Viewing the landscape of Jerusalem

     Today was such an amazing day. We went to different sights around Jerusalem to get a better look at the Holy land. We went to the tops of different hills and churches and could see as far north as where Ephraim used to be, as far east as Jordan, and as far south as the Dead Sea called the. We went to the Augusta Victoria which is a Lutheran church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives. It is one of 3 tours on the Mount of Olives, the other 2 being the tower of the Hebrew University and the other being the Russian Orthodox Church of the Ascension. At the Augusta Victoria we could see everything all around us. We had to climb 200+ stairs to get to its bell tower.

     Perhaps the biggest thing that surprised me was how small everything is. One reads the Bible and thinks that everything is so huge and spread out but it really is not like that. Bethlehem is so close to Jerusalem. The Old City of Jerusalem was not very big at all. Maybe my perspective is a little bit off because we were at sights where we could see a lot of land, but Jerusalem and its surrounding areas are not as big as I imagined them to be.

     We went to the city of Gideah. It was the place that King Saul built one of his palaces. Stories from Judges 19, 1 Samuel 13 and 1 Samuel 20 all took place there. This was also the place where David played the harp. The ruin that we stood in was built by King Hussein of Jordan in the 20^th century but there are stones that we saw on the bottom that were original stones of Saul.

     As we looked north into the horizon from Gideah, we could see places that were off limits to us because they are controlled by Palestinian forces. But those places have big significance to those who believe in the Bible. We saw Bethel and Ai which is supposedly the sight where Abraham built an alter to the Lord in Genesis 12. Also in that area we could see where Jacob had his dream of the ladder to heaven found in Genesis 28. The best part about that view was that we could see the land of Ephraim in the distance. It was good to see my ancestral grounds.

     The best part of the day was going to the Nebi Samwil. Today is Holocaust Memorial Day and at 10:00 horns from around the city rang to have a moment of silence for those who experienced it. It was a great experience to be in from on the traditional sight where the Prophet Samuel was born and buried and to honor modern Jews as well. The Nebi Samwil was a fortress for King Richard when he was battling Saladdin. It is located just outside of Jerusalem and was used as a place of worship for Richard. He never made it any further into Jerusalem than that. Then it was taken over by Muslims and was converted into a Mosque which stands today. Inside they have a false casket to memorialize Samuel. In the 20^th century, when Israel took over, they converted the basement into a synagogue. So the Nebi Samwil is an ancient Christian fortress that has both a mosque and a synagogue in it. Both the mosque and synagogue have false caskets of Samuel.

     We went to the basement where Jewish men were and they were reading their scriptures and discussing themselves points of doctrine. They were speaking Hebrew so I don’t know what they were saying.  But the head guy started talking to us and spoke to me. He spoke a little bit of English so I could kind of understand him. He then proceeded to put on a phylactery around my left arm and then put a band type thing on my head. I am not too sure what the significance and symbolism is but I will find out. He then told me repeat the prayer that he said as we stood by the coffin of Samuel. I am a little rusty on my Hebrew so I tried really hard to listen to his words and pronounce them the way he said it. After we finished he told me to pray for a good life, for a wife, for children, for prosperity, to be happy, etc. Then he told me that the Messiah was to come very quickly. He said that this is their land that that the Messiah will be coming. It was a really neat experience. As we walked outside my professor told me that they had never invited anyone to do that before so I feel pretty special. I am starting my Judaism class tomorrow so I am looking forward to studying the significance of everything.