Chalk Jumping

Floating in the Dead Sea

Snorkeling in the Red Sea

Dead Sea Mud!!

A nice cool break on a hike

Dead Sea Floating

Avdat

40 minutes in the Wilderness of Paran with my Bible. Just like the Israelites in the Wilderness of Paran for 40 years!

Life size Tabernacle

Masada

We have been excavating!! Like good ole Archeologists. Here at Tel Burna we have a blog if you wanna follow! http://telburna.wordpress.com/

Kate James

The Negev Trip

18/3/12

This, by far, was my favorite trip.  From hiking in deep canyons to floating in the Dead Sea.  But by far my favorite was snorkeling in the Red Sea.  But I want to go into the entirety of the four days.

 We first stopped at Beersheba.  Upon entering the city we found a cistern which dates back to the the Iron Age but not to the time of Abraham.  We then read Genesis 21:22 where Abraham and Abemelich made a treaty with each other where they separated seven ewe lambs to make a treaty with each other.  Therefore it was named the well ofoath.  Well and oath both in Hebrew read sheba. 

The gate of the city consisted of a large open place.  I would have imagined a gate of a city to just be a gate that opens to the city.  But the gate here opens to a large open space.  To get to the city you had to get through another wall.  An example of this kind of gate in the Bible includes Ruth 4:1 where Boaz sits in the gate, Absolome Davids son trying to get the men of the city to sway away from David’s leadership and our well known Proverbs 31 woman who sits in the gate of the city who husband sits in the gates. 

Some of the Bible events that happen here in Beersheba are many but I will try and condense them down. The first involved Hagar getting kicked out of the house of Abraham and wandering in the wilderness.  Genesis 26:23 tells us of God giving Isaac a promise to multiply his offspring.  Last of all was 1 Samuel 8:1-2 where Samuel makes his son a judge over Beersheba. 

The next stop of day one of the Negev trip included Tel Arad. This Early Bronze age settlement sat in the middle of a copper mining trade route along with the tar mining at the Dead Sea.  Therefore people passed through this town to get to another place, like our very well known Lusk, Wyoming.  Even though this was an Early Bronze age settlement, we don’t have to dig really deeply for it.  The tel was right on top of the ground! Unfortunately there are no texts that connect to this place but it is mentioned three times in the Old and New Testaments.  One connection says that in Numbers 21:1-3, Arad was destroyed by Israel.

Arad was first built by Solomon.  Back then when he built it the dialect of Judah was quite different than we expected.  A text was found to prove this, the Arad ausstrica.  Also,  Amos and Obediah wrote to these people. 

In Arad, there is a holy of holies.  This is unfortunately a heathen holy of holies because, even though the people were worshiping God, they also worshiped His so called wife Asherah.  Eventually this place was destroyed by king Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18:4.  

Our third stop of the day included a hike through the canyon En Avedat or Nahal Zin.  Here we hiked through the vast canyon land and discovered the many views it had to offer.  There were many forms of flint fond in the rock face.  Flint was used for many things back in the Bible including, circumcision, fire starting and weaponry.  

Our fourth stop of the day included Avdat.  This was a Nabatean settlement who replaced the Edomites.  Mentioned in Matthew 14:1-12, it says that Herod’s first wife was Nabatean.  But later they converted to Christianity.  Here in Avdat, we watched a movie where it talked about how it was a great trade city.  Travelers from all around would come and rest in this beautiful place.  

Day two of our trip was probably my favorite of all three days. We first walked through the large canyon, Machtesh Ramon, silently after breakfast.  It was amazing to see God’s goodness and majesty through all of it.  I realized how gracious God was.  How could He make these canyon so big?  How could I even question Him saving me? It was in the end such an amazing hike. 

