A busy weekend

My friend Jamie caught me documenting some desert flora on Saturday. We were hiking to the ruins of another one of Herod's fortresses just northwest of the Dead Sea. The fortress remains are not all that impressive but the view of the desert is.

Unknown desert flower: Almost all of the plants in the desert are in bloom right now in the winter rainy season. I was not going to post this one but with the above shot I had to...

A view from the top of the fortress.

A wild Ibex wandered right through the picnic area we where we ate lunch.

Date Palms at En Gedi on the shores of the Dead Sea. They have been cultivated here since ancient times since they thrive on the natural, salty springs.

On Sunday we visited the remains at Shiloh, the ancient site of worship where Samuel first heard from the Lord. Notice the much more lush vegetation. In the north, the land of Samaria, there is ample rain for crops and vegetation. These red flowers, that are a type of poppy, grow throughout the country and have been in full bloom for the past several weeks.

Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant hears." Then the LORD said to Samuel, "Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. I Samuel 3:9-11

The story of the presence of the Lord at Shiloh is a painful one as the Lord removed it as the center of the kingdom and of worship. This region is very blessed with good farmland and access to other cities and nations but ultimately it was rejected for its unfaithfulness.

More remains at Shiloh.

There are about 600 Samaritans still in existence and they live in a tight community and still practice ritual sacrifice. This is the place where they slaughter and offer the animals to the Lord. The blue posts are for hanging the animals and the grate is for burning the inner parts. The meat is cooked and eaten hastily and all that is not eaten is burned as a sacrifice to the Lord. I will probably attend their Passover sacrifice as an example of how the Israelites may have conducted their sacrifices. We had an opportunity to speak with their high priest.

They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. Exodus 12:8-11

A view of Shechem from Mt. Gerizim. This was the capital of Israel (the northern kingdom) for a while and has great agricultural opportunity. You can see the vast plain that does not exist near Jerusalem that is about 30 or so miles away. This plain is really the intersection of four great flat valleys that serve both as good farmland and natural routes between cities and the coast. Mt. Gerizim is also an important Biblical site. I will let you investigate biblical stories on your own for this one. Have fun!

We call it the ethnographic present...

Due to the almost inconceivable stability of the Arab culture there are many things that are still happening today in the Middle East that illuminate the pages of the Bible. Some are pleasant but then some, such as the following, are horrific. Even though the last 50 or so years has seen significant change in the culture many things remain largely the same as they were 3,000 years ago. Even though Islam was not conceived until just after 600AD it adopted a lot of the culture that was already present in the region.

In Genesis 38 we find the twisted story of Judah and Tamar. You can read the full chapter for yourself but the bottom line is that Tamar tricks Judah (her father in law) into buying a night with her as a prostitute. Three months later she is found to be pregnant out of wedlock and he orders that she should be killed to preserve the family’s honor. A shocking point in the story is that Judah was trying to pay back this mysterious prostitute with a young goat and cannot find her. He is not worried about loosing his life for the deed but is only concerned about being a “laughing stock” in comparison to what would happen to a woman for the same crime. Below is a section of the story that picks up right after Judah’s friend can’t find the prostitute.

“So he went back to Judah and said, "I didn't find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, 'There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here.' " Then Judah said, "Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn't find her." About three months later Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant." Judah said, "Bring her out and have her burned to death!" As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. "I am pregnant by the man who owns these," she said. And she added, "See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are." Judah recognized them and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn't give her to my son Shelah." And he did not sleep with her again.” Genesis 38:22-26

Below is an article from today’s paper in Israel. It talks about a ring of honor killings that has been uncovered in a suburb of Tel Aviv. No one here is suprised when these stories are printed; everyone knows all to well what goes on. Please pray for these women and for this culture.

