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