was prepared for the tomb, and was buried and rose.  I did not go into the actual burial location due to the long lines waiting to get there.  Instead I wanted to participate in a procession through the church lead by the Catholic priest ending with mass in a side chapel.  This time I think the language was Italian – still not much help for me.  As I followed along with the crowd through the church I read the passion of Christ from Mark, Mathew, and Luke (long procession).  

Place they prepared Jesus for burial

Tomb entrance

As always, the order of the mass was familiar even if the words were not and I found great peace in participating in this very holy location.

A couple of other side pieces of information…  The Romans used to play a ‘game’ called the kings game where they would take a new army recruit (these were not volunteer army members) dress him up like a king and then play a dice game where they would gamble away his lands, palace, clothes, etc. eventually ending in killing him.  Eventually they were forbidden from using fellow soldiers and instead used condemned prisoners.  It is likely this is what was described when they dressed Jesus in a robe and gave him a crown of thorns.  We saw one of these game boards etched in the floor of the old Roman barracks area at the start of the Via Dolorosa. 

Friday, June 1 - back to the desert

As is becoming normal, we visited a number of fascinating sites.  This is supposed to be our last day in the desert and that is none too soon for me.  There are a lot of interesting things to see, and this was very much the life of not only the Israelites but also for Jesus, but I don’t think I’ll complain about Nebraska heat for quite a while.  The temperature was not that bad by itself – only about 90.  But there is zero shade, no clouds, and heat also radiates up from the barren ground.  Couple that with always climbing up or down fairly steep trails and it makes for a long hard day.  But now for the details.

We started the day by leaving Bethlehem for the last time and driving down to Jericho.  This is considered the oldest city in the world – dating back to at least 9000 BC.  It is also the lowest city in the world.

This was the first city the Israelites conquered after coming into the Promised Land.  We walked around the perimeter of the ancient city just as they had been instructed to do (but not blowing rams’ horns).  It took about 11 minutes and is about ¾ of a mile around it – much smaller than I imagined.  Supposedly on the 7^th day of walking around the city they walked around it 7 times and then shouted and the walls fell down, allowing them to simply overrun the city.  They did not settle there, but instead continued in toward Jerusalem.

Excavation site at Jericho

It was also near Jericho that the prophet Elijah was taken up to heaven in ‘chariots of fire’ leaving behind Elisha to take over as prophet.  Elisha is described in the bible as having made a spring in Jericho change from bad water to good again.  That spring still flows here.

We drove a short way out of the city to a place where we could connect with the ancient road from Jerusalem to Jericho.  We hiked along this for about and hour (2 miles or so).  

Starting up to the road

It is narrow (about 3 ft wide) with one edge being the cliff edge and the other steep hillside.  This is undoubtedly a road that Jesus walked many times in his life.  It would have been the road he and his parents took to Jerusalem when he was 12 as well as the road he took when going up to Jerusalem for the last time.  It is also likely that this is the road Joseph and Mary took when going up to Bethlehem for the census, during which time Jesus was born.  It was thrilling to walk this same road but by the end I was beat. 

Along the road - note the drop off

And more hiking

Looking back from where we got off the road

 At the end of where we hiked we found the Monastery of St. George.  We did not have time to go down there.

We were heading back to Jerusalem where we will be staying for the next few nights.  Along the way we stopped in a wheat field where John explained that these would have been the fields of the shepherds in the Christmas story.  There is a narrow strip of land used to grow wheat and barley which extends from just below Bethlehem to almost Jericho.  After the harvest, shepherds take their flocks into the fields to graze.  

It was also along here also that we stopped in a cave similar to others in the area which has been used to shelter sheep.  Part of the cave is sectioned off for the shepherds to use to sleep in (the area where Mary would have had Jesus)

and the rest is the sheep pen.  It is likely that this is the type of place that Mary and Joseph had to use as a place to stay and where Jesus was born.  The Nativity area in the Church of the Nativity is a cave so that part is not really disputed.  I cannot imagine a more humble spot for such a magnificent birth!