Last update - 06:54 23/02/2007
Abu-Ghanem women speak out against serial 'honor killings'

The murder of Hamda Abu-Ghanem, whose bullet-riddled body was found in mid-January at her parents' house in Ramle, surprised nobody. As police set about their investigation, everyone was aware that the victim's brother had been threatening to kill her, and that long before the murder, she had taken refuge in a battered women's shelter. It was a typical "honor killing," meant to remove some perceived stain on the family's reputation. The perpetrators of most honor killings in the Arab community are not apprehended. Hamda's murder, however, was one too many for the women in the Abu-Ghanem family. She was the eighth woman to be murdered in the extended family in the last six and a half years. All her predecessors also lost their lives in "honor killings." This time, instead of keeping mum when the police questioned them, the Abu- Ghanem women gave detailed testimonies of everything they knew. One said she had seen Rashad enter the house where Hamda was. Shortly afterward she heard shots and seconds later saw Rashad, the key suspect, fleeing from the building. The victim's mother told the police that Rashad had forbidden his sister to leave the house after some men had called her a "prostitute." It was a women's revolt against the men of the family. While the men refused to cooperate with the police and forbade the women to speak, the women revealed all. They decided to put an end to the bloody circle of silence," Chief Inspector Haim Shreibhand, who was in charge of the investigation, told Haaretz. The detectives gathered testimonies from 20 Abu-Ghanem women and assembled the pieces of the puzzle together into an indictment, he said. Kamal Rashad Abu-Ghanem, 30, was arraigned in Tel Aviv's District Court yesterday for murder. His cousin Mahmoud, who was also arrested, was released for lack of sufficient evidence to file charges. Rashad Abu-Ghanem was charged with entering the family's home, in Ramle's Juarish neighborhood. His sister was alone in the house, lying on her bed. She probably knew she was about to die. He went up the stairs with a loaded 9-mm. handgun, entered his sister's room and fired nine bullets at her. Before Hamda, the other women of the Abu-Ghanem family who lost their lives for honor were Naifa, Suzan, Zinat, Sabrin, Amira, Reem and Shirihan. Like some of the other victims, Hamda had spent the last few years in a shelter, hiding from her brother. Her "crime" was apparently her numerous telephone conversations, and being seen talking to her cousin once. About a year ago, she asked to move back to her parents' house in Ramle. A few months later, she filed a police complaint against her brother, who had assaulted her. He was arrested, but later released by the court. "The hardest thing at these murder scenes is the awful silence," said Yifrah Duchovny, Coastal Plain police commander. "Nobody cries, nobody speaks." "We held everyone who was in the neighborhood at the time of the murder for questioning, and started collecting testimonies. The first one who cooperated with us, perhaps without meaning to, was a relative who said the murder wasn't justified, that Hamda had not breached any honor. Then a female relative agreed with him," Shreibhand said. The detectives told Hamda's mother, sisters and cousins what the first two relatives had said and asked for their opinion. "Gradually they started to speak. Each one started by saying she had had enough, that she didn't want this situation to continue. The mother, who had first stood behind her son, suddenly started speaking against him, sharing things she knew with us. She said she was angry that he had murdered her daughter." Hamda's sisters went further. When they confronted Rashad at the police station they spat out at him: "You're a dog," and "Sit in prison for life, murderer." One of them asked him, "Why don't you try to murder me too? I'm not scared of you any more." The men, on the other hand, hardly said a word to the police. "After the women began to talk, they found themselves receiving threats," said Shreibhand. The witnesses have been put in safe houses, for fear the men would try to harm them. However, several women were not comfortable in the safe houses and are returning to the neighborhood. "The relations between the men and women in the family have become really tense. We've had special meetings about how to protect the women after they testify and we have a plan," the inspector said. However, Aida Touma-Suleiman, director of the Women Against Violence group in the Arab sector, said she has grave fears for the women's lives. "I support these brave women. They finally broke the circle of blood and silence. But I'm also afraid they will be hurt. As long as there is no witness protection program, these women will be abandoned after they testify. They may have been courageous, but they have also sentenced themselves to death," she said. Rashad Abu-Ghanem is represented by Attorney Giora Zilberstein.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/829440.html

