Israel: day two

We did so much in Israel. Although I am only telling about one day at a time, these blogs are going to be long. There is just so much to cover.

We started the day off early at the south side of the Mount of Olives near the church at Bethpage. Again, we read through the passage starting in Luke 19:28 that talks about Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem. This is the location we He began his ascent into the city on a colt. 

"And as He rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. And He was drawing near--already on the way down the Mount of Olives--the whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all His mighty works that they had seen saying, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Lk. 19:36-38 ESV

Someone noted at this point (I believe it was Duke, if not I'm sorry), the fact of the unridden colt. In verse 30, Jesus tells some of His disciples to go find a young donkey that had never before been ridden.  Now many point out that Jesus rode into the city on a donkey and not a regal horse like that of a king. However I've never heard any one point out this before...since this donkey had never been ridden, wouldn't you expect it to go a little crazy? or maybe refuse to go at all? Do you think its possible, the donkey was aware of just Who was riding it? Just an interesting point made there on the side of Mount of Olives. 

From there, we headed to the western side of the Mt. of Olives and stopped at a place with an amazing view of the Eastern gate or Golden gate. Jewish tradition states that the Messiah will come through that gate and resurrect the dead. Because of this, the Muslim's have sealed up the gate. Also, the Jewish cemeteries are located on this side of the mount so that they are resurrected first. The entire face of the mount is covered with pale stone boxes. This box is called ossuary, or bone box. They have small stones, referred to as stones of remembrance, placed on them. They are equivalent to our putting flowers at a gravesite.

We walked down the side of the Mount of Olives towards the Kidron Valley and the Eastern gate. Melton always suggests when its raining to wear plastic bags over your socks so that when the cold water seeps into your shoes, your socks stay nice and dry. Since I am such a great listener, this is exactly what I did. However, the rain had long since stopped and I was stuck making this swish-swish sound as I walked down the steep hill. The bags also caused less traction inside my shoe only adding to the difficulty of such a steep incline. I thought my toes were going to pop out of the front of my sneakers.

At the bottom of the mount is the garden of Gethsemane. The olive trees created shade and random alcoves throughout. We sat down in a small group in the corner and read the story of Jesus in the garden from both John 18 and Luke 22. Being in that garden and knowing what had happened there was sobering. To know this was where He prayed to His Father, “not My will, but Yours, be done.”

Our guide, Craig, pointed out that Jesus was showing typical behavior that night and that was why Judas was able to find Him so easily. Judas led six hundred Roman soldiers and officials came through the eastern gate to the garden to take one man, Jesus. Of course He knew exactly what was happening and met them.

This part is like a comical moment within a highly serious time. One of Jesus' disciples picked up a sword and slices of the ear of a soldier. The disciples were obviously not good swordsmen, yet they were willing to try to protect their Savior. Jesus just picks up the ear and replaces it and heals the ear. It's as if He's saying, “boys behave, I've gotta go do what I came to do.”

As we were reading these passages from the Bible, another group was in the background singing the song “Amazing Love.” --I'm forgiven because You were forsaken. I'm accepted, You were condemned. I am alive and well, Your spirit is within me, because You died and rose again. Amazing love, how can it be that You, my King, should die for me? Amazing love, I know it's true. It's my joy to honor You. In all I do, I honor You.

After this we traveled down through the Kidron and back up the other side. It sounds so easy when I say it like that, but it was not. There were moments when I could not figure out for the life of me why anyone would ever want to go up into Jerusalem if it was so difficult. It's still beyond me. We drove to Jericho after that. Jericho, which is now considered Palastine territory, was interesting to get to, going through security checkpoints and so forth. Jerusalem is only 12 miles away from Jericho, but in that distance you go from 3800 ft above sea level to 850 ft. below sea level.We went to the excavation site there where the ancient walls of Jericho are being dug up. There is one area where they've been able to reveal the remains of the walls that had fallen so long ago. This story takes place in Joshua 6:1-27 when the Israelites walked circles around it for seven days. The seventh day, they shouted and the walls tumbled down. The entire city was destroyed except for the home of Rahab the harlot, who was used by God to aid the Israelites. She was later used again in such a major way...she was the mother of Boaz, who was the great grandfather of King David...and Jesus later comes from the line of David! Talk about lucky girl!

From Jericho, we went to the Dead Sea. I know I keep talking about sea levels, but hey it was interesting to me. The Dead Sea is the lowest elevation on the earth's surface on dry land, and I “swam” in it! Such a weird experience. I was expecting sand beneath my feet, but it was a slippery black mud. I thought I was going to slip and then end up splashing which would result in getting this salty water into someone's eyes, so I sat down. 

It felt like I was sitting on a raft or one of those fun noodles people have in their pools. I kept wanting to swim but its not possible. I couldn't get my feet down. Every time I attempted it, I would just spin over, my feet still up. I felt like a turtle that was turned over at that point. It was so ridiculous, but yet so much fun. The mud is known for its minerals and so we were all covering ourselves with it. Can't get a better mud mask for sure. 

After the Dead Sea, we headed past Jerusalem to the Sorek Valley. This is the location of Samson and Delilah. This can be found in Judges 13-16, which we read parts of while overlooking the area. It was so amazing to see where Samson was from and how far he had traveled to find his women and trouble in the Philistine camp.

A little further up the road we were driving up this abandoned dirt road. When we parked, I thought we were there, but apparently we still had a little hike to make. Oh, I literally thought I was going to die! I could not hear anything but my own heartbeat and breathing! I know I'm being dramatic, but it really was a traumatic moment for me. I collapsed onto a stone bench not even taking in my surroundings for the moment. When I finally did, I saw a beautiful overlook of another valley surrounded by multiple hills. It was explained to me that behind one hill was where the Philistine army took up camp. One of the other hills was where the Israelites took up camp. Then in the middle was the valley where Goliath stood and mocked the God of the Israelites. A young boy by the name of David decided if no one else was going to defend the name of God, then it was up to him. He went to a little creek in the valley and gathered some stones. With his sling shot, he threw a stone that sunk into Goliath's forehead. He killed the giant, allowing the Israelites the opportunity to conquer the Philistines that day. Craig took us down to the creek to get our own stones. I won't show you a picture of the creek because you would be disappointed. It was pretty much dried up at the time, so it resembled more of a large, muddy puddle.

That was the end of another long day filled with so many memories and moments that will forever change how I read the Bible!