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”.