After breakfast at the hotel, we boarded the bus at 8 am sharp. We had
a busy day ahead and had several "appointments" to keep at museums and
sights. We drove first to the City of King David, which is outside of
the city walls of Jerusalem (the old city). On the way, Jacob
introduced us to David, a Jew from Dallas, TX, who is also a tour
guide but has lived here for 20 years. He was along to assist and give
us a perspective from an Jewish side. Jacob is Jewish and was born in
Jerusalem, but David is a more "practicing" Jew. And, his English is
better!
Jacob told us that the city of Jerusalem celebrated its 3,000 yr.
anniversary in 1997. Today the weather is cold and windy, but sunny.
Our first stop is the City of David on Zion Mountain, which is outside
the old city walls. The current city walls were from the time of
Sulliman the Magnificent (Ottoman Turks). In the time of Jesus, the
city walls encompassed 440 acres; in the present, the walls enclose
230 acres. There are four quarters: Moslem is 45%, Armenian is the
smallest (Armenian was the first culture to embrace Christianity),
Jewish and Christian.
Our first visit was to the City of David and the visitor's center
there. This area had recently been excavated and is where David
founded his city (Zion Mtn.) The City of David was the dividing line
between Judah in the South and Benjamin in the North. This overlooks
the Kidron Valley. In the Kidron Valley there is a low spot of the
"water source" (II Samuel, Chapter 5). The ruins of Zion, the City of
David were discovered recently. For a long time archiologists looked
within the city walls for this. But in the last 100 years, it was
discovered that the City of David was outside of the walls. Old graves
and other sites have been uncovered. In addition, the spring and
underground tunnels to get to the spring have been uncovered:
Hezekiah's tunnel and the Canaanite Tunnel. We walked through the
Canaanite tunnel (because the other one has about 24" of water in it.
This involved going down many steps and then through some very narrow
passages (you had to almost turn sideways to get through!). The tunnel
is from 1,800 BC. After coming out of the tunnel, we saw the Pool of
Shiloh, where people who came to Jerusalem washed before coming to the
temple to take their sacrifices. This pool was 120 meters x 50 meters.
After the destruction of the temple in AD 70, bodies of people were
found under paving street stones near the pool, complete with
provisions.
Our next stop was the Church of St. Peters of Gallicantu (a
Benedictine/French) This church is on the site of the house of Ciaphas
(the Jewish High Priest where Jesus was held over night after being
arrested). Jesus was lowered in a "dugeon" which was actually the
bottom of the water cistern. We saw the hole he was lowered in and
then walked down in the cistern where he spent the dark, wet, lonely
night. In the courtyard of this house, Peter denied Jesus three times
before the cock crowed. We had a time for reflection (Matt. 6: 59-65)
and confession while we were in the dark place that Jesus was held
overnight. We could see the Byzantine crosses that were etched into
the sides of the narrow hole when we were in the bottom of the cistern.
Afterward, we had a little time to shop in the gift shop and then we
were on the bus to go to Mt. Zion to see King David's tomb. This is
now something of a contested sight, since the City of David has been
discovered. It is believed that the true tomb may be found with more
excavation. In the meantime, this is what is considered the tomb. We
had to enter separately (men and women). All we could see was part of
a casket or drape. Most of it was covered with a thick plastic sheet.
From there, it was a short walk to the location of the Upper Room.
This location was supposed to be where the Last Supper and Pentecost
took place. The room actually dated form the Crusaders period so it
was built in the Gothic Period. Evidence of Moslem occupation was
there because of a niche added in the wall in that style.
From there we walked to the Zion Gate to enter the Old City. This
gate shows evidence of the wars for this area (you can see the bullet
holes in the stone). This gate takes you into the Armenian quarter.
Until 1948, Jews only lived within the Old City walls in the Jewish
Quarter. After the war in 1948, the whole old city was under Jordanian
rule. The Jordanians tore down the buildings in the Jewish Quarter. In
1967, when the Jews got control back of this area, they found the
remains of ancient civilizations. They decided to re-build, but
preserve the old ruins. This was done by an underground museum showing
the houses and quarters of the Jews from the time of Christ (until 70
AD). We went in a museum after lunch (which was on our own in the
Jewish Quarter) that was underground and showed all of the very large
houses that were there. These houses were believed to be those of
priests and wealthy citizens (some were 6,000 sq. ft.). The houses
were decorated and designed in the Greco-Roman style of the day. The
museum is the Wohl Museum of Archeology. We saw film presentation
about the destruction of the temple. This depicted a family of a
priest and how they reacted during the rebellion and the threat of the
Romans coming to destroy the city.
From there, we walked to the large plaza (Hakotel Square) in front of
the Wailing Wall area. We had an opportunity to go to the wall and
say or leave prayers. The women were to go on the right side and the
men could go on the left side. It was a very moving experience. The
people there were very devoted and spiritual. The combination of
seeing all the pilgrims and knowing this wall was there when Jesus was
alive was really a moving experience.
After this, we walked further to the South and went into another
museum to see a presentation of a "typical" pilgrim coming to
Jerusalem, entering the Temple, buying a sacrifice and taking it to
the priests to be sacrificed.
Our next stop was to see the "Robinson's Arch" on one side of the city
wall. This is named by the man that discovered the arch embedded in
the old wall. This was one of the entrances that would have been used
by priests and dignitaries to enter the Temple complex. The arch can
still be seen on the wall, but it was covered up during the Ottoman
rule.
Around the corner from this we saw two area that had been covered up
that were for the common people. This is were people would pay the
money to enter and carry in their sacrifices. The steps on this side
are original from the time of Jesus. It was very moving to see and
walk up the same steps that Jesus must have taken to enter into the
Temple.
After that, our tour day was over. We were all very tired, but had
seen so many wonderful things! Back at the hotel, we had some time (45
minutes) to rest and then our group met to reflect on the day at 5:30.
At 6, we went on the roof top terrace to see the city at night under a
full moon.
After that, we had dinner in the hotel and then to bed! Tired feet,
but a wonderful day.
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