Israel

Israel – September 2023

Dale and I spent two weeks in Israel in September. We went with a group from our church. It was an amazing trip and I can't believe just two weeks after we arrived home, Israel was at war.

A view of the Eastern Gate from the Mount of Olives.

Church of All Nations (Basilica of the Agony): A church at Gethsemane, built over the rock on which Jesus is believed to have prayed in agony the night before he was crucified.

Garden of Gethsemane

Inside the Church of all Nations.

Pastor Mark talks to us in the Garden of Gethsemane.

We all had time to get alone and pray on the Mount of Olives.

An arch used to come off of the left side of the wall. You can see where it attached. It is called Robinson's Arch. It was a huge staircase carried by an unusually wide stone arch, which once stood at the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount. It was built as part of the expansion of the Second Temple initiated by Herod the Great.

This Herodian Street is a corridor along the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. Pile of stones on the right are from the destruction of the Temple from 70 CE.

Another view of where the arch connected and the stones from Rome's destruction of Jerusalem.

You can see the ruins of Robinson's Arch before the excavation.

This is what Robinson's Arch would have looked like before it was destroyed by the Romans.

Fallen stones from the Temple and Temple Mount lay in a heap at the base of the Western Wall towards the back right of this photo. The crushed pavement is the result of the impact from these stones in 70 AD.

This stone fell from the Temple Mount above. It is a piece of the railing from the course of stones at the top of the southwest corner, and is called the Trumpeting Stone. The priestly trumpeter would have stood on this stone to sound the trumpet signaling the beginning and end of Sabbath days and festivals.

Jack Beck! I watch his videos on YouTube. He does videos of the Holy Land for Our Daily Bread Ministries. He was shooting a video.

The Southern Stairs were one of the main entrances from the south to the Temple Mount during the time of Christ. They were used as a place to teach and there is no doubt Jesus would have walked on these stairs and possibly taught is disciples here.

A view of the city from the Southern Stairs.

The Southern Stairs to the Temple Mount.

Dale uses a device to help visitors see how the Southern Stairs looked before the destruction of the city.

This is on a wall where the house of Caiaphas the High Priest lived.

Excavations have brought to light a stepped street which in ancient times would have descended from Mount Olives to the Kidron Valley. These stone steps were certainly in use at the time of Christ. On the evening of his arrest, he probably descended them with his disciples on their way from the Last Supper to Gethsemane. And, even if the House of Caiphas was situated further up Mount Zion than the present church, it would have been by this route that Jesus was brought under guard to the high priest’s house.

The scene of Peter’s disgrace was the courtyard of the high priest Caiaphas. The Assumptionist congregation, which built St Peter in Gallicantu over the ruins of a Byzantine basilica, believes it stands on the site of the high priest’s house.

Brett and Dale contemplate life at Caiaphas' House.

Market in Jerusalem.

A man danced and blew the shofar at the Western Wall.

My hand on the Western Wall.

This is the women's section of the Western Wall. Men and women aren't allowed to mingle.

Yeshivat Hakotel, located next to the Western Wall, is a school where most of the students combine at least fifteen months of army service with several years of Yeshiva study.

The stone to the left has the inscription "to the place of trumpeting to ..." It was most likely part of the southwest corner of the Temple Mount where the trumpeter announced the beginning and ending of the Sabbath.

The Southern Stairs.

The Southern Stairs to the Temple Mount.

Two of our group prays at the Western Wall.

Under the Western Wall.

A jewish man studies in the Western Wall area.

This archaeological site, called the Davidson Center, displays the ancient city wall, the Temple’s staircase, a preserved ancient street, ritual immersion baths, and stores.

Dale and I looking toward Jerusalem from Mount of Olives.

The natural stone base of the city wall.

The Western Wall.

The Dome of the Rock is an Islamic shrine at the center of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Ruins of the Pool of Bethesda.

Pastor Mark speaks to us next to the Pool of Bethesda and St. Anne's Church near the Lions Gate.

Lions' Gate, also called St Stephen's Gate, is one of the seven open Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. It leads into the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. In 1967, it was through this gate that Israeli paratroopers broke into the Old City of Jerusalem, occupied, along with the rest of East Jerusalem and the whole West Bank.

A replica of Jerusalem and the temple in 63 AD is located at the Shrine of the Book.

While in Bethlehem we had lunch at Casa Nova.

Directional signage in Bethlehem. Notice the fence and razor wire. Jews are not allowed in Bethlehem.

Our Arab Christian tour guide speaks to our group in Bethlehem.

This cave, located in Bethlehem, may be very similar to what Jesus was born in.

The Tower of David also known as the Citadel is an ancient citadel located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem.

We were able to touch the wall and pray there.

The Western Wall of the old city of Jerusalem.

The temple mount. One day the Jewish Temple will be rebuilt here.

The pool of Bethesda is where Jesus healed the paralytic.

We toured Masada which is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau. It is located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea.

We road in a gondola to the top of Masada.

A view of the side of Masada as we approach the top. You can walk up, but we preferred to ride.

