Israel Day 3 - The Old City of Jerusalem

This day was crazy busy, full of complicated history and some incredibly humbling experiences in Jerusalem. We started the day at King Herod's Palace and were able to go up onto the roof of the last remaining tower of his citadel. From there, we could see the commanding view King Herod had of Jerusalem from the upper city. We could also see the place reasonably considered to be Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified. I thought that Jesus was put on trial at a state building and then sent off to a far away mountain, carrying his cross uphill for miles before being executed. I was wrong. The trial of Jesus, more than likely, was held at Herod's Palace where Pontius Pilate would have stayed, and Golgotha, while outside the first city walls, is about a quarter mile away along relatively flat ground. That's not to say the journey was "easier" as Jesus was nearly dead even before beginning his journey (and crosses are pretty darn heavy), but my mental image of the crucifixion was far from accurate. If you look in the picture below, you can see two gray domes slightly off center - that is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built at the site of Golgotha. I took this picture at King Herod's Palace, so you can see how close the two are!

After seeing King Herod's Palace, we went to see houses excavated from the Western Hill during Jesus' time. They were huge! We learned they were most likely priestly homes because they contained ritual baths and stone vessels. Most Jewish people would have bathed (while clothed) outside the Temple Mount, but priests needed to be ritually clean more often than the average citizen. The stone vessels were used for ritual baths as well. Clay pottery is believed to absorb the impurities of an unclean person and the vessel will always be unclean afterwards. Stone vessels don't absorb impurities so they can be used in ritual baths without the risk of becoming unclean. They also had several elements of wealth such as fresca (the same type we found yesterday!), mosaic tile work, multiple rooms, and toilets, further solidifying the theory that the homes were used by priests.

Picture of an excavated house - note the mosaic on the floor and the many rooms!

Model of what the house probably looked like in Jesus' time

After lunch, we went to the Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem. It's become an extremely significant place for the Jewish community because they are forbidden from worshiping at the site of The Holy of Holies (the site where Abraham took Isaac and where the First & Second Temples were built). It's currently under Muslim control. The Western Wall of the Old City is the closest the Jewish people can worship freely. They were also instructed by rabbis not to step foot on the Temple Mount (where the Holy of Holies is located) in case they would misstep while ritually unclean. It's a big deal Jewish people to be ritually unclean on holy ground. There is so much history and religious conflict related to the Western Wall of the Old City but I think that's too much to get into right now. It was really interesting to watch other people experience the Wailing Wall. We saw people "washing," or ritually cleaning their hands, before entering the area to pray. Men and women prayed separately and many had prayer books they were reading from. It's also custom for them to write a prayer and put it in the cracks of the wall. Those prayers are considered holy by the Jewish people and collected to be buried at the end of each day. It was clear that we were tourists by the many mistakes we made - like not bringing a Hebrew prayer book and turning our backs to the wall - but people seemed forgiving, or at least tolerant, while we were there.

We finished the day outside the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount. All around the outside of the wall were ritual baths where Jews would wash before entering through the Southern Gates. They've excavated 150 ritual baths so far! These gates were used by anyone coming to the Temple, and since we know that Jesus visited the Temple many times, we were actually able to walk the same path He took! The exit path had some original stones as well. So we walked on the same stones that Jesus walked on. WHAT.

The path leading into the Temple Mount. 

The three bricked archways would have been gates

Original stones on the exit path from the Temple Mount

Truthfully, I'm not sure it's sunk in that I'm walking the same paths that Jesus walked or am in the same city that Jesus knew so well. It's surreal. It's been amazing to learn so much about the history and context of the Bible in just the past three days! I already view my Bible differently and am able to picture what's happening in both the Old and New Testaments, which is one of my goals. Tomorrow, we head to Bethlehem and the Israeli Museum where the Dead Sea Scrolls are held! I cannot wait!