Day 12

Our first close view of the Temple Mount of Old Jerusalem.

Entrance to the Temple Mount

A group of men studying.

Women studying the Koran.

The famous Dome of the Rock. Now, only Muslims can enter. An Israeli Prime Minister wanted to make a political statement and came up and the Temple Mount. He did it in such a way that the Muslims (who control Temple Mount) were deeply offended and closed the doors to their mosques there to all who were not of their faith.

This little dome was built over exposed rock of Mount Moriah (on the Temple Mount). It is believed by Muslims that this is where Abraham went to sacrifice his son. We believe it was Isaac, but Muslims believe it was Ishmael.

Muslim man praying on the Temple Mount.

This is the Western (aka Wailing) Wall. It is divided into a women's section (on the right) and a men's section (on the left). Jim went to the men's section. You can see an arch on the wall to the left. Inside that wall is a study area. He was required to wear a hat at the wall. Yes, he prayed there. I went to the women's section. At first, I sat at the back and simply absorbed the experience. An interesting practice they have is never turning their back to sacred sites. So when they leave the wall, they walk backwards for a distance, until it is respectful to turn your back to the wall. Finally, I decided that I wanted to pray there. So I tore a little piece of paper from my notebook and wrote a prayer. Then I found a quiet corner off to the far right. When I walked up to the wall, I put my right hand on it and it hit me that I was touching the foundation of Solomon's temple and that it was once a consecrated temple to God. With my hand there, I prayed. Before I knew it, tears were streaming down my face in a way that I don't ever remember happening before. It became a very sacred, spiritual experience that I did not expect or plan. I also knew that Heavenly Father was listening to all of the prayers being said around me.

We visited an Archeological part just outside the walls of Old Jerusalem. Above you see Jim resting his feet on stairs that led to the Huldah Gate. This gate (3 openings) led to a tunnel that led to the Temple Mount where Herod's temple stood. Another one of the places where it is sure that Christ walked.

This is the Huldah Gate.

This sidewalk is from the time of Christ. It was outside the temple enclosure. It buckled when the Romans were throwing the huge building stones off of Temple Mount to the street below. The Roman commander who was given this part of the Temple Mount to destroy had a tough job. Some of the stones were so big and massive, that he couldn't do the job well enough to satisfy his superiors and was executed for that failure.

Here is Jim standing on that sidewalk next to some of the stones from the destroyed temple.

This is the Pool of Shiloam - or what is left of it. We saw it AFTER we left Hezekiah's Tunnel. It is where Christ told the blind man to wash after Christ applied mud to his eyes, restoring his sight.

Here we are, just coming out of Hezekiah's Tunnel. You can see the high water marks on us. Fortunately the water was pleasantly cool. The tunnel itself was very dark and we were grateful for a little tiny flashlight that I bought just before going in.

This is inside Hezekiah's tunnel. It's about a shoulder width wide with a little to spare. I felt like a billiard ball bouncing from once side to another. Most of the time, the water was shin high. A few times it got deeper. They dug the tunnel starting with two teams and met at each end. They tapped in the rocks to keep the teams headed toward each other. There is an obvious correction in the middle where the two teams were off course from meeting each other by about 6-8 feet. I thought it was an amazing accomplishment considering the technology they had to work with.

This was the warning sign of how deep the water was in Hezekiah's tunnel.

We ended our day at the Holocaust Memorial. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside. It was a very sobering, heart wrenching experience.