Our tour guide gave us an overview of Masada before we began the tour.

The black line in the wall delineate where the original wall stops and the newer addition begins. The plaster with partial color frescos show how it would have looked before it was damaged.

Herod the Great built two palaces for himself on the mountain and fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BC.

More examples of colorful walls.

This model shows Herod's palace layout which was built on three levels.

From the fortress you can see the remains of a Roman encampment. Roman troops laid siege to Masada in 73 AD.

You can see the Dead Sea from Masada.

The remains of a ritual bath.

This slope up the side of Masada was built by the Romans to reach the top of the plateau.

These rocks were used in catapults by the Romans.

We also visited the spring at En Gedi where the Bible says David refreshed himself and hid in the nearby caves.

These caves are located above the En Gedi springs.

Wild ibex near the spring of En Gedi.

We toured the remains of a Qumran Community, which is a sect of Jews responsible for copying and storing the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The ruins indicate that the Essenes had several ritual baths. Our guide said they would bath several times a day.

A beautiful sit at the top of Masada.

Qumran Caves are a series of caves, both natural and artificial, found around the archaeological site of Qumran in the Judaean Desert. It is in these caves that the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.

This cave held some of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Right now there is an ibex resting inside.

An evening walk along the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv on the first night of our arrival in Israel.

Our tour guide, Merika, did such a great job informing us and taking care of us!

Dale stands in a Roman amphitheater in Caesarea where King Herod build a palace and temple.

A typical Mediterranean lunch. We ate here after visiting Mt. Carmel. We headed to Megiddo afterwards.

This is called Moutain of the Precipice in Nazareth. It is believed to be the one where Jesus was taken to be cast off and stoned by the locals, but it was not his time to be harmed and he walked right through the crowd and left.

Pastor Mark reads to us about the wedding miracle in Cana while we were in Cana. This was part of a Carmelite Church.

Most towns looked like this. I believe this is Nazareth.

On Sunday morning we took a boat onto the Sea of Galilee. It was such a special time.

Sea of Galilee.

The remains of a first century boat found in the Sea of Galilea.

Caesarea Philippi is the location of one Roman and Greek ruins, as well as one of the largest springs feeding the Jordan River.

Lunch near the Sea of Galilee. We had whole tilapia, which is the type of fish Peter and the other fishermen would have been catching to make a living.

Ruins at Bet She'an.

This believed to be the remains of Peter's home where a synagoge was also built.

Pastor Mark recites the entire sermon Jesus gave on the Mount of Beatitudes.

The Mount of Beatitudes.

First century synagogue in Capernaum.

Dale just got baptized in the Jordan River by Pastor Mark.

This row of seats located in Beit She'an, a Roman City under excavation, is actually a public toilet. Waste would fall into a trough beneath them filled with water. They wiped with there hands, then washed their hands in clean water located in the smaller trough in front of their feet.

Beit She'an is believed to be one of the oldest cities in the region. These are Roman ruins.

This is the ruins of a Roman bath house.

The photo speaks for itself!

Dale floats in the Dead Sea. It was so salty the water felt thick and oily. It was also very hot. We could only stand to be in it for a short time.

Caesarea Philippi, which stood in a lush area near the foot of Mount Hermon, was a city dominated by immoral activities and pagan worship.

This cave is located in Caesarea Philippi and was part of a worship center for the Greek god Pan. It was considered by the pagans to be a gate to the underworld. I believe you will see this location in the Chosen Series. This town is where Jesus asked the disciples, "who do you say that I am?"

In the center of this photo is a stone inscribed in Hebrew with "and you shall see and your heart shall rejoice and their bones like grass shall ..." This stone is part of the wall along the wall of the excavated first century road.

Notice all the tombs on the Mount of Olives.

Several of our group paid $5 to ride a camel.

Pastor Mark talks to us about something interesting. Ha!

Entrance into the Garden of Gethsemane.

The Eastern Gate where Jesus will enter Jerusalem coming from the Mount of Olives. Christians and Muslims generally believe that this was the gate through which Jesus entered Jerusalem. The gate has been sealed since 1541. It is believed to have been built by King Solomon.

Walking the Via Dolorosa.

This is supposed to be the rock on which Jesus was crucified. It is located in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

This is supposed to be where the tomb of Jesus was located.

The entrance to the Church of the Holy Seplucher.

A shop where I bought gifts for the kids including the menorahs.

This is where a first century tomb is located that is thought to look very much like what Jesus may have been buried in.

This may be an early photo of Golgotha.

A volunteer at the Garden Tomb tells us about the tomb. We also had Communion while we were there.

This could have been very much like where Jesus was laid after his death.

The entrance to the Garden Tomb.

I spent the last day of the tour without Dale because he was sick back at the hotel.

St. Peter's Fish is what this meal was called. We ate at a restaurant next to the Sea of Galilee called Pilgerhaus Tabgha.

The Church of the Beatitudes is above the Sea of Galilee and near where the Lord delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Pastor Mark recited the entire passage to us by memory while we sat under the shade. Very special.