Old City of Jerusalem

 

Praying in David's Tomb

Our tour of the Old City of Jerusalem began on Mount Zion where Jesus celebrated Passover at the Last Supper. Here we visited the upstairs room built in medieval times to commemorate the Last Supper. A ceremonial olive tree represents peace. But since the Moslems held Jerusalem for many years, the windows have Moslem symbols and there is a minaret on top. Below is King David’s Tomb, a Jewish holy site which commemorates the burial of King David. The Zion gate is nearby filled with pock marks from the War of Independence when the Jews were forced out of the Jewish quarter. The barbed wire separating Jews and Muslims was in front of the gate until the Six-Day War. The Ottoman walls were built by Suleiman the Magnificent. In the Jewish quarter, we saw the 7-candle stick menorah made of Gold intended for the 3^rd temple. Behind this is the ruin synagogue, which was blown up in 1948, but now restored. Nearby we saw the 8^th century BC wall being excavated. This was the original 8-meter-thick wall meant to protect Jerusalem from the Assyrians. Twenty years earlier the Assyrians had defeated the Northern tribes of Israel. Isaiah wrote “God will not abandon you”. They survived a 3-year siege, in the end King Hezekiah bribed the Assyrians with the gold doors of the temple to end the siege.

Wailing Wall

Then we came upon the Wailing Wall. Part of the temple retaining walls raised by Herod the great in the 1^st century BC. We visited the wall to meditate and pray. Filling the cracks in the wall with our prayer strips.

The on to the Moslem quarter where we stopped at the Austrian Hospice to get a rooftop view of the quarter. The Dome of the Rock is built upon the Rock of Foundation, where Abraham was told by an angel not to kill his Isaac as a sacrifice to God.

Crucifixion Altar

Then we went through the Christian quarter following the Via Dolorosa. The way concludes at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built by Helena on the traditional site of the crucifixion and resurrection. The site was a decommissioned quarry, called Golgotha or Skull, just outside the walls during Roman times. The church today is from the time of the crusades, each chapel is owned by different Christian sects based on a treaty from 1919 and the keys to the church are managed by a Moslem family. We ascended the steps to the top of the Rock where Christ was sacrificed. Down the steps is the site where Christ was wrapped in linen, then on to the tomb. 

The line to visit the tomb was long, so we went to the Armenian chapel where there was a recently discovered 1^st century tomb. Finally, we went to Adam’s Chapel. According to tradition, when Jesus was crucified, the earthquake caused this Rock to Crack, and blood flowed to the remains of Adam below cleansing hints of the original sin.

First Century Tomb in Armenian Chapel

Later that afternoon, I visited the Damascus gate and the Garden Tomb nearby. In the 19^th century, some believe this is Calvary, because of the hill nearby that looks like a skull, and a 1st century tomb nearby.