Old Testament Jerusalem.

For Land and Bible, a class centered around the geographical history of Israel, we take field trips at least once a week. Sunday’s trip was a tour of the Jerusalem, through the eyes of an Old Testament world. We have our own personal tour guide, Bill Schelgal, who also happens to be our teacher, giving us information about each site we visit. Along the way we also stopped at some other locations. Here are some excerpts from my report I had to write for the day, as well as some added material:

Our first stop was to view a First Temple Period model of what Jerusalem would’ve looked like in the time of King Hezekiah’s reign in 701 BC. The city mainly rested then, in what is now the City of David; however since Hezekiah’s time the city has shifted northward, including its walls. The city of Jerusalem has been standing since at least Canaanite times, indicated by a wall near the Gihon spring that was built by the Canaanites. It was stated in a movie we watched while viewing the model that Jerusalem is an eternal city. This statement struck me, because Jerusalem is the only city on earth that the Bible mentions in resurrection times. This ancient city will last forever because it is the city that God dwells in. The Lord is going to keep His city forever, and He is going to make it a place for every believer, Jews and Gentiles.

Our next stop was the Upper Room, the traditional location of the Last Supper that Jesus had with his disciples. Passover is a feast to celebrate the salvation God brought to the Jews, but God saves every believer as well, from exile in a place worse than Egypt, Hell. Even though Passover is a Jewish festival, as someone who has received salvation from God, it would make sense for believers to celebrate it. If God hadn’t saved the children of Israel from Egypt, then Christ would not have been in Israel at that time. God’s timing in saving the Jews at that time has a direct effect on our salvation as Christians. I really found it significant, that in the context of scripture, what we in the church today call communion occurred during the Passover. This had really caused me to rethink about taking communion outside of the feast of Passover, because when Christ said “Do this in remembrance of me,” he said it as he was eating the Passover meal. Because all of our Christian faith is Jewish in origin, should we adopt more Jewish traditions, because even Christ himself celebrated them?

One of our final stops was to travel through Hezekiah’s tunnel. After the Assyrian army conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C., Hezekiah began making a defensive plan against a likely incoming attack from Assyria. In 701 B.C., the Assyrians staged a siege on Judah, but Hezekiah was ready for them. He built up the walls around Jerusalem (II Chron 32:205), and he began having his people dig a tunnel that was to go under the City of David from the outside at the spring of Gihon, to the pools of Siloam (II Chron 32:30). The tunnel was discovered in 1838, and all the silt and mud of the last 1000 years had to be dug out. I wondered if perhaps Jesus ever went through it as a boy, or even any of the disciples. Of course, considering that it was drinking water back than, Jesus would not have been the likely mischievous candidate =). Before heading into the tunnel, I was a little fearful of claustrophobia. I’m not normally afraid of this, but the walk through is a single file line, and there were times, even my short self had to bend down. I was stuck in this 1070 ft tunnel between 40 other people. I prayed claustrophobia wouldn’t hit, and praise God it didn’t. The tunnel was a blast. Every hundred feet or so all of us would turn off our flashlights, and we would sing. Eventually we sang Disney songs, probably the last 300 feet. I have a video of it on my Picassa, and I think we sound pretty awful =)