Guided tour around Jerusalem
Trip Start
Jan 25, 2010
1
5
7
Trip End
Feb 02, 2010
Jerusalem, Israel
Saturday, January 30, 2010
From Mount Scopus we proceeded to the Mount of Olives for viewing of the Old City from on high, especially of the City of David and the Temple Mount (Mount Moriah). We then walked down the Mount of Olives, visiting two churches and the Garden of Gethsemane. The garden was small compared to expectations, but housed many old olive trees, some almost as old as 2000 years (the Romans destroyed the garden when they conquered Jerusalem in the first century). We also visited a Jewish cemetery on the mount, which is covered with thousands of crypts, some as old as 2800 years, dating from the first temple period. The Mount of Olives is where Jesus rode from when entering Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-10, Luke 19:28-40, John 12:12-16). It is also, of course, the site of Jesus' arrest that would lead to his sacrifice (Matthew 26:36-56, Mark 14:32-52, Luke 22:39-53, and John 18:1-11). Finally, it is also the location of His ascension to heaven (Luke 24:50 and Acts 1:9-12). There are many more mentions of the mount throughout the Old and New Testaments.
Following that, we went back towards Jerusalem and visited a site that is thought to be where Caiaphas lived. Most interesting at the site is that it was built on top of a two-story dungeon carved into the rock below. It is believed that after Jesus was arrested in the garden, he was marched up the steps to Caiaphas' house and put into the dungeon to be beaten. Whether this is indeed that site or not, visiting it gave a perspective on how brutal prisoners were treated. There are only two openings into the lower part of the dungeon, for example. The top one is 20-25 feet above the hard, stone floor. The side steps in the upper wall were 10-15 feet above the same floor. Prisoners entering the lower dungeon were in for a great deal of pain just in getting there before the scourging began on the wall of the lower dungeon.
After the dungeon at Caiaphas' house, we walked into the Old City and visited a synagogue that is thought to house the tomb of King David. There is no archaeological evidence that it is or is not his tomb, but Jewish tradition.
We also walked to a church in the Old City that is thought to contain the upper room where Jesus had his "last supper" with this disciples before going to the garden. There is archaeological evidence that the room and the church surrounding it existed in the 5th century as well as tradition that it was that location.
A visit to Church of the Holy Sepulcher showed us sites that many believe as the place of crucifixion (different from Skull Hill visited two days prior) as well as the rock slab where it Jesus' wounds were cleaned. These sites were covered with churches, cathedrals, ornamentation, icons, etc. If these were, indeed, the sites that they claim to be, they certainly had changed so much that they did not provide a realistic perspective on how things had been when Christ was alive. The sites seemed to be worshiped themselves, which left a number of us uneasy. Even if these sites are the real locations and not the garden visited earlier, the garden is certainly a more realistic representation of how the sites would have appeared at the time of Jesus.
We stopped briefly for lunch in the Armenian quarter to eat local food that was very good, washed down with Coke and ice cream.
A walk further north into the quarter brought us to the ruins of the Pools of Bethesda, where Jesus healed a lame man laying beside the pool (John 5). The pools have changed drastically over time as they were later turned into pagan pools with Roman add-ons, but the site still gave a nice perspective of what it might have been like in Jesus' time. Certainly the mind's eye of a muddy watering hole is very inaccurate, as these were very large, modern, stone-lined pools that were probably multi-tiered and quite luxurious. The pools are also mentioned in II Kings 18:17.
Departing the pools, we exited the Old City through Lion Gate for our bus departure from Jerusalem to the city of Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee.
Comments
Hi Brian,
It's been so nice to be able to read about your trip and see some of the sights you've seen. The pictures have been wonderful. I know you're having a great time and this has been a wonderful trip!
Isn't it terrific news about Trey being accepted for the Leadership Training at Westpoint. We know you've played a huge part in his achivement of this.
Love,
Bill/Kathy