Kauai Day 3 – Falls, Poipu, and Shipwrecks

Ahh, relaxation…we woke up and spent time in the morning on Rob and Shelley’s deck and just watched the ocean for a bit.

We packed up a little while later and drove up to Wailua Falls.

Some sources say that the falls are 80 feet tall, but another source that measured with line say that it is 170+ feet tall. In ancient times, Hawaiian young men would jump off the falls to prove their manhood.

Driving to the falls was very enjoyable, the scenery was green.

After the falls, we drove to Poipu Beach. It’s one of the more popular beaches. We walked past “baby beach” which is shallow and good for kids.

We spent quite a bit of time there and got a little sun.

We decided to head back to Piopu beach and Shipwrecks beach to catch the sunset there. We drove there to read a little and relax on the beach, and then started a hike past the Hyatt along the shore and up to a great place to watch the sun set.

Along the way, we found a Monk Seal taking a snooze on the beach. Angie spotted it first, and I thought it was just a big rock.

Workers watch for the seals and rope off the area around them when they come ashore. Monk Seals are called Monk Seals because they usually land on the beach by themselves instead of in communities like other seals.

After watching the seal snooze, we walked out to the sunset point and snapped some pics along the way looking back at the beach.

Looking back at Shipwrecks Beach.

We arrived a the lookout point and saw tons of whales (literally).

Then we started to notice gray clouds move in, and then those clouds got darker and closer, so we decided to head back. It started to rain a bit, but rain is no big deal.

Then it started to rain a lot, and it was a bit of a walk back to the car. Everyone else on the beaches had packed up and gone in except for a couple dressed in wedding clothes (a bride and groom) who were seeking shelter from the rain under the overhanging roof of the bathroom there.

The rain makes it fun (except probably for the wedding couple).

Read what happened next in our adventure:

• Kauai Day 1
• Kauai Day 2 – North Shore
• Kauai Day 3 – Falls, Poipu, and Shipwrecks
• Kauai Day 4 – Whales!
• Kauai Day 5 – Church & Kipu Falls
• Kauai Day 6 – Grand Canyon & Baby Whale
• Kauai Day 7 – Helicopter Ride of a Lifetime
• Kauai Day 8 – Sunrise and Polihale
• Kauai Day 9 – Bike Ride and Poipu Beach

 

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Kauai Day 2 – North Shore

We made a trip trip to the north shore of the island on our second day of adventure. Rob and Shelley our cousins told us that the north shore was so beautiful, but we already thought the south shore was beautiful.

Well, we made our way to the north shore and they were right; it was very beautiful.

Traveling up the coast, we could see the giant, sheer mountains covers with green foliage.

The North Shore

Making our way to the lighthouse on the north shore, we stopped out a lookout point and could see humpback whales splashing in the distance.

Whale waving its pectoral fin

We were way far away, I mean way far away, but were able to zoom in with the camera and see some wales.

Zoomed out, you can see how far we were from the ocean in the picture below of the lighthouse. We were standing where we took this picture, and zoomed in to the wales out past the lighthouse.

We entered the lighthouse park. It’s a pretty neat place.

The park is a preserve for birds there and cost five dollars a person to get in.

I thought that parking would be expensive everywhere on the island; it’s not. Parking is frees and so is admittance to the beaches.

The lighthouse was cool, but our camera battery died! The clerk at the gift shop was very nice and let us charge the camera there.

We enjoyed looking at the lighthouse, and we even enjoyed the view from the lighthouse. The Kilauea lighthouse was built in 1913.

We then drove all the way up the coastline of the north shore. We literally reached the end of the road.

It was fun driving to the end of the road because we passed over a lot of one-way bridges. Some of the bridges were larger but allowed for only one way of traffic. I’m glad we made our way there during the day so we could see the cars more easily.

We arrived at the beach at the end of the road enjoyed some leisurly time there eating lunch and fending off a few roaming chickens.

We also passed Hanalei Bay (which I think Hanalei is featured in a song about a smoking puffing dragon).

We then hiked up to a lookout point from that beach. It was a pretty steep climb. Fortunately, a hiker on the return gave Angie her walking stick just as we were starting up.

You can see part of the trail to Angie’s right in the picture below.

Hike to a lookout point at the end of the road

If you keep going on the trail, you can reach a waterfall, but it’s a four-hour round trip, so we went to the half-mile marker. It was a pretty steep trail.

We stopped and took a great break at the half-mile point, and just enjoyed the scenery and fresh air.

Along the hike at the half-mile point.

At half-mile point looking out over the Napali shore

We ended the day by eating a Fish Market, a restaurant near the lighthouse. It’s on the road to the lighthouse on the left-hand side of the road, just in case you were wondering. It took us a long time to find it. We got fish wraps there.

Read what happened next in our adventure:

• Kauai Day 1
• Kauai Day 2 – North Shore
• Kauai Day 3 – Falls, Poipu, and Shipwrecks
• Kauai Day 4 – Whales!
• Kauai Day 5 – Church & Kipu Falls
• Kauai Day 6 – Grand Canyon & Baby Whale
• Kauai Day 7 – Helicopter Ride of a Lifetime
• Kauai Day 8 – Sunrise and Polihale
• Kauai Day 9 – Bike Ride and Poipu Beach

 

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Kauai Day 1

We had a pretty good flight to Kauai, and enjoyed flying in first class. We arrived in the evening and by the time we got to where we were staying in Kahaleo, it was already dark.

We did however see a whale from the airplane and we descended to the airport. The airport is right over the water.

We started off our first full day going to Spouting Horn. The GPS on the phone worked great to get us there.

The picture above and below are at spouting horn.

Here’s the spouting at spouting horn.

Some people say that the hurricane in 1992 broke open the chicken coups causing the chicken population to run free over the island. The chickens have no natural predators and are all over the place. The good thing is that they keep down the bug population.

Near Shipwreck Beach

We enjoyed a little hike near Shipwreck Beach and could look out over the ocean from the cliffs.

We enjoyed a good little hike along Shipwreck beach.

We strolled along the beach in the opposite direction from our hike along shipwreck and passed by The Grand Hyatt.

Costco made its indelible impression on our trip as we stopped there to get some food for our stay. It’s great having a Costco nearby.

Fishing at “Secret Beach”

We rode with our cousins to a special beach for a little fishing. We could post the fishing poles in these special holders so we didn’t have to hold them unless we thought something bit.

We set up the little grills and grilled some food…we grilled some fish…no it wasn’t from anything we caught, but it was Alaskan Salmon we got from Costco.

We didn’t catch anything fishing, but they’ve previously caught three to four-foot sharks over and over again at the same spot.

Unfortunately, the water was murky, probably making the fishing harder.

Winter-time in Kauai brings rougher seas and showers. For some visitors, it will rain their whole trip in the winter, for others, it’s great weather. Our first day was overcast, and a little windy, but other than that, it was great!

Read what happened next in our adventure:

• Kauai Day 1
• Kauai Day 2 – North Shore
• Kauai Day 3 – Falls, Poipu, and Shipwrecks
• Kauai Day 4 – Whales!
• Kauai Day 5 – Church & Kipu Falls
• Kauai Day 6 – Grand Canyon & Baby Whale
• Kauai Day 7 – Helicopter Ride of a Lifetime
• Kauai Day 8 – Sunrise and Polihale
• Kauai Day 9 – Bike Ride and Poipu Beach

 

Read More

Israel – Day 7

Sunday, May 16

We visited the Temple Mount and were told by our guides not to wear shorts and to not hold hands or show public displays of affection. Christian bibles and texts are not allowed on the mount. The mount is Palestinian controlled but Israeli soldiers mark the entrances for security.

On the Temple Mount

The video shows only the south side of the Temple Mount, the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock (also on the Temple Mount but farther north).

Many events in the New Testament occurred at the Temple Mount. I took about 8 pages of notes, but have only included a few of those below.

As a youth, Jesus was accidentally left at the temple. The family probably would have been travelling with a large group of family relations and didn’t realize Jesus was with the group until a day’s journey had passed. His family searched for 2 days to find him. Back then, when a boy was close to the age of bar mitzvahs, the priests in the temple would come to them and begin to ask questions about the Torah. The New Testament says Jesus was asking them questions but the JST states they were asking him questions and were amazed.

From Luke Chapter 2:

41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

The JST for verse 46 reads:

. . . and they were hearing him, and asking him questions.

The temple mount is also referred to as Mount Moriah, or the mount that Abraham went up to sacrifice Isaac upon. We often think of Isaac as a little boy, but Isaac may have been much older, perhaps even up to his 30′s.

The name of the place is JEHOVAH Jareh meaning God will supply. God supplied a ram in the thicket to take the place of Isaac, and God supplied the Savior to take the place of us.