While here in Jerusalem we are staying at a convent where they also rent out rooms.  I’m not sure if the convent used to be bigger and now with not many nuns here they rent out the rooms or if it was built for both purposes.  I have not yet found an English speaking nun so I can ask.  

There is a statue of St. Theresa the Little Flower here and I’m interested in learning the connection since that was who my childhood parish was named for.

After dinner we went down to the western wall to witness the start of the Jewish Sabbath.  Jews from all over the world visiting Jerusalem come down to participate.  There is general singing and dancing to mark the start of their day of religious rest.  I saw Russian Jews with their large black wheel shaped hats to Hasidic Jews with their traditional garb, to Israeli solders in uniform (including machine guns over their shoulders) dancing and praying together.

A gold Menorah is also located at the square.  This has been built by the Temple Institute which we visited yesterday and I'll post more information when I finish updating that day.  It stands almost 6 feet tall and includes 95 pounds of gold plating.

Dome of the Rock at night from our hotel/convent

Thursday, May 31

Thursday, May 31, Jerusalem

I don't know if I've described some of the meals we've had (I'm now back in the states and finishing up this blog) but here are some pictures of our breakfast here in Bethlehem.



At the end closest to me you can see part of a pan of eggs with peppers and onions.  There are trays of sliced cheese and bologna (I think - I never tried it) as well as yogurt.  The yogurt was mixed with different things depending on the time of day it was served.  In the morning it might be plane or have some fruit and typically at lunch or dinner it would have garlic mixed in.

Next are a couple of trays of humus.  This is apparently 'the' side dish in the middle east.  It was served at every meal and as a snack.  I don't care for garbanzo beans and that is the basis of humus.  I did try it to see if in its native home it was any better.  Once was enough for me.

In this picture you can see my favorite dish - olives!  Yes, we got to have olives for breakfast every day while at this hotel.  For those who know me one of my basic food groups is salt and being blessed with low blood pressure I'm not afraid to consume my fair share of salty items.  Besides, I was sweating out salt right and left on these hikes so I saw it as a valid medical necessity to have a spoonful or two to start the day.

The rest of the dishes were various salad items: shredded carrots, tomato and cucumber salad, marinated tomatoes, mixed salad, etc.

Finally at the end is a basket of pita bread - the other standard at each meal.

So breakfast for me was typically bread with cheese, some tomato salad, eggs, and olives.



Today was the first day we spent in the city of Jerusalem.  As usual there was a guard checkpoint we had to go through to come from Bethlehem in the West Bank to get into Jerusalem in Israel proper.  But even after getting into the city there were security points for certain parts of the city (not too unlike some areas in the US like major sporting events).

We started out by visiting the Temple Mount.  This is an area at the top of Mount Moriah where it is believed Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac.  Solomon built the Jewish Temple in 957 BC.  It was destroyed in  586 BC and a second temple was built on the same spot in 516 BC and that was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans.  Herod expanded the size of the Temple Mount area by building giant retaining walls so he could have the second temple expanded and restored in 16 BC.  I’ll leave it to you to research the further history of the mount but just summarize that Muslims have controlled the Temple Mount since 1187 and it is revered in that religion as the location of Mohammad’s journey to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven making it the third holiest site in Islam.

We visited the top of the Mount and were able to photograph the Dome of the Rock but not being Muslim we could not enter it.  It is a magnificent building with beautiful mosaic walls and a dome topped with gold leaf.  Beneath there is believed to be the rock of Abraham and Isaac and where Mohammad stood.

This picture shows a little of the detailed mosaic work that surrounds the building and the marble used in the base.

There is also an ancient mosque dating from the 15^th century.

This shows more of the Temple Mount area.  It is a large area - having been expanded by Herod in order to expand the temple size.  But this area would also have been full of pilgrims - especially during feast days.








