Another birthday in Jerusalem!!

April 27, 2011 City of David, Jerusalem

I was thrilled to be able to celebrate a second consecutive birthday in Jerusalem! But, the story of this year's birthday actually begins last fall . . .

One Sunday last September/October, a volunteer outing was arranged with a local tour guide to the City of David excavations in Jerusalem. Due to the fact it was a Sunday (one of the dining room's busiest days), not all the volunteers were able to go. I was one of the skeleton crew who volunteered to stay back and go the second time around. As it turned out, the "second time around" never happened. I was somewhat disappointed. While I have been to the City of David before (two or three times actually), the guide is quite knowledgeable and I was looking forward to going in a small group and being saturated with information! :-) Netanel made some other trips to the City of David in the six months following the volunteer trip, but they were never mornings when I was free to go.

As my departure date grew nearer, I became resigned to the fact that it just wasn't going to work out (at least, not this time around). I was grateful I had been there before and didn't regret my decision of last fall to stay behind and hold the fort.

As the week of April 24th began, I had a few plans for that Wednesday, but as the days progressed, plans were constantly changing. My itinerary for Monday pretty much fell flat, so I walked the Old City ramparts that day instead of Wednesday. Tuesday, I visited Jerusalem's Great Synagogue and the Israel museum. Upon returning to Christ Church, I ran into Netanel who informed me he was taking a little group to the City of David the following morning and asked if I would like to join them. Answering that was a no brainer!! I was glad things had worked so I walked the ramparts Monday and I had no concrete plans for Wednesday morning. It was a bit of a birthday gift from God--I didn't think I would get to go and here, almost at the last minute, plans fell together. I was so excited!

Thus, at 9:00 that morning, we all met up for a bit of a history lesson and then left for David's City.

If you don't mind, I'll share a brief history lesson with you about this piece of ground. At the time of David, "Jerusalem" was actually called Jebus and covered approximately 10 acres. This is the city that David conquered in 2 Samuel 5. The picture below is a "then and now" view of David's Jerusalem. Looking north, the city was located on a little ridge south of what is now known as the Temple Mount. Late in his reign, David bought the threshing floor located on that northern ridge, and Solomon later built the First Temple there. Interestingly, the original city of Jerusalem is located on one of the lowest mountains in the area. The Temple Mount on the north, the Mount of Olives on the east, and the hills to the west are all much higher in elevation. Jerusalem is not located on any main trade routes, by a major water source, or near any other special natural resource deposit. There is no logical reason for it to become David's central city or such a renowned city today.


David conquered Jebus about 3,000 years ago; the centuries between 1000 BC and 2011 AD have seen many cycles of destruction and rebuilding in Jerusalem. Thus, the remaining city structures and walls are quite a ways below modern street level. Located about halfway down the mound are these remains of city gates from the time of the kings of Judah.
While there is interesting archaeological remains above ground, there are equally fascinating "footprints" underground. Assuming nobody is claustrophobic, it is an intriguing walk down to three thousand year old history.

Part of our path down . . .
Prior to arriving at Hezekiah's water tunnel, remains of a fortification from David and Solomon's time are visible. Jerusalem only has one water source (the Gihon spring), and protecting the city's water supply was extremely important. Here is a picture of what that fortification likely looked like. Interestingly, in 1 Kings 1, Solomon was anointed king at this location.
The remains themselves--this is the channel running atop the right wall in the previous picture. Unfortunately, the picture does not convey the size of this. It is huge and the rocks are massive!!
One of the highlights of a City of David tour is walking through Hezekiah's water tunnel. In the 8th century, the Assyrian army marched through Israel, conquering the Northern Kingdom and virtually all of Judah's walled cities. Hezekiah did a couple things to prepare for an Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, including bringing water from the Gihon Spring inside the city. While David and Solomon had built a fortress to protect the spring, Hezekiah diverted its course completely. According to an inscription found in the tunnel, workers started at both ends and met in the middle. Hezekiah's tunnel is mentioned in 2 Kings 20:20 and 2 Chronicles 32:30. This water channel runs into the Pool of Siloam, located on the southwestern slope of the City of David. You may recognize the name from the story in John 9 when Jesus healed a blind man by sending him to this pool to wash his eyes. The Pool of Siloam is cut into the rock and was only rediscovered in 2004/2005. (There is a lot of details and pictures of this tunnel on the web, just google "Hezekiah's tunnel" to explore further!)