After this silent hike, we drove through the Wilderness of Paran.  Here, Benj stopped the bus and made us wander through the wilderness for forty five minutes.  We then had to read Deuteronomy 8-9.  It talked about the Israelites wandering in the wilderness and God’s goodness toward them.  It was a great experience because it made us realize how privileged we are to have the Lord in our hearts and how gracious He is toward us each and every day.  A Bible event that happened here is found in Numbers 13:1.  Here it says that the spies were sent into the land of Cannon to spy out the land.  Only two spies came back and told truth about God’s promise’s and faithfulness.  In the end only these two got to enter the promise land because of their faithfulness.  As a consequence, the Israelites were made to wander the wilderness like we were earlier that day for forty years.  Only we had to wander the wilderness for forty minutes.  Another Bible reference includes Ishmael, Abraham’s son by Hagar, grew up here. 

We then headed out to the city of Eilat where the Red Sea is located.  A couple Biblical events that happened here include, 2 Chronicles  8:17 where it lists Solomon’s accomplishments, 2 Chronicles 26:1-15 and 2 Kings 16:6 where the men of Judah were driven from Eilat from the Syrians.   In Eilat, we snorkeled, sat on the beach for the whole day.  We saw many Jellyfish and tropical fish.  Our hotel was pretty awesome.  Kelly and I had our own room with an amazing view of the beach.  It was a really beautiful scene.  

Day three of the trip included a trip into the wilderness to Timnah which was Edom because of the stew Jacob gave Esau.  After we stopped at Timnah, we traveled to the life size Tabernacle.  It was interesting to see it in real life and in the middle of the wilderness.  Here we learned about the many things God wanted the tabernacle to look like. It was interesting to learn that the many things God did want the Israelites to decorate the tabernacle with had symbolism to the future.  

We then traveled to Solomon’s Pillars.  Unfortunately it has nothing to do with Solomon but there was a temple to a goddess at the base of the pillars along with an inscription on the rock face that talked about an Egyptian king and his conquering might.  From there we drove to a zoo then to Masada.  

Our last destination was the hostile.  Nearby the hostile there were some chalk hills that had fine very fine dust on them.  Once here we jumped through the chalk hills. 

Day four of our trip included hiking to the top of Masada for a early, and by early I mean 4:45, morning sunrise. 700 or so stairs!!!  Here at Masada we have a sad story that we find.  We find Masada high about all the rest of any fortress and very fortified.  Herod the Great once used this fortress for one of his palaces.  Later on, a group of Jewish rebels lived here and fortified themselves against the oncoming Romans.  Day after day, the Romans tried to find a way to take this fortress but every chance of them trying to get to the top failed.  The Jews on top had plenty of water and food to survive.  But Josephus tells us the the Romans, after much debut and deciding, took local Jewish farmers and put them to work building a siege ramp leading up to the city because it was too steep and hard to lead an army up to the top.  The Jewish rebels on Masada found out that there was no way of escape so their leader, Eleazar, conjured a plan to have all the families and people commit suicide to avoid the mean Roman torture that may follow.  The people of Masada agreed and no one was found alive when the Romans reached the top.  

After the amazing sunset on Masada we floated in the Dead Sea.  The Pacific Ocean apparently has three percent salt in it and the Dead Sea has thirty percent salt contained.  This may show you how salty it was! ON the shore of the Dead Sea you can find black mud.  We smeared this all over our bodies and apparently, this makes your skin soft....and very black.

Qumran the keribit was the last stop of the day. Here, there are many scrolls found in nearby caves.  In these scrolls are found all the books of the Bible except for the book Esther.  

That was my four day field trip!! wooohooo

Kelly and I dead in the Tombs

The Valley of Elah where David fought Goliath

Shephelah trip

             The first place we stopped in the Shephelah was the tel of Beth Shemesh, meaning Son of Shemesh, a border town between Judah and Dan.  On top of the tell we discussed many different things that happened here.  For example, the two heifers with the ark of the covenant came here from the Philistine camp, Aphek.  This is because the camps of the Philistines were being attacked constantly.  Therefore, they put it on a cart after 70 people died because they took a look in it, and shipped it off with two heifers.  It came here to Beth Shemesh and on to Kiriat Jaarim where the college is. The tel is consistent of a cistern and a couple tombs along with the many houses and a temple.  To the right of where we stood was a city called Zorah where Samson was born. He then lived most of his life in the Sorek Valley where we were. 

