Here goes!
Things have been a little different at the center since we got back from Egypt. There's been a lot of holidays lately, with the end of Ramadan (for Muslims) and Sukkot (for Jews), and sometimes, I have heard it said, holidays are not for celebration or what not, but for causing a ruckus. So, there's been some tension and we haven't been allowed to go into the Old City a couple times. One of those times was yesterday, so we were excited this morning when we got to go out and get to the City of David, which is actually outside the walls of the Old City, to the south.
When we got to the place....of course there was a bathroom stop....and even better....the girl's room was being cleaned.....
We improvised :) With 60 girls and 20 boys....we usually improvise a lot :).After the bathroom break, we went on top of a tower and looked over the dig site. Here are some pictures from the tower...
This is me, with the camera facing south. This is the south east corner of the old city, and temple mount, and in the days of Christ would have been the pinnacle of the temple, or where Christ was taken up by the spirit and tempted by Satan to jump off and have the angels of God save Him. The dig site is more beneath us and to the south.
So this is from the tower looking more east. Behind me is the Jewish cemetary and the tombs on the side of the hill. (The Mount of Olives). The center is further to the right on the hill.
This is to the west of the tower, and the domed building is the place of Caiaphas's house, where Christ was first taken after being arrested after Gethsemane.Okay, this is the point where my camera battery died....but I'm getting pictures from Amanda, so you will see them sometime.
After the tower, we went to a movie theater, right underneath it. It was a 3-D movie! I was worried, I'm not going to lie. Movies at tourist sites in the Middle East have proven to be a little bit sketchy....and when we were told to grab a pair of 3D glasses that just added to my apprehension :). At least we usually have a grand old time and are entertained at these movies. This movie, though, was actually really well done. It was 3D, yes, but they did a really cool job of getting oriented with the landscape and location of the original City of David, along with the history and background of the place, which can get confusing in the Bible. I think I'm going to go back, actually, cause our national park's cards get us in there free of charge :)! We're lucky students.
After we were educated in the movie, we went under the deck and looked at a place where David's palace walls were, and saw the place where he probably looked off his balcony and onto the rooftops and saw Bathsheba. They've dated the walls back to his time, and it's the newest part of the dig site.
After that we went down some stairs and sat and looked at the wall of the city of david. It was really interesting because we could see the different additions from different times, along with a house of a scribe where they found seals with their name on it, you know, to stamp on scrolls after writing them, and those names appear in the Bible. That was cool.
Anyway, we sat and talked about David and the mistakes that he made along the way. Not only did he look upon Bathsheba, but he also was supposed to be at war with his people and troops then, too. And then, on top of everything he inquired about Bathsheba and had her brought to him, when she was a married woman and he was fully aware of that. Anyway, we talked about how little choices lead to big conseqences in our lives, and how one small moment or bad thought or anything could completely lead us into the wrong path.
After that we stood up and went down to one of the tunnels we were going into. This one was called Warren's shaft. It was built as a place that the city people could come when the city was under siege to get water. It's a tunnel to a crevice in the rock that they used as a well, because there was water running underneath it. I believe that it was dug by the Romans after the tunnel underneath, Hezikiah's tunnel, was dug to divert the Gihon spring, which is Jerusalem's main water source and why it is desirable as a place to have a city.
Next was the best part of the day: the walk through Hezekiah's tunnel... :) It is tunnel that King Hezekiah dug to divert the Gihon spring to move it so the water came out in an artificial pool that was protected by the city wall. He had it built because the Assyrians were coming to attack the city. With that prospect he had men working 24 hours a day, chiseling through the rock. It took them 6-7 months. But the diverted it under the city, and disguised the place where it came out, and the Assyrians never found it. It made Jerusalem a fortress.
So....we went inside :). It was really sweet. We walked down some metal stairs, and got the point where we stepped down into the water. It was cool and refreshing. Very fun. At the beginning it was up past our knees, and then for the rest it was about mid-calf. My jeans were soaked! I even tried to roll them up, but it didn't work...oh well, they dried! And it was sweet! You could see the chisel marks in the tunnel. It was dark and narrow-ish, so we all had flashlights and stuff. We also, being mormon's :), turned off our flashlights in the middle of the tunnel and sang a hymn. We like to do that, and I must admit that I really enjoy it.
At the end of the tunnel we came out to the Pool of Siloam. It's the place where the blind man, who was blind from birth, went to wash the clay from his eyes that Christ rubbed on him to heal him. We had a water fight there... :)
After that we were soaked, and we went to some stairs that are pretty newly uncovered, and now underground, that used to lead to the Temple, during Christ's time. So Christ most certainly would have walked on them. It was so strange to be walking on something so old, without someone telling us not to. But it was a neat experience. We got to talk about when Christ would've walked there, since it was on the south east side of the city. We didn't say long though, we were all just standing on them and talking for a minute.
After that we went back to the center and did some homework! So, there you go. There is my monday :).
Love you all!
Love the new heading and picture! Hezikiah's tunnel sounds really fun. And I would love all the singing too!
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