Today since it is Muslim controlled and since it is uncertain exactly where the temple would have stood, Jewish people are forbidden by their religious leaders from going up on the temple mount.  Instead they visit the Western Wall.

However, this small dome marks the spot where historians believe the Holy of Holies (place where the Ark of the Covenant would have resided and the place where God lived) stood at the time of the second temple.

The Jewish people still consider the western retaining wall of the Temple Mount (called simply the Western Wall) a particularly holy site since it is the closest part to where the Ark of the Covenant would have been kept in the temple.  

It is here that many people come to pray.  The section behind the partition is where the men pray and the section closer to me is for the women.  On Friday nights when the Jewish Sabbath starts this area is packed with people.  

This is just part of the western wall which is still visible.  Most of it continues past the wall you see in the background.

As we walked from place to place we were frequently coming across different excavated areas.  Normally they built new buildings on top of these areas using pillars as a way to preserve the old but still build the newer needed buildings.    It is fascinating to think of all the ancient ruins beneath this entire area - most of which will never be seen.

This is a section of colonnade pillars which would have lined the street and provided the store front for little shops all along the way.







Here is a picture (behind me in the picture above) of what it would have looked like.

Another section of columns outside

A common practice is for Jewish families in America is to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Bar Mitzvah (coming of age) of a son.  There are companies which take care of all the arrangements including a band and someone to guide them through the ceremony.  We frequently encountered these celebrations going on.  In the distance you can see the family and relatives.  The boy is under the canopy.

In the foreground are some of the military which were also always wandering the streets.  We saw very few police officers but the military appear to have primary responsibility for patrolling the city.  Everyone, men and women, serve 2 years in the military in Israel.

We visited one other place today where we could not take pictures.  It was the Temple Institute.  They hold the controversial point of view that the temple should be rebuilt including re-instituting the practice of animal sacrifice.  They have recreated many of the objects which would be used in the temple including robes for the high priests.  They also believe that the ark of the covenant is buried in the temple mount - hidden in a chamber just before the first temple was destroyed.  It was interesting to see the objects they have recreated and to hear more of the history of the temple but obviously there would need to be quite a drastic change in the political situations for any of this to take place but this is a place with a long and varied history already.

Over the years the area next to the western wall has been built up and destroyed by various conquering peoples but in recent years they have been excavating along the wall.  We toured through the tunnels which run along the side of the western wall which is no longer visible above ground.

In the time of Jesus there was a raised walk way which lead from the area of the homes of the high priests directly to the top of the temple mount.  Before they could enter the temple they had to perform their ritual cleansing routines and if they touched someone who had not done the same (and so was unclean) it would make them also unclean and they would need to again perform that routine.  To cut down on the possibility of this, they built this shortcut which avoided the regular entrance to the temple mount.  This picture is taken beneath one of the arches which held up that walkway.

It was common practice to simply build on top of the ruins left after the last conquering people moved through so you have layers of civilizations.  As you can see from the picture above we were close to the underside of the arch which in the first century would have been high above the street.  This is a picture looking down to what was the street running along the base of the western wall of the temple mount.  The base of the column visible would have been one of the store front columns for shops along here.  Because so many people would come to the temple to pray and need to buy not only animals for sacrifice but also day to day necessities these streets would have been as packed with little shops as are the current streets.  Who knows, maybe even then there were some souvenir shops too.  Undoubtedly Jesus and his parents would have walked along that road!

The wall itself is constructed of these massive limestone blocks, precisely cut and fitted into place and then a beveled edge was chiseled into each one.  Every so many rows up they would set the block about 2 inches further in, much the same way today’s retaining walls are constructed.  It was amazing to touch these blocks that were cut and set in place over 2000 years ago.  