            The next stop included the city of Gath in the Elah valley between Zocchal and Azekah.  This is the city of very well known character Goliath.  I could see that people of big stature lived there because the tel was a huge tel.  At one point, David flees here with Goliath’s sword to escape from Saul.  He escaped the riots against him there by acting like a mad man.  Another example is Hazzel king of Aram came and captured the city.  At the base of the tel he dug a moat to keep the inhabitants inside the city.  One might think that it was to keep invaders out of the city but instead he wanted the people of the city to starve.  An example of a moat like this can be found in Zukkor with the event written down in the Zukkor tablets.  Inside the city we found an inscription with Goliath written on it.  Some potsherds with evidence of his existence therefore this is where they think Goliath is buried.  Down the hill from Goliath’s grave were ruins of houses or Philistine apartments.  The apartments architecture consisted of a flat roof and pillars to support. 

             The next stop we made was at Azekah.  Here was an over look on the Elah valley.  We could see the chalk troph along with the place they think the battle of David and Goliath took place in 1 Samuel 17.   Here we looked at the different accounts that were written on the battle.  For example in 2 Samuel 21:19 it says that another man killed Goliath.  Benj believes that it was a textual corruption because the words in the original language looked the same.  Going into the valley of Elah, we went into a brook, maybe where David fought Goliath,  and reenacted the fight.  Benj took a slingshot and we practiced our aim.  We learned that the people back in that day used to professionalize in the art.

            We then loaded the bus again and made a quick stop at Maresha.  This might be the hometown of Micah.  We then went to some caves that the Israelites hid in and climbed around in the caves.

            Lachish was where, in 2 Kings 18, was a tel where Sennacharib built a ramp up to the city to push his siege machines up to the wall.  On that day 1850 Assyrians  died.  In the excavations, 100 or more arrow heads were found in consequence of that war.  Two other events that happened here were the conquest of Joshua in Joshua 10 and the Babylonian conquest.   Excavators found the Lachish letters that related to the conquest of Babylon.  The fourth Lachish letter they found explained that the commander could not see Azaka.  This letter was supposed to make it to Jerusalem but never did because right after it was written they were attacked. Historians say that the letter, in context of history and the timeline, was written right after Jeremiah wrote the book of Jeremiah based on the contents of Jeremiahs book.

Jericho!

Our first stop today was at a town called Emmaus.  This is where Jesus appeared after His resurrection to some of His disciples as they were walking.  This is described in Luke 24.  Here Jesus appeared to the two and they did not know who He was.  It was mostly talk about Jesus and His death but the disciple’s eyes were kept closed. Once they reached their destination, they urged Jesus to stay with them.  He stayed, and as He broke bread that night, the Bible says that their eyes were opened and Jesus vanished.  This all happened at Emmaus. The Emmaus we were at today was most likely not the site that this happened at. In Luke 24:13 it says that Emmaus is 60 strata away from Jerusalem, but the site we were at today is 160 so this cannot be the site. Another possibility is Emmaus Mozoa.  This is only 30 strata away but it was suggested that Luke might have indicated a round trip so that it would amount to 60 strata from Jerusalem and back.  To solve this, we compare the rest of his work in the Bible.  Ultimately, he did not refer geographically in this way so we must look for another location.  Emmaus Bebe is another idea but there is really no evidence, so in the end, no one knows.

            The second place we stopped at was Nebi Samwell.  This is the place where they believe Samuel is buried because of 1 Samuel 25:1.  This also could be the place where the Ark of the Covenant stayed at one point in 2 Chronicles 1:3-4. From this mountain one can see the city of Gibeon.  Gibeon was a place in Joshua 9 where the towns people saw all that Joshua had done and became afraid.   They in turn put on worn cloths, and made themselves look poor so that Joshua would not harm them.  Joshua made a pact and did not hurt them, but in the end, he found out their trickery.  To this day we know that this is the location of Gibeon because of a man by the name of James Richard found wine bottles in a cave that the name Gibeon engraved on their front.  The Ajalon Valley also was located north of where we sat and this was where in Joshua 10:12-13, God stopped the sun from going down until the sons of Israel defeated the kings of the Amorites. 

