Jerusalem Walk Impressions

Here is my second "Impressions Report" from our second field day. We walked around various parts of Jerusalem from 7am to 6pm with an hour for lunch. It was quite a day. This report really doesn't do it justice, but if you read it, it might give you an idea of some things I've been doing.

Sunday, September 7, 2008
Jerusalem Walking Tour (OT and NT times)

Today was so full it’s hard to know where to begin. I was talking to some people on the way home and at dinner, comparing what we learned and what we enjoyed most, and I had a hard time thinking of my “favorite” part. So many parts were so good.

I have to admit, to start with, that I really enjoyed exploring and climbing on some of the rocks and ruins/excavations and such. It’s not terribly spiritual, but I’m just rather curious, so exploring is fun. Plus I like climbing on rocks and getting high. It kind of reminds me of home. So I really enjoyed that part. I wish we would have had more time to explore some of those areas more. I’m starting a list of places I want to visit again.

We started the morning in the Hebrew Scriptures, looking at where the wall was at various times. We spent most of the morning in David’s city. I remember looking around that area when I was here before (the toilet was definitely familiar), but I think the excavations are much more extensive now. I may be mistaken, though; my memory is rather patchy. My favorite part there was when we went up to a platform approximately where David’s palace might have been and looked around at the hills surrounding. “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people…” Without having seen it, its hard to picture exactly how the mountains surround Jerusalem…but they do, or at least did in the time of the psalmist. I don’t have relative elevations, but apparently the hill Jerusalem was on is the shortest in the Judean hills: surrounded and protected by higher mountains as we are surrounded and protected by a higher power (God).

In the afternoon we started out in excavations near the temple mount. The best part was the building with air conditioning.  Again, I remembered seeing some of what we looked at when I was here before, but not all of it. I think things there have expanded too. It was rather amazing to think that some of what we saw was possibly there in the time of Jesus. Two thousand years… I will have to look at my notes to remember what else I was especially interested in.

Our next main stop was the Pool of Bethesda. I was excited to go there since I didn’t get to the last time I was here. We went into St. Anne’s church first. The acoustics were beautiful. There are some many amazing places (acoustically) around here…I wish I had a traveling choir with some lovely a cappella pieces to sing with me. We did well enough, though. After that we saw the actual pool (not that it holds any water now). I was amazed at how deep it was. There are sure a lot of places around here where it would be easy to die if you fell or if the holey floor holding you up suddenly collapsed. We talked about the gospel of John and the three people Jesus interacted with in chapters 3, 4, and 5. He always knew just what to say and do.

Speaking of people, the last thing that really struck me today were the people. It started with children in the morning. We passed quite a few, probably on their way to school, and then heard chanting from a nearby yeshiva. It made me miss my students really badly to start with. As the day progressed I saw more people – more children, soldiers, shopkeepers, etc. It made me wish that I could know some of them, to have the opportunity to tell them about how God came down and walked among their ancestors and how He still desires to know them. Jesus mourned over Jerusalem with good reason. I think that He is still probably mourning. I want to see that prophecy fulfilled – at least partially, in some lives, I want them to recognize and welcome their king.