wanderings

This gorge is known as the Wadi Qilt. "Wadi" is the Hebrew name for a cut valley or water drainage basin, especially one that has a very steep "v" shape formation. I am learning a lot of geography now and I am going to attempt a brief synopsis that may help you understand what I will be talking about in the future and how so much diversity can be present in such a small space. Here goes! - There is a north-south line that runs through the country that is the natural dividing line for water flow either to the Mediterranean or to the Dead Sea. This is just like the Rocky or Appalachian mountains where to the east of the range water flows one way and to the west water flows to another (in U.S. either the Mississippi or an ocean). There appears to be no special name for this ridge so for class purposes we simply refer to it as watershed ridge. This ridge takes on special significance because it also coincides to some degree with a major shift in rock type that I mentioned in an earlier post. Roughly to the east of the ridge is wasteland, near useless chalk as the predominant rock type that cannot be easily used for building or producing good soil. It also does not preserve underground aquifers so springs and wells accessible to the ancients are rare. Also since weather comes from the west, the western side of the watershed ridge gets much more rain than the eastern side. So combine bad soil with little rain and you get land like you see in the picture above, beautiful but not very productive for settled farming. The land is useful for sheep and goat grazing and this is what it is used for to this day. So this north south dividing line also is home to a great line of cities that in Biblical times and before settled on this high ground of the watershed ridge to reap the benefits of living on the border between the two lands. Cities centered around this ridge include (roughly from north to south) Shiloh, Bethel, Ai, Mizpah, Ramah, Michmash, Gibeon, Geba, Gibeah, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron. The challenge of the ages is that all of these cities had limited access to international trading routes out of the central hill country. To the East Jericho was the hub to get across the Jordan River and there were three major routes to get there. To the west Gezer was a major city that provided acess to the coast. Without Gezer and its accompanying highway many of these cities had no acess to the coast. Great battles were fought with all of this in mind. I think that is enough for now...

As for this picture(If any of you are still with me) this is the valley facing Jericho. Our group hiked from this point about two miles into Jericho along the faint path visible on the left hand side of the gorge a little more than half way down. Also on the left a channel is visible. This is a Roman aqueduct build by Herod to bring water from several springs into Jericho. The aquaduct is still maintained by locals for supplying water (I am not sure but I think just for watering flocks). We actually saw some guys with shovels cleaning it out as we were hiking.

This is the same gorge directly below where the previous photo was taken. You can notice the much greener look of the wadi bottom. There was a decent amount of seasonal water flowing through the bottom of the canyon. In the back of the picture you see St. George's monastery rising out of the hillside. All through these hills you find remains of places where people have lived over the millennia. The desert is the home of many Biblical narratives and a favorite home of monastics starting around 300AD. This monastery memoralizes Elijah's flight to the desert where he was fed by ravens. Never mind that the Bible clearly states that he went east of the Jordan so this is absolutely not where he hid but it is a tradition that started 1700 years ago so what are you going to do?

Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." And the word of the LORD came to him, "Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." So he went and did according to the word of the LORD. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. I Kings 17:1-7

This is the Old Testament site of Jericho. It is a "Tel" or ancient city mound. For thousands of years people built their homes out of mud brick that was continually breaking down and being replaced. So the mounds became quite high and the layers can be dated with pottery remains that are left from each respective time period. Jericho is one of those difficult sites where not much has been found supporting the biblical narrative. At the turn of the century the mud brick wall shown here was discovered and claimed to be the walls that God destroyed before Joshua. However the wall was later determined to be 1,000 years older than Joshua and the archeologist who did the second excavation (Kathleen Kenyon) claimed that the site was uninhabited in the time of Joshua. It is known that Kenyon was biased against finding support for scripture at the site but regardless, evidence is sparce to nonexistent for a settlement that would coincide with the Biblical narrative. However, as the pun goes: "tels don't tell all." The geography of the Bible is very reliable and lines up with what we know about the land today. Just because pottery was not found in the excavations that were done does not mean the site was uninhabited. There is no reason to abandon the Biblical account just because no record exists. Jericho is an oasis town and personally I have a hard time believing that it was ever unoccupied. Where there is water in a desert there are people.
A gate built by Solomon at Tel Gezer. This is his standard "six chamber gate." Often in the bible it talks about business being done in the city gate. Here is an example of the rooms in the gate where such things would take place. The trench in the middle is the sewer that drained out underneath the now missing road surface. We were not told why the sewer flows out the main gate but I would guess that it is for security purposes.
Sunset at Tel Gezer. The western gateway to the cities of the hill country. Thanks again for reading and posting everyone!

