Mount of Olives, Hills of Judah, and Bethlehem

Here’s some places of note where we went today:

Mt. of Olives:
We looked over the city of Jerusalem, and visited a Jewish grave, a garden of Gethsemane (most likely not the one where Jesus wept), and the church which commemorates the agony of Jesus. We traced the two potential paths of Jesus down the Mt. of Olives into Jerusalem for his triumphal Entry
Threshing Floor
A threshing floor in the hills by Bethlehem, almost exactly like the one described in the Ruth when Ruth slept at Boaz’s feet.
Heights of Rachel
Another archaeological site of a former Israelite summer palace.
Herodium
The location of Herod’s temple, palace, and tomb, by the towns of Tekoa and overlooking the Wilderness. It was massive, and quite a hike to the top of the hill! There was even a theater tucked inside the hill
Bethlehem (Church of the Nativity)
Our visit here was very brief. Surprisingly, Bethlehem is Palestinian territory – we had to pass through a checkpoint to get in. We stopped at Bethlehem Bible College, and spoke with a Christian Palestinian professor. It was very interesting to hear about the wounds he has received from Zionist Christians.

When David wrote Psalm 23, he was heading into the wilderness – or, as it is also referenced, the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Today, I looked down from Herodium onto that very wilderness where David claimed that the Lord would restore his soul beside still waters. The Judean Wilderness is nothing but pale, skeletal hills for miles - utterly dry and empty. They are the color of death. Yet, it is into the wilderness that the Lord repeatedly led his people. It is out of the wilderness that Abraham, David, and Jesus came.

The paradoxes in this country repeatedly uproot my childhood pictures. Jerusalem the Gem, the high and lofty city? In actuality, it was located on a tiny hill, surrounded on all sides by looming mountains – incredibly vulnerable and resource scarce. Building, protecting, and maintaining Jerusalem could only be done in the power of the LORD, not by any resourceful king who may try and protect it from

Again, today, I looked out over the Wilderness over which David spoke this Psalm, and felt something unhinge deep inside of me. The promises that the ancients proclaimed were hardly ever visible to their eyes. The God that they followed led them into the shadow of death, with only the promise to provide enough. Enough. Not too much, and not too little. And sometimes, our ‘enoughs’ are certainly not his.


7 am to 7:30 pm. Round Two of our field studies tomorrow: to Jericho!