Hezekiah's Tunnel and much more

Jerusalem Day 3

After two days and 13 miles of walking, we had a “lighter” day of only 5 miles or so.

And what a day it was.

An MA in Historical Geography student from Jerusalem University College, Gabbi Graber, joined us to take us through the City of David and the Davidson Archeological Center. Gabbi is from Alabaster, Alabama, not far from Birmingham. She did a fantastic job of explaining all of the archaeology of this very complex area. I wasn’t surprised that she is planning to pursue a PhD in Archeology.

On the southern steps of the Temple

After walking down and out of Dung Gate near the Western Wall, we made our way back to the City of David, the spur of land running to the south from the Temple Mount (we had purchased our park passes there on Monday). Gabbi took us up to an overlook where we saw some of the same topography as from the Mount of Olives, but from a different (and much lower) perspective. She pointed out that Jerusalem is surrounded by higher hills then read several passages from the Psalms that mention that very thing

View to the south from the City of David

.She next showed us what is believed (but argued about) to be David’s Palace—a “proto-aolic” capital found near there suggested strongly to the excavator the royal function of this large structure, and it does fit the evidence, but skeptics always abound!

David's Palace?

We then went down to “Area G” to see a stepped wall that appears to be a part of the foundation for the palace structure about and apparently built around the time of David. Later some wealthy Jerusalemites built a house on the side of that hill, and a number of clay seals mentioning several people in the Bible, especially from Isaiah and Jeremiah, were found there. Wow.

Area G

We then made our way further down the hill to the water system. The Gihon spring, which still flows after thousands of years, is the very reason people built Jerusalem, even though it was somewhat exposed to enemies. Over the course of centuries, various attempts were made to secure the water supply from any invaders. The most famous and effective attempt was by King Hezekiah, who, likely under duress of the Assyrians, had a tunnel built to channel the spring water to a pool inside the city walls (later at least called the Pool of Shiloach or Siloam—the water from the spring was “sent” down the tunnel). We donned our water shoes, rolled up our pants and proceeded to slosh down the ⅓ mile tunnel with water flowing past our feet (and even up to our thighs at times). Sometimes we had to stoop or squeeze though narrow portions, but finally made it. The water was certainly refreshing to our feet! This is one of those classic experiences for any visitor to Jerusalem.

Hezekiah's Tunnel

At the bottom we observed the remains of the Pool of Siloam where Jesus sent the blind man to wash and be healed (Gabbi read that part of John 9 to us and made some great observations about how Jesus “sent” the blind man to the pool named “Sent”). Then she showed us a Roman street from the first century currently being excavated—the blind man would have walked down that street to the pool—but we walked up the adjacent drainage canal (think all the stuff coming down from the temple after sacrifices and all sort of other stinky stuff) that has been fully cleared. Tough walking for tall people! Fortunately all of the first century smells are long gone.

Yellow Line: Hezekiah’s Tunnel. Red Line: Roman Street and Drainage Line

At the exit, we observed some current excavations called the Givati Parking Lot excavations. Layers from the Iron Age, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic periods are all represented. It was likely a place where government officials lived at one point.

Our final time with Gabbi was spent in the Davidson Archaeological Center. Just this past month the Davidson Center opened a brand new museum, which had some great movies and other visuals to help interpret the site.

Fantastic stuff.

Then we hit the sunshine and heat to actually observe evidence of the Roman destruction of Herod’s Temple complex: massive stones were dropped to the street below (the same street that started at the Pool of Siloam down the hill). The street was mangled from where the stones hit. Other remains of the Temple complex we saw were the giant stair case (Robinson’s Arch) and the south steps and mikveh complex leading to gates in the south wall of the Temple that most pilgrims would have taken up to the main platform of the Temple in the first century. Gabbi talked to us about how this was the likely location for Peter’s Pentecost sermon in Acts 2 and provided a great place for three thousand people to get baptized.

Jesus probably taught on those very steps, too.

We finished our time with Gabbi there and were (and are) extremely grateful that she took time out from studying for her upcoming comprehensive exams to share her knowledge and insights with us. Thanks, Gabbi (and Roll Tide)!

South Temple street and steps

Needless to say, we basically chilled the rest of the day, but had some great conversations with the deacon who preached at Christ Church and later with some German visitors at dinner (a delightful Armenian Restaurant with some amazing food). I forgot to mention that in the morning a siren went off for about two minutes and all Jerusalem stopped to remember the Holocaust. We got to discuss that with the German visitors—Christians all—and their emotions at that  moment. A moving conversation and a great end to a great day in Jerusalem

Yum!

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An Invitation

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