A Look Around Campus

A view of the campus from the garden.

The garden from the entryway to the dining room.

Here is a view of the garden from near the front gate. On the right is a young palm tree, to the left the whiteish tree is an olive tree and the arched hedge is a huge Bay Laurel bush that is the source of Bay Leaves, a common spice.

I enjoyed taking this photo of some winter flowers in the garden. Also, as an update, the white flowers that I posted earlier are flowers of an almond tree. Before I come home in May there will be a harvest of fresh almonds that are eaten shell and all while they are still green.

Inside of the building there is an inner courtyard that you have to go through to get throughout the building. My room is in what I call "the crow's nest" at the top of the brown wooden stairs.

This is a view of the dining room. My expert photography skills ;) make it look a bit nicer than it really is in real life.

This is our student lounge. The building is an all stone construction that was built sometime around two hundred years ago by the British as a boys school. Since they did not use steel or other beams all of the ceilings on the first floor are comprised of these arches. In this room the plaster has been removed for a nice casual effect. The campus is currently on longterm lease to JUC from the Anglican Church.

Here is another view of the student lounge. This is what a typical hallway/stairwell looks like.This is my room. My bed is to the right. Some of the rooms are more like the lounge with nicer stone floors and high domed ceilings but this does just fine and keeps me in shape climbing all of the stairs!
This is a detail of a "relieving arch" over a window. Since there was no steel available to support the window as is used in today's masonry projects every window is either a strong natural arch or an arch such as the one above. This type of arch allows for a rectangular window.

So Much To Say - so little time

Hello Everyone - Thank you so much for all of your prayers, posts and encouragement. I am having a great time and learning so much that I can't even begin to share it all with you. Here are just a few pictures and highlights from our field study on Saturday. I will see what I can do about getting some pics of the school and explaining a bit about where I am living since I have not done that yet. Grace and Peace to each of you!

The public lobby to the Gold domed Russian Orthodox Church located on the Mount of Olives posted earlier.
The place where the Garden of Gethsemane is remembered. These ancient Olive trees are well over 1000 years old but are not the same trees Jesus sat under when he prayed before the crucifixion. When the temple was destroyed in 70AD the Romans cut every tree to use as wood to burn the Temple. The limestone temple was destroyed with heat from the burning wood that disintegrated the rock.

39Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." 41He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." 43An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Luke 22:39-44

The church that accompanies the Olive trees above memorializes Jesus' weeping in the garden before the Crucifixion. The windows of the church are made out of thick alabaster stone so that very little light shines through and the church is constantly dark. This is a picture of one of the windows from the inside at midday.

This is the view East from the top of the Mount of Olives away from Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives is an important dividing line between generally inhabitable land and generally uninhabitable land. The rock type changes suddenly from a solid limestone bedrock to a near useless chalk hundreds of feet thick. On just the other side of this hill every piece of ground is used where here shepherds are the only ones who find a home. Modern technology has somewhat bridged the gap as you can see a highway and a tunnel to the right and a small community as well but soon settlement becomes even more sparse. The land is somewhat green in the winter but turns completely brown and unable to support any crops in the summer. Without solid rock layers there are few natural aquifers below the surface and therefore little opportunity for wells or springs.

One of several side by side ancient threshing floors at Bethlehem. It is believed that the surface of the rock would not be much smoother than you see it here. Farmers would bring their harvested grain, stalk and all up to the threshing floor of exposed bedrock and use animals to drag boards with sharp rocks in them (known as a threshing sledge) over the grain, cutting it apart and separating the wheat from the stalk. The grain would then be swept up and the kernels of wheat separated from the chaff by throwing it into the air. This might be the place where Ruth met Boaz in the night as the men would always sleep with their grain to protect it from thieves during the harvest.

22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. Ruth 1:22...

1 One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for? 2 Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do." Ruth 3:1-4

The finest example of Iron Age masonry in all of Israel - Impressed?

