Another beautiful day greeted us this morning in Jerusalem.
The bus took us out of the city toward Bethlehem where we visited the Herodian, another of Herod's palaces. Herod was a master builder, always looking for and building the next great structure, never letting anything get in his way. Where there was no port, he created one; where other kings had one palace, he had several plus swimming pools and hippodromes and theaters. He wanted this palace to tower over everything else in the Bethlehem landscape, so he "created" a mountain, carving out nearby hills and piling up dirt and stone to major heights. He wanted to make a power statement.
The bus took us out of the city toward Bethlehem where we visited the Herodian, another of Herod's palaces. Herod was a master builder, always looking for and building the next great structure, never letting anything get in his way. Where there was no port, he created one; where other kings had one palace, he had several plus swimming pools and hippodromes and theaters. He wanted this palace to tower over everything else in the Bethlehem landscape, so he "created" a mountain, carving out nearby hills and piling up dirt and stone to major heights. He wanted to make a power statement.
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| Herodian palace |
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| An elaborate tunnel by master builder Herod; the tunnel provided a constant supply of fresh water at the Herodian |
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| Flowers blooming on the Herodian rock face |
Nearby, within a few miles, was Bethlehem, a
small town that over the years had seen tears (Jacob's Rachel dying in
childbirth), religious disfunction, brutal murders, famines, a love story (Ruth
and Boaz), David chosen king, political intrigue. So when Jesus was born in
Bethlehem, this baby was born in the
shadow of the great, monumental palace of Herod the Great.
Two builders: both died in great pain; one was buried in a magnificent tomb covered with gold and jewels, the other in a borrowed tomb; the monuments of one lie in ruins; the other created no buildings except in his followers, who are temples of the Holy Spirit. Our questions for the morning were, "Who is the true king of our lives?" and "What gifts will we bring him?"
From there we went to Yad Vashem, the Jewish holocaust museum, a haunting experience of another kind. It's hard to believe that people can treat each other so brutally, and put their skills of organization, engineering, accounting, medicine to such an evil cause.
After our time at Yad Vashem, we visited a model of Jerusalem. We walked around this huge model to orient ourselves to the layout of first century Jerusalem, the "old" walled city of today. This let us see the relationship of Herod's palace, the Temple Mount, the place Jesus met before Pontius Pilot, and the way to the cross--just outside the city gates. While there we also toured the Shrine of the Book, which tells the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Two builders: both died in great pain; one was buried in a magnificent tomb covered with gold and jewels, the other in a borrowed tomb; the monuments of one lie in ruins; the other created no buildings except in his followers, who are temples of the Holy Spirit. Our questions for the morning were, "Who is the true king of our lives?" and "What gifts will we bring him?"
From there we went to Yad Vashem, the Jewish holocaust museum, a haunting experience of another kind. It's hard to believe that people can treat each other so brutally, and put their skills of organization, engineering, accounting, medicine to such an evil cause.
After our time at Yad Vashem, we visited a model of Jerusalem. We walked around this huge model to orient ourselves to the layout of first century Jerusalem, the "old" walled city of today. This let us see the relationship of Herod's palace, the Temple Mount, the place Jesus met before Pontius Pilot, and the way to the cross--just outside the city gates. While there we also toured the Shrine of the Book, which tells the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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| Model of First Century Jerusalem |
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| Fun shopping; Bill even bought a watch with Hebrew numbers |
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| Palestinian dinner at the Melia Center |
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| Damascus Gate to the Old City at night |
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