Streams of the Desert: Pictures from Field Study #2

Sunrise that morning

Yes, I know, it's been two and a half weeks... Sorry.

Flowers I really liked as we walked

This is the wall around Dormition Abbey, which is right next door to us.
We walk right next to it to get to the Zion Gate. By the way, gates are
usually named for where they go. So the Zion Gate
– leads to modern Mount Zion – where I live!

Mount of Olives in the distance

Excavation of the “Broad Wall” in the Jewish Quarter

During the excavations in the Jewish Quarter of Old Jerusalem, a large wall was discovered, about 8 meters thick. It was discovered by Avigad, so it is called Avigad’s Wall, or the Broad Wall, as Nehemiah likely stopped rebuilding the wall at this point since the Israelites had neither the time nor the supplies to refortify the Western Hill. It is also called Hezekiah’s Wall, because Hezekiah was mostly likely the one who initiated the building of it. The presence of this wall is the first evidence of the Western Hill of Jerusalem being part of the city, so it serves as a debate settler in the size of Jerusalem. Hezekiah expected an invasion, so he fortified the wall. People tore down their houses to build the wall to protect them from the attack of Sennacharib. Hezekiah commissioned the tunnel now called Hezekiah’s tunnel in order to stop up the Gihon Spring and prevent their enemies from taking over the water source.

Drawing of what the old city walls probably looked like

Our bleary-eyed group filing in to listen to Aubrey, our professor, speak

View of where the Hittom and the Kidron Valleys intersect

Looking over the City of David to the Mount of Olives

Excavations we passed en route to the City of David

City of David. Wewt.

Jerusalem appears in the Bible and throughout history with a number of names. Ancient Jerusalem was not in exactly the same location as present-day Jerusalem. Ancient Jerusalem, or the City of David for King David, was located on a hill just south-east of present-day Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives and the Watershed Ridge flank either side of the area of Jerusalem, providing an impregnable area in which to build a city, with the exception of the northern connection. In Genesis 14, Jerusalem is referred to as “Salem” as Melki Tzedek’s city. It was also called Rushalymin. Abraham moved around in this area, and the binding of Isaac occurred in the land of Moriah, effectively staking a land claim to the area. The Armana letters under Pharoah call the city Hurushalymun, likely from Israel’s time in Egypt. Later, David took Jerusalem from the Jeubusites when the city was called Jubuse. During King David’s time, the city took on the names of City of David, Zion, and Fortress of Zion.

Giant harp. The whole time we were in the City of David,
there was harp music being piped everywhere. Very strange.
I suppose, to create the illusion of being in the City of David?

We are on the City of David, looking over the Kidron Valley

We can see the Abbey from here!

Graves on the mountain range of the Mount of Olives

Ain’t Jacqueline pretty? :)

Russian Orthodox Church on the Mount of Olives.

Oh yeah. Rocks galore

Part of our group

More excavations

These of the Stepped Stone structure. There was an ancient toilet
in it (sadly I did not take a picture of it), which supposedly meant
that someone wealthy lived here once upon a time.

Within the excavations in the City of David, a stepped stone structure was discovered – perhaps a retaining wall built around tenth century B.C. There are houses built on it, that were destroyed in the Babylonian invasion in 586 B.C. Excavations found burn layers as well as nice stuff – including a toilet. Toilets may be pretty common nowadays, but back then, a toilet was a sign of luxury. Along with that, bullae were discovered – clay seals on documents. The documents were destroyed, but the bullae stayed behind, providing archeological assistance to figuring out the site.

Aubrey, our lovely professor. Everyone pretty much calls her Aubrey,
except Nate, who calls her “Professor!” and makes everyone laugh.

More excavations

Nate is happy this morning

As is Rhonda

Picture showing how high the water in Hezekiah’s Tunnel goes

Hezekiah’s tunnel is way awesome. As mentioned above, while Hezekiah was preparing for the Babylonian invasion (which ultimately destroyed the city), he commissioned a tunnel to feed the Gihon Spring, located just outside the city walls, to the Pool of Siloam, inside the walls. The digging of the tunnel took about two to three years, and there are tons of theories as to how the builders dug from either end and met in the middle. The windiness of the tunnels points to how difficult this task was. Several areas have an area that goes a different direction for a few feet, and then stops as the diggers realized they were going the wrong direction. Perhaps they were avoiding the tombs of the house of David, as tombs were generally placed directly outside a city’s gates, usually downwind of the city (as to avoid the smelly dead people). People suggest that perhaps there were people on top, tapping on the ground to guide the diggers, or perhaps dripping dyed water through specific fissures. At one point closer to the Pool of Siloam, there is a very high ceiling. Likely the diggers from this side started too high, and as they got closer to connecting, realized their mistake and dropped down. The tunnel itself has a very, very slight angle downhill, as to prevent water from staying in one place or back flowing.

Warren’s shaft

Sign proving that was, indeed, Warren’s Shaft

I found this sign amusing.

Because this is where it was located…

Yeah! Chacos in Hezekiah’s Tunnel!

No… there were no lights in the Tunnel. The brightness is ALL
because of my camera flash. Woot.

Aaah, the ceilings coming down on us! Not really, but even us
short people bumped our heads a few times. I felt bad for
the 6-foot guy behind us.

This is how I felt about being in the Tunnel. Haha.

Actually more like this. I like how Al is holding a hand
over his headlamp in both of these
pictures (the guy behind me)

Al and I got a Chaco-in-the-Tunnel picture :D

We made it!

Cool pool at the end. Some of us stood on those things in the
middle of the pool. And no, this is not the Pool of Siloam.

Eventually, the tunnel empties into the Pool of Siloam for water collection. Now, the tunnel directly empties into a small pool with columns in the middle. This is not the Pool. The real pool is beyond the water, and has yet to be completely excavated due to a Church being rather possessive of their olive orchard. In any case, water focus moved from the Gihon Spring to here, as it was much easier to access. There was also likely a tower of Siloam to protect the Pool. John 9 refers to this pool in the story of the healing of the man born blind. Yeshua spit on the ground, put mud on the man’s eyes, and told him to wash in the Pool of Siloam.

No pictures of the Pool of Siloam, sorry.

Then we had lunch. :D

Back into the old city

Megan wasn’t too thrilled with me taking a picture of her

Replica of original menorah in the Temple. Some group that really
wants the Temple reconstructed has made everything needed
to go into the Temple. Cool, and weird at the same time.