It’s Sunday night, time to update everyone on today’s activities. We started the morning with a lecture in our hotel’s conference room on the history of Jerusalem, provided by Ibrahim our guide. Then we headed into the city itself, where we saw something from virtually every period. There was the excavated wall built by King Hezekiah of biblical fame, who reigned from 742-686 BCE. The prophet Isaiah probably walked beside these very stones. We also saw Hasmonean structures from 600 years later, and then the Byzantine era Cardo (Main Street) from around 500 AD. Rounding out our trip through time was the Crusader-identified “upper room” near the area where the Last Supper took place, though of course the medieval building containing it did not exist in Jesus’ day. Most impressive was our late afternoon tour of the area to the west and south of the Temple Mount, with its foundation walls and stone streets that most certainly were there in Jesus’ day. In between these historic sites we found time to wander through the chaos and excitement of the Muslim quarter of the old city. We had lunch at a place that had terrific falafel. Tomorrow we go to the Wailing Wall and up to the Temple Mount. I may not be able to provide any pictures tomorrow, because I’ve learned that no tablets are allowed on the Temple Mount. I haven’t yet been able to transfer pictures from my phone to the tablet for this blog (this explains why you didn’t see any pics of us covered with Dead Sea mud yesterday), but if I’ll do my best to show what I can. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures from today.
Friday’s profound journey
Our journey from Tiberias back to Bethlehem, through the heart of the West Bank, was one of great profundity. We had an amazing encounter with the Samaritan community on Mt. Gerizim. There are only about 800 Samaritans left in the world; we met the high priest and his 24 year-old nephew, who helped translate for his uncle. The Samaritans are the remnants of two Northern tribes of Israel (Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph), along with Northern Levites. They are not Jews, who descend from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and southern Levites. The Samaritans have their own version of the Torah that differs significantly from the Jewish version. Each side claims to have the more original text. Next we visited the Well of Jacob in Nablus, traditional site of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4. Our archaeological site for the day was ancient Sebaste, which had something from every era, in reverse chronological order: ruins of a Byzantine Church, Herod
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