After the stop at the King David Hotel and the Tomb of Herod's Wife, we went back to the old city of Jerusalem and entered by the Western Wall.
From here you can see how close the Mount of Olives is to the Dome of the Rock which was once where the Second Temple and the Holy of Holies stood. The proximity of these important sites made a deep impression on me.
The remains of King Hezekiah's wall were very impressive. Hezekiah was one of the few "good kings." You can read about him in 2 Kings 18-20. He introduced religious reforms, concentrated worship in the temple in Jerusalem, restored the Passover observance and destroyed pagan idols in the country. He was an astute ruler and built this wall around the temple to defend against an anticipated attack by the Assyrians (c. 740 BC).
remains of King Hezekiah's wall
Vault under the Western Wall where remains of Hezekiah's wall is located.
Our first stop the next morning was another place where the ancient and the modern history of Israel are inextricably intertwined: The King David Hotel and the tomb of King Herod's wife.
The headquarters of the British authorities in charge of the Palestinian Mandate was at the King David Hotel. It was the center of British rule and a target for the Zionists seeking an independent Jewish state.
We didn't get a chance to go inside the hotel but saw this sign on its grounds which explains the significance of the Hotel and the bombing that killed 92 people in 1946. A group of radical Zionists was responsible for the attack which killed more people than the subsequent Arab-Israeli war.
On the grounds behind the hotel is a park-like area. You can see some hills in the distance where King Herod (the Great)'s Jerusalem palace stood. The tomb of Herod's wife is here.
Here's the story: Herod was crazy about his wife Mariamne, but he was also very jealous. And more than a bit paranoid as subsequent events in his life would prove. Conniving courtiers persuaded him that she was unfaithful and he ordered her killed. Shortly thereafter he realized that he had been fooled and sank into depression.
Here is her tomb. Our guide Lee Glassman is standing on top of the curved stone that marks Mariamne's gravesite.
Herod the Great later had several more members of his family killed, including his sons. And of course, you will recall that he was the one who ordered the slaying of the infants in an attempt to eliminate Jesus who he feared as a potential political rival. (See Matthew 2: 16-18) Certainly he was a king to be feared.
At Dave Peterson's insistence we made one last stop that day at the Garden Tomb. This site is outside the city walls of Jerusalem near the Damascas Gate and believed by some to be the location of Jesus' tomb and His resurrection. British Major General Charles Gordon found it in 1887, noting the resemblance of some of the rocks in the area to a skull--like Golgotha ("the place of the skull"). It has its own website if you are interested: http://www.gardentomb.org/
Dave wanted us to visit the Garden Tomb so we could get a better idea of what Jesus' burial place really looked like --whether or not this was the actual location of His tomb. When I checked Wikipedia to confirm some of my notes, I read that the Garden Tomb is very popular with Protestants. I can see why, based on my own reaction to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The Garden Tomb is run by a British non-profit association and we were led through it by a delightful guide who said he came down every year for a couple of months for the purpose of serving as a volunteer docent. The photo below shows a cave in the area. In the time of Jesus the dead were placed in caves until the body decomposed and then the bones were placed in ossuaries.
Our Garden Tomb guide said that this was the tomb in which Jesus' body was laid.
And this is a photo of the area around that tomb, showing our guide Lee Glassman.
A group of African Christians came in behind our group and treated us to some glorious singing during our stop!
Concuding our visit to the Garden Tomb, Dave led us in a time of silent meditation and prayer before we boarded the bus to go back to the hotel. It was the perfect way to wrap up this memorable day.
Ascension Day services were being held inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre when we went inside. The church is divided into several areas with different Christian traditions being in charge of different areas. We entered the Greek Orthodox area where an elaborate mass was being celebrated compete with elaborate vestments, liturgy and lots of incense.
The light streaming through the dome and the beautiful music coming from the pipe organ created an awe-inspiring scene.
This is a photo of the Stone of Unction which is supposed to be the stone on which Jesus' body lay after his death while the women anointed it and wrapped it for burial. Our guide said that the original stone had been destroyed in a fire and this was a fairly recent replacement. That did not dampen the ardor of the pilgrims gathered around it, some of whom were on their knees, weeping and kissing the stone.