            The third stop we made was at Tel Elfool.  Here the king of Jordan, King Hussein, built his palace in 1967.  Looking in the past, it is a tel and William Albright finds an actual historic castle here in the tel.  No one really knows for sure what the castle was for but an event in the Bible did happen here that we do know of.  It is told in Judges 19 of a man and his concubine and the horrific story that happened here in the tribe of Benjamin. 

            Stopping at a hill we climbed to the top and looked around.  This place was right next to “the Pass” and here we read of battles and events that took place here.  For example, in 1 Samuel 13:8-23, Saul was supposed to wait for Samuel to sacrifice to the Lord before the battle.  Samuel was late and Saul was impatient so he sacrificed out of disobedience.  This story amongst others happened here including 1 Samuel 15 and 1 Kings 15:22. 

            We then drove to Jericho, the unique place where the walls came tumbling down.  This story is recorded in Joshua 6 of the Israelites marching around the walls and blowing their horns.  At the end, the Lord struck the walls and they literally came tumbling down.  At this point it is the worlds second most excavated place in the world other than Jerusalem.   If dated correctly, everything matches the exact dates of Joshua including, the pottery found, the burnt rubble, the grain still left in the bins and the loss of civilization for years according to the commands of the Lord in the end of Joshua 6. You can see a layer of burnt rubble in the excavations along with pottery. There was alot of pottery!!!

            We then found a spring outside of Jericho called Elisha’s Spring.  This is where they believe Elisha purified the water in 2 Kings.  Also, next to this spot sits the Wadi Kilt described in Matthew 13 and Luke 18.  Here Luke and Matthew seem to disagree if Jesus was going out of Jericho or going into Jericho.  They both say two different things.  The answer to this question lies in the geographical history.  Here there were two settlements of Jericho because it had moved from the historical Jericho.  How great it is to be where Jesus was!  

            Our first stop today was at a town called Emmaus.  This is where Jesus appeared after His resurrection to some of His disciples as they were walking.  This is described in Luke 24.  Here Jesus appeared to the two and they did not know who He was.  It was mostly talk about Jesus and His death but the disciple’s eyes were kept closed. Once they reached their destination, they urged Jesus to stay with them.  He stayed, and as He broke bread that night, the Bible says that their eyes were opened and Jesus vanished.  This all happened at Emmaus. The Emmaus we were at today was most likely not the site that this happened at. In Luke 24:13 it says that Emmaus is 60 strata away from Jerusalem, but the site we were at today is 160 so this cannot be the site. Another possibility is Emmaus Mozoa.  This is only 30 strata away but it was suggested that Luke might have indicated a round trip so that it would amount to 60 strata from Jerusalem and back.  To solve this, we compare the rest of his work in the Bible.  Ultimately, he did not refer geographically in this way so we must look for another location.  Emmaus Bebe is another idea but there is really no evidence, so in the end, no one knows.

            The second place we stopped at was Nebi Samwell.  This is the place where they believe Samuel is buried because of 1 Samuel 25:1.  This also could be the place where the Ark of the Covenant stayed at one point in 2 Chronicles 1:3-4. From this mountain one can see the city of Gibeon.  Gibeon was a place in Joshua 9 where the towns people saw all that Joshua had done and became afraid.   They in turn put on worn cloths, and made themselves look poor so that Joshua would not harm them.  Joshua made a pact and did not hurt them, but in the end, he found out their trickery.  To this day we know that this is the location of Gibeon because of a man by the name of James Richard found wine bottles in a cave that the name Gibeon engraved on their front.  The Ajalon Valley also was located north of where we sat and this was where in Joshua 10:12-13, God stopped the sun from going down until the sons of Israel defeated the kings of the Amorites. 

