July 8, 2010
On with the continuing adventures of the fabulous five! We decided to go to the City of David today to see Hezekiah's tunnel. I am going to have to read the Bible and research a little more on the history of this but I can tell you it was very cool! They have just unearthed much of it in 2005. It is amazing to me how they can just keep discovering things from thousands of years ago in a city that is inhabited. They just keep building on top of old buildings. Anyway, we made our way down on good old bus 18 and paid our way to see the tunnel. We were told to wear water shoes and to bring a flashlight but we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We descended down a steep hill by the city of David ruins and joined up with a tour. The guide explained how the tunnel was dug and fortification built over it in order for the inhabitants to get water safely at all times but especially in times of war. We had heard that it was a miracle how the ones who dug it started at either end, yet even in the days before GPS, ended up meeting in the middle. Well, we descended some more (very steeply), saw some continuing excavations, then descended yet again into a narrow tunnel with water flowing through it. The water was cold and amazing, most areas were mid calf in depth but it did go to upper thigh area in one spot. We were able to slog through the entire tunnel, in the water, in the dark, for about half an hour, one end to the other. We loved it! There were twists and turns, high caverns and low spots that we had to crouch to get through. The fact that it wasn't just a straight shot through, made the miracle of them meeting 150 metres below ground, even more amazing.
When we came out we were at the pool of Siloam, which didn't seem very impressive at first, but then we found out that they had just discovered it within the last 6 years and that most of it was on a church property next door and the church would not let them excavate. We were also reminded that this was the pool that Jesus told the blind man to go wash his eyes in when He healed him. Which also got me thinking, Jesus never healed people the same way twice. probably so that people wouldn't think they had the 'formula' for healing. Yet, looking around at what people do for the sake of religion, with all their formulas and rules, and putting up monument on top of monument, I wondered why, when all God wants is a relationship with us. Anyway....after the pool we went and looked at old coins, lamps and tear jars and then headed to an appointment we thought we had with some segways. A van gave us a ride to where we thought we had to go but unfortunately it was the wrong place so we called the van back. The driver had offered to take us to Bethlehem (as only Palistinians are allowed to go there with tourists.) Dixie, Sheila and I decided to take him up on it and away we went. We got to see the big security fence that was erected to prevent all the suicide bombers and scud missiles from being sent over to Israel. There are security check points and lots of soldiers with guns there too, but we felt safe. We saw the church of the nativity which is shared by three denominations. Most everything original is covered over by stuff, but there is one spot where the rock above the manger area is natural so that was cool. For some reason the rock there is black, whereas everywhere else it seems to be tan coloured limestone. We also saw the "shepherd's fields" which were mostly covered with houses so that wasn't too exciting.
The driver took us back to the apartment and we arranged with him to pick us up tomorrow to go to Tel Aviv. I will let you know how that goes tomorrow.
shalom!
On with the continuing adventures of the fabulous five! We decided to go to the City of David today to see Hezekiah's tunnel. I am going to have to read the Bible and research a little more on the history of this but I can tell you it was very cool! They have just unearthed much of it in 2005. It is amazing to me how they can just keep discovering things from thousands of years ago in a city that is inhabited. They just keep building on top of old buildings. Anyway, we made our way down on good old bus 18 and paid our way to see the tunnel. We were told to wear water shoes and to bring a flashlight but we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We descended down a steep hill by the city of David ruins and joined up with a tour. The guide explained how the tunnel was dug and fortification built over it in order for the inhabitants to get water safely at all times but especially in times of war. We had heard that it was a miracle how the ones who dug it started at either end, yet even in the days before GPS, ended up meeting in the middle. Well, we descended some more (very steeply), saw some continuing excavations, then descended yet again into a narrow tunnel with water flowing through it. The water was cold and amazing, most areas were mid calf in depth but it did go to upper thigh area in one spot. We were able to slog through the entire tunnel, in the water, in the dark, for about half an hour, one end to the other. We loved it! There were twists and turns, high caverns and low spots that we had to crouch to get through. The fact that it wasn't just a straight shot through, made the miracle of them meeting 150 metres below ground, even more amazing.
When we came out we were at the pool of Siloam, which didn't seem very impressive at first, but then we found out that they had just discovered it within the last 6 years and that most of it was on a church property next door and the church would not let them excavate. We were also reminded that this was the pool that Jesus told the blind man to go wash his eyes in when He healed him. Which also got me thinking, Jesus never healed people the same way twice. probably so that people wouldn't think they had the 'formula' for healing. Yet, looking around at what people do for the sake of religion, with all their formulas and rules, and putting up monument on top of monument, I wondered why, when all God wants is a relationship with us. Anyway....after the pool we went and looked at old coins, lamps and tear jars and then headed to an appointment we thought we had with some segways. A van gave us a ride to where we thought we had to go but unfortunately it was the wrong place so we called the van back. The driver had offered to take us to Bethlehem (as only Palistinians are allowed to go there with tourists.) Dixie, Sheila and I decided to take him up on it and away we went. We got to see the big security fence that was erected to prevent all the suicide bombers and scud missiles from being sent over to Israel. There are security check points and lots of soldiers with guns there too, but we felt safe. We saw the church of the nativity which is shared by three denominations. Most everything original is covered over by stuff, but there is one spot where the rock above the manger area is natural so that was cool. For some reason the rock there is black, whereas everywhere else it seems to be tan coloured limestone. We also saw the "shepherd's fields" which were mostly covered with houses so that wasn't too exciting.
The driver took us back to the apartment and we arranged with him to pick us up tomorrow to go to Tel Aviv. I will let you know how that goes tomorrow.
shalom!
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