Mt. of Olives to Bethlehem: Day four

Wow…I can’t believe it has been so long since I posted something, I am only on day 4. Ahhhh.

Day 4 was a packed day, in fact I cannot believe we did all that we did on this day. A quick highlight:

            We began at Mt. Scopus, then went to Mt. of Olives. Down the road of the Mountain we ventured into the grounds of the Dominus Flevit Church, a site remembered for where Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. We ended up at the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations. We ate lunch at UN Hill. Lastly, we traveled to the West Bank and visited one of Herod’s Palaces, Herodium and then made our way to Bethlehem!

We began our day eating breakfast as usual. Breakfast at JUC was between 6-8am. However, we had to be at the bus pretty early in the morning. Wake up time for me was usually 5:30am so I could take a shower and have breakfast. If were really lucky we had to be at our tour bus at 7:45, other times it was by 7am. The Tour bus waited for us below the Mamilla Mall on a major road in the Hinnom Valley, just below Jaffa Gate. It took us about a 5-minute walk if we were fast to 10 minutes to get to the bus. It was a good warm up to the hiking and walking we would be doing the rest of the day.

Friday June 17^th was our fourth study day in Israel. We all packed on to our tour bus and traveled a short distance to Mt. Scopus, near Mt. of Olives. Mt. Scopus is east of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley but in Jerusalem and visible from JUC. Mt. Scopus is named after the fact that it was considered a good “viewpoint” or place to “scope out” the surrounding region. On a clear day you could see the Mediterranean. Here we also visited a large 1^st century buriel tomb.

Our second stop was the Mt. of Olives. I was excited to visit the Mountain of Olives. It was definitely not what I expected. But again, I really hadn’t a clue of the terrain and geography of Israel before I came. I expected the Mt. to be…well a mountain; interestingly enough it is even described in the Bible as a “hill” (Luke 19:29). It gives a great view of Jerusalem, but is hardly a mountain, especially compared to the ones I see in Washington. On the Mt. of Olives are fully functioning roads so there was no hiking to the top, but we did make our way down, by walking down a road. On our walk down we saw the burial sites on the left and to the right were a variety church’s and church gardens. A tall stonewall paralleled our walk on both sides, giving the pathway character, sort of blocked view in some parts but nonetheless pretty. The view of Jerusalem was amazing. You could see the Mosque (Gold Dome, temple mt), Temple Steps, Hinnom Valley, Kidron Valley, City of David and much more.

Our Simpson Group from the Mt. of Olives

From the Mt. of Olives we walked down. All along the left side were buriel sites. The Senonian chalk on the Mt. of Olives makes this a prime location for tombs. Our first stop as we walked down the Mountain was the Dominus Flevit Church. This Church is dedicated to the spot where Jesus went and wept over Jerusalem. In Luke 19:28-38, Jesus is in Jerusalem riding down the Mt. of Olives, this scene is what we celebrate as Palm Sunday. “They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As He went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.”…Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:35-36,38).

Luke 19:41: “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring peace- but now it is hidden from your eyes."

While the Dominus Flavit Church may not be the precise location of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, the general location is close. The view from the Church is a great point of view of the city of Jerusalem. From inside the church the windowpane gives a nice profile of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Inside Dominus Flavit Church looking towards Jerusalem

We continued down the Mt. of Olives and our final destination was the Garden of Gethsemane. I hadn’t been aware that the Garden and the Mt. of Olives had been so close. The perimeter of the Garden was gated. We were able to walk around the whole perimeter. The Garden was beautiful, full of olive trees, vibrant flowers and other lush plants.

Garden of Gesthename 

Next to the Garden was the Church of All Nations. The Church was dedicated to the promise God made with Abraham. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:1-3. I thought the Church was beautiful inside. The entrance doors were grand and extremely tall. Inside the windows are made with purple alabaster and a cross marks each window. It is remarkable.

Inside the Church of All Nations: purple alabaster window panes

For lunch we traveled to the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Promenade on what is known as UN Hill because a UN building is located there. The Promenade had a terrific view of Jerusalem, Jordan the West Bank and the Dead Sea. From there we traveled to the West Bank and ventured to one of Herod’s palaces Herodium. Herodium was considered one of Herod’s great palaces, it possessed an open garden area and massive cisterns. Herod wanted to be able to see his Palace from Jerusalem. We were able to venture into a tunnel system there that was relatively expansive.

Our last stop of our fourth day in Israel was Bethlehem. Bethlehem is located in the West Bank, thus the Palestinians have majority control over this area. Due to this fact, and that Bethlehem is a popular tourist attraction because of it’s relativity to the site of Jesus’ birth the Palestinians are looking for way to make money off the large tourism. There is an obvious large resistance to charge people to visit “Holy Sites” so the Palestinians do not allow tour guides at the Church of Nativity. You must hire one of their tour guides. So as we entered the city Aubrey said that we were going to park our bus in a car garage and then from there she would quietly direct us where to go but for the rest of it we were on our own. We parked in the under ground car garage and took an elevator up to the main level. We walked out the mall type building and hit the street where we walked a few minutes to the church. There were Palestinian guards patrolling the area making sure there were no groups accompanying an unauthorized tour guide.

Stealing words from Dr. Painter’s blog he states: “The church is built over a cave which very early on was identified as the birthplace of Jesus. Though "traditional" is still a good term to use, the antiquity of the tradition is very impressive, making a strong case for the possibility that this is the actual site of Jesus' birth.” (Thanks Dr. Painter J) Aubrey noted that the church had not been taken care of, just like the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I would agree with her, it may be old, but for the fact that it could have been the birthplace of Jesus, the inside seemed remarkably beat up. I would definitely recommend making a trip to Bethlehem if possible if anyone does venture to Israel.

As we made our way back to the bus we decided to make a stop at Stars and Bucks, a coffee shop mimicking Starbucks. I think I ordered an iced caramel coffee or something like that and it was surprisingly good with added coconut on top! Unfortunately Israel possesses no Starbucks! So it was a nice ending to the day touring the land. 

As we were driving away from Bethlehem, prior to making our way across the border of the West Bank and Israel Dr. Beyer, a Professor from Columbia International University shared that there was a mural on the wall separating the two regions that I would want to get some pictures of. So he kindly traded places with me on the bus and allowed me to take some pictures of a mural which depicted Palestinians view on the wall. 

The wall has stirred major controversy since it was erected in 2001. After the 2001 Intifada (or "uprising") Israel built the wall to defend their land from suicide bombers coming from the region of the West Bank. The wall has strongly hurt commerce in the West Bank and has made it difficult for Palestinians to travel back and forth to earn an income in Israel. However, it served as a defensive measure for Israel and thus has stirred controversy of its necessity. The question, How do you keep your land safe without seriously affecting others lives? It is a question the US asks every day as well. Unfortunately, certain defensive measures need to be taken in order to maintain an adequate level of security and it does not always please everyone and affects many. But is some respects in order to be secure you lose other things in the process. It is a difficult, risky and challenging decision to make sometimes.