The al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount

On the southern end of the Temple Mount is the al-Asqa Mosque. We walked in between the mosque and the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. From Wikipedia:

The al-Aqsa Mosque was originally a small prayer house built by the Rashidun caliph Umar, but was rebuilt and expanded by the Ummayad caliph Abd al-Malik and finished by his son al-Walid in 705 CE. After an earthquake in 746, the mosque was completely destroyed and rebuilt by the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur in 754, and again rebuilt by his successor al-Mahdi in 780. Another earthquake destroyed most of al-Aqsa in 1033, but two years later the Fatimid caliph Ali az-Zahir built another mosque which has stood to the present-day. During the periodic renovations undertaken, the various ruling dynasties of the Islamic Caliphate constructed additions to the mosque and its precincts, such as its dome, facade, its minbar, minarets and the interior structure. When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099, they used the mosque as a palace and church, but its function as a mosque was restored after its recapture by Saladin. More renovations, repairs and additions were undertaken in the later centuries by the Ayyubids, Mamluks, Ottomans, the Supreme Muslim Council, and Jordan. Today, the Old City is under Israeli control, but the mosque remains under the administration of the Palestinian-led Islamic waqf. Source: Al-Aqsa Mosque. (2010, June 16). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:28, June 20, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Al-Aqsa_Mosque&oldid=368406362

The Mercy Gate

We walked around the southern area of the Temple Mount and looked out through the slits in the wall out on to the Mount of Olives. We walked north and saw the back side of the Mercy Gate also called the Golden Gate.

From Wikipedia:

The Golden Gate, as it is called in Christian literature, is the oldest of the current gates in Jerusalem’s Old City Walls. According to Jewish tradition, the Shekhinah (שכינה) (Divine Presence) used to appear through this gate, and will appear again when the Messiah comes (Ezekiel 44:1–3) and a new gate replaces the present one; that is why Jews used to pray for mercy at the former gate at this location. Hence the nameSha’ar Harachamim (שער הרחמים), the Gate of Mercy. In Christian apocryphal texts, the gate was the scene of a meeting between the parents of Mary, so that Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate became a standard subject in cycles depicting the Life of the Virgin. It is also said that Jesus passed through this gate on Palm Sunday. In Arabic, it is known as the Gate of Eternal Life. In ancient times, the gate was known as the Beautiful Gate.

Remains of a much older gate dating to the times of the Second Jewish Temple were found. The present one was probably built in the 520s AD, as part of Justinian I’s building program in Jerusalem, on top of the ruins of the earlier gate in the wall. An alternate theory holds that it was built in the later part of the 7th century by Byzantine artisans employed by the Umayyad khalifs.

The gate is located in the middle of the eastern side of the Temple Mount. The portal in this position was believed to have been used for ritual purposes in biblical times.

In Jewish tradition, this is the gate through which the Messiah will enter Jerusalem. Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I sealed off the Golden Gate in 1541 to prevent the Messiah’s entrance. The Muslims also built a cemetery in front of the gate, in the belief that the precursor to the Messiah, Elijah, would not be able to pass through, since he is a Kohen. This belief is erroneous because a Kohen is permitted to enter a cemetery in which primarily non-Jews are buried.

The Golden Gate is one of the few sealed gates in Jerusalem’s Old City Walls, along with the Huldah Gates, and a small Biblical and Crusader-era postern located several stories above ground on the southern side of the eastern wall. Source: Golden Gate (Jerusalem). (2010, May 16). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:34, June 20, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Golden_Gate_(Jerusalem)&oldid=362510418

It was pretty neat to see the back of the Mercy Gate and the stairs that lead up from it to the Temple Mount.

The Dome of the Rock

We ascended up the stairs to the Temple Mount proper or area where the Dome of the Rock now stands.

From Wikipedia:

The Dome of the Rock (Arabic: مسجد قبة الصخرة‎, translit.: Masjid Qubbat As-Sakhrah, Hebrew: כיפת הסלע‎, translit.: Kipat Hasela) is an Islamic shrine and major landmark located on theTemple Mount in Jerusalem. It was completed in 691-692, making it the oldest existing Islamic building in the world. The site’s significance stems from the religious beliefs regarding the rock, known as the Foundation Stone, at its heart.

The Dome of the Rock is located at the visual center of a platform known as the Temple Mount, which Muslims refer to as the “Noble Sanctuary”. It was constructed over the site of the Second Jewish Temple which was destroyed during the Roman Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. In 637 CE, Jerusalem was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate army during the Muslim conquest of Syria.

The Dome of the Rock was erected between 689 and 691 CE. The names of the two engineers in charge of the project are given as: Yazid Ibn Salam from Jerusalem and Raja Ibn Haywah from Baysan. Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan who initiated construction of the Dome, hoped that it would “house the Muslims from cold and heat” and intended the building to serve as a shrine for pilgrims and not as a mosque for public worship. Historians contend that the Caliph tried to create a structure which would compete with the existing buildings of other religions in the city.

During the Crusades the Dome of the Rock was given to the Augustinians, who turned it into a church, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque became the royal palace of Baldwin I of Jerusalem in 1104. The Knights Templar, who believed the Dome of the Rock was the site of the Temple of Solomon, set up their headquarters in the Al-Aqsa Mosque adjacent to the Dome for much of the 12^th century. The “Templum Domini,” as they called it, was featured on the official seals of the Order’s Grand Masters (such as Evrard de Barres and Regnaud de Vichier), and it became the architectural model for Templar churches across Europe.

The Dome is maintained by the Ministry of Awaqaf in Jordan.

Until the mid-nineteenth century, non-Muslims were not permitted in the area. Since 1967, non-Muslims have been permitted limited access, however non-Muslims are not permitted to pray on the Temple Mount.

In 2006, the compound was reopened to non-Muslim visitors between the hours of 7:30-11:30 a.m. and 1:30-2:30 p.m. during summer and 7:30-10:30 a.m. and 1:30-2:30 p.m. during winter. Non-Muslims are prohibited from entering after 2:30 p.m. and may not enter on Fridays, Saturdays, or Muslim holidays. Entry is through a wooden walkway next to the entrance to the Hebrew Western Wall. Non-Muslims are prohibited from entering the mosques and accessing the Temple Mount through the Cotton Market. Visitors are subject to strict security screening, and items such as Jewish prayerbooks and instruments are prohibited.

Many Orthodox rabbis regard entry to the compound to be a violation of Jewish law. This is based on the belief that since the time the Temple was destroyed during the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the precise location of the Holy of Holies, the sanctuary entered only by the High Priest, is not known. Hence a restriction applies to the entire compound. However, other rabbis believe that modern archeological and other evidence has enabled them to identify areas that can be safely entered without violating Jewish law.

The Dome of the Rock, being among a complex of buildings on the Temple Mount (the other principal building being the Al-Aqsa Mosque), is one of the holiest sites in Islam, following Mecca and Medina. Its significance stems from the religious beliefs regarding the rock at its heart. According to Islamic tradition, the rock is the spot from where Muhammad ascended to Heaven accompanied by the angel Gabriel.

The Foundation Stone is the holiest site in Judaism. Just as Muslims pray towards the Kaaba at Mecca, the holiest site in Islam, Jews pray towards the Foundation Stone. Jews have traditionally regarded the location of the stone as the holiest spot on Earth, the site of the Holy of Holies during the Temple Period. In former times, some Jewish scholars thought that the location of the Holy of Holies was not known for certain; today this is a minority opinion.

The most propitious site for Jewish prayer is the spot that is nearest the Foundation Stone. Because Muslim authorities refused to permit Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, the custom developed of praying near the Western Wall, since it was the site nearest to the Foundation Stone, or on the Mount of Olives facing the site of the Temple. Between 1948 and 1967, when Jordanian authorities refused permission to Jews to enter the Old City of Jerusalem, Jews made pilgrimages to rooftops on Mount Zion and prayed towards the site of the ancient Holy of Holies.

According to Jewish tradition, the stone is the site where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. Source: Dome of the Rock. (2010, June 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:41, June 21, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dome_of_the_Rock&oldid=369233310

The Antonia Fortress at the Temple Mount

We walked around the Temple Mount where the Temple would have stood and then made our way to where the Antonia Fortress used to be located.

The Antonia Fortress was a military barracks built by Herod the Great in Jerusalem on the site of earlier Ptolemaic and Hasmonean strongholds, named after Herod’s patron Mark Antony. The fortress was built at the eastern end of the great wall of the city (the second wall), on the northeastern side of the city, near the temple and Pool of Bethesda.

Traditionally, it has been thought that the vicinity of the Antonia Fortress later became the site of the Praetorium, and that this latter building was the place where Jesus was taken to stand before Pilate. However, this tradition was based on the mistaken assumption that an area of roman flagstones, discovered beneath the Church of the Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross and the Convent of the Sisters of Zion, was the pavement (Greek: lithostratos) which the Bible describes as the location of Pontius Pilate’s judgment of Jesus; archaeological investigation now indicates that these slabs are the paving of the eastern of two 2nd century Forums, built by Hadrian as part of the construction of Aelia Capitolina. The site of the Forum had previously been a large open-air pool, the Strouthion Pool, which was constructed by the Hasmoneans, is mentioned by Josephus as being adjacent to the Fortress in the first century, and is still present beneath Hadrian’s flagstones; the traditional scene would require that everyone was walking on water.

