Jerusalem Approaches

Another early start and I'm now part of the "Foreign Independents" group - all but 5 of us are part of groups from 3 US colleges ... I'm the only non-American in my course!

We took the watershed route (also called the Patriarchal Highway) south to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is in the Palestinian controlled West Bank, so we crossed through the check-point in the concrete and barbed wire wall/fence that Israel has set up. Israeli tour guides don't take groups into Bethlehem anymore, claiming that the area is too dangerous, but this really isn't the case (at least, not at the moment). Unfortunately for Bethlehem, this has really slowed down their tourism industry.

The Church of the Nativity

The church in Bethlehem is from the 4th century, making it one of the oldest in the country. While most churches were destroyed when the Persians invaded, this church was saved because they noticed a picture of the Magi (thought to be from Persia) and decided not to destroy it. The entrance is through a small door - originally it was to keep Muslim looters from bringing in donkeys to help carry out the artifacts, now they say it's so everyone has to bend down and become humble. We had to wait for a few minutes before being allowed to enter the grotto and see "the place" were Jesus was born, then it was "quickly, quickly, keep moving" as we were rushed out the other side.

The main entrance into the Church

"The spot" where Jesus was born

While standing in the square before entering the church, we learned a bit more about the Christmas story. two inaccurate translations have skewed the way we see the story. The first is the word "inn" (the same word is used later to describe the upper room used during the Last Supper) - it refers to a public room, in either a private residence or a public house. The second our idea of a stable. A number of residences in Bethlehem were built into caves - the front of the house was build, while the rear of the house was in the cave and often housed things such as bread ovens and the best breading animals (to keep them safe and use them as a source of warmth) and therefore feeding troughs. So, it's likely that Joseph went to the home of his relatives in Bethlehem, and was welcomed and allowed to stay in the front room with many of the other relatives in town for the census. And, when Mary went into labour, she went into the back room for privacy.

The fact that we celebrate Christmas in December also doesn't fit with what we know of the Biblical account of Jesus' birth. Winter is the time for growing crops in Israel (it's the rainy season), so the shepherds and their flocks stay in the wilderness where there is adequate food for the animals. In the spring, they move their flocks onto the fields - the sheep help the farmers by eating the stubble and fertilizing the fields. So since the shepherds were in the fields, it was probably May when Jesus was born.

Next stop was a hike up the Herodium - built by Herod the Great in 24 - 15 BC. It was built on a hill, then rock fill was poured around it to make the distinctive volcano shape. The walls were plastered to look like large stones, and the area was filled with lush plants. In the 66 /67 AD revolt, the Jews took control of the palace, changing the dining room into a synagogue. And later, it was used as a monastery. From the top, we had an excellent view into the Judean wilderness, and see how Jerusalem is hidden by the higher hills that surround it. There were pools of water at the base of the hill, and servants hauled water up to the large cisterns. Leaving the summit, we climbed down through the cisterns and the tunnels connecting them.

We stopped at Ramat Rahel ("Heights of Rachel") for lunch. The ridge route runs below the lookout, which overlooks the Rephaim Valley. There were also ruins of an eighth century BC royal palace never mentioned in the Bible, and piles of pottery that we could comb through for the perfect piece to take home as a souvenir.

Our last activity for the day was a walk down the Mount of Olives. We started at Dominus Flevit, a chapel with an awesome view of the Old City. At some graves near the gate we discussed burial practices at the time of Jesus' death. The picture we always see at Easter of an angel sitting on a round stone isn't an accurate depiction of the tomb that Jesus would have been buried in. During that time, the entrance to the tomb would have been square, and a stone plug (weighing about 300 lbs) would have been put into the opening. The term "rolling stone" was a carry-over from much earlier in history, when stones had been rolled in front of the openings for graves.

This chapel commemorates the supposed location where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. As Jesus came down the mountain, the crowds were waving palm branches - a symbol of the Hasmonean revolt in 141 BC, when the Maccabees defeated the Greeks and the temple was purified. Jesus entering this was therefore making the Pharisees nervous - the people were hoping for a revolution and the Pharisees must have know the danger the people were creating for themselves.

