Walking the Bible: #2 of 3: Jerusalem & Judea Wilderness by the Dead Sea

We traveled by bus from the Sea of Galilee to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is 3,800 feet above sea level so your really "going up" or in the Hebrew "Aalyiah" to the High Places. Mt. Zion is really Mt. Horeb the place where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac. Muslims believe it is the place where Abraham went to sacrifice Ishmael. The Western Wall, or "wailing wall" is the one surviving wall of Herod's Temple from Jesus day. However where the Holy Place was is now in the Dome of the Rock.

Wailing Wall

We spent some time here in prayer and even tucked names of loved ones and others into the wall. It was a profound and moving place to pray with our Jewish brothers and sisters. I prayed for the Peace of Jerusalem as Scripture invites us to do. The next morning was Shabbat (Sabbath) so the Jewish part of Jerusalem was quiet but the Muslim quarter was busy. We went through the Damascus Gate into the Old City and the marketplaces. This gate and much of the existing wall was built by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1537. 

Damascus Gate

From here we traveled to the "Shephelah" or Judean foothills. At each place we went George would do a "Faith Lesson". Here it was about Samson. Everything was very green now because it is just the end of the rainy season

 At Beth Gurin (House of Power) we learned about the importance of Olive oil for live and saw some underground olive presses. It is perhaps one like this that Samson was chained to after being captured. Oil was prosperity and power.

Olive Press

Olive Press

 This town also had power through its Columbarim. These were basically huge underground Homing Pigeon niches carved into the rock. This was the ancient worlds internet to stay in communication with cities around the middle east.  This may have been the way that kings found out others were coming to attack them.

Columbarium- Underground Homing Pigeon coop 

 Since Jesus tomb is in a very tourist place in Jerusalem George taught us about 1st Century Jewish burial practices at a different tomb in outside the city. You can see the round stone that sealed the tomb and the door into the preparation chamber. Spices were used to help decompose the body so that after 1 year all the bones could be removed and placed in a bone box. All the family bone boxes were kept in the inner chamber and the decomposing bodies in the outer chambers of the tomb. When Joseph of Aramathia gave Jesus his tomb he was he was probably still planning to be buried there but recognizing  that he and Jesus were now part of the same family.

 The next day we began descending a long stairway in Hezekiahs Water Tunnel. Hezekiah built this to bring the Gihon Spring from outside the walls of Jerusalem to inside the walls when the Assyrians were preparing to attack Jerusalem. Its a remarkable engineering feat for the 8th Century BC with teams digging the rock from each end. It flows about 1/4 of a mile into the Pool of Siloam as it has flowed for
thousands of years.

 Also under the city is "Solomon's Mine" where limestone was quarried, perhaps for the temple.  Since no hammer or chisel was heard while the temple was built perhaps all the stone was mined and finished right under the city and then transported to the temple mount.

Solomon's Mine- under Jerusalem

 view of Old City & Dome of the Rock - Wailing wall behind it.

 We walked the path that Jesus took on Palm Sunday from the Mt. of Olives into the city. We stopped to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane.  It was a profound wall "downhill" reflecting Jesus coming down, emptying himself for us.  We then entered the Old City of Jerusalem and walked the Via Delarosa or Way of Suffering where Jesus carried the cross to his death.

Garden of Gethsemane

Via Delarosa 

 That evening we traveled south to the Dead or Salt Sea. From the green and high places of Jerusalem we go to 1400 feet below sea level to a dry and barren place in the Judea wilderness . You get an idea where the Israelites lived for 40 years and why they might have wanted to go back to the water & food of Egypt.
But even in the desert there are springs of living water. We hiked up to the En Gedi spring which provides an oasis near the Dead Sea. It may have been places like this that David lived and hid out from Saul. It was easy to understand all the Biblical images such as Psalm 42 " As a deer pants for streams of water so my soul pants for you O God.  After our faith lessons some of us went swimming under the falls

 We continued on that day to visit Qumran where the Dead Seas scrolls were discovered in caves. They had been preserved for over 2000 years and gave us more reliable manuscripts of the Old Testament

Qumran caves

 We then took the tram up MASADA. This was first built as a mountain fortress by Herod the Great and included steam baths. It was later one of the last stands of the Jewish Zealots against the Romans.
 Some of us enjoyed hiking down.

From the pictures you get an idea of the dryness of this Judah wilderness. It never rains here. 

We got home in time for a swim or should I say float in the Dead Sea before dinner.

I'll have another post tomorrow about the Jordan Wilderness including Petra and then Egypt.
I also just discovered that some of our group were doing a blog while we were there with some great pictures and writing if you want to see more. Just click HERE to see it