The city of David, the birthplace of Jesus, is both inspiring and depressing. It's just 5 miles from Jerusalem geographically, but a million miles away in every other respect. The "Love and Peace" slogan outside the entrance to Bethlehem is a nice sentiment, but little more than a dream.
The city is surrounded by a massive security wall to keep suicide bombers in. So far, so good. The U.N. isn't too happy, however, and considers it a violation of the Palestinian's human rights.
It's an ongoing downward spiral where frustration breeds extremism and violence, which is responded to with extremely restrictive measures, which breeds more resentment.
Some of the murals painted on the inside of the wall betray the pain and the mood. This one calls for "Fresh Jewce."
After leaving a Palestinian Christian's shop, we climbed on the bus and queued to get through Checkpoint Charlie or Abdul. While the soldier in the booth was playing Solitaire on a laptop, two soldiers with uzis came on board to make sure Mohammed wasn't hiding under our seats with explosives strapped around his waist.
In a lighter moment, one of the pastors texted his head deacon right before Sunday services back in the States were about to begin and told him there were soldiers on the bus with submachine guns checking for terrorists. Then his cell phone died and all communications ceased. We're not sure if they will have canceled the service for an intense prayer meeting, or if revival will have broken out.
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Sounds like an amazing trip so far. The story about the Jews fleeing to Herod's fortress/palace was interesting.. I can't believe the Romans went to so much trouble as to spend 3 years shifting dirt to make it up there, only to find them all dead. And I did not know that the Dead Sea was the lowest point on Earth. Hope the rest of your trip continues to be great!
ReplyDeleteYou'd love it there, bud. Incredible place. We went in and saw this massive cistern hewn by hand out of the rock. It, and others, were supplied by rain water which flowed in through aquaducts they had designed. They had a surplus of water for ritual bathing and would taunt the Roman soldiers during the siege by throwing water at them over the cliff. The Romans were limited to a cup of water per day. It had to be brought in over very rough ground from 9 miles away, the oasis of En Gedi, where David hid from King Saul.
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