Like Philo, Josephus testifies that the Roman governors stayed in Herod’s palace while they were in Jerusalem, and carrying out their judgements on the pavement immediately outside it; Josephus indicates that Herod’s palace is on the western hill, and it has recently (2001) been rediscovered under a corner of the Jaffa Gate citadel. Archaeologists now therefore conclude that in the first century, the Praetorium – the residence of the governor (Praetor) – was on the western hill, rather than the Antonia Fortress, on the diametrically opposite side of the city.

Although many modern reconstructions often depict the fortress as having a tower at each of four corners, the historian Josephus repeatedly refers to it as the tower Antonia, and stated that it had been built by John Hyrcanus for storing the vestments used in the Temple. Archaeologists are of the opinion that the fortress was only a single tower, located at the south-east corner of the site; for example, Pierre Benoit, former professor of New Testament studies at the École Biblique, having carried out extensive archaeological studies of the site, concurs and adds that there is absolutely no support for there having been four towers.

Josephus placed the Antonia at the Northwest corner of the colonnades surrounding the Temple. Modern depictions often show the Antonia as being located along the North side of the temple enclosure. However, Josephus’ description of the siege of Jerusalem suggests that it was separated from the temple enclosure itself and probably connected by two colonnades with a narrow space between them. Josephus’ measurements suggest about a 600 foot separation between the two complexes.

Prior to the Jewish War, the Antonia housed some part of the Roman garrison of Jerusalem. The Romans also stored the high priest’s vestments within the Fortress.

The Antonia was destroyed in 70 AD by Titus’ army during the siege of Jerusalem. Titus captured the fortress as a precursor to attacking the Temple complex. He had the Antonia leveled to allow passage of siege materials to the temple. Source: Antonia Fortress. (2010, June 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:46, June 21, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antonia_Fortress&oldid=366600465

Pool of Bethesda – “House of Mercy”

From the Temple Mount we walked north to the Pool of Bethesda.

From John Chapter 5:

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
10 ¶ The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.
11 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.
12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?
13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.
14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.
16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.

There was a church next to the remains of the pool and we sang as a group “Lead Kindly Light” and “I Need The Every Hour.”

We entered the old city and had to take a couple snapshots below:

Via Dolorosa

We then made our way to the beginning of the Via Dolorosa and the traditional area for the remains of Pilate’s Palace.

We could see grooves in the stone made for the horses that soldiers would ride at the time of Jesus.

The Roman soldiers played a game called the Game of the Kings where they would play to see who would perform the acts of smiting the prisoners, and keeping their clothing.

The scourging performed by the soldiers was called the half-death.

From Matthew 27:

11 And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.
12 And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?
14 And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.
15 Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.
16 And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas.
17 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?
18 For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.
19 ¶ When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
21 The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.
23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.
24 ¶ When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
26 ¶ Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.
28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.
29 ¶ And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
34 ¶ They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
36 And sitting down they watched him there;
37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.
39 ¶ And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.
48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
50 ¶ Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
55 And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:
56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.
57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple:
58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.
59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.
61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.

We walked along the path of where the soldiers likely played the Game of the Kings with the markings still etched into the stone.

We exited the city at Stephen’s gate, the traditional site where Stephen mentioned in the New Testament was stoned.

The Shrine of the Book

From there we went to the Shrine of the Book which houses the Dead Sea Scrolls.

This was one of the stops I very much looked forward to. The earliest manuscript copies of the scriptures that could be found dated back to about 900-1,000 AD but the discover of the dead Sea Scrolls took the oldest known copies of the scriptures back almost 1,000 years. Although parts of the scriptures discovered are different from what we have now, much is the same.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of about 900 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in and around the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea in the West Bank.

The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they include the oldest known surviving copies of Biblical and extra-biblical documents and preserve evidence of great diversity in late Second Temple Judaism. They are written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, mostly on parchment, but with some written on papyrus.

These manuscripts generally date between 150 BCE and 70 CE. The scrolls are traditionally identified with the ancient Jewish sect called the Essenes, though some recent interpretations have challenged this association and argue that the scrolls were penned by priests in Jerusalem, Zadokites, or other unknown Jewish groups.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are traditionally divided into three groups: “Biblical” manuscripts (copies of texts from the Hebrew Bible), which comprise roughly 40% of the identified scrolls; “Apocryphal” or “Pseudepigraphical” manuscripts (known documents from the Second Temple Period like Enoch, Jubilees, Tobit, Sirach, non-canonical psalms, etc., that were not ultimately canonized in the Hebrew Bible), which comprise roughly 30% of the identified scrolls; and “Sectarian” manuscripts (previously unknown documents that speak to the rules and beliefs of a particular group or groups within greater Judaism) like the Community Rule, War Scroll, Pesher (Hebrew pesher פשר = “Commentary”) on Habakkuk, and the Rule of the Blessing, which comprise roughly 30% of the identified scrolls.

The biblical manuscripts from Qumran, which include at least fragments from every book of the Old Testament, except perhaps for the Book of Esther, provide a far older cross section of scriptural tradition than that available to scholars before. While some of the Qumran biblical manuscripts are nearly identical to the Masoretic, or traditional, Hebrew text of the Old Testament, some manuscripts of the books of Exodus and Samuel found in Cave Four exhibit dramatic differences in both language and content. In their astonishing range of textual variants, the Qumran biblical discoveries have prompted scholars to reconsider the once-accepted theories of the development of the modern biblical text from only three manuscript families: of the Masoretic text, of the Hebrew original of the Septuagint, and of the Samaritan Pentateuch. It is now becoming increasingly clear that the Old Testament scripture was extremely fluid until its canonization around A.D. 100. Source: Dead Sea Scrolls. (2010, June 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:21, June 21, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dead_Sea_Scrolls&oldid=369216591

There is a traditional story that the Father of John the Baptist had the newborn baby John hid at Qumran because of Herod’s edict that little baby boys should be killed when he feared the Messiah King was born. The tradition states that upon returning to the temple, John’s father was questioned about his son and then slain when he wouldn’t give an answer. Matthew 23:35 states:

35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

So, it’s possible that it refers to John’s Father.

It was really cool to see part of the Isaiah scroll. All the books of the Old Testament were found in the caves but the Book of Ester.

Our Israeli tour guide said that she could read what was on the scrolls, saying that it’s the same Hebrew, or very similar to that she has learned.

Outside the museum was a huge model of the old city:

The Shrine of the Book Museum marked the end of our lecture tour.

Within the Old City of Jerusalem

We spent time shopping (Saturday was the Sabbath) and walking around inside the walls of the old city. We also went inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher there. The old city of Jerusalem (behind the walls) is divided up into 4 quarters: The Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Armenian. All of the Muslims we interacted with were very friendly.

After spending time in the old city, we boarded our bus and headed to Tel Aviv back to the airport for a flight departure at 12:3o AM (which gave us Day 8 in Israel I guess).

The Reason

When we began our trip at our home airport, my sister needed to by something or ask a question of one of the store attendants there. The store clerk asked, “Where are you going?” and my sister replied that we were going to Israel. The clerk replied with a tone of disgust or disdain, “Why would you want to go there?”

Perhaps this might help explain why one would be interested in not just going, but in learning:

John 20:
1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.
4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.
5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.
6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.
9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
11 ¶ But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,
12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.
19 ¶ Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
24 ¶ But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
26 ¶ And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
30 ¶ And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

To read about the other days in our trip, click below:

The Airport
Israel – Day 1
Israel – Day 2
Israel – Day 3
Israel – Day 4
Israel – Day 5
Israel – Day 6
Israel – Day 7

Read More

Israel – Day 6

Saturday, May 15

We woke up early and left the Olive Tree Hotel in Jerusalem and took the short drive over to the Garden of Gethsemane (Gethsemane means oil press). If you haven’t read, refer back to the post about our trip to Nazareth where we saw an actual olive press.

This post is long, but I invite you to read the whole post.

The Garden of Gethsemane

Not too far up from the base of the Mount of Olives is a private garden. Surrounding the garden is a large stone wall. Entering at the gate on the south side, we could see the Church of the Nations just across the street.

The garden faces the Kidron Valley and temple mount looking up to the Mercy Gate also called the Golden Gate or Gate Beautiful (the traditional gate of the triumphal entry).

Entering the private garden we noticed well kept gravel paths and lots of olive trees.

From Mark who is understood traditionally as Peter’s later understudy:

32 And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.
33 And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
34 And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.
35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
37 And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?
38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
39 And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words.
40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him.
41 And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
42 Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.
43 ¶ And immediately, while he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
44 And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely.
45 And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him.
46 ¶ And they laid their hands on him, and took him.
47 And one of them that stood by drew a sword, and smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.
48 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Are ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and with staves to take me?
49 I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled.
50 And they all forsook him, and fled.
51 And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:
52 And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.
53 ¶ And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.

