Finally, we stepped foot into Old City Jerusalem! But not onto the Temple Mount, not yet anyway. We entered the city through the Dung gate and waited in line for security to enter the Western Wall area. It sure was thrilling to walk right by the Western/Wailing Wall as we entered into the Western Wall Heritage Museum. It took 20 years to excavate the Western Wall tunnels which run the full length of the wall that is not exposed. The block below is the largest found so far along the Temple Mount. Experts say it weighs as much as 20 tanks. Old columns, a Herodian road, and an Hasmonean period aquaduct are among the treasures unearthed.
Towards the end of the tunnel as we were headed near the Hasmonean Aquaducts. Yes, the tunnel was pretty much this narrow throughout.
Jewish women praying at the site that is believed to be the closest to where the Holy of Holies rested on the Temple Mount.
King Herod employed a method of cutting the stones so as to fool the eye when looked at from below. The upper stone set slightly back also kept the wall from appearing as though it were falling or leaning outward. If you look closely you can see the tool marks in the stone.
A piece of a parapet or guardrail.
Looking down onto the old Herodian road.
In an old cistern at the end of the tunnel. These cisterns connect to ones below the Way of the Cross church believed to be directly located above the actual Via Dolorosa where Christ carried His cross to Calvary. As we came out of this cistern we entered into the Arab quarter.
The game of Kings (I believe that is what it is called) that Roman children played. Our guide said that it was highly possiblethe Roman soldiers were playing this game with Jesus, because the actions of the Roman guards towards Jesus - the robe, the crown, the beatings - were so similar to this game. The picture above shows the game layout. And below is how it was found in the stone of the basement of the Way of the Cross church.
The Via Dolorosa, though not the actual stones Jesus walked upon this is the way He took to the Cross.
An Arab shop selling Olive Wood Nativity sets and other novelties and souvenirs. I so wanted one of these sets but the more authentic ones (set in a cave) were well over $300. Oh well!
An orthodox Jewish man taking pictures of the Old City Jerusalem wall.
After a long and interesting walk through the Arab quarter we arrived at the The Temple Insittute: Treasures of the Temple museum. Without a doubt it was fascinating to see all of the items they have made in preparation of the future Temple. They did not allow pictures but if you click on the link above you will be able to see all that we did. The Candlestick below is to be used in the future temple.
A Jewish woman praying on a balcony which faces the Western Wall. I certainly admire their devotion.
This is the view of the Western Wall from the balcony aforementioned.
Closing out the day at Yad Vashem the Israeli Holocaust museum certainly left an impression on all of us. To go from the very distant past into the recent past of the Holocaust was sobering. I have always had a heart for the Jewish people, even before I was saved and began to understand my Jewish heritage that I have through the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. The plight of the Jewish people in Europe was quite simply tragic! Then to learn from our guide that many of those who had opportunity to leave didn't because their Rabbi's discouraged it was heartbreaking. Then of course the tragedy doesn't end in the death camps with their gas chambers and crematoriums, nor did it end when they were liberated by the allied troops. The horror of Jewish Semitism followed God's chosen people into displacement camps, and into refugee ships which were denied a safe haven in most of the world's sea ports.
I honestly cannot fathom how an entire world would see what you can see in the pictures below and not do something to help. To not welcome these few survivors who lost literally everything is absolutely appalling to me.
Then finally when the Jewish people are granted statehood they must go to war for it. It saddens me to think about those who survived the concentration camps only to die fighting for Israel.
As we walked through the museum we were able to see all of the propaganda that Hitler used against the Jewish people. The games for children that were designed to indoctrinate them into believing that Jewish People were nothing more than animals. And as a matter of fact were less important than rats and other vermin.
A Nazi officers letter to his young family reassuring them that Jews must be killed. The more one killed them the easier it became. And when one lacked the strength to do what must be done they could call on the Fuhrer for his strength to be imparted upon them.
Towards the middle of the museum was a picture of a young mother holding her sleeping baby in her lap while her older child stood by her side. I wondered if she knew what she had ahead of her. Or if she was trusting in what her Rabbi had said, "All will be well."
Did she ever make it to a concentration camp?
Did she survive?
What about her children?
Was she, at that point, in the beginning of her journey or at the end?
Had she thought, as I have at times, "I'm so tired from holding this baby I just need to lay him down."?
Was she inwardly grumbling?
Or was she praying?
Asking...no, begging God for deliverance?
Was she savoring every last moment of life, with her little ones?
Was she memorizing his little face?
Was she lost in the serenity of his sleep in the midst of a nightmare of such monumental proportions the human mind cannot begin to fathom?
A mother's questions. A mother's heartache. A mother's nightmare. A mother's agony. A mother's tears.
And God was still on the throne! And God was still good!
No comments:
Post a Comment