Moving up the stairs, which I assume covered the hill of Golgotha, we came to the site of the crucifixion itself. This sacred area was so adorned with religious bling that I couldn't relate to it at all.
I had the same reaction in the area designated as the place of Jesus' tomb and His resurrection. Although I appreciate the piety and devotion that motivated those who covered it up with gold and jewels, I'm just too much of a Calvinist to relate to it.
"How Beautiful Are the Feet" was the song I kept hearing that day as we walked the Via Dolorosa. Maybe that was because the path was so uneven that my eyes were fixed on the ground where I saw the feet of our group, other groups from all over the world, and the merchants and residents of Jerusalem mingling together and following the road Jesus went up to Calvary.
We reached the gates to old Jerusalem late that morning. What a thrill it was to enter the "gates with thanksgiving" and "His courts with praise"!
We would spend the next couple of hours following the Via Dolorosa, the path Christ took on the way to his crucifixion. The Stations of the Cross are marked along the street and represent the fourteen events between Christ's condemnation and death which are traditionally venerated by the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.
As a life-long Protestant, I was not familiar with some of the stations and neither were many in our group. But we walked, mostly in silence, noting the markers on the doors and walls along the Via Dolorosa.
Here are a few of the photos I took along the way.
Pilate's Arch--where Jesus was condemned
Jesus Falls the First Time
Simon of Cyrene given Jesus' Cross to carry
Veronica Wipes Jesus' Face
The Via Dolorosa winds its way through the center of the old city. On either side there are merchants with booths trying to sell touristy gim-cracks while residents of the area are going about their daily business. The streets were probably just as crowded the day of the crucifixion, and there were probably merchants selling stuff to Jewish pilgrims that day as well.
Via Dolorosa--street view
Among the crowds in the streets we saw several parades with drummers shouting and celebrating the bar mitzvah ceremonies of Jewish boys, which added a festive air to our journey as we walked through the Jewish quarter of the old city.
Finally we arrived at our destination: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The church is built over Golgotha as well as one of the places revered as Jesus' tomb.
Our visit to this church deserves its own post, so check back on Monday!
Further down the Mount of Olives we arrived at the Church of All Nations, which is set next to the Garden of Gethsemane. We went inside where an English-speaking group was led in worship on Ascension Day by a Catholic priest.
The Garden of Gethsemane is a little oasis in the midst of this modern city, looking much like an olive grove.
This was one of my favorite spots in Israel. It seemed to me like one of the "thin places" in the world.
Looking through my notes and photos, I can see that posting about our fifth day in Israel may take a week! Our first full day in Jerusalem was the highlight of the trip. We arrived early in the morning at the top of the Mount of Olives and then made our way down the very steep hill, across a busy city street into the old city of Jerusalem, followed the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and then traveled to the Garden Tomb before calling it a day.
The group gathered for early morning prayer on the top of the hill overlooking the ancient city of Jerusalem. If you look carefully, you will see the bright gold of the Dome of the Rock glistening in the sunlight.
It turned out that this day was Ascension Day, the fortieth day after the resurrection of Christ which traditionally marks his ascension into heaven. There were special worship services going on in all the churches we visited on our path during the day. People from all over the world came to worship. Here is the scene in the courtyard of the Church of the Ascension which is at the tippy-top of the Mount of Olives.
The western and eastern branches of Christianity use different calendars to set Easter, so most years they do not celebrate on the same day. However this year, in a rare confluence of the calendars, Easter was the same day throughout the Christian churches of the world and so, therefore, was Ascension Day. We found Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Russian and Armenian Orthodox clerics taking turns conducting worship services in churches on the Mount of Olives and in old Jerusalem. This unusual display of unity of the church made an indelible impression on our group of Protestants.
Our next stop, a bit down the hillside, was the Paternoster Church which was built to honor the Lord's Prayer.
Inside the walls of this church the Lord's Prayer is displayed in every language I ever heard of--and some I could not identify-- on beautiful tiled displays. This is the English version. Sorry about the flash showing here!