We stayed in the private garden for a while and listened to our guide speak to us of Gethsemane.

Interestingly the Jewish festival of Shavuot, devote Jews stay up all night studying the Torah. Although tradition holds that the practice is more recent, it is interesting as it relates to Gethsemane.

Shavuot (help·info) (or Shavuos (help·info), in Ashkenazi usage; Hebrew: שבועות‎, lit. “Weeks”) is a Jewish holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan (late May or early June). Shavuot commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Torah to the entire Israelite nation assembled at Mount Sinai, although the association between the giving of the Torah (Matan Torah)…

Since Shavuot occurs 50 days after Passover, Hellenistic Jews gave it the name Pentecost (πεντηκοστή, “fiftieth day”).

The custom of all-night Torah study goes back to 1533 when Rabbi Joseph Caro, author of the Shulchan Aruch, then living in Ottoman Salonika, invited his Kabbalistic colleagues to hold a night-long study vigil, in the course of which an angel appeared before them and commanded them to go live in Eretz Yisrael. According to a story in the Midrash, the night before the Torah was given, the Israelites retired early to be well-rested for the momentous day ahead, but they overslept and Moses had to wake them up because God was already waiting on the mountaintop. To rectify this flaw in the national character, religious Jews stay up all night to learn Torah. Shavuot. Source: (2010, June 9). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:15, June 13, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shavuot&oldid=366998422

About Seder (Passover), the night Jesus went to Gethsemane:

The Passover Seder (Hebrew: סֵדֶר‎ [ˈsedeʁ], “order, arrangement”; Yiddish: Sayder) is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is held on the evening of the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, which corresponds to late March or April in the Gregorian calendar.

The Seder is a ritual performed by a community or by multiple generations of a family, involving a retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt.

This story is in the Book of Exodus (Shemot) in the Hebrew Bible. The Seder itself is based on the Biblical verse commanding Jews to retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt: “And you shall tell it to your son on that day, saying, ‘Because of this God did for us when He took me out of Egypt.’” (Exodus 13:8)

Traditionally, families and friends gather in the evening to read the text of the Haggadah, an ancient work derived from the Mishnah (Pesahim 10). The Haggadah contains the narrative of the Israelite exodus from Egypt, special blessings and rituals, commentaries from the Talmud, and special Passover songs.

Seder customs include drinking four cups of wine, eating matza and partaking of symbolic foods placed on the Passover Seder Plate. The Seder is performed in much the same way by Jews all over the world. Source: Passover Seder.

Slavery and freedom

The rituals and symbolic foods associated with the Seder evoke the twin themes of the evening: slavery and freedom. The rendering of time for the Hebrews was that a day began at sunset and ended at sunset.

Historically, at the beginning of the 15th of Nisan at sunset in Ancient Egypt, the Jewish people were enslaved to Pharaoh. After the tenth plague struck Egypt at midnight, killing all the first-born sons in the land, Pharaoh let the Hebrew nation go, effectively making them freedmen for the second half of the night.

Thus, Seder participants recall the slavery that reigned during the first half of the night by eating matzo (the “poor man’s bread”), maror (bitter herbs which symbolize the bitterness of slavery), and charoset (a sweet paste representing the mortar which the Jewish slaves used to cement bricks).

Recalling the freedom of the second half of the night, they eat the matzo (the “bread of freedom” and also the “bread of affliction”) and ‘afikoman’, and drink the four cups of wine, in a reclining position, and dip vegetables into salt water (the dipping being a sign of royalty and freedom, while the salt water recalls the tears the Jews shed during their servitude).

The Four Cups

There is an obligation to drink four cups of wine [an aside, for LDS participants, Fruit of the Vine, grape juice is okay. Nowhere does it say it must be fermented according to Dr. Ludlow BYU] during the Seder. The Mishnah says (Pes. 10:1) that even the poor are obliged to drink the four cups. Each cup is imbibed at a specific point in the Seder. The first is for Kiddush (קידוש), the second is for ‘Maggid’ (מגיד), the third is for Birkat Hamazon (ברכת המזון) and the fourth is for Hallel (הלל).

The Four Cups represent the four expressions of deliverance promised by God Exodus 6:6-7: “I will bring out,” “I will deliver,” “I will redeem,” and “I will take.”

(2010, June 2). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:19, June 13, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Passover_Seder&oldid=365696161

So the meal in the upper room was a passover meal, the end of the meal includes partaking of the unleavened bread broken by the patriarch and shared with those in attendance followed by wine…the last true passover was the first Sacrament.

At Seder, families will stay up late into the night telling the story of the Deliverance of the Children of Israel from bondage.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, the Deliverer came to Save the world from the bondage of sin. As in Shavuot and Seder, participants stay up late even all night. At the Garden of Gethsemane, when it was time to stay up to watch the Giver of the Law Deliver the Children of Israel, the Deliverer was left alone while his exhausted disciples slept.

Jesus says, “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

Remember the 4 cups of the Passover mentioned above.

As mentioned in the Wikipedia article, their last night in Egypt, the sun set on them as slaves, at midnight, the firstborn of Egypt died and the people were free and have held passover for three-thousand years since that night.

Late into the night, perhaps near midnight in Gethsemane, the night of the passover the Firstborn committed to, and began the sacrifice that would save Israel from bondage. The Firstborn would die so the nation could live.

Luke 22: 44

And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

In the place of the “oil press” – Gethsemane, Jesus bled from every pore under the press of the weight of our sins, iniquities, and infirmities.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” Olive Oil was used in the lamps for their light. The first press from an olive press was the best (called extra virgin olive oil) and went to the temple to light the giant candelabras that light the temple. Olive oil-the same oil used to anoint, used to bless, used to dedicate. At the garden of the “oil press” on the Mount of Olives, he bled from every pore.

From our visit to the private garden, we crossed the narrow street that lead further up the Mount of Olives and entered the Garden at the Church of the Nations which is held traditionally as the Garden of Gethsemane.

Root structures from MASSIVE olive trees still alive date back 2,000 years.

The Church of the Nations covers the rock where tradition holds is where Jesus prayed.

From the Church of the Nations, we came back out to the same street we crossed over from the private garden and headed up the steep sides of the Mount of Olives.

Jesus traveled to Bethany from Jerusalem and would stay in Bethany.

Jesus would have been in good shape to make it up and over the mount on multiple trips coming into the city.

The Orson Hyde Memorial Garden on the Mount of Olives

We turned north after walking up the hill and headed to the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden.

The first LDS official to enter Jerusalem was LDS Apostle Orson Hyde, who came in 1841 and dedicated the land for the gathering of the people of Israel, the creation of a Jewish state, and the building of an LDS temple at some future time. After his visit, LDS presence in the city was virtually non-existent. By 1971, the city saw enough Mormon visitors for the church to lease a building in East Jerusalem for church services. Brigham Young University’s study abroad program to Jerusalem, which began in 1968, played a key role in the growth of LDS visitors to the area. The Mormon presence in the area soon grew too large for the leased space to provide adequate space for worship, so the church began looking into building a center for students. In 1972 David B. Galbraith became the director of the BYU’s program in Jerusalem. He remained in this position until 1987 when was asked by the First Presidency to take on the responsibility of organizing the BYU Jerusalem Center.

On October 24, 1979, church President Spencer W. Kimball visited Jerusalem to dedicate the Orson Hyde Memorial Gardens, located on the Mount of Olives. The church had donated money to beautify the Jerusalem area, and officials of the Jerusalem government were present at the occasion. It was at this dedication that President Kimball announced the church’s intent to build a center for BYU students in the city.

Source: Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center. (2010, June 13). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:01, June 13, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brigham_Young_University_Jerusalem_Center&oldid=367790763

We then walked back to our bus, and Ron, our bus driver, drove us up the mount to the BYU Jerusalem Center.

The BYU Jerusalem Center

We arrived at the BYU Jerusalem Center just in time to get out walk around for a few minutes and then go to sacrament meeting, remember, it was Saturday, Sabbath in Israel.

More about the center:

Negotiations between the church and the Israeli government stretched from 1980-1984. The land the church wanted for the center, located on the southwestern side of Mount Scopus, had been acquired by Israel during the Six Day War of 1967 and could not be sold under Israeli law. The church decided to obtain a lease on the land instead. Leasing the land also prevented the politically controversial problem of the church owning a piece of Jerusalem land. Israeli officials saw the building of the center on the land as a way of solidifying control over land whose ownership was ambiguous under international law. By August 1984, the church had the land on a 49-year lease, building permits had been obtained, and construction on the building began.

