Old Testament Walk Through Jerusalem

This post is a description of what we did last Wednesday when our group walked through the walled city of Jerusalem looking at various sites pertaining to the Old Testament. The text is a slightly adapted version of a paper I wrote for class after this trip. Enjoy!

Our Old Testament emphasis walk through Jerusalem began in the Jewish quarter of the old city with a stop at the broad wall. The broad wall is a part of the city wall that was built by Hezekiah as he was fortifying the western hill of Jerusalem in preparation for an attack by the Assyrian army in 700-701 BC. Hezekiah made many preparations for the siege of Assyria in 701 BC, but what eventually saved the city of Jerusalem was not his preparations and strong walls, but his trust in the Lord for deliverance. He humbled himself and asked the Lord for deliverance from the Assyrians and the Lord delivered him by killing 185,000 of the Assyrian army in one night! (Isaiah 36-37)

The Broad Wall

Continuing through the Jewish quarter, we stopped at place where we saw a model depicting the old city of Jerusalem in stages all throughout the first temple period (The first temple period is the time beginning when Solomon built the temple in 967BC and continuing on to 586 BC when the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians). We saw the original city of David on the eastern hill of Jerusalem, Solomon’s expansion to the north by adding the temple mount area, and Hezekiah’s expansion and fortification of the western hill. Also in the museum, we saw several clay seals that would have been used to authenticate letters from around the time of Hezekiah and Isaiah. In fact, one of the seals was from someone mentioned in the Bible!

The Model of Jerusalem in the time of Hezekiah

Continuing through the Jewish quarter, we saw the remnants of the Cardo – a large street from the Byzantine period that would have been one of the main arteries (ha!) of business and trade in the city. We also saw a reconstruction of the oldest known map of Jerusalem that dates from the Byzantine period. The map was found in the form of a tile mosaic on the floor of a building.

The Cardo

The Oldest Map of Jerusalem - A Mosaic

After that, we exited the old city through the Zion gate, which bears the marks of years filled with war, strife, unrest, and tension (namely – lots of bullet holes). We were reminded of the promise in Isaiah 60:18 that assures us of the future peace that will rest in Jerusalem.

The Zion Gate

As we continued our walk we saw the traditional sight of the upper room where Jesus would have had his last Passover with His disciples. This could not have been the real room, however, because it was built in the crusader period of Jerusalem – over 1000 years after the time of Christ! In the upper room I learned that Jesus and His 12 disciples were almost certainly not the only people present at the Passover meal known as the last supper. The families of the disciples and maybe other friends and relatives would have been there as well. I also learned a new way of seeing the ‘last supper,’ which might better be called the ‘last Passover.’ When Jesus said “Do this in remembrance of me,” he was not speaking of anytime we take bread and wine. He was specifically speaking of the Passover celebration, which was a commemoration of how God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt – the single greatest expression of God’s redemption in the history of the nation of Israel. Jesus’ point was that they should now remember Him as the center of how God has delivered His people. He was proclaiming his deliverance of the people of Israel as greater than the Exodus of the Old Testament! They were now to remember Jesus when they ate the meal commemorating God’s deliverance of the children of Israel.

Some of our group sitting as the disciples would have sat at the last Passover

The Traditional Site of the Upper Room

Continuing on from the upper room, we continued on to a graveyard on the southern end of the western hill. Interestingly enough, Oskar Schindler is buried in this graveyard. From the southern edge of the western hill, we looked down into the Hinnom valley to the south of the Old City. We learned that the Israelites were at their most wicked during the time of Jeremiah. They were worshipping false gods and even sacrificing their children to these false gods. Jeremiah then prophesied to these wicked people that God would bring punishment upon them because of their wickedness and that the city would be destroyed and the dead would be cast into the Bin Hinnom valley. At that time it would cease to have the name Bin Hinnom, but would be called the valley of slaughter. This prophecy came true in 586 BC when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and carried her surviving inhabitants off into captivity. This is where I first realized how confused and scared the Jews would have been at this time. The city that God had always so wondrously and miraculously protected was now lying in ruins with the bodies of the dead strewn in the streets and the temple of the Lord lying in ashes, burned to the ground. What a perplexing and terrifying time this must have been for the Jews.

We continued our walk to the Jerusalem archeological park where we saw remnants of Herodian architecture at the temple mount. We saw Robinson’s arch, which would have supported a massive staircase ascending onto the temple mount from the streets below. It was here that we also saw the massive stones weighing anywhere from 50-400 tons that were used in the building of the temple mount. Here we were reminded of when Jesus quotes Psalm 118 saying that He is the stone that was rejected and has become the chief cornerstone.

The Jerusalem Archeological Park

Me Standing in front of Robinson's Arch - Remains From the Herodian Period Temple Mount. This is the time when Jesus would have been here!

Towards the end of our day was a trip through Hezekiah’s tunnel, which, as the name suggests, was built by Hezekiah to channel water from the Gihon spring to a pool inside the city. This tunnel was part of the fortification of the city in preparation for the Assyrian siege in 701 BC. The terminus of the tunnel is the pool of Siloam where Jesus later told a blind man to wash and receive back his sight.

My Friend Eli in Hezekiah's Tunnel. It was really hard to get picture of me in the tunnel, so I really don't have any. Sorry

The Pool of Siloam

Concluding our day was a visit to some tombs carved into the rock face of the city of David that might possibly be the dynasterial burial place of king David’s line. From the city of David, we could see the location of the Spring of Rogel (which is now just a well). This spring is the border of the tribal allotments of Benjamin and Judah. It is also the place where David’s son Adonijah declared himself to be king when his father’s health was failing. When David heard that Adonijah had declared himself king, he told Nathan the prophet and Zadok the priest to go to the Gihon spring and anoint Solomon as the successor to the throne. As soon as Adonijah realized that David had declared Solomon king, he went and begged Solomon for and it was granted him provided he lived righteously.

The red circle indicates a minaret built over the top of the spring (now a well) of Rogel

Here's just a little bit of what we've done over the past few weeks. It's been really busy and I haven't had much time to post. There will definitely be more to come.