The path from the Paternoster Church down to the Garden of Gethsemane is steep and tricky because the stones are worn and slick. The Church of All Nations sits next to the Garden. That will be tomorrow's post.
For several days before we arrived in Jerusalem, I heard the old anthem "The Holy City" in my mind time and time again. That anthem was the traditional Palm Sunday anthem of our previous church and I have to confess that sometimes I found it a bit maudlin and over the top. But as we came through a tunnel to our first glimpse of Jerusalem the bus driver played "The Holy City" on the loudspeaker and his timing was just perfect!
I prefer hearing a soloist and choir sing it:
Jerusalem is more hilly than I imagined. We were thrilled to find ourselves there, at last. But geopolitical realities intruded almost immediately as we had to drop off our Jewish Israeli guide before entering Bethlehem. Although he has guided groups for years through the sites there now that the Palestinian Authority is in control of that town he is not allowed to enter because he is Jewish.
We drove through the checkpoints, past young soldiers waving guns, and into Bethlehem. "How still we see thee lie" indeed. Our guide in Bethleham was a young Christian Israeli whose family one of the few living in the area.
Our first stop was Shepherd's Field, where tradition says that the angels appeared to the shepherds (Luke 2:8). Of course there is a church there, but unfortunately I failed to get a photo of it. The area is like a garden and high on the top of the hill.
Then we went to the Church of the Nativity. As we walked around the courtyard outside of the church Dave pointed out the bullet holes on the facade and asked our guide to explain them. Our guide was reluctant to say much about it--it was obvious that he felt uncomfortable talking about it. (In 2002, the Israeli Defense Forces were trying to round up some Palestinian militants who took refuge in the Church of the Nativity. After a tense 39 days, some gunfire and resulting casualties, an agreement was reached where the militants surrendered to the IDF in exchange for deportation to Gaza and Europe.)
I was sympathetic to the guide whose position as a Christian in an area controlled by the PA is very difficult. I believe he was concerned that "the walls have ears."
The Church of the Nativity is built over a cave where tradition says that Jesus was born. Inside are three chapels, one for the Greek Orthodox, one for the Armenian Orthodox and one for the Roman Catholics. Both of the Orthodox chapels are quite ornate. Here is a photo of one, and I failed to note which one:
And here is a photo of the cave where Jesus' manger reportedly lay:
The Church of the Beatitudes and the Church of St. Peter Primus that we had seen in Galilee had not prepared us for all the gold, silver, ornate statuary and tapestries that we saw in this church. We would see even more ornate churches in Jerusalem.
As we left Yardenit and Galilee, the terrain became more arid. We stopped at Beit She'an, which has been a city from the time of Joshua and King David. In that day it was the entry to Israel and its largest and most important city. Before that, the area was ruled by the Egyptians and the Philistines.
The Romans were also there during the time of Christ. We saw the remains of this amphitheater that dates from 200 AD. Our guide told us that blood sports were held here and pointed to the lion cages underground that could be seen from where we were standing.
The ruins of the city that date from the time of King David were located outside of today's modern town. It is a vast archaeological site that we did not take the time to walk over. Our guide told us that the body of King Saul was hung from the walls of the city on the side of this mountain after his defeat by the Philistines. (1 Samuel 31: 8-13) David's lament for Saul and for Jonathan (How are the mighty fallen!) is recorded in 2 Samuel 1.
After a stop for lunch -- gotta love that falafel--the land quickly turned into bright, bleak and stark desert. As Dave pointed out, desert areas are the birthplaces of the world's great religions, so he asked the bus driver to go up one of the high desert hills and stop so we could get out and walk around.
My camera isn't good enough to show the perspective we had from the top of the peak, which was breath-taking. Dave recalled Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan and the days Jesus spent in the desert between his baptism and his ministry. It is a harsh, unforgiving land. How in the world could anyone live out here in ancient times?
But of course we read in the Bible that they did. Like the prophet Elijah who also fled to the desert to escape from his enemies and to seek God. I began to hear the wonderful aria from Mendelssohn's Elijah, "If With All Your Hearts".