The 1980s saw many other Christian groups vying for representation and space in the city. These groups constantly faced opposition from a strong political minority of Orthodox Jews living in the city. Neither major political party in Israel (the Likud and Labor Parties) could achieve a majority vote in the Knesset without support from the more religious parties. Religious parties used this situation to pass laws in favor of Jewish Orthodoxy in exchange for their support on other issues. At the time the conservative Jews which make up the “religious right” in Israel, or the Haredim, constituted 27% of the population of Jerusalem, and was decidedly against the building of the BYU Jerusalem Center or any other similar Christian structure. Larger parties faced loss of a majority if they stood opposite on this issue. Many Israeli officials, however, such as the Mayor of Jerusalem at the time, Teddy Kollek, along with others in attendance at the Orson Hyde Garden dedication, supported the center because of what the church had done for the city. Kollek specifically stated that “the Mormon church’s presence in Jerusalem can do a great deal of work in providing the bridge of understanding between the Arab and Jews…because its members look with sympathy and understanding at both sides.” The land on which the center was built was then still considered Arab land by many, and many officials saw that its lease would add an image of religious tolerance to their government and increase Israeli control of the land.

Because of its prominent location in the Jerusalem skyline, construction was quickly noticed, and this sparked a major controversy in Israel and in the Jewish world as a whole beginning in 1985. The Haredim led the opposition, their main concern being that the building would be used not as a school, but as a center for Mormon proselyting efforts in Jerusalem. The Haredim warned of a “spiritual holocaust”.[19] The LDS Church, they argued, had no local presence in the population of the Jerusalem area and no historical connections to the land. The group spread warnings through letters, newspapers, and television that Mormon missionaries would convert Jews throughout the city, saying that: “The Mormon organization is one of the most dangerous, and in America they have already struck down many Jews. At the present the Mormons are cautious because of the tremendous opposition their missionary activities would engender, but the moment their new Center is completed, we won’t be able to stop them.” — Kol Ha’Ir
and that: “At the heart of the “emotional” and “bitter” controversy brewing in Jerusalem is whether Christian Zionism, based on Christian eschatological expectations, should function in Israel with the help and active aid of government and municipal authorities, such as the assistance being rendered to the Brigham Young University.” — Inter Mountain Jewish News

Warnings in the media led to street protests and demonstrations. Orthodox Jews marched on City Hall and to the construction site in 1986. Some even gathered at the Wailing Wall in a public prayer of mourning because of the center. They also gathered at the hotel at which the BYU President was staying at one point, carrying signs saying: “Conversion is Murder!” and “Mormons, stop your mission now”. Death threats were sent to the Director of the center and to Mayor Kolleck, and some threatened to bomb the center. (A Baptist church, the first in Jerusalem, had actually been bombed only a few years earlier in 1982.) Despite many threats, however, at no point did Haredim protests become physically violent. In late 1985, the Haredim motioned for a no-confidence vote against the leading Labor Party. Prime Minister Shimon Peres organized a committee of eight, four for the center and four against, to debate the issue and come up with a solution either for or against the center’s presence. Another committee was formed to look into the allegation that the money the church had put into Jerusalem was a bribe to gain Mayor Kolleck’s support for the center (the committee found the church “Not Guilty”). A subcommittee of the Knesset requested that the LDS Church issue a formal promise not to proselytize Jews. Some Israelis considered this discriminatory, as no other Christian church had been asked to do this in Jerusalem. Church leaders, however, agreed to comply and sent a formally signed statement soon after.

Some Jews in the area were still uneasy and doubted the church’s intent, believing that religious belief among Mormons would supersede adherence to the law. One protestor stated that “converting the sons of Judah, us, is a basic article of their faith. . . . They regard themselves as sons of Joseph and believe there will be no Second Coming for as long as we and they do not fuse.”

In addition to the promise not to proselyte, BYU began a public relations campaign to inform the public of their intentions for the center as a school and a gathering place for those already of the LDS faith. Ads were purchased in local newspapers, magazines, and on television, and the center had personnel appear on radio talk shows. Government officials in favor of the center also began to speak out, saying that Jerusalem should deny no one a place to worship, Jew, Muslim, or Christian. The Minister for Economic Planning, Gad Yaakobi said that the debate had “already caused considerable damage to Israel”, and Former Foreign Minister Abba Eban stated that the “free exercise of conscience and dissent in a democratic society” was at stake.[31] The center also received support in the U.S., as former President Gerald Ford spoke for the center, as well the United Jewish Council of Utah, who wrote a letter stating that “For over one hundred years, the Jewish and LDS communities have coexisted in the Salt Lake Valley in a spirit of true friendship and harmony. It has been our experience that when the leaders of the LDS Church make a commitment of policy, it is a commitment which can be relied upon. The stated commitment of Brigham Young University not to violate the laws of the state of Israel, or its own commitment regarding proselytizing in the state of Israel through the Jerusalem-based Brigham Young facility, is a commitment which we sincerely believe will be honored.”

The U.S. government also became an intermediary for BYU as 154 members of Congress issued a letter to the Knesset in support of the BYU Jerusalem Center. In 1986, the Knesset approved the completion of the center.
Source: Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center. (2010, June 13). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:01, June 13, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brigham_Young_University_Jerusalem_Center&oldid=367790763

Sacrament meeting was held in the auditorium that overlooks the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount. We could see the Mercy Gate, temple mount, and walls of the city. It was a whole new experience to take the sacrament overlooking and remembering the events that took place here.

The BYU Jerusalem Center was the most beautiful building in the land.

From the BYU Jerusalem Center, we traveled into the city and visited the traditional site of the Upper Room where Jesus had the Passover and first Sacrament with his disciples.

The Passover\Last Supper, the Upper Room, and Judas

The Passover Meal requires much preparation. Think of how much preparation would need to take place for a group as large as the Apostles and Jesus (and anyone else that might have been helping). Jesus tells the disciples to go and they’ll find a man carrying water on his head and to follow him to where his master has the meal prepared. It would have been odd in those days for a man to be carrying the water and not a woman, so the man would have been easy to spot. The circumstance of a surprise setting allowed them to have their meal without tipping off Judas early as to where they would be. Otherwise, he could have gone to the leaders of the people and had them come to the meal.

From Luke telling of a strife mentioned during the Last Supper:

24 ¶ And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
25 And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
26 But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.

I’ve always thought about this as perhaps a strife within the quorum as to who should be the leader or greatest, but there is perhaps a different perspective.

Meals at that time were eaten in almost a reclining position. A large group might be in a circle reclining on their sides with their feet and legs towards the edge.

Those of greatest honor would sit on either side of the host. John was perhaps on one side of Jesus and Judas on the other…

From John 13 relating what happened in the Upper Room:

21 When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
22 Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake.
23 Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.
24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.
25 He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?
26 Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a asop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.

The custom of giving a sop, dipping the bread and then giving it to another was a sign of high respect and love. It would be given from the hand of the giver to the mouth of the receiver.

The apostles may have wondered why Jesus sat Judas on one side and John on the other instead of setting Peter next to him. Peter motioned to John to ask Jesus who should betray because John was close enough to be able to lean back and put his head on Jesus’ should or chest. Judas would have been close enough to receive the sop.

Jesus shows love to the one he knows will betray him. He may have been indicating to Judas, let’s reconcile, because Judas had been rebuked earlier and taken offence.

Why did Judas want to betray? Judas was stealing from the money bag. Judas was rebuked by Jesus when the woman with expensive ointment anointed Jesus’ feet and Judas want to have the ointment sold and given to the poor (which funds would have passed through his hands).

Judas’ name Judas Iscariot is also reminiscent of the Sicarii a zealot group. Judas was from that area (The only of the 12 from the area of the Dead Sea. The others were from Galilee). Galileans were looked upon as country bumpkins, not as refined or important perhaps as those of the south-Jerusalem area.

The zealots or Sicarii would expect a military Messiah. Perhaps Judas Iscariot expected this, but learning that Jesus would not be a military Messiah on his own decided to either force his hand into acting in a military fashion when faced with capture or Judas’ actions may have simply been a rejection.

About Sicarii:

Sicarii (Latin plural of Sicarius ‘dagger-’ or later contract- killer) is a term applied, in the decades immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, (probably) to an extremist splinter group of the Jewish Zealots, who attempted to expel the Romans and their partisans from Judea.

The Sicarii used stealth tactics to obtain their objective. Under their cloaks they concealed sicae, or small daggers, from which they received their name. At popular assemblies, particularly during the pilgrimage to the Temple Mount, they stabbed their enemies (Romans or Roman sympathizers, Herodians, and wealthy Jews comfortable with Roman rule), lamenting ostentatiously after the deed to blend into the crowd to escape detection. Literally, Sicarii meant “dagger-men”.

In the name of Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, the epithet “Iscariot” is read by some scholars as a Hellenized transformation, by the simplest metathesis, of sicarius. The suffix “-ote” denotes membership or belonging to – in this case to the sicarii. This meaning is lost when the Greek Gospels are translated into modern Hebrew: Judas is rendered as “Ish-Kerayot,” making him a man from the townships. Robert Eisenman presents the general view of secular historians (Eisenman p 179) in identifying him instead as “Judas the Sicarios”. Most of the consonants and vowels tally—in Josephus, Sicarioi/Sicariōn; in the New Testament Iscariot.