Here my thumb is on the lower block and you can see it sticks out an inch or two from the one on top.  Just above my fingers is the beveled edge about 5 inches in from the edge of the stone.  It sticks out about 1/2 inch.  Notice how perfectly straight the edge of the stone as well as the bevel is!  The people who cut these blocks had spent several years learning how to do this correctly so that the wall holding up their temple would be a perfect as possible.  These were set in place without any cement to hold them.  The quality and care is why this still stands today.

Section showing the tunnel we walked through along the wall.

Here you can see how later civilizations built walls and arches which butted up against the western wall.











Because the temple mount is basically an area with retaining walls around it in order to provide a flat surface on which to build the temple, the walls eventually met up with the bedrock.  Here in the center of the picture is where the two meet.  They chiseled out the bedrock to provide a base for the rock wall.










In order to maintain the look of the wall they also chiseled the bedrock to match the pattern of the rest of the wall, including adding a beveled edge to make the solid rock look like blocks of granite.  You can see that edge along the bottom of this picture.

We had some time over lunch to explore a little.  In the old section of Jerusalem (where we will primarily be staying) the streets are narrow with shops all along them selling everything from birds (canaries), spices, incense and brass to hookah pipes.

Man selling different types of incense 

Later we traveled just outside the walls of old Jerusalem to David’s City.  This is where King David had his palace.   


This picture is looking toward Jerusalem and the wall which surrounds the city, from the location of David's palace.  It gives you a feel for the distance (not very much).










This is looking out over the area of David's City.  I tend to think of cities in terms of what we have today  with them being so big you need a car or other transportation to get from place to place.  It is becoming obvious that cities 2000 years ago were pretty much the size of large neighborhoods today.

In about 700 BC when Hezikiah was king the city was under siege and in order to ensure water was available to the city he ordered the construction of a tunnel which would divert the water from the spring outside the city to a place within the city.  The amazing thing is that they cut this tunnel by hand for a distance of about ½ mile through solid granite.  It has a .6% grade across its length and is about 2 feet wide and from 4-7 foot tall.  


Here is one of our group inside to give you a feel for the size of the tunnel they cut.  This was solid granite!


They had 2 groups of people working from opposite ends and they managed to meet up nearly exactly at the right spot (had to dig about 3 feet in  one direction to connect)!  I know because you can walk through it.  I should say wade through it because water still flows through it varying in depth from about 2 ½ feet to 8 inches.  We each had small flashlights because it is completely dark inside.  Some of our group is slightly claustrophobic so to help them feel better we sang a variety of songs (amazing grace, Joy to the World, and Row Row Row your Boat to name a few).  It must have seemed like a good idea to the group behind us because they started singing their own songs too but in a different language.    

At the end of the tunnel is the Pool of Siloam.  When Jesus cured the blind man by making mud and putting it on his eyes, this is the pool he told the man to go to to wash off the mud and his sight was restored.  That same pool remains today and we stopped to rinse our faces here too.

Finally to round out the day our bus driver Abu Ali (whom John has used as his driver over the last 6 years) had invited us all to his home for dinner.

I forget what it is called but the dish is cooked in a large bowl/pot (you can see the size of it in the middle).  It is rice then chicken, more rice and vegetables with various spices all cooked together.  Then you turn it out onto the tray and serve from that.  The other bowls have different condiments, mostly yogurt based.  It was wonderful!


He is Palestinian but was born in Israel so he can fairly easily go from one part of Israel to another which has made him an especially useful driver for us.  It is their custom that families across generations will live together.  He is the oldest of 12 children so his parents live with him as do his 11 children, the wives of 2 of his sons, and their 3 children.  In all his mom has 75 grand and great grand children!  It was a wonderful meal and we got a chance to learn more about him and his family.  If only world relationships could be handled on a more personal level like this.  There really would be world peace.

It is another late night and so I’m not getting a chance to post any pictures with this (pictures are now posted).  I do plan to catch up but maybe not until Saturday or Sunday at this rate.