This is believed to be the remains of Hezekiah's palace about two and a half miles south of Jerusalem. The wall was constructed without mortar with a kind of tongue and groove puzzle piece design that held it together.

A Look at David's City

On Sunday we walked throughout Jerusalem and discussed various sites. Here are a few things that we saw and did. We do most of our trips on Sunday since Saturday is the Holy Day for Jews known as Shabbat and most sites are closed.

David did not build Jerusalem from scratch but captured it from the Jebusites after it had been inhabited for over 1,000 years. This is an artist’s rendition of what the City of David probably looked like from what we know of the archeological remains. Strong walls on all sides and the Gihon spring just outside the normal boundary of the city with its own walls surrounding it. There was also a tunnel from the spring into the inner city that allowed water to be drawn with out risk of attack in times of siege. There is debate on whether or not this is that tunnel that David used to attack the city.

Looking down Warren's Shaft (named after the man who discovered it).

6 The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.” They thought, “David cannot get in here.” 7 Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, the City of David. 8 On that day, David said, “Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those ‘lame and blind’ who are David’s enemies.” That is why they say, “The ‘blind and lame’ will not enter the palace.” 9 David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the supporting terraces inward. 10 And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him. II Samuel 5:6-10

This is in Hezekiah's tunnel the tunnel is about 1600 feet long and about two feet wide. King Hezekiah commissioned the digging of the tunnel from the Gihon spring to a pool that was built below the city. This was a huge advance in water collection for the city. There was a seeping coming out of the hill at the bottom of the valley and Hezekiah's engineers figured that it was connected to the spring so they started two teams cutting out the rock from either end and eventually after a very windy trail met in the middle. Our group waded through the long dark tunnel. Pictured are the two girls in our group, their names are both Christina.

We now move to the First Temple Period after the City of David had been expanded to the highlands above by Solomon. This is a section of wall in the north of the city that is particularly important for defense as attacks would come from the downward slopes to the north. This section is a small curving section that provides extra support in a ravine and is known as the Broad Wall. Nehemiah mentions this section of the wall in chapter 3 where he lists everyone who helps to repair the wall. Many of the archeological finds in the Old City were discovered after the 1967 war. Many parts of the city were reduced to rubble and time was taken for excavations. Now some of the most important sites are exposed in the new city plan.

8 Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired the next section; and Hananiah, one of the perfume-makers, made repairs next to that. They restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. Nehemiah 3:8

Here I am at the Southwestern corner of the temple mount. In an earlier post I mistakenly said that the Western Wall is the only remaining section of the Temple however that is not true. There are many stones surrounding temple mount that are in their original positions from the time of Herod. The Western Wall happens to be the most important section because it is the closest section to where the Holy of Holies would have been. This section is very important archeologically though because the remains are very complete for a massive arch and stair case that led up to the top of the Temple mount and you can see the fallen stones for that arch behind me(artists rendition below). The street I am standing on was a very highly traveled street that Jesus surely would have walked on however not these very stones because we have records of the street being repaved in 69AD just before the Temple was destroyed in 70AD. Notice the size of the stone just over my head. These weigh hundreds of tons and are constructed without any mortar but rely on their sheer weight for stability. Excuse me for rambling on but one more thing. Notice also the cut margin around the edge of the stone. All stones cut in Herod's time had this margin. They can be seen all over the city as stones were often reused over and over again. As new kings commissioned building projects constrution crews grabbed whatever good stone was still available. By knowing styles of stone you can trace the history of many walls in Jerusalem.

An artist's sketch of what the stairway and arch would have looked like. The edge of the arch where it enters into the side of the wall is still present.

Here is a wall inside of our Campus that is built directly on top of a portion of old city wall. This is bedrock that at one time was the foundation for the city wall. The stair step design allowed the wall to be placed on top of this notched pattern which provided added strength from exterior attack.