At the beginning of the Jewish Revolt (66 AD), the Sicarii, and (possibly) Zealot helpers (Josephus differentiated between the two but did not explain the main differences in depth), gained access to Jerusalem and committed a series of atrocities, in order to force the population to war. In one account, given in the Talmud, they destroyed the city’s food supply so that the people would be forced to fight against the Roman siege instead of negotiating peace. Their leaders, including Menahem ben Jair, Eleazar ben Ya’ir, and Simon Bar Giora, were important figures in the war, and Eleazar ben Ya’ir eventually succeeded in escaping the Roman onslaught. Together with a small group of followers, he made his way to the abandoned fortress of Masada where he continued his resistance to the Romans until 73 AD, when the Romans took the fortress and, according to Josephus, found that most of its defenders had committed suicide rather than surrender.

Source: Sicarii. (2010, June 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:43, June 13, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sicarii&oldid=366640103

Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, a sign the greater should show to the lesser, so one interpretation is that Judas mocked him by the action.

Caiaphas’ House

We then went to the house of Caiaphas and looked over the original stairs Jesus would have walked up for his trial before the Sanhedrin and where Peter denied thrice.

John knows the High Priest (Caiaphas) and goes in with Jesus; Peter stayed back in the courtyard. Why? He just whacked off the ear of the servant of the High Priest could be one reason. It’s still dark outside, so he would be obscured but could still watch.

Sitting outside in the courtyard, we heard the cock crow three times, reminding us of Peter’s three denials. After the resurrection, Jesus gives Peter the chance to confirm his love three times for the Savior-reconciliation for Peter perhaps.

We entered the prison at Caiaphas’ house. I really wouldn’t want a prison in my house, but times were different back then I guess.

There was a deep hole that would have been very dark that prisoners would have been lowered into for keeping while the council deliberated.

We also saw the area where prisoners would have been tied and scourged or flogged.

Many, many Jewish procedures and laws were broken in the Sanhedrin’s trail of Jesus; we covered 12 of them while there.

From there, we went to the wailing wall.

The Wailing Wall – Also called the Western Wall

An interesting note, that our Jewish guide Dina said that those coming to Jerusalem back then needed a ritual bath.

Since we visited the wall on Saturday, Shabbat or Sabbath, it was not crowded because many of the Jews stayed home for Sabbath.

We went up and touched the wall of the temple mount.

Men prayed on one side of the wall and women prayed on the south side.

At the men’s side of the wall, they have created a space under the adjoining buildings where you can still see the wall. It was large and air conditioned.

There, we could see a Plexiglas covered shaft right next to the wall that offered a look down 40 feet at the original wall. We were standing 40 feet above where the base of the wall used to be.

I didn’t think it appropriate or tactful to take pictures there.

From the Wailing Wall, we headed to the Garden Tomb.

The Garden Tomb & Golgotha

The Garden Tomb is a traditional site of protestants of the tomb where Jesus was buried. The Garden is an English garden; our host was an adorable older Brit and talked to us about Golgotha, the tomb, and the resurrection. A wine press and large cistern were found in the area indicating that the area was likely a garden.

At the end of our tour at the Garden, we were allowed to walk inside the tomb, and I tip my hat to our brothers across the sea (the British) for taking such good care of the place.

Our British guide, David, took us to the edge of the garden where we could look over a bus stop which had been built right up to Golgotha. We could see what looked like the shape of a skull from the rock outcrop. The mouth had been covered over by the back of the bus stop.

Mount Moriah is the temple mount and where Abraham sacrificed Isaac. Our guide David stated that this area where Jesus was crucified could also have been part of Mount Moriah as this part of the mount had been quarried down since the time of Abraham for the building of the city and perhaps temple.

Two roads came together in this area which is where Romans loved to put up crucifixions-along the road near the entrance to the city.

Jesus went willingly, deliberately.

A lot, a whole lot of people probably passed by or came out for the crucifixion. As tradition states, a herald, a Roman soldier in full uniform would have lead the procession on a horse. A titleist would have carried a standard with the names of those to be crucified. We know what the plaque read for Jesus. Another person would have been on a horse looking back at the place of hewn stone looking for a white flag which meant the Sanhedrin had recalled their decision, but none came.

From Psalm 22 written about 900 years before the birth of Christ:

1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7 All they that see me laugh me to ascorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.
11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
19 But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.

Immense thirst would have occurred after losing so much blood. They gave him a mixture to drink with gall, a narcotic, but he didn’t drink.

He died around 3pm – the time the passover lambs were killed. It was 3pm at the time we were there.

The followers would have had only from 3-6pm to bury Jesus before the Sabbath began.

Executed victims were placed in mass graves in the valley of Hinom. Isaiah stated as recorded in chapter 53:

9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

So he was appointed to be buried with the wicked, but instead, Joseph of Arimathea gave up his tomb, a rich tomb for the burial of Jesus.

From Matthew 27:

33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
34 ¶ They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
36 And sitting down they watched him there;
37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.
39 ¶ And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.
48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
50 ¶ Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
55 And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:
56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.
57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple:
58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.
59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.
61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.
62 ¶ Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,
63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

We turned our attention from Golgotha and spent some time listening to Jack, our American guide. We then turned our attention to the Garden Tomb.

Our British guide David indicated that the Apostle Thomas gets a lot of flack for doubting, but as the announcement came to the apostles by the women of Jesus’ resurrection, there was a lot of doubting going on by the disciples.

John Chapter 20:

1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.
4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.
5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.
6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.
9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
11 ¶ But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,
12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.
19 ¶ Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
24 ¶ But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
26 ¶ And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
30 ¶ And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

To read about the other days in our trip, click below:

The Airport
Israel – Day 1
Israel – Day 2
Israel – Day 3
Israel – Day 4
Israel – Day 5
Israel – Day 6
Israel – Day 7

Read More

Israel – Day 5

Friday, May 14

It seemed like we got up earlier and earlier each day, and if my notes are correct, it’s 7:10AM and we embarked to Masada.

Soon after leaving Jerusalem, you come to understand what the word wilderness means when talked about in the scriptures. This is the Judean wilderness. Not far from Jerusalem, there are still people living in the desert much like they have for over 2,000 years, except for next to their dwellings are parked pick-up trucks.

On the Bus, our guide Jack explained quite a bit (at least 5 pages of notes worth). I really, truly, really, do not do it justice here, but I will briefly touch on a few points.

The Game of the Kings

The “Game of the Kings” was a type of board game for the Roman Soldiers. It was this game that the soldiers played to determine who got to do perform which acts of torture upon the victim. Later on we would see etching in stone of the game dating back to close to the time of Jesus where he might have been mocked by the soldiers. So interesting that their game was called the Game of Kings, obviously, to mock, but if they knew…

Sedition is a Capital Offense

When the people gather to great the triumphal entry of Jesus in Jerusalem, they are in a sense or in fact committing sedition against the Roman Empire. They are welcoming their King. This is something that Rome would not like and would crucify for. Our guide Dina added that his triumphal entry might have been through the Mercy Gate which is the gate currently blocked/sealed through which Jews believe the Messiah will enter.

Jack suggested a possible reason that the crowed turned on Jesus when put later before Pilate is they came to understand that Jesus says his kingdom is not of this world. It’s called revolution when followers win the fight; it’s called sedition/treason when they lose.

Pilate interviews Jesus, and attempts various ways to let him go.

Son of Man

Jesus uses the term Son of Man which is kind of a fuzzy phrase doctrinally among the Pharisees. I person were to say, I am The Son of God, that would be blaspheme and cause for capital punishment according to Jewish law. When brought before the Jewish council, they try him for blasphemy and Caiaphas uses some pretty strong language, and Jesus does confirm he is the Son of God, and they say it is blasphemy which with the Roman approval would mean stoning.

The leaders however take Jesus to the Romans and accuse him of sedition which merits a more terrible and painful death, crucifixion. If the execution were carried out by stoning, it would be done by the people, and the leaders might have an uprising on their hand against a popular prophet.

Apparently, Barabbas, who was released in the stead of Jesus, was accused of sedition. In the case of such crimes and individual and perhaps their whole family would be executed/crucified on the road to their village.

Masada

After the crucifixion of the Savior and Resurrection, there was a revolt against the Romans which lead to the destruction of the Temple in 70AD.

A holdout of zealots stayed in Masada which was Herod’s safety bunker and get-away palace. You know…let’s let Wikipedia fill us in on the details:

Masada (Hebrew מצדה, pronounced Metzada, from מצודה, metzuda, “fortress”) is the name for a site of ancient palaces and fortifications in the South District of Israel on top of an isolated rock plateau, or horst, on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea. After the First Jewish-Roman War a siege of the fortress by troops of the Roman Empire led to the mass suicide of the Sicarii rebels, who preferred death to surrender.

