Tunnels & Reverance
Day 2: Jerusalem
Today we walked the Old Testament in Jerusalem. We headed to the more recently discovered (2006) ruins of the City of David. There’s tons of evidence that this is where the citadel (where King David lived) was located. The richness of the historic discoveries here in Jerusalem- today- seems like they were just swept under the rug and forgotten for a bit. As I leaned over from the citadel's foundation to view the city below, it FINALLY DAWNED ON ME. I finally understood the story of David and Bathsheba. From David’s citadel, he could see almost the entire city laid out below. Any superior general or official’s house would have been in close vicinity to the citadel. King David could have looked over onto any roof he wanted. And from there, temptation lay. As Jack pointed out the citadel’s layout, the burned room below, and the first-century toilet, the people in the stories began to take on lives in front of me. I could see King David walking the roof of the citadel and welcoming guests from far away on the sweeping front steps.
At noon- we climbed down into King Hezekiah’s tunnel (read about it in 2 Chronicles 32 for the backstory). And walked for over 25 minutes thru an underground, watery tunnel. It’s still one of my favorite experiences so far. The freezing cold water, darkness all around, and yet, complete peace, as we made our way slowing through the tunnel. Once we walked all the way to the bottom of the tunnel, we soon realized that since we had walked all the way down, we now had to walk all the way up… we arrived hot, sweaty, and out of breath, all the while taking in the scenery and residential homes that lined the cobblestone street.
As we hike, I’m beginning to acclimate to the dry heat and ice-cold Mediterranean breeze that blows in when you most need it. For example, when we hiked through the entire new city to the Broad City Wall section, it was blistering hot. But soon a breeze swept through the streets and cooled us. Seeing how wide the base of the wall was from the time of Hezekiah, was fascinating. It made me realize how dedicated King Hezekiah was to keeping his city safe.
From there, we hiked a couple more blocks, and stopped for a bit at an overlook of the Western Wall- but I felt intrusive taking photos. So, I just watched. Their heartfelt dedication and faithfulness was inspiring and made my breath catch in my throat. Maybe I’ll catch a photo tomorrow when we return for the tour of Jerusalem in the New Testament. But for today, I’ll just sit here. And take in their reverence.
I took a photo the next day, when there were less men praying.
We made our way back through the Jewish quarter, and the difference here, from the other quarters, was almost alarming. I almost felt like I was at Epcot in Disney World, moving from one country to the next. The streets were cleaner, it seemed more light and full of flowering trees and plants, and even though the people seemed to have destinations in mind (and grew annoyed when we didn’t know where we were going) they weren’t mean and still smiled when we tried to shrug and show our tourist intelligence. Some of our group accidentally split off, and we hoped that they could find their way back to us. Soon, we found ourselves even separated from our professor, Jack, and had to use our “mental map” to try and figure out our way back to the campus. (Strategic move, Jack!)
As I wrapped up my day, I was still processing all the sights and smells I’d witnessed over the past two days. I’m sure this processing will continue to happen over the next few weeks, and I may never fully grasp what I’m witnessing here.