The final stop on the way down was the Garden of Gethsemane (meaning "oil press") were we went into the dark Basilica of the Agony, and across the road, Mary's Tomb.

We got back to the city early, so my roommate and I wondered through the old city for a while, looking in shops and sharing a giant bagel (with zatar to dip it into) before heading back to the hotel for the evening.

Benjamin Field Study

We had an early start this morning, meeting the bus below the Jaffa Gate at 7 am. We headed east out of Jerusalem, down the Ascent of Adummim on the road to Jericho, and got off the bus at Wadi Qelt. This is where the story of the Good Samaritan took place. Before starting our hike down the wadi to Jericho, we spent a while focusing on the wilderness. The hike down the wadi was hot, dusty, probably not the safest path (slip on the loose rocks and you'll be at the bottom), but was amazing! I'm so happy we were able to do it! The hike ended at Herod Archelaus' palace in "New Testament" Jericho.

We then took the bus to the Tel of Old Testament Jericho. It was much smaller than I expected it to be and with fewer ruins. It makes you wonder how the Israelite army had room to march around - they would have been spread all over the hills! After Jericho is destroyed, Joshua places a curse on the city, saying, “At the cost of his firstborn son he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.” In Judges, the story of Ehud tells us that Eglon, King of Moab had taken possession of Jericho (called the City of Palms in this story), so obviously the curse did not affect him. The curse eventually falls on Hiel of Bethel when he rebuilds Jericho during the time of the divided kingdom.

Leaving Jericho, we headed back up into the Judean wilderness via the "TOE" route (Tayhe Ophrah Ephraim, the names of the town along the route). As we climbed out of the Jordan valley, the views behind us were amazing. We could also see a number of Bedouin settlements and many small crop fields. Looking at the fields - their small size, with plenty of rocks and thorns around - makes the parable of the sower come to life ... I can now visualize what the crowds would have been thinking about when Jesus told them this parable.

We stopped at a lookout to place the towns we were able to see with the towns we had been focusing on in our map work and during class yesterday. Two interesting ideas were presented there. First, the story in Judges about the near annihilation of the tribe of Benjamin. The story may have been written during or just after David's reign, putting a whole new political spin on the story. In the story, the father-in-law in Bethlehem (David's hometown) is made out to be super-hospitable, as opposed to rape and murder of the concubine in Gibeah (Saul's hometown). So, in a way, the story raises up David's credibility while destroying Saul's.

The second topic was the story in Genesis where Abraham and Lot divide the land. In this region, people orient themselves towards the East, so when referring to left and right, they could also be referring to North and South. In that case, Abraham is asking Lot whether he would prefer the north or south half of the promised land, Lot chooses something he wasn't offered - the East (the fertile Jordan valley). In this way, Lot abandons Abraham and leaves the promised land.

Next stop was an unusual overlook of the Central Benjamin Plateau - King Husein of Jordan's unfinished palace! I found it really useful to be able to compare what I'm used to studying on a map to what it really looks like - the plateau isn't as flat as the name makes it sound, but it is much flatter than the surrounding hills and sharp valleys. We also made a quick stop at Nabi Samuel to look over the plateau from a different angle. Looking over the area, it's easy to see why this was such a strategically important area.

We continued our field study exiting the plateau to the west and visiting Tel Gezer - one of the largest archaeological sites in Israel (I would guess at least 4 times the size of Jericho). Gezer controlled the Aijalon Valley, the entrance into Benjamin via the Upper and Lower Beth-horon and Kiriath-jearim ridge routes. Not much is written about Gezer in the Bible, but that is generally the case with important political sites - the more important, the less it's mentioned. During Solomon's reign, Pharoh conquered Gezer and gave it to Solomon as a wedding dowry. Solomon then fortified the city.

Since we spent the day in the West Bank, we got to see a lot of the wall the Israelis built around it. We had no problems driving through, but cars with Arab-looking occupants were getting searched.

