The most profound experience of the day was the fallen pinnacle of the temple. Now laying on the ground, we were able to touch this biblically significant piece of history. How significant was this stone? It was there where the book of Matthew accounts, Matthew 4:5 "Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point on the temple. ....."It is also written, Do not put the Lord your God to the test." Good verses evil.
Some bible scholars will say "I thought the temple was completely destroyed...yes it was, but the City walls were torn down and reclaimed.
We visited a scale model of the city, then saw the original dead sea scrolls ( the originals were given to our tour guide's great uncle by Bedouins in the late 40s).
Then on to Bethlehem where we visited the church of the Nativity. What does one do when they enter the cave where oral tradition declares that this is the site where the Savior was born? The way the location is, you are required to duck (bow down) to enter which I thought was symbolically appropriate. That was surreal. There were both Christians and Muslims in line to see this. Muslim venerate Jesus Christ, but only consider him a prophet and not part of the trinity.
We ended the day at the traditional shepherd's field (not Troy's for those of you that know him LOL). Even today, nomads have sheep in these fields. The topo is so much more hilly than I imagined.
When I have more, I will try to explain the impact this day has and will have on my life.
It is now Saturday evening.
We drove up to the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem. When you are at the top, you can turn and see the desert and the dead sea. The mount now is surrounded by Arab residents. Elizabeth and I stood in awe of seeing this city with over 2000 years of religious and spiritual significance.
When we left our hotel (Leonardo Hotel), located in the Gahenna district, the city reminded me of our Sundays...everyone walking or driving to Synagogue only with their phylacteries, black outfits, tassels and hats. However, around the Mount of Olives, it was a regular Saturday and not a religious sabbath due to the number of Arabs.
By the way, some of you may recognize Gehenna. This is the word "Hell" in Hebrew. But, I will tell you, the hotel and district is pretty snazzy.
The Mount of Olives overlooks a cemetery dating back to the time of Christ. Jews are not buried in a casket and in the ground, they are buried in an above ground tomb. They are white and frankly beautiful all lined up. The scripture came into my mind in Matthew when he rebuked the Pharisees saying " “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." I truly now understand what he was saying. From a distance, this field which lies at the foot of the Mount of Olives is beautiful, but the reality is there is nothing inside but dead mens bones.
Nevertheless, this was the location for Jesus' last night.
After walking down through the 2000 year old grave yard, we met our bus at the base of the Temple Wall in front of the Golden Gate (which is closed). We traveled to the site of the last supper. This location has switched hands between the Christians, Crusaders, Jews and Muslims.
We end the day shopping in the old city. If I heard once, I heard a thousand times, "let me make you a deal".
The experience is more than I can write in this blog. I hope you're enjoying it and the photos!
Shalom!
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