Shalom from Jerusalem!
Had a great day today in the City of Jerusalem. In the morning, we walked along the inside of the Western Wall of the Temple mount. The architecture that Herod the Great offered back in the time of Jesus is astounding. There were stones placed 60 feet high on Temple Mount wall that weighed over 50 tons and placed perfectly on top of one another. The walls were built without any cement or mortar or anything and you still couldn’t stick a razor between them once they were in place. Amazing. These would have been the Temple walls that Jesus would have seen when he went to Jerusalem.
We also took time to look at some prison cells that would have held Jesus on the night of his crucifixion as well as Peter and John as they awaited trial (Acts 4).
In the afternoon, we spent time in prayer at the Western/Wailing Wall and toured some more under the City of Jerusalem. We saw excavations of 1st Century Herodian mansions that would have been occupied by the very rich and powerful. There is a good chance that the houses we looked at would have been owned by some of the Pharisees that were in power in Jesus’ day.
We also took time looking at Herod’s Temple Mount and some of the changes that have happened since then. This part of the day included time on the steps up to the Eastern Gate of the Temple that would have been the main entrance to the Temple in Jesus’ time. It was an area where Jesus would have spent time teaching his Disciples as they looked across the Kidron Valley at the whitewashed tombs on the side of the Mt. of Olives.
We finished the day looking at the City of David and what was probably his palace and at the Pool of Siloam below his palace. The pool would be where Jesus told the blind man to go and wash after he spit in the dirt, made mud and wiped it on the man’s eyes. The blind man was healed in the waters of the Pool of Siloam. There’s more to this pool. Check out Malcolm Cartier talking about it on our tour…
Pool of Siloam from BMZ TV on Vimeo.
It was a great day. We are looking forward to another full day in the City of Jerusalem tomorrow. In the meantime, “Shalom” from the Holy City!
In Christ,
Stan