Trekking Student: Judean Countryside

The morning view of the Old City from the Mount of Olives

Today was our Jerusalem Approaches field study, where we toured around the Judean Country and learning about the geography, the history, and the importance of many biblical places. We started the long and tiresome day with a short bus ride to the overlook on the Mount of Olives over looking the city of Jerusalem and then to the other side looking at he Judean Wilderness. What I am always amazed is the stark difference of the western side of the watershed ridge and the eastern, not to mention seeing the cliffs of Moab in Jordan. We then walked down to see the site of the city of David from the overlook on the Mount of Olives, as well. I’m glad to say I knew most of the geographical names of the significant regions surrounding the city along with the city of Jerusalem. We then walked down hill to the supposed site where Jesus Christ cried for the city of Jerusalem, and also we saw and went into the Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene, which this is the supposed and the traditional site where the Garden of Gethsemane was during the time of Jesus. When we came up to the church I was kind of proud of myself for being able to read some of the wordings that were in Russian Cyrillic. This was my first time being in a Russian Church and it had those famous onion shaped domes, full of gold plating which made it amazing. From there the group of Physical Settings students walked on down through the Kidron Valley and we came across a huge mixed cultured monument, which is named Absalom’s Pillar, which is the supposed and false tomb the King Absalom, King David’s rebellious son who had a huge ego problem. I was impressed at the architecture of the tomb and also confused of it, as well. The mixing of the Greco-Roman, the Nabataean, and the Egyptian architecture kind of turned me off. I am for Western and classical, but the false tomb is still a wonder with the large cut bedrock around it and the different styles of architecture. Just around the hill were the other tombs of the Hasmonean priests that also had wonderful tombs.

The Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene

The supposed tomb of King Davids son, Abasolm

From there we left on the bus and into the West Bank to tour and learn about the great palace fortress of Herodyon, on the way we learned about the landscape and the other geopolitical areas of the land. We kept driving up and up and seeing this great hill with the former palace of Herod was just a monument to the people and the land. We got to the midpoint place and we enjoyed a great “sack lunch” and had the great opportunity looking out over the Judean countryside that changed from green and populated west to the desert and sparse east close to the Dead Sea; truly amazing and a place to truly see and understand the Israeli country. Now to the palace, this palace that was built by Herod the Great around 23 to 20 BC, which contained two sections: Upper Herodyon and Lower Herodyon. The Upper was the place of the palace and with it the circular fortress on the cone-shaped partly artificial mountain. And the Lower had the numerous palace annexes for the usage of the King’s family and friends. This area had a 800 seat amphitheater, and a large pool surrounded by a column portico. I was also impressed again with the great engineering feat that the Jewish zealots, of the Bar Kochba revolt who controlled the palace built a great system of tunnels under the mountain in the soft chalk. And to add to this I was impressed at how Roman this fortress-palace was; which was a great help when Agrippa came to visit.

The wall separating the West Bank and Israel

Guard towers that are at every couple miles

And then we drove to Bethlehem and visited the Church of the Nativity and toured the city seeing the refugee camps and the regions that surrounds it which included the famous three Herodian water reservoirs, Solomon’s Pools. These pools are huge, and can hold massive amounts of water for governmental and Temple use only. But to bring water from the hills in the west to this dry region Herod had built stone pipes that cared the water 60 miles on a 1000-foot decline to water Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and his private palace, as well. We then drove off back to JUC, we then came to the West Bank checkpoint where there was a line of vehicles and the IDF troops went through the cars and busses. So this means that the troops would have to board the bus and check us out. It was kinda different having a kid, around 18-20 age with an M-16 walking pass you and checking you out to see if you were "hostile".

P.S. I have a test on Monday and I ask for prayers for my success, and a good grade.