Day 9 Israel Part 1: Mount of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane,Church's of Agony,St. Anne, The Holy Seplechur & Garden Tomb & House of Caiphus

Today, our last day, we started out at the Mount of Olives which is located on the east side of the Kidron Valley. The area is the site of a large Jewish cemetery for some 3000 years. The New Testament talks of Jesus teaching (Mt 24:25) resting (Lk 21:37) and ascension into heaven (Ac 1:9-12) from the Mount.  Also at the foot of the Mount in the Garden of Gethsemane is where he prayed and was also betrayed (Mt. 26:39ff).

from the Mount of Olives looking towards Jerusalem

me at the Mount of Olives with Jerusalem in the background

walking down to the Garden of Gethsemane

In the Garden of Gethsemane our leader Kirk Giles led a devotional and then we had some personal time to spend in the garden.  It was very special to be in this place!

overlooking the Garden of Gethsemane

me in front of one of the many Olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane

Church of Agony near the Garden of Gethsemane

Road leading up to the Lions' Gate

Lions' Gate Road in the Muslim Quarter

After our time at Gethsemane we were dropped off by our bus at the road leading up to the Lions Gate which leads into the Muslim Quarter.  May of the roads are very narrow and yet you'll see cars travelling down them!

inside the Church of St. Anne

Our next stop was the church of St Anne which is dedicated to Anna and Joachim the parents of Mary the mother of Jesus.  It was built by the Crusaders around 1131 AD and it is believed that the parents lived at this location. The church today is owned by France and cared for by the "White Fathers" an order of the Roman Catholic Church.

Pool of Bethesda next to the church and the location recorded in John 5 where Jesus healed the sick man on the Sabbath

alley way and shops leading to the
Church of the Holy Seplechur

entrance to the church of the Holy Sepulchre

The Church of the Holy Seplulchre (built around 325 AD) also called the Church of the Resurrection is one of the holiest sites.  Located and enshrined within the church are what is believed to be Calvary / Golgotha and the empty tomb of Jesus. The church is overseen and shared by several denominations with the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholic being in the forefront with Egyptian Copts, Syriac's and Ethiopians to a lesser degree.

station 12 of the Via Dolorosa inside the church believed to mark the location of the cross on which Jesus was crucified
(Calvary / Golgotha) it is located under the altar (the rock can be seen under the glass)

Protestants appear to prefer the Garden Tomb as the true place of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.

me at the Garden Tomb beside what is believed to be the tomb given by Joseph of Arimathea for the burial of Jesus

Mark 15:22 (NKJV) And they brought Him to the place Golgotha,
which is translated, Place of a Skull.

The Garden Tomb was discovered in 1867 and nearby is a rocky outcrop believed to be the place of the "Skull" or "Golgotha" as described in the New Testament. Some Christians consider this to be the place of burial and resurrection of Jesus.








After leaving the Garden Tomb we then visited the present day Mount Zion a hill just outside of the Old City walls of Jerusalem.  Located here is the Room of the Last Supper, King David's Tomb  and the Dormition Abbey. (unfortunately I have no worthy pictures to show of this area)

Our next stop brought us to the House (or Palace) of Caiaphas the High Priest and it is believed to be the place where Jesus was informally tried by the Sanhedrin and imprisoned overnight before being taken to Pilate the next day.

It is also believed to be the place where Peter denied Jesus and hence the Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu (meaning cock's-crow)  a Roman Catholic Church is built over what was the House of Caiaphas.

pathway discovered by archaeologists leading up to the House of Caiphus
Jesus would have been taken up these steps on Thursday night to be imprisoned
and taken down this path on Friday to Pilate!

this is the pit Jesus may have been thrown into to be kept overnight
we had a brief devotional reading from the prophetic Psalm 88 and singing

 Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu

front doors to the Church of St. Peter

Day 8 Israel Part 2: Holocaust Museum

Entrance to the Holocaust Musem

Text of Ezekiel 37:14 in the vision about the Valley of Dry Bones

Inside the Museum there were no photographs allowed.

This was the end of the day!  I was tired and glad to be back at the hotel.  There is only tomorrow left and then home on Sunday!  It has gone quickly and so much to absorb. The text that continually comes to mind as I walk the holy land is this:

But the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it.  Deuteronomy 11:11-12 (NKJV)

Day 8 Israel Part 1: Temple Area, City of David & Water Tunnels

Damascus Gate on the Northwest side of the city wall (used by the Jews only)

We left our hotel this morning at 8:30am and we passed by the following locations depicted by photographs I took from the bus.

