Another beautiful day in Israel with lots of sunshine.  By the end of the day it seems we both got a little overwhelmed by the “Son”. Up again by 6 and home by 7 or so. We began our day on the Mt. of Olives overlooking the Holy City of David, then went on to the Western Wall, the Temple and Bethlehem… It took a little while to get home from Bethlehem. Under Palestinian control, we had to take our passports with us. Our tour guide was unable to enter the city of Bethlehem because of his Israeli citizenship. We met up with a new tour guide once we crossed the security wall named George. A nice young man who helped us to understand the history of this fantastic area.

On our way back traffic was congested and once we finally made it through one checkpoint out of Bethlehem we had to go through the Israel checkpoint. Security entered our bus to make sure we were who we said we were. Hey, fine with me. With Hammas in many of the Palestinian areas you cant be too careful. It was still a fantastic day and we’ve even got pictures to prove it!

We began our day with an orientation to Jerusalem from the Mt. of Olives.  Notice the graves which are over 3,500 years old.  People place stones on the graves to indicate that they have visited.  Flowers are not used because they are cut and that indicates death.  We had a magnificent view of the Holy City from the top of Mt. Olives.

The Mount of Olives rises to the East of Jerusalem and reaches a height of almost 2,500 feet.  It use to be covered with olive groves but today, it is largely covered with Jewish graves and Christian Shrines.  2 Samuel 15:30-37 tells of King David walking up the Mt. of Olives as he fled Jerusalem to escape from his son Absalom.  He was, “weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot.”  Luke 19 also refers to Jesus weeping, and today the walls are wet- signifying this weeping. The East gate, described in Mt. 23 can be seen from here as well.  The Muslims filled in the gate and put in a massive cemetary in front of it- perhaps because they recognize that Jesus, upon his return, will be taking the same path and they are trying to prevent this???

Jesus rode down the Mt. of Olives into Jerusalem on a donkey for His “triumphal entry.” Mt. 24-25; Mark 13:1-37; Luke 21: 5-6.  Mt. 26, Mark 14 and Luke 22 all describe Jesus and His deciples leaving the upper room and going to the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, it is here that Jesus was arrested.  We went to the upper room and the garden of Gethsemene- there is an olive tree there dating back to the time of Jesus!!!  After His resurrection, Jesus ascended to heaven fro the Mt. of Olives Luke 24: 50-53; Acts 1: 9-12.

We decended the Mt. of Olives on the traditional Palm Sunday route to the church known as Dominus Flevit (“Our Lord Weeps”) which is more traditionally known as the Church of all Nations.  The church was erected in 1927 and there are many crests recognizing contributing countries, including the good old U.S.A.  This church contains the rock which Jesus prayed on, “a stones throw away” from the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemine.

We then boarded our chariot and drove to the Dung Gate, just inside, we walked to the Southern Wall excavations.  Some nice Israeli soldiers took photos with us.  All Israelis must enlist at the age of 19- boys for 3 years and girls for 2.  If they choose to leave after that, they are all still in the reserves- boys until age 55 and girls until age 35.   We examined the ruins near the south side of the Temple complex, which is a massive undertaking.  It is impossible to comprehend how this massive Temple was constructed so long ago.  The Temple has been destroyed twice, and the third time it is destroyed is the coming of the Messiah.  The Temple is being rebuilt today. After the Temple, we went to the slopes of Mt. Zion, visiting the Upper Room and King David’s Tomb.  Acts 1:29 describes this.  The Zion gate is closest to the Jewish Quarter and was somewhat destroyed during the war.  From 1948-1967 this part of the city was divided as 1/2 Jordanian and 1/2 Israeli.

We then went South past Solomon’s Pools, Jerusalem’s main source of water for almost 2000 years, passing the Monastery of Hortus Conclusus (the sealed garden) in Artas, then on to Bethlehem.  Our guides changed at this point for this part of the tour because Israeli’s aren’t allowed in occupied Bethlehem.  Our new guide, George was wonderful.  He speaks Arabic, English and Spanish, understanding some Hebrew. 

Bethlehem use to be 75% Christian but now is only about 15% Christian.  It contains 40,000 people in the city, which is walled at the border crossing, and 180,000 total.  We entered Palestinean territory.  In fulfillment of the prophecy of Micah 5:2, Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  Mt. 2: 1-12 tells the story of the wise men, led by the star, visited and worshiped the infant “king of the Jews” in Bethlehem.  The Church of the Nativity, the oldest church in the Holyland was our first stop.  This church survived the Persian invasion because it is believed that the wisemen were from Persia and mosaic’s depicting them on the outside of the church made the Persians believe it wasn’t a Christian church.  It is here that we were able to see where Mary gave birth to Jesus (the photo with the star) and also the place where the manger was.  Bethlehem means House of Bread in some languages and House of Meat in others.  The church that contains these wonderful antiquities houses Greek, Armenian and Roman faiths.  The traditional Christmas broadcast each year is held at the Roman St. Catherine’s Church.  The tomb of Rachel, wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin, is just outside Bethlehem.  Rachel died while giving birth to Benjamin. Genesis 35:16-20; 48:7.  When we were in Bethlehem, we saw where Jerome, in 384 AD lived interpreting the Bible from Greek to Latin.  He lived here, the site of the INN for 56 years.  This is known as the Volgate.  Jerome and Josephus, his contemporary are both entoumbed here, at the same place the innocent children of Bethlehem were slaughtered by Herod the Great, who feared Jesus becoming king, ordered the slaughter of all male children 2 years and under.  Mt. 2:13-18.  When excavated, several skulls were found.  There were many Christian groups visiting this holy place at the same time as us who were singing familiar Christmas songs.  When we exited, we saw a tribute to Jerome Hieronymus. 

Next was the Church of Shepard’s Field which is at the site where Ruth and Boaz lived.  Naomi, whom David and Jesus are descendant’s of, went to Jordan, but after her husband died and Naomi’s husband died, they returned to this place and lived.  Naomi knew Boaz and encouraged their relationship. 

We hope you enjoy our photos.  As before, we promise to try to label as many as we can, when we get a chance, but alas, it is now time for bed for our early rise at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow to enter the Old City, the Southern Wall, Dome of the Rock, Holy Sepulcher, Via Dolorosa, Upper Room, Gardent Tomb and communion!!