            The third stop we made was at Tel Elfool.  Here the king of Jordan, King Hussein, built his palace in 1967.  Looking in the past, it is a tel and William Albright finds an actual historic castle here in the tel.  No one really knows for sure what the castle was for but an event in the Bible did happen here that we do know of.  It is told in Judges 19 of a man and his concubine and the horrific story that happened here in the tribe of Benjamin. 

            Stopping at a hill we climbed to the top and looked around.  This place was right next to “the Pass” and here we read of battles and events that took place here.  For example, in 1 Samuel 13:8-23, Saul was supposed to wait for Samuel to sacrifice to the Lord before the battle.  Samuel was late and Saul was impatient so he sacrificed out of disobedience.  This story amongst others happened here including 1 Samuel 15 and 1 Kings 15:22. 

            We then drove to Jericho, the unique place where the walls came tumbling down.  This story is recorded in Joshua 6 of the Israelites marching around the walls and blowing their horns.  At the end, the Lord struck the walls and they literally came tumbling down.  At this point it is the worlds second most excavated place in the world other than Jerusalem.  The first excavator, Joseph Garstag, discovered the stone wall while Kathleen Kenyon found the mud brick wall.  Kenyon dated the mud brick wall back to the 1550’s, which is not in correlation with the scriptures.  The correct time for the date of Jericho is 1406.  But she was dating this wall because she dated based upon the pottery that was never there.  If dated correctly, everything matches the exact dates including, the pottery found, the burnt rubble, the grain still left in the bins and the loss of civilization for years according to the commands of the Lord in the end of Joshua 6.

            We then found a spring outside of Jericho called Elisha’s Spring.  This is where they believe Elisha purified the water in 2 Kings.  Also, next to this spot sits the Wadi Kilt described in Matthew 13 and Luke 18.  Here Luke and Matthew seem to disagree if Jesus was going out of Jericho or going into Jericho.  They both say two different things.  The answer to this question lies in the geographical history.  Here there were two settlements of Jericho because it had moved from the historical Jericho.  How great it is to be where Jesus was! 

Land of the Bible

Kate James

NT Walk

            The ultimate curse for the Jewish people is to be exiled out of the Land of Israel. Because of idol worship, the Lord let them become exiles. On the other hand, God’s promises are supreme.  Therefore, God is bringing His people, slowly but surely, back into the Land. 

Upon entering the Dung Gate, we entered immediately into the area of the Temple Mount.  Traditionally, this is the location where Abraham sacrifices Isaac, the place where the Lord stopped the Plague at David’s census and where Jesus will come again.  Next to the Temple Mount or the Dome of the Rock, there stands El-Aqsa Mosque.  This mosque is the third holiest spot in the world to the Muslim people. 

The Muslims now own this mountain and have put the Dome of the Rock on the highest part of the mountain.  In 964 David bought this land to build the temple to the Lord. The temple was built and the first temple period had begun.   After many times and periods, this land is now the hot spot for real estate. In fact, it the most fought over piece of land in the world.   In the Dome of the Rock, there is a hole deep inside that fits the exact dimensions of the Ark of the Covenant.  The gold on the outside of the dome was laid down by Sad am Hussein.  There is also a series of archways and tunnels underneath the Temple Mount.  These are called Solomon’s Stables.  We are unsure of the reason for Solomon to build these but Herod filled them in later. Solomon also built a walkway around the Temple Mount.  It included a series of pillars and a small amount of shade to walk under.  This was called Solomon’s portico on the south side by Solomon’s stables but it is not there anymore.  You can also see the Mount of Olives from this direction.  

Next was the Eastern Gate.  Here there are two doors, which are filled in.  They filled in these doors because Jesus is supposed to come back in the future through these doors.  Some think they can stop Jesus from coming back through here but we all know that this is impossible to stop a mighty God.   Jesus did many miracles on the mount by this gate including John 10:22 where He proclaims that He is the Son of God and Acts 3 where He heals a lame man. 