New Testament Jerusalem

We switched the order around today and did our walk first and class after lunch. The groups met at the Jaffa Gate (a 5-10 minute walk from JUC, only 1 minute from the hotel) and our first stop was just a few feet further at David's Citadel (again). In John 19, Jesus is before Herod at a place called Gabbatha. If you translate that from Greek to Hebrew (and then to English), it mean "high place", which is most likely the Herodian, now the location of David's Citadel. If that is correct, the Via Delarosa begins in the wrong place!

Next up was into the Jewish Quarter to see the Broad Wall (this is not the Broad Wall that Nehemiah refers to). This wall was part of the fortifications build by King Hezekiah to protect the western hill after he rebelled from the Assyrian King. It is 7 m wide and was originally 8 m high. The wall was built where it could provide the best defense, so some houses were destroyed and others were left outside the wall. The Assyrians did not conquer Jerusalem, even though Senacarib wrote about how he had "locked up Jerusalem like a bird in a cage) - he listed the other cities that were destroyed and Jerusalem is not on that list. This led to the "Jerusalem Theology" - the belief that since God dwells in Jerusalem, He won't let anyone destroy the city. We followed the path of the wall (marked on the ground by red stones) to what is thought to be the Gennath Gate. Gennath mean "garden", and since Jesus was crucified and buried near a garden, it could be this gate that he exited through.

Just as it opened, we got to the Wohl Archaeological Museum. The excavation in that area has uncovered the ruins of a few wealthy houses from the second temple era (the time of Christ). They contain mosaic floors, water cisterns, multiple ritual baths, and even a bathtub! From inscriptions, we can assume that it was a priestly neighbourhood, which in Jesus' time, were very wealthy.

Next stop was the Jerusalem Archaeological Park, which is just south of the Western Wall. There were a number of bar-mitzvah's taking place, so there was a continuous background noise of trumpets, drums, singing, and clapping. Considering that I always think of people going to the temple during feasts (and rejoicing about being there), it fit in really well! The stones used to build the platform are HUGE, especially the cornerstones! The Romans destroyed the top of the Temple Mount after the Jewish rebellion, throwing the large stones off the top into the valley below. Under the rubble, ruins of shops can be found against the walls.

Walking around to the southern wall, we couldn't see the City of David below the hill - it makes a lot more sense now why it is written "Let us go UP to the Temple of the Lord". The original temple access was from the south, and some of the original stairs (carved out of the bedrock) are still there - it's possible that Jesus actually walked on those rocks. The southern steps were a meeting place, and the area has plenty of ritual baths for purification. (Side note: there is a division in the baths to separate the now-clean from the unclean people.) It's likely that this is were the apostles were on Pentecost. At this time, many Jews from all over would have been in Jerusalem for the festival, and after hearing a sound of a violent wind, probably rushed up to the temple to see what was happening. (In Hebrew, the Temple is often referred to as "The House") Since Pentecost is at the end of the rainy season, this also works as a good place to baptise the 3000 new believers - where else in the city could they have found enough water for all of them?

After walking down along the eastern side of the Temple Mount and re-entering the city through Lion's Gate, we reached St. Anne's Church, the site of the Pool of Bethesda. There are 2 deep pools (about 20 - 30 m deep), and 5 smaller baths. When Jesus healed the paralytic man at the Pool of Bethesda, the man refers to not being able to get into the water when it is stirred. This stirring was probably caused by water from the larger pools being funneled into the smaller pools, not an angel stirring the water like some believed. After looking around the pools, we went into the church. The church isn't much to look at, but the accoustics are amazing! After the other groups had sung their songs and left, we sang "Amazing Grace" and "It is Well" (the "when peace like a river ..." song).

After racing back to the university for lunch, we started our class talking about the Church of the Holy Sepulchre since we didn't have time to visit it as a group. Next up was an overview of archaeology, and the geography, climate, geology, and main roads of the region.

