The Western/Wailing Wall

The morning was spent exploring inside and outside the old city (the 14 stations of the cross on the Via Dolorosa, a number of churches, the bazaar, the new Temple Archaeology center, to name a few).

The Western Wall and other original remains of the temple (rubble from General Titus' sacking of the temple, and the original steps that Jesus walked on), were the highlights for me. This city has so much history from its first settlement in 3500 BC to when Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac on Mt Moriah (the temple mount) through to Jesus' trial and crucifixion to the destruction of Jerusalem (which Jesus predicted) to the Byzantine, Muslim, Crusader, Ottoman, British Mandate and now Reconstituted Israeli periods. Perhaps no one single piece of real estate in the world has been fought over as much or had such significance in world affairs as this little city of Jerusalem. I can't wait to grab 3 or 4 books on it to read right away, and come back for a month sometime just to explore and learn.

Our guide took us to the synagogue area which connects to the wall to the left of the photo above. Men and boys were praying, touching the wall, reading Torah and studying the commentaries of the rabbis (photo to the right). We had to put a yarmulke on our heads to be able to go to the wall and pray. In the photo below, men are putting on teffilin (phylacteries: Scripture bound to their left arms and foreheads in small leather boxes).

It was an incredibly moving experience praying at this wall which was part of the temple in Jesus' day. My prayer was that these people who have been chosen by God, but have rejected His Son and the salvation He offers, might have the blinders taken off. In this country of over seven million wonderful people, it is estimated that there are probably only 4000-5000 genuine followers of Christ in the whole nation. Our guide can cite New Testament events, passages and theology with great precision, but at the end of the day, it's just a quaint belief system to him. Incredibly sad.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Rubble From Roman Destruction of the Temple

How deserted lies the city,

once so full of people!

How like a widow is she,

who once was great among the nations!

She who was queen among the provinces

has now become a slave.

Bitterly she weeps at night,

tears are upon her cheeks.

Among all her lovers

there is none to comfort her.

All her friends have betrayed her;

they have become her enemies.

After affliction and harsh labor,

Judah has gone into exile.

She dwells among the nations;

she finds no resting place.

All who pursue her have overtaken her

in the midst of her distress.

In the days of her affliction and wandering

Jerusalem remembers all the treasures

that were hers in the days of old.

When her people fell into enemy hands,

there was no one to help her.

Her enemies looked at her

 and laughed at her destruction.

- Lamentations 1:1-3;7 (when Babylon destroyed the temple & city)

In that day the Root of Jesse wil stand as a banner for all peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.

In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and the islands of the sea.

He will raise a banner for the nations

and gather the exiles of Israel;

he will assembe the scattered people of Judah

from the four corners of the earth.

Promise of Return from the Diaspora, Isaiah 11:10-12

Gold Minorah overlooking the Temple Mount & the Mount of Olives
ready for Messiah's return

Masada

We spent Shabbat (the sabbath) at Masada and the Dead Sea. This shot is of the kosher kiwi admiring the latter from the former.

Herod's fortress was an impregnable palace which was taken over, long after his death, by Jews fleeing the Roman response to the Jewish rebellion of A.D. 66-70. After Titus demolished the temple in Jerusalem, some Jews escaped to Masada, and lived there from 70-73, when the Romans finally caught up with them.

The site is an astonishing 18-acre complex of palace, baths, storehouses, aqueducts, deep cisterns and soldier barracks atop a cliff top 1400 feet high. We got up there by cable car. The Roman army got up there by moving tons of dirt and building a ramp. It took them 3 years. You can see the remains of the Roman encampment in the little square in this aerial shot.

When they were finally able to take the fortress, they found 960 bodies. Rather than submit to rape and slavery or death at the hands of the Romans, they chose to take their own lives. The men killed their wives and children first, then each other. Two widows with five children somehow escaped the process and were found hiding in a cistern. It is through them that the account came to Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian turned Roman army historian.

Our guide, who was in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) told us he was a driver seconded to the production of Masada, which is not historically accurate in every respect, but which I can't wait to see. Actor Peter O'Toole once told him, "Get my boots!" "Get your own ___ boots," our guide told him.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5