We started our day with the Herodian tunnels. These are a MARVEL. You enter just near the Wailing Wall, where we were yesterday, and trek downward into the dank and gloomy, spectacular underground web. Built in Herodian times, it's a complex system of tunnels, cisterns, and caverns that stretches below the Wall.
Check it out.
seriously, CAVERNOUS
the lower portion of the Western Wall...that second level stone weighs 540 TONS
this blur is artistic, right?
arches within arches!
tunnels within tunnels!
We emerged on the Via Dolorosa, "The Way of Suffering," said to be the route that Jesus carried his cross on the way to his crucifixion. The Antonia Fortress is one of two places that Jesus would have been tried before Pontius Pilate. Today it's a school.
just walkin' through Jerusalem
Only a short way down the street is the Pool of Bethesda, where Jesus healed a crippled man, telling him to get up and walk. He was HERE! Performing a miracle. We've just been walking around the places where Jesus walked, prayed, lived, and died.
very Roman ruins
there's even some water down below
In the nearby courtyard is the Church of St. Anne. This place is built for acoustics. So we tried it out. We took up seats on the wooden benches as Uri conducted us in renditions of Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art. It was somethin' beautiful.
Out the Lion's Gate we went. Built by Suleiman in the 1500s, it opens up onto the Via Dolorosa. Also, those "lions" are actually leopards.
bigger than my door
I'm sure they don't mind being mistaken for lions
To Herodium we went! Herodium was like the Camp David for King Herod. It's just a few miles outside Jerusalem on a high, steep hill. Unnaturally steep, in fact. Turns out Herod saw this hill and goes, "yeah, that's the one, except I want it about a thousand feet higher, so make that happen" and his workmen ADDED DIRT to the hill until it was of satisfying height.
model replica
stones that were rolled down the hill at invaders
the view from the top
this...
...is what THIS used to look like
basically, Herod's mancave
it's a bit of a fixer-upper
stash of unused rolling stones
the reception hall
smile!
Herod was buried here, though his mausoleum was later sacked, and Israelites later sought refuge in its secret tunnels during the Bar Kokhba Revolt in the second century.
the cistern
Our next excursion was Bethlehem, which is actually in the West Bank under Palestinian rule. It't not the idyllic, sleepy old village you're picturing. It's more of a tourist center. David took us for lunch at a friend's restaurant, and we ate like kings.
the Palestinian and the Israeli, friends
He then took us by another friend's shop, where they make and sell jewelry in the Greek Orthodox style. This stunner, a carving of Herodium done in olive wood, is one of only 20 in the world, and the last of its kind.
It had started to rain by this time. Thankfully, our last stop was indoors. Bethlehem Bible College. The president there is a graduate of Gordon Conwell Seminary, a Palestinian Christian. He welcomed us with hot tea, croissants, and chairs that were almost too comfy for a classroom. His personal testimony was powerful and thought-provoking, one of misguided youth, violent loss, and dramatic redemption. The work they're doing now at the school is vital - a ray of light in a dark and difficult place. Keep it in your prayers.
We were beat tonight. Dinner and some group discussion time capped off our evening. We only have two more days here! What a time...
Prepare thyselves: tomorrow we go to Masada!
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