|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Print By Cara Davis On the side wall of my grandfather’s church office hangs a nearly eight-foot-long panoramic view of the Old City of Jerusalem. Many lazy summer afternoons that I would spend in his office, he would turn to the subject of the Holy Land. He’d point out the Kidron Valley, the Mount of Olives, the Eastern Gate and talk endlessly and passionately about the significance of this tiny spot on the globe. But I didn’t get it. I appreciated his enthusiasm and wealth of knowledge, but the place didn’t seem real to me. Its significance to my own life was as muddy as gray matter. Until now. You can read everything in print about a place and still not really understand it until you experience it. This is the final entry in this four-part series about our trip to Israel in February of this year with my grandfather. My husband Jeff and I found Israel to be a land rich with history, cutting-edge archeological findings and cultural attractions and, above all else, a link to the roots of my spiritual heritage—something I couldn’t find anywhere else on the globe.
Jerusalem The highlight of everyone’s trip to Israel would have to be Jerusalem—our tour guide made sure of that. As we drove into the city we sang a song about Jerusalem (everyone but Jeff and I seemed to know it already—I don’t even remember the name of it now, though). It was dusk on a Friday night—the Sabbath. The streets were empty. The city, set on a hill, sparkled with gentle lights against the glowing backdrop of dusk. It was breathtaking to see the mixture of ancient and modern architecture, and to know we were entering a city with thousands of years of history—a city the Bible itself is centered around. It’s the city founded by descendants of Abraham, governed by King David, home to both the First and Second Temples and the site where Jesus was crucified, buried, resurrected and where he later ascended and according to biblical prophecy, will return again. It’s a Holy City to Jews, Christians and Muslims. When we entered our hotel, we were cautioned not to get on the “Shabbat” elevator. This elevator is programmed to stop on each floor during the Sabbath so Jews don’t have to press the button for their floor (there is a tradition of not “lighting a fire” on the Sabbath and to the Jews, turning on a light constitutes lighting a fire, so I was told.) We spent several days in the city, touring the traditional spots. We started on the Mount of Olives, worked out way through the Old City (the part surrounded by a wall), visited the Garden Tomb and the more modern areas of the city. Because the Temple Mount is under Muslim jurisdiction, we were unable to visit that site.
But, on our day off, we were treated to an underground tour of the recent excavations under the Western Wall (25 generations of civilization have been found in excavations under the city—amazing!). At one point, we were in front of wall underground resurrected by Muslims years ago to prevent people from reaching the Temple Mount area underground. We were about 40 feet away from where experts think the “Holy of Holies” used to be (which housed the Ark of the Covenant). Jerusalem is packed with significance, history and even unexplored ruins. You could spend two weeks here and still not exhaust all it has to offer. In one sweep of the eye you can see Mount Zion, also referred to as David’s City; just behind it the site of the Old City of Jerusalem, where both great temples (Solomon’s and Herod’s) were built on Mt. Moriah (where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac). To the side are the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Valley of Kidron (which houses tombstones and graves more than 2,000 years old). There’s even a grave called Absalom's Tomb (the rebellious son of King David), but archeologists tell us the material for the tomb isn’t old enough to have been made around the time he died. Like many spots in Jerusalem, people have marked traditional spots where they believe generations after an event took place. This was also the case with the “upper room,” which also doubles as the spot of the Last Supper (how weird is that?). But just because it’s traditionally known as the spot doesn’t mean it actually happened there. At least it’s cool to be in the general vicinity of these places to try to imagine what life was like in that period.
Bethlehem By far the most depressing stop on our tour was our afternoon in Bethlehem, which is under Palestinian control. Trash flows in the streets, there is no infrastructure, and the unemployment rate sits at 60 percent. Arab Muslims and Arab Christians live side-by-side, desperate for tour buses to pass through the city’s 27-foot wall, which protects neighboring Jerusalem from suicide bombers. The cheap souvenirs and the Church of the Nativity are all those people have for their livelihood. It’s a must-see just for the perspective of what’s happening in that region and how destructive the terrorist-led party has been to the birthplace of Christ. But we were happy to leave after our brief visit.
Caesarea Caesarea is the beautiful coastal town where the Holy Spirit was first poured out on the Gentiles (see the account of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10:44-45). Herod the Great (who wasn’t so great to the Jewish people) ruled the land of Israel from 37 to 4 B.C. and built Caesarea as a large port city to honor Roman Caesar Augustus. This is the city where Pontius Pilate lived and Paul was imprisoned for two years before departing to Rome. Many impressive ruins of a Greco-Roman theater, a hippodrome and a bathhouse are still visible. On our ride out of Caesarea we stopped to get a closer look at the amazing Roman aqueducts, which are still intact. These aqueducts brought fresh water to this coastal town. And in an engineering feat, the water always flowed down, even if parts of the duct were higher than others—as long as the place of origin was higher than the rest of the line, the water would flow all the way down.
Megiddo This ancient fortified city, also known as the valley of Jezreel, is where the majority of conflicts and battles have begun in this region—and where many think the book of Revelation points to as the site of the final battle. But according to biblical prophecy, this area will serve as a staging area for an immense army, which will fight the returning Messiah, Jesus Christ, and His supernatural army in the final apocalyptic battle. In the meantime, there are some really cool ruins to explore. It was at this place we were introduced to the carob tree, an evergreen tree that produces edible carob pods (which taste a little like chocolate). The tree also known as a “honey locust.” Sound familiar? Our tour guide tells us this is actually what John ate in the wilderness (Mark 1:6). Thanks to a mistranslation, all these years we were thinking John would have been a great contestant on Fear Factor. Seeing this amazing land in person and navigating its terrain has brought the Bible to life. The sites, distances, cities and even the people are more real to me now. And there’s so much more to see and do. I may not live up to my grandfather’s legendary 30 trips to the region, but I definitely wouldn’t mind going back a few times—you know, before that whole apocalyptic, nuclear meltdown thing.
ninetyandnine.com © 2006, Cara Davis Cara Davis is a regular contributor to ninetyandnine.com. She’s the editorial director of RELEVANT Media Group and the editor of a new magazine for women called Radiant. She blogs at www.cheapwaysto.com, the website for her book, Cheap Ways to Tie the Knot. |
|
|