Herod''s Gate or also known as the Flower Gate which leads to the
Muslim Quarter (used  by the Muslims only)

Basilica of Agony (Roman Catholic)  on the left & Church of Mary Magdalene (Russian Orthodox) on the right

Church of Mary Magdalene 

View of the Kidron Valley with the Arab neighborhood of Silwan on the right

City of David National Park entrance

The city of David lies south of the southern Temple Wall and is the original site of Jerusalem.  Today at this location there are several tunnels existing which carried water to various locations including  the Pool of Siloam.  The Gihon Spring in the Kidron Valley provided the main source of water for the city. King Hezikiah (King of Judah 715 - 686 BC) built one of  the tunnels still in existence today that was used to move the water to other locations.

photo of the city of David area from the model depicting Jerusalem around 66 AD
located at the Israel Museum (click to enlarge and see the areas I have marked in black)

descending into the tunnel system

tunnels very narrow in places

the tunnel we walked was 700 meters long and ended at the Western Wall deep below grade

Day 7 Israel: Herodium, Book Museum & Western Wall

Today was another fantastic day!  However, I'm running out of steam and therefore will only be posting pictures with little or no writings.  Hopefully at a later date I can add more information. We started the day at 8:30am and crossed over into the West Bank again to Herodium.



Herodium was a fortress built by Herod the Great. The artificial mound is 758 meters above sea level making it the highest peak in the Judean desert. On this high mound Herod built a palace with bathhouse theater and synagogue.

Herod wanted to be able to see Jerusalem from his palace but the hill was not high enough so he had the hill on the left excavated and moved on top of the hill on the right! You can see in this picture how the hill on the left has been cut. When you see the size of this place you cannot imagine how all that earth was moved!


(Note to view any of the pictures up close and larger you can double click on them.)

pathway leading up to the top

view at the top of Herodian

tunnels leading down to the cisterns

view inside a tunnel/cistern

standing in front of what is believed to be Herod's Mausoleum which was just  recently discovered

exterior view of the Shrine of the Book museum displaying the Dead Sea scroll fragments

overlooking a scale model of Jerusalem and the 2nd Temple (at the Museum)

this evening we came to visit the Western Wall - this picture shows the Muslim Dome on the Rock

Golani Brigade swearing in ceremony/graduation from basic training

As we approached the Western Wall area there was a very large crowd gathered.  This explained why the traffic was so heavy coming to visit this site!


What was taking place is the swearing in of the Golani Brigade which is an elite brigade. All Israeli citizens over the age of 18 years are conscripted into the Defense Forces and men must serve 3 years and women serve 2 years.



Read more here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golani_Brigade

Each soldier at this ceremony receives his Tavor Assault Rifle and Bible!

The whole family comes to this event.  It was very loud and electrifying.  You could feel the pride and excitement in the air.  All this took place just front of the Western Wall prayer plaza.

view of the tunnel at the base of the Western Wall which was secretly excavated in order
to help determine the precise measurements of the Western Wall

Read more about the Western Wall tunnels here: http://english.thekotel.org/content.asp?id=116

view of the Western Wall plaza

view of the Western Wall plaza

me praying at the Western Wall

Wow what an incredible day!

Day 6 Israel Part 2: Bethlehem

After Massada we continued travelling north and at Ein Gedi we encountered where the road had been flooded.  We were unable to tour Ein Gedi because of the flooding at the site as well.  Ein Gedi is the location of the caves used by David when he hid from Saul and his army.

a picture of the West Bank Wall

We continued north and then turned east taking highway number 1 into Jerusalem.  As we came to Jerusalem because we were leaving the West Bank, we had to go through a checkpoint.  We went around Jerusalem and south into Bethlehem and again as we entered the West Bank; there was another checkpoint. Checkpoints were like border crossings with soldiers and barricades.

The West Bank wall or barrier began construction in 2000 and when completed will be about 700 km long.  It separates some 23,000 Palestinians. Here in Bethlehem the Israeli’s cannot go into Bethlehem and the Palestinians cannot leave without permission.

In Bethlehem we had lunch and our next stop was at a factory and store specializing in olive wood carvings.

me with a beautiful large olive wood carving of the Nativity, I priced just one of the individual carvings at $800 USD!
I cannot imagine what the entire Nativity set would cost!  I didn't dare ask.

notice the resemblance to Starbucks with logo and name!

Our guide Shimon being an Israeli stayed at the store and our new guide Sana who was a Christian Palestinian took over.  

We then travelled to the Church of the Nativity.  This is the place where a church had been built over the place that is believed to have been the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth.  The church is shared between the Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic and Orthodox authorities.

The church was originally commissioned by Helena the mother of Constantine in 327 AD.  The original church burned in 339 and was rebuilt in 556 with several additions since that time.

The church was undergoing massive renovations during our visit

.

Entrance - "Door of Humility" - is so low and with a step you have to bow to enter!

visiting the "Shepherds Field"

This is believed to have been the place where the angels appeared to the shepherds announcing the birth of Jesus.  It is also the place where the account of Boaz and Ruth takes place.

Entrance to the Church at the Shepherd's Field

one of the wall paintings inside the church