After a break, we learned a bit about the Benjamin region. A third of the Biblical stories take place in Benjamin, even though it was one of the smallest tribes. The reason is it's location - between the two largest and most powerful tribes, Judah and Ephraim - and also it's strategic location - it povides the easiest connection between Jerusalem and the major trading route along the Mediterranean Sea - the Coastal Highway. The first king of Israel, Saul, was from Benjamin. After David (from the tribe of Judah) became king, he conquered the Jebusite city of Jerusalem (which is just inside Benjamin), and made his capital there, renaming it "David's City". That name indicated to Israel that Jerusalem no longer belonged to a tribe, but to the whole country (kind of like Washington, D.C. in the USA). When the kingdom divided after the death of Solomon, Benjanim probably chose to stay with the other tribes in Israel, but because of the Central Benjamin Plain's strategic and financial value, Judah most likely forced Benjamin to join them. Tomorrow we tour through the region, so it will be interesting to see the area we just learned about ... and to get out of Jerusalem!

A group of us had supper at the pizza place across the street from the hotel. Since I can't have milk, I got my own specially made little pizza! Normally the dough is made with milk, so even the dough of my pizza was made just for me! We then spent a while shopping in the Old City were I bought 3 small bowls, then back to JUC to spend a while typing this up! (My assignment for myself on this trip is to try to keep this blog up-to-date. Unfortunately I can't seem to get any pictures to upload, so that part will probably have to wait until I get home.)

Old Testament Jerusalem

The first part of our class today was on the Gihon Spring. This is the spring which supplied water to the "original" Jebusite Jerusalem. The spring was originally outside the city walls, but the wall had been extended around the spring before David conquered the city. During Hezekiah's reign (around 700 BC), a tunnel was built to bring the water into the city where it was stored in the Pool of Siloam. The second part of class was a quick overview of the history of Israel (which I won't write down here), expaining things such as the root of the division between Judah and the rest of the tribes of Israel.

After lunch (and a quick trip back to the hotel to pick up a pair of shoes and drop off some stuff), we started our walking tour of Old Testament Jerusalem. Leaving the city, we walked through Zion Gate (which is full of bullet marks) down to the non-Muslim entrance to the Temple Mount.

We stood in the security line for a few minutes waiting for it to open, then went through the metal detectors, up the ramp, and through the gate. A couple of people in the group were hassled about showing too much skin, but after being given something to cover up with, we able to get back to our group. We weren't allowed into the Dome of the Rock, only to walk around the building. The tile work on the outside was amazing! We made sure to stay in groups to avoid being hassled and didn't spend much time at the site - it was only open for an hour and we had to get to another place soon after. It was interesting to learn that non-Muslims can only visit during certain hours, while Muslims have unrestricted access to the area through several gates - there were even groups of children playing soccer in the side garden.

Next on the agenda was a quick 10 minute visit to the Western Wall, also called the Wailing Wall (a place to mourn the destruction of the temple). I'm obviously not allowed to go the the much larger men's side, so off to the women's side I went! The area close to the wall was full of girls reading their Torah, rocking back and forth, and others stuffing prayers into the cracks of the wall. They would then walk backwards away from the wall as a sign of respect (the men don't do this).

I don't think I've ever been to a place where I wasn't allowed somewhere because of my sex or religion. It was a weird feeling in both these places (the Temple Mount and the Wall) - it was like I wasn't really wanted there.

The next stop was the City of David. After watching a short 3D video giving a brief history of the City, we walked down to Warren's Shaft and the Gihon Spring. After changing my shoes and zipping of the bottoms of my hiking pants, we entered Hezekiah's Tunnel. The tunnel is over 500m long, with only a slight downward slope, and turns back and forth. It's amazing to think how they dug this tunnel from two ends, meeting somewhere in the middle, without any modern technology! Nobody is sure how they accomplished this.

The water was colder than I expected, and other than the first few meters where the water came more than half way up my thighs, was only calf deep. The tunnel was usually pretty narrow - I had to keep my arms tucked in or infront of me to fit through. Areas of the tunnel had low ceilings, other times is was probably close to 2 stories high. I was glad that part way through I was able to borrow a flashlight from the guy behind me ... I had dropped a bit behind the rest of the group while taking a picture and it was dark without all their lights. As I walked, I was able to listen to the group behind us singing - the accoustics were amazing!

