Tina Huber

Day 4 reflections

January 6, 2012

Today was an early start at 7 a.m. and the first day we are on a bus for our travels to get a glimpse of the northern view of Jerusalem. Yeah bus! It was cold and rainy as we started the day. As we pulled up to our first stop the drizzle started to fade and we were sparred the rain fall as we stood upon Mt .Scopus at a look out point. Again beautiful scenery! I am averaging about 120 photos per day, so that will come out to over 2,500 pictures for my time in Israel! I will have to make a condensed folder if I expect anyone to come over and view a slideshow of my trip.

I had said earlier that I feel like God has been preparing my heart for this experience and today I had another very cool private moment with God. I had read a book series called “Mark of the Lion” by Francine Rivers. A great fictional book with some historical facts weaved into it. The lookout point we went to today was where Titus from the Roman army had camped before the destruction of Jerusalem. I love little moments like that. We made a little jog acoss the way and took a look at the wilderness. We talked how all the little villages outside of Jerusalem were the first to be conquered and taken away to the east in exile. I so appreciate reading scripture at these sites and see how the prophets used geography in their prophecies. We could see Anatoph which was Jeremiah’s home town. He often reflected on the time of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness as a positive and intimate time with God. He was able to see this perspective because of the land he grew up in, the wilderness.

We headed to Mount of Olives for an eastern view of Jerusalem. We were told that east is the path of exile whether it was to seek refuge or by force. David headed east to seek refuge from his son, Absolom. Interesting that he also returned to from east which showed his authority. ( I can think of another triumphal entry from the east!) Mount of Olives should be renamed to Mount of Tombs. It is covered in tomb markers today and always has been the place where the dead were laid to rest. Interesting to me that this is where Jesus came to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. It contains death and at the foot hills the escape route to the east. A choice was made. Death had had it’s sting long enough. Jesus could have taken off and fled to the east. The escape route layed right in front of Him. Maybe thoughts of Jerusalem being exiled to the east came to mind. He wept for Jerusalem and now he submitted his will to die for them and for all. We went into a church on the ground of Gethsemane. It had purple alabaster stained glass windows in it. Just georgous! The church tries to capture Jesus praying at night. There is a piece of bedrock in the middle of the church that you can touch and pray near. The pilgrimage here means so much to me. This is where God decided to complete His faithfulness to His creation. He is described throughout the bible as a God that seeks or pursues His people and this place symbolized that for me.

I enjoyed time on the bus to think about these things. We viewed the city from every angle. Seeing sites along the way. Interesting fact, The United Nations built on The Hill of Evil Counsel. This hill got its evil name because it apparently housed the wives of Solomon. We saw a site named after Rachel. A near by archeological find housed a royal summer home that was discovered recently. Their is a lot of disputes over the dating of this Royal home so I left there rather confused. The highlight of todays trip was going to the West Bank. We saw Herodium. This is a spectacular archeological site where they found the tomb of Herod the Great. The site is massive and words really can’t describe it. We used the top of this site to talk about King David as a shepherd. It gives you a great view of what a shepherd would have to entail. I really feel I have a greater understanding of the kind of man David was because of the environment he grew up in. We left there and headed to Bethlehem! Today is Christmas in Bethlehem. We went to the church that was built on the ground that Jesus was born! I absolutley loved learning about middle east hospitality tradition. This gave me a better visualization of the Christmas story. Joseph would have had family in this area. Homes in this area were usually built on caves because there are so many caves in the area and it provided an extra room. The rules of hospitality for family is that you can’t turn family away if they come to visit. They have to take you in. Likely, because of the census, other family from afar was staying also, which left room. Tradition has them staying in a work or storage room of their family host home, probably the cave. I got to touch the outer wall of the cave today at the church of the Nativity on their Christmas Day. We left there on an emotional high which was celebrated with a cup of coffee from Stars and Bucks. I might of showed on the outside more excitement for the coffee but I promise you that my heart can barely contain all the joy in it right now.