On this warm April day, I had a tough decision to make. Walking through Hezekiah's tunnel (complete with calf- to knee-high water!) is such a fun thing to do! It is amazing to walk through something so old--the chisel marks are still visible in the walls. But, there are also dry tunnels in the area, dating back to the time of the Canaanites. I had never walked through those before. Prior history made the decision--as much fun as the water tunnel is, here was an opportunity to see more.

So, I followed Netanel, Nathan and Nick (fellow volunteers), and Olga (CC staff member) through the dry Canaanite tunnel. It is much shorter than the water tunnel; other than that, it is quite similar, just dry!

Following Nick; this is one of the wider/taller sections of the tunnel
Little did I know what reward was awaiting me . . . Upon exiting the dry tunnel, one gets a breathtaking view of the city walls from the time of Manasseh. Once again, these are actually on the side of the hill because the city kept being rebuilt on top of former ruins. This double city wall dates back to the 7th century BC.
Looking south from the City of David . . . the city wall is visible on the right (we had climbed mostly above it), the Kidron Valley runs below it to the left. The hill on the left is now the village of Silwan.
And another new thing to see--south of the walls and a bit east of the Siloam Pool are the Tombs of the Kings. Nobody knows for absolute certain, but it is believed this was where the kings of Judah were buried. Obviously, the tombs have been long since emptied--Jerusalem has been conquered and exchanged hands so many times, it is hardly possible they would have been left intact. The area has also been worked as a stone quarry.

All in all, it was a fascinating walk through history. The people I shared the morning with made it even more memorable!

Netanel, our fantastic guide (Manasseh's city walls and a classic olive tree in the background)
Olga-one of my best friends
Nick--a fellow volunteer from Nebraska. In true gentleman-like style, he carried a bag for one of the girls who was going through the wet tunnel.
And Nathan-another fellow volunteer (from Oxford). Once again, the city walls are in the background.
After spending close to four hours exploring the City of David, I returned to Christ Church for lunch and found out my plans for the afternoon were not going to work. While I was a bit disappointed, that change freed me up to visit the Garden Tomb complex for my first and only visit this time in Israel.

Located outside the Old City's Damascus Gate, it's a beautiful and peaceful corner in a bustling city. I don't believe this is the actual site of Christ's crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, but it is a good visual and a quiet corner to spend some time with Bible and journal.

The Garden Tomb itself
A couple photos of the quiet path where I spent some time . . . You can almost hear the birds singing in the trees!
The one treat I wanted to get for myself on my birthday was a crepe in the Jewish Quarter. I don't know about all of you, but crepes are not extremely common in my area of the world. (Or maybe it's just me not knowing the places to go!) So, I entered the Old City via the Damascus Gate, trekked across the Muslim Quarter, entered the Western Wall plaza, and then climbed up to the Jewish Quarter proper to this great shop!

Spreading out the batter . . .
She did an amazing job flipping it!
And, all ready to eat!
I initially wanted a crepe with cream inside, but they were out of cream. So, she put hot chocolate syrup inside instead. At that point, it turned into a chocolate lovers' crepe--hot chocolate syrup, crushed oreos, and chocolate sprinkles. :-)

No more pictures from the day, but my lovely fellow volunteers also celebrated my birthday at dinner that night. The cooks had sung to me that morning--truly a special moment. One is Jewish, one Arab and they sang in English in harmony. That memory will last a long time! At dinner, they turned out the lights in the dining room to bring in a cake with candles and sang "happy birthday" both in English and then in Hebrew. The cake was chocolate chip and absolutely delicious (Well done, Elsa!!).

Other than catching a cold that day (severe enough to keep me in bed the following day), this birthday was enjoyable and memorable. So many special moments! Thanks to each of you who contributed!