The cliffs on the east edge of Masada are about 1,300 feet (400 m) high and the cliffs on the west are about 300 feet (90 m) high; the natural approaches to the cliff top are very difficult. The top of the plateau is flat and rhomboid-shaped, about 1,800 feet (550 m) by 900 feet (275 m). There was a casemate wall around the top of the plateau totaling 4,300 feet (1.3 km) long and 12 feet (3.7 m) thick, with many towers, and the fortress included storehouses, barracks, an armory, the palace, and cisterns that were refilled by rainwater. Three narrow, winding paths led from below up to fortified gates.

According to Josephus, a first-century Jewish Roman historian, Herod the Great fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE as a refuge for himself in the event of a revolt. In 66 CE, at the beginning of the First Jewish-Roman War against the Roman Empire, a group of Jewish extremists called the Sicarii overcame the Roman garrison of Masada. After the destruction of the Second Temple, additional members of the Sicarii and their families fled Jerusalem and settled on the mountaintop, using it as a base for harassing the Romans.

The works of Josephus are the sole record of events that took place during the siege. According to modern interpretations of Josephus, the Sicarii were an extremist splinter group of the Zealots who were equally antagonistic to both Romans and other Jewish groups. The Zealots (according to Josephus), in contrast to the Sicarii, carried the main burden of the rebellion, which opposed Roman rule of Judea (as the Roman province of Iudaea, its Latinized name).

The Sicarii on Masada were commanded by Elazar ben Ya’ir (who may have been the same person as Eleazar ben Simon), and in 70 CE they were joined by additional Sicarii and their families that were expelled from Jerusalem by the Jewish population with whom the Sicarii were in conflict shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple.

Archaeology indicates that they modified some of the structures they found there; this includes a building which was modified to function as a synagogue facing Jerusalem (in fact, the building may originally have been one), although it did not contain a mikvah or the benches found in other early synagogues. It is one of the oldest synagogues in Israel. Remains of two mikvahs were found elsewhere on Masada.

In 72, the Roman governor of Iudaea Lucius Flavius Silva marched against Masada with the Roman legion X Fretensis and laid siege to the fortress. After failed attempts to breach the wall, they built a circumvallation wall and then a rampart against the western face of the plateau, using thousands of tons of stones and beaten earth.
Josephus does not record any attempts by the Sicarii to counterattack the besiegers during this process, a significant difference from his accounts of other sieges against Jewish fortresses. He did record a raid on a nearby Jewish settlement called Ein-Gedi during the siege, where the Sicarii killed 700 of its inhabitants.

Some historians also believe that Romans may have used Jewish slaves to build the rampart. According to Dan Gill, geological observations in the early 1990s revealed that the 375-foot (114 m) high assault ramp consisted mostly of a natural spur of bedrock that required a ramp only 30 feet (9.1 m) high built atop it in order to reach the Masada defenses. This discovery would diminish both the scope of the construction and of the conflict between the Sicarii and Romans, relative to the previous perspective in which the ramp was an epic feat of construction.

The rampart was complete in the spring of 73, after approximately two to three months of siege, allowing the Romans to finally breach the wall of the fortress with a battering ram on April 16. When they entered the fortress, however, the Romans discovered that its 960 inhabitants had set all the buildings but the food storerooms ablaze and committed mass suicide rather than face certain capture, defeat, slavery or execution by their enemies.

The account of the siege of Masada was related to Josephus by two women who survived the suicide by hiding inside a cistern along with five children, and repeated Eleazar ben Ya’ir’s exhortations to his followers, prior to the mass suicide, verbatim to the Romans.

We arrived at Masada to a relatively new visitor center/museum/gift shop. I laughed as I watched a little boy toss down his hat in the large atrium.

When it was our turn to board the tram, we were first taken into a standing theater (no seats, you stand with an arm-rest railing in front of you), and watched a pretty funny video of a guy wearing glasses that looked just like Harry Potter’s spectacles. At the end of the video he asked what we would have done if in the situation that the zealots upon Masada found themselves and turned his head straight to the camera with a serious look that made us all chuckle. Of course the events at Masada were serious, but the video unwittingly inspired some humor.

After the video, we funneled out of the theater and then board a tram (a very packed tram), and road to the tram stop built right into the side of the mountain.

After de-boarding the tram, we followed a walkway bolted onto the side of the mountain to get to the entrance of Masada.

A few people in our group decided to be adventurous and climbed up the snake path instead of riding the tram. One iron woman in our group made it up pretty quick; the others took 30-45 minutes. We had a couple family members walk down at the end of the time there.

Masada was one lavish palace in its day, and our guide said that Herod visited perhaps only once or twice.

The attack ramp that the Romans had built can still be seen today.

We learned that about 1.3 million Jews were killed during the destruction of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel had a vision that showed water flowing from the temple or under the temple and that that water will heal the Dead Sea. Life from the temple.

Interesting to note that Judas Iscariot was from this area Idumea (and the only one from the original twelve not of Galilee). Some think that Judas Iscariot’s name is derived the Sicarii (mentioned above in the Wikipedia article) which might place him as a zealot wanting a military Messiah.

Sodom and Gomorrah are also identified as being located in this area.

On top of Masada, we passed a columbarium which was a place used to house doves. Little triangular nooks were carved into the walls where the doves would rest and then they could be used for food. It was pretty interesting, but was like nothing compared to what we would see later in the day at Beit Lehi.

The Dead Sea – Awesome

On the way to the Dead Sea from Masada, we learned a little about Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember Lot’s family, his wife, and the “pillar of salt” thing? Did she turn into a pillar of salt because she looked back as they exited Sodom and Gomorrah? Probably not. She went back. Her “looking back” meant returned back. It’s similar to the man at the plow “who looketh back” means who returneth back. Lot’s wife left family back there and most likely headed back and was unfortunately destroyed with the cities. Although, the movies make it much more dramatic when POOF, she turns into a pillar of salt for looking back at the cities.

It may just be me, but I hope the area looked better back then, because I wouldn’t call this area prime real estate. There were however a couple of resort hotels located there. People come to the Dead Sea for its medicinal purposes.

It was really, really, awesome to float out there. We were instructed to not let the water get in our eyes or nose because it would sting.

We could stand straight up in the water, not touching the bottom, and be completely equalized in our buoyancy. It amazed us, and kept amazing us, and kept amazing us. Totally awesome were other words to describe it.

The water didn’t smell bad either. We expected rotten egg smell, and got a little hint of it as the bus pulled up, but in the water, it was fine. The only really bad smell was in the tiny changing room…yuck. Grab some towels and change outside if you can.

When in the water, our bodies felt like we were covered in lotion. It was pretty cool, and might have been the water sapping out stuff from the skin.

When out only about 4 or 5 feet, we could feel underneath our feet some small ridged pebbles. You could stick your feet down in them quite easily, and we pulled some up with our feet and found that what we thought were rocks were large, very large, chunks of salt granules. The whole floor of the sea was saturated in the stuff; it was, again, amazing! You couldn’t touch dirt at the bottom, it was all salt.

There were out door showers there to rinse the salt off, and our European cousins seemed to think that standing around in Speedos was pretty cool, but other than that, it was an experience of a lifetime.

We learned about salt as the preserver, sign of the covenant, integrity, truth, a purifier, and it adds flavor. Our guide noted that it was interesting that church headquarters are in Salt Lake City…add a little flavor to the world.

We were at the Dead Sea from 12:00 to 1:00 PM. Heading out from the Dead Sea, we climbed in elevation and I took a little video of the lowest place on the surface of the earth. It is held that Jesus was baptized near where the River Jordan meets the Dead Sea…descending below all things.

Beit Lehi – Indiana Jones Couldn’t Have Done Better

Back on the bus we headed to Beit Lehi which is an active archeological dig. Our expectations for the site were perhaps a little low especially as it seemed to take a while to get there. We drove east from the Dead Sea area and Beit Lehi is south and not that far from Jerusalem.

The name Lehi is used in the story of Sampson, the events occurred in the area called Lehi. We passed by Hebron on our way to Beit Lehi which is where the tomb of the patriarchs is located.

We were also very near Sampson’s well. As the sign of Samson’s covenant, he was not to cut his hair. He was also not supposed to drink wine (may sound familiar to some of us).

Our bus took us off the paved roads and we were headed off the beaten path on dirt roads, and got to the point where the bus couldn’t go any further.

The area was a test site for the Israeli Military, so the archeologists only have a short time each year to excavate the site. Students from the States have helped excavate the site.

There are a couple sites where you can learn about Beit Lehi (also written Lei). One is the Beit Lehi Foundation. Included below are some excerpts from Wikipedia. As will all archeological evidence, there can be various interpretations, and as the years pass, new discoveries help to enlighten or discredit earlier findings, so much should be taken with…ahem…a grain of salt (which we had all over us after the Dead Sea visit).

