11 Hour Jerusalem Field Study Update

Wow!

What an amazing day. Today we spent 11 hours in the field studying Jerusalem in the time of David, and then switching half way through the day to study Jerusalem in the 2nd Temple Period (the time of Jesus). Today was so draining on so many levels. Physically, emotionally, spiritually...wow. At the same time, I've never been more excited to be a follower of Jesus. I learned so much today, and I feel closer to God than ever before.

I'll try to give you some of the highlights. We started out exploring Jerusalem in the time of David. This city is actually located in a valley and outside the city walls of present day Jerusalem. It was very small, and a very weak spot for a city from a defensive perspective. David needed his city in this low area in order to have access to a major water supply. As we get later on in the Bible, the city expands and moves to higher, much safer ground. The low elevation of Davids Jerusalem gives Psalm 121 a whole new meaning. David says, "I lift my eyes up to the hills -- where does my help come from?" Its interesting that his city was surrounded by hills and invaders would usually come down one of the hills to attack. This gives a whole new meaning to David looking up to the hills and seeing trouble.

One other interesting thing we discovered about this Jerusalem is that on the eve of Jerusalem's destruction by Nebuchadnezzer, there were an incredible amount of statues and idols to fertility gods found in the homes of the Israelites (by Archaeologists). This lends credibility to Jeremiah's statement that Israel would be destroyed because of an internal, spiritual weakness, and not an external, military weakness.

From there we moved on to one of the more interesting events of the day. We walked/crawled/stumbled through Hezekiah's tunnel. Hezekiah's tunnel was an elaborate water and irrigation system that ran throughout his Jerusalem. The tunnel is 4 feet high in many places, with waist high water, and it is about as wide as my body. Lets just say it was one of the most interesting half hours of my life. But I'm a big fan of learning by experience, so it was well worth it. David once sent one of his military Generals through a nearby water tunnel to sneak into the city, so it was fun to pretend and imagine what that would've been like.

When we emerged from the end of Hezekiah's tunnel we found that we were at the Pool of Siloam. In John 9:1-12, Jesus heals a blind man at this very pool. The Pool of Siloam was discovered by accident 18 months ago. A city crew was coming out to work on the streets and one of their construction workers discovered the Pool! Amazing!

After lunch we proceeded to study Jerusalem in the time of the 2nd temple period. We sat on the very stairs that many used to walk up to the temple. Jewish sources record that one famous rabbi frequently taught on these steps. And who might that Rabbi be? Gamaliel, the famous teacher of Saul of Tarsus, or Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament. So in a sense, we were sitting in Paul's seminary classroom. We also read Matthew 23, a passage that many scholars place on these steps. In Matthew 23, Jesus mentions a lot of imagery that would have been visible from these very steps. Men carrying heavy loads up to the temple (verse 4), the gates/entrance to the temple/kingdom of heaven (verse 13), and the gold lining the entrance to the temple (verse 16). Also, the Sanhedrin (ruling body made up of Pharisees and Sadducees) sat right out by these steps, next to the Hulda gate. It makes sense that Jesus would pull from the images that were available to his listeners at that moment. He frequently uses readily available imagery in the New Testament. What a teacher!

We ended our busy day at the Pools of Bethesda. This pool is mentioned in John 5. The pools themselves were amazing, they were over 100 feet deep. So it must have been a huge leep of faith for the lame man to get into that pool. If he doesn't get healed, he'll sink 100 feet down to his untimely death. So this guy just gave it all up and risked everything in trusting Jesus. He was placed in the 100 ft. pool and knew he would die if Jesus didn't heal him. Jesus (as usual) comes through on his word, and heals the lame man. What an incredible story about trusting Jesus! What a way to end an incredible day. I will try to post some pictures of this as soon as I get a chance. As always, feel free to drop me an e-mail, I'd love to hear from you.

Serving Him,

Rob Kol
robkol2@gmail.com
http://dustoftherabbiyeshua.blogspot.com
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