The Herodium to Bethlehem

On this day we went to the Herodium to observe this massive pleasure palace built by Herod the Great just a decade or two before the birth of Jesus. This area is south of Jerusalem and adjacent to Bethlehem. Herod built this by basically combining two different mounds to an unnatural height. The first picture below is from the top pointing down towards one of the luxury pools and Roman baths and another is a picture from a tower looking down into the complex. This place was a spectacle of human achievement. There was a even a theater with parade grounds down below. This structure was meant to impress the world. It was meant to be on display.




Next we went to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. This Church is a Greek Orthodox and is built on top of the supposed birth place of Jesus. Jesus as you know was born in the humblest of circumstances and in the humblest of places. I do not know what I was expecting, but I was extremely disappointed and underwhelmed by what this church had done. As you will see below, it looks like a gaudy and never used fireplace. They have filled the area with symbols and icons. It is now a place of opulence instead of humility. I think you see where I am going. Are we a people of opulence or of humility? It seems to me that both the American Church and American Christian Culture reflect the Herodium instead of the Stable. This sad alteration of the supposed birth place of Christ must have seemed like a good idea at the time, for me it seemed to deface it and its intent.



The last thing is that I am also loading almost all the pictures I have taken onto Facebook. I have labeled them and you are free to email me and ask any questions. It is lengthy to upload pictures to this blog site. Friend me on Facebook if you want or you can go to http://www.facebook.com/dcaulley1.

Blessings - DC

3 Day Trip

I will be gone on a three day trip to the Negev region and I will not have my computer. I will update when I get back. Please be praying for me as I am getting over a case of "Herod's" revenge as well.

DC

More Photos and Thoughts

We did a lot of driving on this day. We started in the luscious western part of the country and saw Beth Shemesh (birthplace of Samuel). This land was given to tribe of Dan, but they were ultimately not able to hold it and moved north above Galilee. Think Ceseria Phillipi area. Next we went to Gezer the "front door" to the hill country. And drove east and had lunch and Nebi Samwil (the supposed burial site of Samuel). This is one of the tallest locations in all of the hill country. With great views of modern and ancient Jerusalem and Ramallah. This was and has been a strategic hill through out the history of the land. On clear days they say you can see from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea. Impressive. This day it was not clear.



Next we traveled thorough the Benjamin Wilderness to Jericho. It was hot. 110 Degrees in the shade. The site at Jericho had been picked clean, but it is a place where many springs feed a otherwise desolate area. The next part of my day was my favorite. We stopped in the Judean Wilderness close to the old road that lead from Jericho to Jerusalem. This is the road Jesus walked several times and the road where the parable of the good Samaritan is set.

As some of you may know Anna and I have been going through something of a wilderness time for the last several months. I will spare all the details. We do not feel abandoned, only that God is stripping away the unnecessary parts of our life. Seeing the wilderness is what I was looking forward to the most. My Dad took this picture of me, and it struck me through the heart as I feel this picture captures aspects of my life. Only when you look close you see the oases along the bottom of the Kelt Wadi. These areas of green sustained people and flocks in this wilderness. My oases is my wife and kids. I am in the wilderness, but it is not joyless because of my family. God has used them to sustain me and we will be His people as we cross over the Mt of Olives and into the land that God has prepared for us. Only we will not be faithless and we will not back down and we will not give in.



My last thought from this day is the vast difference between the east side of Jerusalem and the west. Within 10 miles the land changes significantly. This last picture is from the Rephaim Canyon where we started our day. This picture below tells it all.



Be Blessed - DC

Some Pictures from Day Two

The Dome of the Rock - This is a shrine on the Temple Mount that some believe covers directly over the place where the Holy of Holies was in the Temple and that this was also the place where Abraham bound Isaac.


For some reason this was very interesting to me. I am standing on what archeologists believe are the stones turned over from the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 AD. This were found when they dug towards the southern part of the Western Wall.


Below is a picture of me and my Dad at the Western Wall (Wailing Wall). There were Bar Mitzvahs going on during our whole time there. This was a unique experience.

Some Video from NT Jerusalem Walk

I am going to upload 3 videos. The first is video from the Temple Mount where the Dome of the Rock is located. The Temple Courtyard area is 37 acres.

The second video is from the West Wall also called the Wailing Wall. You will see a Bar Mitzvah processional, a tourist taking pictures and people praying against the wall. This was amazing. Men have unlimited access to this area given that their heads are covered.

The third is a Bar Mitzvah processional that starts a little further out. The singing and dancing is fun to watch and they blow shofars along the way.

Hezekiah and the Dead

It is difficult to not be impressed with Hezekiah’s tunnel. Modern people, me included, tend to think that we have advanced way beyond the ancients in knowledge and skill. Things like this tunnel prove otherwise. When you consider the tools and technology available to them at that time, this feat was amazing. The necessity of the tunnel for defensive purposes demanded a solution. While Hezekiah was a Godly king, he still saw the need to sure up this weakness. This monumental task was so important that the difficulty did not stop the workers. When the need is great so is the solution many times.

Also, the presence of the cemeteries is hard to ignore. In the US cemeteries are often put to the side, but here the memorials to the dead are a constant presence no matter where you go. I have never paid much attention to the burial practices of societies, but Jerusalem forces you to consider this. What does it say about a society that it memorializes its dead in this way? (And not just the kings and queens) Consider that in Egypt there is little doubt as the occupant of a tomb, but in Israel there is almost no certainty, even for the greatest leaders in the county’s history. Interesting.

DC

Some Pictures from Day One

This is the Kidron Valley, south of Jerusalem and separates the Mt of Olives from the Temple Mount. This valley provided quite a defensible position for Jerusalem as it is a deep drop.










This is a picture of pomegranate. I saw this is and could not help but think of the Song of Solomon. Make your own comparisons.











This is a picture of the Mount of Olives. All around the base is a large cemetery, then along the bottom is tombs. From the top of this mount on a clear day you can see the Dead Sea in the East. It over looks the Temple Mount.









This is Hezekiah's tunnel. This was a narrow part. I had to turn to walk through. There were other parts where I had to stoop to chest level. The water was as high as thigh level, but was mostly around calf level. This tunnel saved the Israelites from Sennacherib as it provided a water source inside the city walls.













DC