Today we traveled from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to see the City of David.
Along the way we passed the Mar Elias - Holy Elijah - Monastery. When Elijah was threatened by Queen Jezebel, he fled for his life.
"Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, how he had killed all Baal's prophets with the sword. Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with this message: 'May the gods do whatever they want to me if by this time tomorrow I haven't made your life like the life of one of them.'
Elijah was terrified. He got up and ran for his life. He arrived at Beer-sheba in Judah and left his assistant there. He himself went farther on into the desert a day's journey. He finally sat down under a solitary broom bush. He longed for his own death: 'It's more than enough, Lord! Take my life because I'm no better than my ancestors.' He lay down and slept under the solitary broom bush.
Then suddenly a messenger tapped him and said to him, 'Get up! Eat something! Elijah opened his eyes and saw flatbread baked on glowing coals and a jar of waer right by his head. He ate and drank, and then went back to sleep. The Lord's messenger returned a second time and tapped him. 'Get up! Eat something, because you have a difficult road ahead of you.' Elijah got up, ate and drank, and went refreshed by that food for forty days and nights until he arrived at Horeb, God's mountain." 1 Kings 19:1-8
City of David is the Israeli name for the oldest settled neighborhood of Jerusalem and a major archeological site. It is where King David built his palace and established his capital. In the City of David, on March 9, 2014, we read 2 Samuel 5:1-5 about David becoming king.
Major excavations have been done of David's palace.
This was probably David's view as he looked down and saw Bathsheba bathing. "One evening, David got up from his couch and was pacing back and forth on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful." 2 Samuel 11:2.
Towering above David's palace was the Temple Mount.
The Kidron Valley separates the living and the dead buried on the Mount of Olives. All the graves face the top of the Mount of Olives. It is believed that Jesus will come again on the Mount of Olives, and the dead will rise up in the right direction!
Across from the palace was the Mount of Condemnation where Solomon built altars to other gods. These Arab homes represent another part of the Arab-Israeli situation. These homes are scheduled to be demolished to make way for further archeological exploration. Where will these families live?
When we think of John the Baptist we often see him this way: "John wore clothes made of camel hair with a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey." Mark 1:6. Our teacher, Willis Britt, told us that the locusts were probably not actually insects, but more probably these carob pods.
We descended into Hezekiah's Tunnel and Warren's shaft, deep under Old Jerusalem. Hezekiah's Tunnel was dug under Jerusalem in ancient times. Dating to the 8th Century BC, it is probably mentioned in 1 Kings 2:20, where King Hezekiah prepared Jerusalem for an impending siege by the Assyrians by "blocking the source of the waters from the upper Gihon and leading them straight down on the west to the City of David." The site was excavated by two teams, starting at each end of the tunnel and meeting in the middle. They were directed by two teams from above using sounds generated by the hammering on the solid rock through which the tunnelers were digging. It is also called the Siloam Tunnel.
Warren's Shaft was discovered in 1867 by Sir Charles Warren, a British engineer. It runs from within the Old City to a spot near the Gihon Spring and was thought to have been the centerpiece of the city's early water supply system and would have enabled the city to reach fresh water in times of siege.
After traveling through the tunnels we reach the Pool of Siloam. No longer holding water, the majority of the pool has not been excavated. Permission must first be granted and the property purchased.
These holes probably supported tent posts used to divide the women from the men in the pool.Here we read about the healing of the blind man from John 9:1-7. "Jesus said to him, 'Go, wash in pool of Siloam' (this word means sent). So the man went away and washed. When he returned, he could see."
This is Ishmael. He led the 2004 excavation at this site. He was selling ancient coins recovered here to finance further excavation.
This mural shows what the Pool of Siloam may have looked like during the Second Temple period. Water from this pool was carried ceremoniously by the priest to the Temple and poured on the altar during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). Water from this pool was also used to for purification after contact with the dead, and was used as a ritual bath before entering the Temple. This also where the high priests came to pray for rain.
Here we read John 7:37-44. "On the last and most important day of the festival (Sukkot), Jesus stood up and shouted, 'All who are thirsty should come to me! All who believe in me should drink! As the scriptures said concerning me, Rivers of living water will flow out from within him.'" The priests and their "holy water" had been replaced by the living water!
Our journey continues...
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