There would be more mental concerts in my head as we continued on our way to Bethleham and then into Jerusalem.
The next day we traveled from Tiberius to Jerusalem, with several stops along the way. The first stop was at Yardenit, which is one of the sites on the Jordan River traditionally associated with the baptism of Jesus. Dave Peterson and our guide agreed that the actual spot is probably a bit north of Yardenit, and I have read that there is a site in Jordan that also claims to be Jesus' baptismal site. It wouldn't be the last time we learned about sites with competing sites!
Here is the entrance to Yardenit:
Once inside, I was struck by how much the river Jordan reminded me of the San Antonio River, particularly the area that flows through Brackenridge Park. When I was growing up in San Antonio my father drove through the park and over a small dam on the river on Sundays on our way to and from church.
There is a nice outdoor seating area by the river where we had a chance to sit down and let Dave lead us through reminders of our own baptisms.
Then we waded in the water together, holding hands while I led the group in singing "Down To the River To Pray", at their request. (I'd been busted the night before at a restaurant when someone handed me a microphone during a karaoke rendition of "God Bless America" and then became the group's song leader.) Oh, my, that was an amazing experience!
I give my thanks --and apologies-- to Alison Krause for her interpretation of that song. Here's what it should have sounded like:
Our day finished with a trek through the Golan Heights area. We visited an area filled with trenches and bunkers used by the Syrian army in the years before the 1967 war. It was at the top of a very steep mountain with a strategic overlook of the Israeli valley below.
There was a memorial to Israeli soldiers who died fighting in this area. A group of young Israeli Defense Force members were also visiting this spot while we were there.
Completing our tour of the Golan Heights, we stopped at the extinct volcano Mt. Bental. From its summit you can see Mt Hermon which is the highest mountian in Israel. We drove through a city that has an award winning winery (look for Yardin and Gamla labeled wines if you want to try it out--and it's good!); and stopped to buy fine chocolates at a family-run business in a kibbutz.
We were now getting used to life from the back of the bus:
And of course Mike found he could use his Blackberry *insert frowny face here*:
After a long day, it was good to get back to the hotel and enjoy the beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee while trying to absorb the different experiences we had.
The Mount of Transfiguration is in the Golan Heights, and the area belonged to Syria prior to 1967. The ancient site of Caesaria Phillippi is located there. Herod Phillip built a temple to Pan to curry favor with Augustus Caesar here. In fact the ruins of other pagan temples are on this mountain.
There is a stream that runs through the mountain and you pass by a beautiful grotto before you get to the site of the old pagan temple. It didn't take long for us to grasp the importance of water in this arid region, so it is not surprising that these temples were built near a spring.
Here's the area where the temple dedicated to Pan once stood.
I'll never think about the Transfiguration in the same way after seeing this area. The pagan altars would have been all around Jesus when he asked the disciples "who do you say I am"? (Matthew 16:15).
The anthem from Mendelsohn's oratorio Elijah kept playing in my head for the rest of the day: "Baal, We Cry to Thee", the chorus of those who placed their trust in false idols.
Moving on from Tabcha, it was a short ride to Caphernam, the town that was Jesus' home base during his public ministry. And by the way they call it " K-pher-nam" not "Ca-pur-ni-um".
Archaeologists have carefully uncovered homesites that date from the time of Christ. It's easy to get a feel for the layout of the town.
This is a carving believed to date from the time of Jesus and shows the earliest representation of the Star of David and Ark of the Covenant found so far.
As you frequently find in ancient sites, buildings are built over the remains of earlier buildings. These are the ruins of a synagogue built on the remains of the synagogue where Jesus taught.
A modern church is built over the site of the home of Peter's mother-in-law (you remember, Jesus healed the paralyzed man here Mark 2:1-11?). It literally hovers over the excavation and has a glass floor so visitors can see it. This is a photo of the site taken inside the church:
Dave reminded us that while Jesus grew up in safety in Nazareth, he was driven out of that town when he taught in their synagogue, and sought refuge in Capharnaum. Here he attracted a faithful group of followers and from this place he brought the gospel out to the world.