We then entered into the Davidson Center.  We first stopped at Robinsons Arch founded by a man by the name of Edward Robinson.  This is a small fragment of what looks like an arch.  At first, Edward Robinson believed that it was a bridge.  After close consideration, there were no stones in the excavation to produce the idea of a bridge. They now believe that it was a staircase up to the temple because there were many large stones by the arch.  If this were a bridge, the stones would match the small stones of a bridge leading in a direction.  But instead, there are many large stone, like that of a large staircase underneath the arch.  Next to the arch like form, there was an inscription on the wall of Isaiah 66:14. 

On the Northern Wall, there stands three gates called the triple gates or the mole entrance.  They are filled in now but they would go up to the temple as another entrance to the high platform.  

The Burnt house was a house that was burnt during the siege of Titus in 70 A.D. It was owned by the Katross family and in Greek Para style form. 

A couple friends and I got lost and then we found Shaban's store. Thankfully he knew where to go. 

We then went to the Woul Museum where excavations have been made for the priestly houses in the upper part of the city.  Traditionally this was where the wealthy lived.  Because they were so concerned with purity, each house had a mickva. This is a possibility where Caiaphas the high priest might have lived.  Therefore, Jesus might have been tried here.

Our last stops included the Tower of David and Christ’s Church.  The Tower of David has many layers of rock and each from different periods. This is where Pilate might have been at one point.

Across the street was Christ’s Church were we had a tour and got to see the many different designs of the church including, the British flag on the ceiling, a mosaic tree that explains what Christ did for us and an alter that says “in remembrance of Me”.

In front of the Jerusalem Model

The Temple Mount

Pools of Bethseda

My Roomate and I looking at Temple Mount

Today we walked to the Western Wall and observed the “Broad Wall”.  Hezekiah built this wall to defend it from Sennacherib who invaded Jerusalem and is described in 2 Chronicles 32:1-8.  This passage explains Hezekiah’s efforts to defend the city.  The wall was built through houses and this is also explained in Isaiah 22:10-11.  Today there is not much left of the wall but a woman by the name of Catherine Ceyon who excavated the wall believed that the Bible made up David’s kingdom. She never confessed that she was wrong, even until death and ultimately was proven wrong.  

The next place we stopped at was a museum near the “Broad Wall”.  Nearby were tombs located outside of the city and on the Mount of Olives.  The tombs were outside because the dead bodies were considered unclean.  The tombs that were found had inscriptions above them that would warn the potential thieves to not break in.  Because there was believed to be gold and silver inside, thieves often tried to break into the tombs. However, there was an inscription placed on the tomb that warned if it were broken into, there would be a curse placed on the invader.  Would that warning stop the thief?  No one knows at this point but it was a fair warning.  Later in the Byzantine Period, monks would use the tombs as houses.

            The next stop included David’s tomb, it is widely believed by most that David was buried here; however today there is some question as to where he was actually buried.

            The Upper Room was the next stop we visited.  This was the room where they believe was the Last Supper before Jesus’ crucifixion; we read the account in John 13.

            We then visited the three graves of some very important people to the Jewish nation.  The first was Oscar Schindler.  This brave man saved 960 Jews from the concentration camps in Germany.  The second was Flinders Petreie, he was best known for his work in the world of archeology.  He was the first to define a tel, or mounds, which consist of cities on top of cities. This was a critical find and accomplishment.  He was also the first to discover and encrypt the Mecca Steele in which a tribe boasts of defeating Israel.  The third man’s grave we visited and my favorite was Horatio Spafford.  This man wrote the amazing hymn, “It is Well with My Soul”.  This powerful hymn comes from a man who had just lost his job and two daughters. The words of this beautiful hymn, continues to be an encouragement and blessing to all to hear or sing it.   Behind these graves we looked upon the Hinem Valley.  This place served as a good defense mechanism because the valley was large.  At one point, there was a gate called the Potsherd Gate.  This gate was used for a time when Jerusalem had come under attack.  Jeremiah and the elders of the city were to break pots to warn the citizens in the gate. 