We exited the tunnel at what used to be thought of as the Pool of Siloam - they recently discovered a pool that is more likely the real Pool of Siloam, so we headed down there for a look. Then it was back up to the top of the Eastern Hill from the bottom of the Kidron Valley (a good hike up!)

After walking back up along the outside of the city walls to the Zion Gate, we crossed into the Old City and walked back to the hotel for supper. Then, it was back to JUC for the free internet!

Oh, as a side note - I could hear a lot of military jets flying over today, but because of the haze (or because the were too high/fast), I still haven't been able to spot one! Frustrating.

Introduction to Historical Geography

Today was the start of the course, so after breakfast we walked down to JUC for our 8 am class (no sleeping in on this trip!) After an introduction to the university and a tour around the campus, the prof gave us and introduction to the course. In it, he focused on Dt 8:7-9 and Dt. 11:8-12 . Dt 8 lists the 7 traditional agricultural products of Israel (wheat, barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, and olive oil), but there is one odd one added - honey! Honey isn't and agricultural product! So, there are 2 theories about why it's included. The first is that the honey could have been a syrup made from dates and therefore an agricultural product. The second is that it actually is bee honey, like it says. If so, we can assume that means that there must have been a lot of flowers (needed to make honey), and therefore, uncultivated land for pastures. That also works with what is written in Dt 11 (a land flowing with milk and honey). The milk being refered to here was goat milk, so a land with plenty of milk and honey must have been uncultivated pasture lands.

Dt 11 also goes on to talk about the difference between farming in Egypt and in Israel - in Egypt, the water comes from the Nile though irrigation, it's always available. But in Israel, the people would have to depend on the rain for their crops to flourish and therefore depend on God to provide the rain. So, rain begins to be associated with God's care for His people.

We then looked at a map showing the type of lands found in the Middle East. Israel is positioned within the fertile cresent between tow large superpowers, Babylon/Assyria and Egypt. Because the surrounding land is either desert or highlands and can't support crops, this fertile cresent became the trade routes between the two nations.

Our next topic was a brief history of Modern Israel - the formation and expansion of the country, and how the Israeli government has delt with the Arabs in various areas of the country (making them citizens, giving them ID cards, leaving them without a nation (and therefore, no passports), or leaving them in refugee camps in surrounding nations. We also talked a bit about the Jewish settlements in areas of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

We then switched our focus back to the history of Jerusalem. Jerusalem at the time of David (c. 1000 BCE) was south of the present Old City, located between the Kidron Valley and Tyropoeon Valley (also called "The Valley"), since that is the location of the Gihon Spring - they city's water source. King Solomon (c. 930 BCE) expanded the city, building the Temple to the north and his palace to the south. By the time of King Hezekiah (c. 701 BCE), the city had grown to include the area west of The Valley. The city shrunk with the exile, then grew again through the Hasmoneans and Romans.

After lunch at the school, we started out for a 4 hour walk through the Old City. Each of the quarters has a "magnet" drawing those people to it. The Armenians have the Church of St. James, the Christians have the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Jews have the Western Wall, and the Muslims have access to the Temple Mount. The Quarters don't have the obvious divisions that the maps show - the lines are blurred.

We started our walk at Jaffa Gate. The gate was opened up in over a hundred years ago to allow a visiting German Kaiser to enter the city in his carriage. The next stop was outside David’s Citadel, which despite the name, is not the location of King David’s palace (this area wasn’t part of the city during that time).

Down the road is St. James’ Cathedral (the Armenian “magnet”). Following around the outside of the Cathedral (paying attention to the fact that there is only one entrance!) we reached St. Mark’s Church. This Syrian Orthodox church contains one of the Upper Rooms (if there aren’t at least 2 different churches claiming that an event happened there, it probably didn’t happen) and also claims to be Mark’s home. I guess the important thing for us is to remember and commemorate the event rather than the location!

