An OT and NT view of Jerusalem: Part 1

Whoa. Two full days of field trips back-to-back and I haven’t even updated about Hezekiah’s tunnel on Thursday. I have a lot to catch you up on. J

BUT I didn’t bring my camera to Hezekiah’s tunnel because of the water, and then on the first day of field trips I took about five pictures before my memory card was full, and even though I deleted all of the pictures from the card, it still said it was full. L So I’ll have to get pictures from friends and update on those things later.

Luckily, my roommate, Joanna, had an extra memory card, so I borrowed hers for today’s field trip.

We left campus at 7am to start the day. This field trip was about Old and New Testament locations in Jerusalem. Because we were just going around the city, we walked everywhere we went. And let me tell you – Jerusalem really is a city on a hill!

Our first major stop on our trip was the Western wall. In this picture, you can see the Wailing Wall to the very left and the Dome of the Rock above it. (I’m pretty sure you can click any of these pictures and they will show up larger.) 

The Wailing Wall is separated between men and women (the men have a much larger side). I was a little surprised that we were able to go up to it. I prayed in the chair to the left of the girl in the blue!  It was nice to be able to sit there and thank the Lord that in His divine will He has united Jews and Gentiles together in the opportunity of being His people. 

The next place I took pictures of was the pool of Bethesda. This is the place in John 5 where sick, blind, lame or weak people would wait for angels to stir up the water and then they would all run in. It is here where Jesus healed man who had been sick for 38 years and wasn’t fast enough to get to the waters. Its also called the “sheep gate” pool because people would wash their sheep in it before sacrificing them. 

St. Anna’s Church is just around the corner from the pool of Bethesda, so we got permission to go inside and sing. We sang a few songs (Doxology, In Christ Alone, I Love You Lord, Amazing Grace, and Come Thou Fount) and the acoustics were so good. I mean, we weren’t anything close to a choir, but it sounded amazing.  

Then we went to Mt. Moriah, which Jewish people believe is the same Mt. Moriah as the one Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac. It is also where they built their temple before it was destroyed. Now there is a mosque on top of it.  

Around Mt. Moriah, we saw around where the old Temple used to be. The floor here is the same level as it was during Jesus’ day, but it was repaved later. You can see where shops used to be in the upper left of the picture. This is where they sold animals for sacrifice to the pilgrims coming to the temple.