Khirbet Beit Lei is an archaeological site in the Judean lowlands, in Israel. Its name means “Ruin of the House of Lei” in Arabic.
Khirbet Beit Lehi (or Lei) is located about 22 miles south west of Jerusalem and less than 1,000 meters from a location held by archeologists and religious historians as “Samson’s Well,” the spring that God provided to quench Samson’s thirst after his epic battle with the Philistines. The ancient well still flows and has been used as a source of water for cattle and flocks for thousands of years.

In 1961, road construction unearthed an ancient multi-chamber burial cave in the vicinity of Lachish, and adjacent to the Green Line. Aside from eight skeletons interred within, several supplications for the salvation of Judea and Jerusalem were inscribed on the walls, as well as sketches of ships, leading scholars to believe that the chambers were reused by Israelite refugees fleeing the Chaldaean armies in the sixth century BC, probably Levites. Ships are a common motif in ancient Near Eastern burial chambers. The reference to Jerusalem is the oldest such Hebrew language mention:

ה’ אלהי כל הארץ, הרי יהד לו לאלהי ירשלם, המוריה אתה חננת נוה יה ה

Cave inscriptions were interpreted by Dr. Frank Cross Moore, Jr. of Harvard University. According to Dr. Moore, the cave inscriptions read:

“I am Jehovah thy Lord. I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem.”

“Absolve us oh merciful God. Absolve us oh Jehovah”

However, the simple translation from Hebrew to English of the above quoted inscription is:

“LORD [Y'h'v'h] God of all the earth, the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem. The Moriah, you have pardoned, the habitation of Yah”

While investigating the cave, Dr. Joseph Ginat of The University of Haifa met a Bedouin who told him about the remains of an ancient oak tree about 1/4 of a mile away where, according to Bedouin legends and tradition, a prophet named Lehi blessed and judged the people of both Ishmael and Judah. The Bedouin told Dr. Ginat that Lehi had lived many years before Muhammad and that Arab people had built a wall of large rocks around the remains of the tree to protect it as a sacred spot, long known by Arab inhabitants as “Beit Lehi”, meaning “Home of Lehi.” Dr. Ginat shared this information with W. Cleon Skousen whom he had met while studying anthropology at University of Utah and teaching at Brigham Young University from 1970 through 1975.

In 1983 Dr. Skousen and Dr. Glenn Kimber worked with Dr. Ginat and Dr. Yoram Tsafrir of Hebrew University to secure permission and funding to excavate the site. The first excavations began in December 1983. By noon of the first day, archaeologists found an ancient village and well-preserved mosaic floor of a Byzantine era chapel.

Since that time, “hewn subterranean installations, including columbaria, olive presses, water cisterns, quarries, a stable, and hideaways,” have been discovered along with pottery and other items suggesting that the area had been populated from 600 B.C. until the Mameluke period of 1500 A.D. The discovery has been featured in the book Ancient Churches Revealed, published in 1993 by the Israel Exploration Society.

After 1986 the site was covered to protect it until additional funds could be raised and conditions were right to continue future excavations. Dr. Tsafrir, has since retired and according to Israeli law, passed responsibility for archaeological exploration to Dr. Oren Gutfeld of Hebrew University who continues to manage the excavation. Dr. Gutfeld earned his Ph.D. degree in Classical Archaeology from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and currently teaches at The Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, University of Michigan.

Almost every town or city is named for something, a person, an event or a nearby geographical wonder. Beit Lehi is no different. Beit comes from the Arabic word meaning house or dwelling. Lehi means jawbone. Beit Lehi means the “house” or “dwelling” of the jawbone. An odd name without the rest of the story.

The story begins around 1160 B.C. As recorded in the Bible Judges chapters 13-15, Manoah and his wife have no children, but a man of Manoah’s means and stature in the community must have an heir. He and his wife traveled often to a holy place near their home to make sacrifice and pray for a child. That prayer is heard and answered when an angel appears to his wife and tells her that she will bare a son by God’s providence; that he should be a goodly child, of great strength; by whom the Israelites will be delivered from the hands of the Philistines. He was to be a Nazirite, one who takes a vow of dedication to God. At the time of Samson’s birth, the Israelites had been in bondage to the Philistines for more than 40 years.

Perhaps the strongest man in biblical history, Samson’s impetuous nature causes havoc among the Philistines. He ties torches to the tails of 300 foxes and releases them into the fields of the Philistines destroying all their crops. He kills 30 Philistines when they didn’t play fair in solving a riddle. The Philistines seek to remedy the situation by sending an army of one thousand men to capture Samson who is hiding in the cave of a rock at Etam. The army demands that 3,000 men of Judah capture Samson and deliver him into their hands. With Samson’s consent, the men of Judah bind him with rope and are about to hand him over to the Philistines when he breaks free. Using the jawbone of a donkey that lays at his feet, Samson slays 1,000 Philistines.

Exhausted and near death from thirst, Samson prays for water. Miraculously, a spring bursts forth from the ground to revive the champion. “And when he drunk, his spirit came again and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore (meaning fountain of the crier), which is in Lehi unto this day.” (Judges 15:19). In writing “The Antiquities of the Jews”, the great Jewish historian Josephus (1st century A.D.) confirms the biblical account and notes that the spring remained vibrant in his day. Samson remained at Lehi for 20 years as a judge of the people of Israel.

Judges 15: 15-19

15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
16 And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-lehi.
18 And he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?
19 But God clave a hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.

Abner from the Hebrew University was there on site as was Pablo. Both were jewish. Pablo was from Argentina. Both spoke English exceptionally well. They were sitting the shade eating lunch when we arrived.

There wasn’t much on the surface of the surrounding grounds, a few rocks, some faint outlines of foundations of buildings, but we weren’t going to be spending much time above ground…

Caves were made in the area from 4th to 2nd century BCE (“Before Common Era” -terminology used in the academic world, and refers to the same time BC but allows others who don’t believe in saying “Year of our Lord” to refer to time). There were many findings from the 2nd Temple Period, and then findings to the 2nd century CE (Common Era, same as AD).

The Olive Press Room

We went underground to what used to be an Olive Press. They discovered the area from holes used as hide outs probably from those hiding from the Roman destruction. The cave was filled up with dirt.

The olive press description matched that of the olive press we saw at the Nazareth Village. They found two presses. The floor had been quarried out at a later period and used to be much higher.

We saw a menorah carved in the doorway.

The Mikveh – Jewish Ritual Bath

From the Olive Press Room, we entered the Ritual Bath area/room. This was pretty cool. Little triangular nooks were carved into the wall where participants would set their oil lamps.

Called a Mikveh, it was likely that the workers of the olive press, entered the mikveh for ritual purification to handle the olive oil. Pablo explained the bath to us and showed us the remains of the plaster on the wall.

Those entering the bath would immerse themselves, and to quote a Jewish Archeologist (Pablo): “…like being baptized.” They would cover themselves completely. Pablo also said, “What Jesus did in the Jordan River was exactly this.”

The Giant Columbarium

We nothing prepared us for the immensity of the columbarium.

The columbaria at the site were very likely used for providing doves for the second temple period 200 BCE to 70 CE.

The doves were also used as food and the waste as fertilizer. The doves lodged in the little nooks carved out of the stone.

The columbarium struck us with the sheer volume of sacrifices that the temple performed.

This huge columbarium was one of ten that they’ve found at the site.

When found, almost the entire area of the columbarium was filled with dirt and waste.

Later a structure was built on top of the subterranean columbarium and was used as a garbage pit. There were exit holes in the ceiling where the doves could exit, and these were later used as the garbage chutes.

It again really brought home the work of the ancient temple. Beit Lehi was only about 20 miles from Jerusalem, and with so many columbarium probably a lot of the doves went to the temple for sacrifice.

The Subterranean Stable

From the mikveh, we walked over to another cave which was an underground stable. We didn’t have to walk down too many stairs for the stable. There were troughs for the animals, a drainage area for the animal’s urine, and a place to set a beam to keep in the animals.

Seeing the trough was pretty cool because, it was a manger.

The Byzantine Christian Chapel

The Byzantine Church was built at Beit Lehi around 500-700 AD (CE).

The foundations and floor of the church remain. The floor mosaic was beautiful. Most of the faces in the floor mosaic are scrambled in almost every place there was a face. Called iconoclasm, there was a Muslim (and Christian) movement to remove all images. Rather than wait to have their floor destroyed, the church scrambled almost all the faces. Below is a boat with two fishermen in it.

After Beit Lehi, we headed back to Jerusalem on the bus, and I got about 5 more pages of notes as our guides spoke.

There’s so much, and my fingers are tired, but we learned about Simon the Pharisee that invited Jesus to dinner (took a couple pages of notes just on that story). We learned more about Judas and where his heart was.

To read about the other days in our trip, click below:

The Airport
Israel – Day 1
Israel – Day 2
Israel – Day 3
Israel – Day 4
Israel – Day 5
Israel – Day 6
Israel – Day 7

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