Day 3: Touring the Land
Herodian, Bethlehem, Palestinian Wall, Jerusalem Scale Model
Our first stop took us to Herodian, an ancient palace and watch tower built by Herod the Great (see Matt. 2) in the 1st Century A.D. Here are some pics of what we saw.
Approaching Herodian, which from a distance just looks like any other mountain.
Some of the excavations.
Some of the interior courts of the palace.
When we reached the summit, Dann shared the story from Matt. 2 of the Magi coming to meet Jesus. From where we stood, we could see Jerusalem (where the Magi met with Herod), Bethlehem (where Jesus was born), Mary and Joseph's (probable) escape route to Egypt, as well as the Magi's (probable) "other route" back to their country, avoiding Herod in Jerusalem. All in all, it was a pretty neat picture, to say the least.
More of the palace excavations.
The watch tower at Herodian. When armies came to attack from the South, a torch was lit on this tower to warn Jerusalem to prepare for battle.
From Herodian, we went into Bethlehem. An interesting fact that I learned on the trip was that Bethlehem is actually controlled by Palestine. This means that no Israelis are allowed to enter into Bethlehem. In fact, our own tour guide, Sergio, an Israeli citizen, had to be let off the bus before we crossed over into the Palestinian territory. Here are a few more pics of what we saw...
The wall separating Palestinian and Israeli territory. Sort of Berlin-esque, if you will.
The wall was covered with hate-filled graffiti.
Let this sink in for a second...yikes.
Lunch at Bethlehem Bible College.
One of the professors at the college, a Palestinian, shares the struggles of living in the middle of such turmoil and oppression. He shared of his own journey of learning first-hand how to "love his enemies."
Our final stop on the tour that day was to the Jerusalem Scale Model. This was a model of what Jerusalem would have looked like in Jesus' day, in the 1st Century A.D. Check it out...
The full model.
The Second Temple. This is the site where Abraham went to sacrifice his son, Isaac. This is where Jesus would have overturned the tables of the money changers. Much of this Temple can be attributed to Herod the Great, a master builder. This Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans. Today, this is the site of the Muslim-controlled Dome of the Rock.
Terry looking really smart (because he is!) as he explains something to Robert.
Doing my best T-Money impression!
A great day, and a lot to let sink in! The highlight of the day was probably the Jerusalem Scale Model because for the rest of the week it helped give me a better picture of where I was in Jerusalem and how things might have looked in Jesus' day.
1 comment:
And, remember people, don't try these impressions at home. These are done by professionals or those under direct supervision of one.
T$
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