This is a very exciting new discovery in Jerusalem. In just the last two years this pool, which is quite confidently believed to be the Pool of Siloam (John 9:1-12) has been uncovered for the first time in almost two thousand years. It is a Roman era pool that is fed by the water coming out of Hezekiah's tunnel. Until just recently another pit nearby was fabeled to be this pool however it is not very convincing. Recently when a new utility project was cutting through this area the pavement was discovered and the project halted. Archeologists were brought in and excavations revealed this exceptionally well preserved pool. We can say with some confidence that these are stones Jesus walked on. The rest of the pool will be excavated when land rights are cleared for the area.

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”6 Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. 8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” 10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they demanded. 11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” 12 “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said. John 9:1-12

These are stairs that were in place in Herod's day that led up to the temple from the Southern side. This was also a favorite place for Rabbis to sit and teach. It is likely that Jesus and the apostles, especially Saul, taught on these stairs that overlook the Mount of Olives.

This is the pool of Bethesda. Jesus also healed a man here. Originally this pit was divided into two sections that served as a Roman era reservoir for the city. Later a church was built that extended over the pit. The Chruch has since been destroyed. The story below may have even more sting when Jesus says: "Do you want to get well?" because a wading pool beside this deep pool was committed to the Roman gods. This could have been the pool he was laying beside, thereby seeking healing in the wrong place.

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” John 5:1-8

Today I Hiked to the Mount of Olives

Russian Orthodox Church on the Mount of Olives.

Tombs carved into the bedrock on the side of the Mount of Olives. Most of the hill is now a very large cemetary of which you can see just a few rows at the top of the picture. The modern Mount of Olives is not a very pleasant thing to look at. Aside from two nice churches it is covered with dirt, rocks, and tombstones in varying states of reconstruction.

The Kidron Valley below the Mount of Olives. Here are the Olive trees!

An excavated tomb site on the Mount of Olives. In ancient times many people did not have a plot of ground that they were buried in as we do today or even as is now present on the Mount of Olives. The body was laid on a cement slab in the tomb and allowed to decompose for about a year. Then the tomb was reopened and the bones moved either into a box as show here, known as an ossuary or into an open pit in the tomb where bones were collected for many years. This gives the Old Testament phrase "and he was gathered to his fathers" new meaning as in the age of the patriarchs they definitely used the later method and collected the bones all together in a loose chamber. So when you died you literally were "gathered with your fathers" in the family tomb.

An example of an excavated stone slab with burial chambers below. The blocks to the right are the stone building that has been built above the tomb site.

This is a blosom on a tree that was growing out of the side of a stone wall. There are not many flowers out right now. I suspect that this is one of the first trees to flower as winter begins to move into spring.

Today I was in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City for several hours in the afternoon. This is a fairly highly traveled side street on the way to the Western (Formerly "Wailing") Wall - The only remaining remenant of the second temple. In the photo is a Jewish boy following his father down the stairs toward the Western Wall.

This is a military assembly that was taking place at the Western Wall when we arrived. There were three or four times as many soldiers as is shown in this photo. I believe that it was a graduation ceremony for basic training. From what I understand the final week of basic training is spent inside the Old City, learning how to defend it and fostering national pride. Of course Police and Military are everywhere in both the New City and the Old City. Most major streets have at least one soldier present.

A view of the Western Wall with the Dome of the Rock visable. A truck was unloading something for the military assembly.

A Jewish man offering prayers just outside the inner gate of the Western Wall.

Prayers being offered at the Western Wall. Many orthodox Jews pray here as well as other Jewish believers who normally cover their head such as the boy with the backpack on the left. No pictures are allowed to be taken in the inner area and everyone must wear a head covering as illustrated by the paper caps seen here. Also if you look closely written prayers are visible as paper tucked into the cracks of the rocks. My friend and I went up to the wall and prayed and also went into some of the underground chambers that have been excavated. There are a number of impressive chambers that now house prayer rooms and arks for Torah scrolls. While we where there a barmitzva was being held and a Torah scroll in a large impressive silver case was brought out from one of the inner chambers for the boy to read. There is a court of women and a court of men and the inner chambers are only open for men to enter so the men brought the scroll out of the chamber and then took it over to the wall between the two courts and the women were standing on tables looking over the wall and throwing candy while the Rabbis and the other men were carrying out the ceremony.