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Calvary Chapel Israel Tour - Day 9 March 15 - 27, 2009	Back to Home Page

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Day 9 - Wednesday, March 24 This was our last day with Amir - as he had a television thing to film the next morning and a new tour group starting after that. We had a VERY full day, seeing sights that included the Mount of Olives / Dominus Flevit (Teardrop) Church / Garden of Gethsemane / Church of All Nations / Bet Sheemish / Elah Valley / and the Rabbi's tunnel.


Ruth, stopping to savor the beautiful flowers in the lobby.	A look at Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.

Biblical References to the Mount of Olives The Mount of Olives lies east of Jerusalem, across the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem. The prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are buried here. The Mount of Olives is where Jesus foretold the destruction of Jerusalem. And Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Mark 13:2 It is also where Jesus was moved to tears over the future fate of Jerusalem. Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Luke 19:41-44. 70 years later the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives is the place from which Jesus left his disciples after his resurrection to go be with His Father in heaven, as is described in Acts 1:8-12. Zechariah 14:4-5 describes what will happen to the Mount of Olives in the last days: And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the northand half of it toward the south. Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azal...

Lauren & Lorena on a camel ride.	Orthodox Jews in the Jewish cemetery.


The Jewish cemetery - they believe that those buried here will be the first ones to be resurrected.	Chris couldn't pass up the chance to get around without crutches.


Looking over the teardrop church and the church of the golden onion. (Amir's names for these famous churches.)	I found a lot of reasons online for the stones on the graves, this was my favorite: When the tradition started, grave monuments were mounds of stones. Visitors added stones to "the mound" to show we are never finished building the monument to the deceased.
David's city and the southern steps in real life (as opposed to the model version we saw yesterday.)
Dominus Flevit Church - Teardrop Church Translates from Latin as "The Cry of the Lord" or "The Lord Wept." It was fashioned in the shape of a teardrop to symbolize the tears of Christ - a reference to Luke 19, as I mentioned above. The church was designed by the architect Antonio Barluzzi (who designed MANY) churches in Israel. It is one of the newest churches in Jerusalem, having been built from 1953 to 1955.


Deep discussions, no doubt.
	Carvings inside the church.
Teaching: Pastor Ken This area was Jesus' prayer closet when he was in this area. We then discussed Zechariah 14:4-5 which I listed above and Isaiah 63, which talks about Jesus coming back at the end of the tribulation and describes a battle. Next we learned about part of Ezekiel 47:7 which says: “This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed." The sea was a reference to the Dead Sea.

A mosaic of a hen gathering her chicks - depicting a portion of Matthew 23: How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! I like the way it demonstrates a tender love & care.	A beautiful, if modern, mosaic floor outside the church.


During the construction of the modern church, an ancient Jewish tomb dating to as early as the first century BC was discovered beneath. The tomb and several ossuaries (bone boxes) are seen here.	Next we visited the Garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane in Aramaic means oil press. It is is located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, in the Kidron Valley. This garden is famous as the place where Jesus prayed on the night before the crucifixion. Matthew 26:36-46


Ancient olive trees - they re-grow out of old roots so the roots of these trees could be old enough to have been here in Jesus' time.	A carving near the garden of Jesus praying there.


The interior of the Church of All Nations, a Roman Catholic church built around a section of bedrock where they believe Jesus prayed before his betrayal. (Mark 14:32-42) The chapel was built between 1919 and 1924 using funds donated from many different countries. The respective coat-of-arms of each donating country are incorporated into the glass of the ceiling, each in a separate, small dome, and also into the interior mosaics.

	Here's the one from the United States of America. Just typing it out all formal like that gives me the shivers - I sure love this great country.
This shows the Church of All Nations from the outside.


A view of the Golden Gate - sealed by the Arabs long ago in case the Messiah does decide to come back that way.	Our hotel in Jerusalem. It was not nearly as popular with the group as our beloved Nof Ginosar. I think that place spoiled us too much!
Our next tour site was Bet Shemesh, but we had to stop for lunch along the way. They took us to a shopping center that had an Aroma, a falafel shop, and a McDonalds. Most jumped at the chance to try Israeli McDonalds, but alas, I loved Aroma too much to branch out.
A lady and girl seen along the way.

I knew you'd be curious, so I took pictures of the menu at McDonald's Notice - you won't see anything with cheese! It isn't Kosher to have dairy around meat products. I guess this is proof that McDonald's ice cream is not really ice cream. (At least not in Israel.)


Views of some store fronts - I find these things interesting in other countries.





I visited the pharmacy for some cold medicine and found this amusing product, which may be bug repellant. It made me laugh anyway!	From there, it was a short drive over to Bet Shemesh - an ancient city from Canaanite times. It is mentioned in Joshua 15 as being located in the territory of the tribe of Judah & in Chapter 21 as being set aside for the Levites. Also mentioned in 1 Samuel Chapter 6 and in 2 Kings.
	Levites only had to serve at the temple two weeks a year, so the rest of the year they worked. The Bible says they worked in the fields in the valley. This was also the area where Samson was born. Philistines lived very nearby at that time.
Preach it David!
Teaching: Pastor David We started by talking about the book of Judges, which illustrates the human cycle using the Israelites as an example: blessings of God are poured out on them, then they fall away from God, then things get hard, then they run back to God & he is gracious to take them back again. In Judges 13 - 16 we get the story of Samson's birth and early years. Samson thought he could play with fire without being burned. Samson was so full of himself that he was blinded to the evil that Delilah was trying to do. God will give us warning signs when we are going the wrong way if we will pay attention to them.

Eric, posing for a fun shot - but I was too far away!
	Even the flowers are tough in Israel!


Now we are at the Elah Valley - where it is believed the fight between David & Goliath took place.	More of those purple flowers that I like.


Queen Anne's Lace	Pastor Ken, Harley preacher. Ready for action.

	At this point we went back to the hotel, ate dinner, and piled back into the bus for some night touring. I told you it was a full day!
Tourists in love.

	The City of David as seen at night.

Orthodox Jews washing up before approaching the Western Wall	The Western Wall, also called the Wailing Wall. It is actually just a retaining wall that Herod built to make the top of the mountain flat so the Temple could be built there. However, it is now as close as most Jews can get to the original site of the Temple, so that makes it a holy place to them.



We were out at night in order to tour the Rabbi's Tunnel. This was my favorite thing we did in Jerusalem. It is a tunnel dug to explore the foundation of the Western Wall. It follows the base of the outside face of the Temple wall along a Herodian street, far below today's street level. The Temple Mount compound is an emotionally-charged holy site for both Jews and Muslims. This tunnel has been the cause of violence many times over the years. For my part, I found it very educational and quite fascinating. The men all had to wear yamikas because we were at the Western Wall area. They gave out paper "french fry cup" hats for those who didn't bring their own. As you will see, they were very attractive.
Here we are getting a history lesson from Amir. He is making sure we understand that Mount Moriah is the location of the Temple mount. Mount Moriah is where Abraham was instructed to take Isaac to sacrifice him (which didn't happen, by the way: see Genesis 22.)
	I wish I could remember this better - I think the pink is Old Testament street level and the lower gray part is street level during Jesus' time, and his finger pointing at street level today.

	Only these guys could carry off those hats so well. (You want fries with that?!)

This shows street level in Old Testament times. (Plus the tops of some heads.) This shows it today.
This shows where the tunnel goes in relation to the buildings and stuff built above it.



They had cutouts in the floor to show where they had dug all the way to the bottom of the Herodian wall - that thing was HUGE.	One more view of the city at night as we headed back to the bus, exhausted.



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