Jerusalem Day 8 (Monday, 9th)

Today we headed out to visit the Southern Excavations and the City of David. Our guide today was Jared Goldfarb, an American Jew who told us of his journey to his understanding his 'Jewishness' having grown up in New Hampshire without and Jewish support or understanding of his faith. Like all our guides he was terrific not only for his passion but the breadth of his knowledge.

Jared with Jacinta and Carmel (Street) on Temple Mount)

  

After passing through all the security that is involved in getting into the West Wall Precinct we went up onto the Mall where Jared led us through the history of Temple Mount giving us chapter and verse of the Muslim history before we moved to an area between the Dome of the Rock (a monument to Mohammed and his encounter with God) and the Al Axa Mosque. He explained that the people would come to the Dome and acknowledge the sacred place and then would move to the Mosque to pray. Sadly, the political situation now means that non Muslims are prevented from entering either place so we were not able to see inside.

As we moved to the Northern side of the Dome we were looking back towards Ecce Homo and we could see the Dome of the Basilica - the minaret which sends out our early morning wakeup call is in the foreground. The photo is the best I could do.

From there we headed to the City of David which is actually outside the Walls of the (present) City but as Jared explained these are the walls that Herod built and not as the original (Davidic) city would have been. 

Again, Jared led us by chapter and verse through the story of the Jewish time in Jerusalem encouraging us as we tried to piece together the story of how the city got its name and how it is also central to the Jewish story. From the relative shade of the entrance area to the City of David we then headed to the excavations.

Although there has been extensive renovations nothing from the Davidic era has actually been found - the closest time is 250 years after David but these have been conclusive that this was the centre of the Kingdom.

The photo shows some of the work at the beginning of the steps down to the Pool at the base of the city at the end of the Kedron Valley. 

We were then taken down to the Tunnel which was built during the time of Hezekiah. The city was in danger in being placed under siege so Hezekiah organised for a tunnel to be built under the city to take water to the other side of the city, to an area that was inside the Walls of the city. A group of us walked the length of the tunnel (known as the wet tunnel - the water still flows through from one side to the other) whilst others walked through a slightly older Canaanite tunnel (the dry tunnel).

The experience was quite amazing for a number of reasons. The tunnel met about the middle and, whilst there were a few Z bends to meet up, we were astounded by the ability of those digging to travel from both ends and even get close without any equipment to guide them other than sound - their voices and the tools they were using.

The Pool that encloses the water at the other end (the eastern side of the city) is the Pool of Siloam which figures prominently in the 2nd Testament as well as being mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures.

After lunch we headed back to the Western side of the city via and ancient path (at least for a short distance) before we entered the sewer system built by the Romans - thankfully it hasn't been used for quite some time but again, an incredible feat of engineering.

Jared then spoke about some of the later history as we reentered the area below the Western Wall (in an area just below the Wailing Wall). Again, there is far too much to try and include here but his presentation was challenging and well received.

From there we headed back towards Ecce Homo, stopping on the way for a cold drink which was really appreciated. I got back to my room and transcribed my notes (taken on my iPhone) into my iPad and then headed off to a study session in the classroom.

We were asked to either reflect on some of the material from today or look a little deeper into a passage of Matthew's Gospel which we will be beginning more seriously on Wednesday. I joined with Mark Garnsey (from Sacred Heart, Ulverstone) and Maria Karajovanova (a Macedonian Jewish convert to Catholicism now living in Toronto, Canada).  We looked at Matt 20:29ff and asked ourselves about how different the blindness the two men experienced and the faith that led them to seek to have their 'eyes opened' - so much more that being able to see.

Chatted for a while after the evening meal but now it is time for bed.