            The last place we stopped was Hezekiah’s Tunnel mentioned in 2 Kings 20:20.   It begins from Jerusalem’s only spring inside the city, Gihon Springs, and runs all the way to the Pool of Siloam.  King Hezekiah built this tunnel for the water to flow to the Pool of Siloam because at the time the Assyrians were invading Jerusalem.  Fearing that the stream would be tampered with by the enemy, he formed the tunnel.   Today, many people marvel at the way the tunnel was made.  It is said that people stood at opposite ends of the tunnel and completed the tunnel by following either a bead of water or shouting at each other.

            Last of all, The Pool of Siloam was a place where Jesus walked and even healed many.  We read in John 9 that Jesus healed a blind man here and was quizzed by the Pharisees.  

Our first trip to Jerusalem was one of the most impressive days in my life.   The things we learned were many but the memories were unforgettable. I was totally unprepared for what I was going to witness that day.

             When we walked through the gate to the old city, the gate we actually walked through was the Jaffa Gate or the Main Gate. We then walked to the top of a building that held incredible views.  These views consisted of the Mount of Olives, Dome of the Rock, the Kydron valley, Church of the Sepulicor, Hezekiah’s pool and the Hora Synagogue. The Mount of Olives consists of three towers, Hebrew University, Augusta Victoria, and the Russian church of Asserion.

We looked at the Dome of the Rock and discussed its significance.  I thought it interesting that this little plot of land on which the dome sat, was the most controversial real-estate in the world. Built in 691,  it glows in the distance as the place where the Lord will soon return.

The Holy Sepulicure, is a shrine located on the grounds where the Catholic church believe Jesus was crucified, died and rose from the dead .  The original idea to build the Holy Sepulicure was formed by Constantine’s mother, Helena because she also believed that this was the place Jesus was crucified.  It was built on a mound where they have dug out a place for you to touch the ground on the actual place they think He was crucified.  Here, there are also tombs believed to be dated back to the time of Jesus.  They believe this primarily because of the “shaft” or kok tombs.  There were also other types of tombs we discussed, but we never actually saw the Arcasolia tombs that Jesus was buried in.  Although there were many reasons for the Holy Sepulicure, the tradition was never lost by the Christians in the Old City.

             Traveling north, we traveled to the Damascus Gate or the Gate of the Statue where Emperor Hadrian made a statue to himself.  Here, there were three arches, two small and one large.  Unfortunately, two were unseen because of later architecture built, but one smaller one remained.  Emperor Hadrian built this gate and carved above the arches, “Alia and Capitila”, Alia meaning Hadrian and Capitila meaning the God Jupiter.

             From there we walked on top of the old wall.  Here we observed the Skull Rock.  Some believe Jesus was crucified here instead of the Holy Sepulicre.  This is primarily because of Charles Warren, an officer in the British Royal Engineers.  He believed that the rock or the hill looked like a skull; therefore, this could possibly be a place where Jesus was crucified. 

             After walking on the wall, we proceeded to the pools of Bethsadia.  Here, Jesus healed the paralytic in John 5.  There are four walkways around the pool where lame, sick, and paralytic people would sit/stay. They believed that an angel would stir up the water and the people around the pools would go down to “heal” themselves. 

             Next to the pools, stood the Church of Saint Anne, this church was dedicated to Mary’s mother Saint Anne.  

Our next stop was at the western wall or the Wailing Wall.  We call it the western wall out of respect for the Jews.  This is the closest the Jews can get to the Dome of the rock.  A new Torah had been translated the day we were there and they were reading and crowds were weeping at the base of the wall, it was quite a sight to see!

             Finally, we exited out of the “Zion” gate.  In the gate, you can still see bullet holes from the War of Independence from 1948 and 1967.

I have finally landed and have already taken a hike up to the top of a mountain called Kiriat Jaarim. This is where the two steers pulled the Ark back to Israel. I am also typing backwards and reading mostly Hebrew on my computer so forgive me if you are a little confused.  The weather is cold and rainy! I love it! The dorm rooms are small but cozy. 

Flying out!

Hello everyone! I leave to Israel the 21st. It is a 24 hour trip all around so pray that I last this trip!