We continued into the Jewish Quarter, stopping at The Cardo (an excavated section of the main street of Byzantine-era Jerusalem), Hurva Square, and a place where we could look over the valley to the Temple Mount and part of the Western (Wailing) Wall. It was interesting to see the amount of activity taking place around the entrance and at the lookout, the number of Jewish school kids on field trips, each group accompanied by an armed guard. Then it was up onto the roof-tops for a different view of the city!

After going down off the roofs, an Arab boy showed us into the Muslim Quarter (not David Street like he was supposed to), so we stopped by Damascus Gate. It is supposedly the most beautiful of the city gates, but it's being restored right now, so all we got to see was scaffolding. What we could see is how the gate becomes the market, meeting place, court, etc. for a city.

Back in the Christian Quarter, we were introduced to two shopkeepers that have a good relationship with JUC - Shaaban (who was around when my sister came here!) and Zak. After getting some free drinks from Shaaban, we headed back up David St. and along the city wall to JUC to write some emails. We headed back to the hotel just before it got dark.

Jerusalem

My flight arrived just before 11 am. I didn't have any problems getting into the country, though I was questioned at the gate just after getting off the plane as well as the usual questions at immigration. So, I now have an Israeli stamp in my passport ... and can't go to several countries until I get a new one (only 1 1/2 years away).

I had no problems finding the sherut (shared taxi) to Jerusalem. The driver dropped me off just below the Jaffa Gate and gave me detailed instructions on how to get to the hotel, so it wasn't hard to find at all! The hotel is simple, but it's clean! The elevators are a tiny (have to get a picture in there next time I take it) and slow, but since there are probably 60 steps between the ground floor and the first floor, elevator it is ... for going up, at least! (The bedroom I'm sharing has 2 hard single beds and a large bathroom.)

The street the hotel is on

After dumping my stuff off at the hotel, I picked up my information packet at reception, flipped though it quickly, then walked down to JUC (Jerusalem University College) to take a look around. That school is a maze! I knew there were computers somewhere (had to email my mom so that she could stop worrying about me) and after wandering around for a while, eventually found someone to ask. Good thing I did - I had to go through the dinning room, across a courtyard, into another building, down a set of stairs ... the next problem was finding my way back out again!

David Street

After that, I headed into the old city down David St. - a narrow street heading downhill toward the intersection the the Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Armenian quarters. I spent about an hour walking around, then headed back to the hotel to use the bathrooms and see if my roommate had shown up yet (nope). Then it was back to the Christian quarter to see if I could find the Church of the Holy Sepulchre without having to pull out my guidebook for the map - you'd think it would be easy, there was even a sign for it off David St.! I knew that I was in the right area, but after 15 minutes, just couldn't find it. I finally pulled out a map, saw that I was basically right beside it, and continued my search - you'd think a large church would be hard to hide. 10 minutes later, I realized that there was one small passage that I hadn't gone down and finally found the gate to the church's courtyard. It was neat to see all the people in there, their different reactions to the various things in there (such as kissing and rubbing rocks, jewelery, and other things on the Stone of Unction - where Jesus' body was prepared for burial). We'll probably be back here with the prof, so I didn't bother reading all the details in the guidebook - just looked at it to find what was important about the various rocks! And I didn't see the tomb, eithere - there was a huge line and I'm sure we'll be going there as a group.Leaving the church, I got to hear my first Muslim call to prayer.

Back at the hotel, I met my roommate for the next 3 weeks and after supper (at the hotel - we'll be getting all breakfasts and dinners there), we went back to JUC to explore the campus some more. Then it was back to the hotel for an early bedtime since neither of us had slept on the way over!

Off I go again!

My next adventure - a 3 week course in Israel! I'll be taking the Historical and Geographical Settings course at Jerusalem University College (JUC).

After church in the morning, my parents picked me up and I went over to their place for lunch. Then it was off to the airport for my 5 pm flight - thankfully, direct! The only unusual part was that before getting to the gate, they swabbed our bags and hands to test for something - I assume explosives? The flight was packed - only 1 empty seat in the whole plane! But I have GOT to learn how to sleep on planes ... 11 hours, overnight, and I was only able to doze off for a few minutes.