The final leg of our Holy Land trip was Jerusalem and the first site we visited was on the eastern edge overlooking the old city and Temple Mount. The first thing that struck me was how compact all the sites were and the amount of history we could see from this view.
Just to give you a perspective, we are standing just south of the Mount of Olives with the Kidron Valley between this photo and city. The Old City of David is in the lower left corner below the Temple Mount and walled city. David built his city lower in elevation than God's house as he wanted the Israelites to look up to God. The big corner is the SE wall where Jesus was tempted by the devil. At the time of Christ, it would have been a long way to fall into the Kidron Valley; however, over the centuries a road was built next to the wall.
Following the wall zig-zagging to the left is roughly where the Last Supper was held. Later that night, Jesus and his disciples returned to the Mount of Olives (just to the right side of where this picture was taken). After being arrested, he walked back down, across the valley and to the north side of the city, where he was persecuted and crucified.
In the middle is the Dome on the Rock, which is a mosque today, but sits directly above Solomon's Temple. More on this later.
We started our decent into the city by taking a route that Jesus may have triumphantly taken on Palm Sunday riding on a donkey to cheering crowds. The crowds laid palm branches across the path as a sign of the new king that would free them based on their human ideas. Coincidently the sign of the zealots was the palm and this symbolized the coming king they thought would take control of Israel.
Our next stop was Mount of Olives where Jesus spent much of his time.
After witnessing the layout, I can understand the proximity better. It is close to the city, serene, and provided a perfect view into his Father's house. From this vantage point, we are at the same elevation as the temple and Jesus could easily look directly inside the Temple.
Looking from the Temple Mount back across toward Mount of Olives, this is the view and you can see how close everything is located.
Here is another view from the Temple Mount area looking back toward Mount of Olives.
The entire Temple Mount is controlled by the Muslims and many refuse to believe that the Jewish Temples where built in the same spot as the current mosque. It is so odd to hear the Muslim call to worship echoing around the city. After the Temple was torn down and the land controlled by the Muslims, they erected the mosque using building materials left over from other sites. In order to access the Temple Mount, we had to go through security and were told that Bibles were not allowed on site. Even as we gathered, our tour guide pulled out a small poster to help describe the layout of the original temple and he was instructed by the controlling authority that it was not allowed.
The Muslims are also concerned about the prophecy about the second coming of Christ. When he appears, he will walk through the East Gate and the Muslims have figured a way to prevent this. They buried their dead across the gate (no one is allowed to walk across graves) and they bricked the opening. So they figure they can stop God by a little brick and mortar. I think God will find a creative way to walk through the gate on that day.
Legend has it that the Dome was built over the rock that God tested Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. It was not that Abraham wanted to sacrifice his son, but that he trusted God completely and later God stopped him. I believe that God would not have asked Abraham to do something that God himself was not prepared to do later by sacrificing his only son, Jesus and in essence was a little more foreshadowing of events to come.
We walked along the Via Delarosa to the various stations of the cross. At the end we came to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where early pilgrams claimed Christ was crucified and buried. While there, our guide toured us, but did not explain much. There was much activity and many worshipers in the church. There was a long line up a stairway to see some site that we later learned was where Christ was crucified - or so the belief is of many of the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholics. However, while I am not a biblical scholar, this did not seem to match what was written in the Bible. For one thing, it is inside the city walls and crucifixions and burials happened outside according to traditions.
Later we stopped at the Garden Tomb. There are many reasons why this seems to be more logical in my opinion. It is outside the city walls and right next to Golgatha (the skull). The site is on the main road to Damascus and a busy intersection outside the gate to serve as a public warning. Excavations around the site confirm this was a public execution location.
In addition, just to the west of this skull outcropping is a site which was excavated in the early 20th century. I was always puzzled by the words in the Bible from Mary asking if the person she was talking to was the gardener. It seemed odd to me, but it makes more sense now that Jesus may have been buried in a garden setting. The wealthy Joseph of Arimathea asked to bury the body quickly (Passover was coming and there was no time to prepare a proper burial site) and he had a family tomb that was partially ready.
The excavated site found the third largest cistern in Jerusalem and could easily support watering a very large garden. Also a very large wine press was found which would need many grapes from a garden in order to utilize it. All of this would have needed a very wealthy individual to support it.
Finally the tomb was cut out of the stone face and the body would have been laid on the right side. From the door way, one could look inside to the right to see a body just as Peter and John did. No bones were found and in addition, the second burial spot was never completed. This had to be a tomb of a wealthy man. Why wasn't it used? Why wasn't it completed? If Jesus had been buried there, that might explain a lot.
The opening to the tomb has a grooved slot where a large stone could be rolled away. We saw a similar one in Jordan that looked like a large eight foot disk carved from stone. One like that could have easily fit in the grooved track. And finally, the remnants of an ancient metal spike which was pounded into the stone face is still present. It is suspected that this could have been the seal placed over the stone to ensure that no one stole the body.
No one will know for certain, but the Bible seems to support most of this evidence. It is not hard to imagine an angel sitting atop a round stone.
Finally to complete the Holy Land Blog, I wanted to finish with my favorite passage. I had not noticed this until recently when our pastor mentioned the multiple use of the word "you" and how Jesus personalized the message.
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going?
Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:1-6
A final humorous observation: While walking through the Arab shops there were many novelty items for sale. My favorite is this T-Shirt. It is made in China, sold by Arabs, in Israel, to American tourists. Gotta love capitalism!
Just a couple more photos from Jerusalem:
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| Church at the Garden of Gethsemane |
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| All the paper in the cracks are written prayers. |
The Western Wall. Since Jews are not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount, this is as close as they can get.
