The Russian Orthodox Church

 One of the most recognizable landmarks in Jerusalem is this Russian Orthodox Church, which stands just above the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mt. of Olives.  It took us weeks, but we were finally successful in getting in to see the Church of Mary Magdalene (Russian Orthodox). It is only open to the public 4 hours a week.  They have built a second church almost like this one out by Hadassa Hospital.  This view is looking up from the Kidron Valley

 We marveled that they were able to keep the domes so shiney.  The Dome of the Rock has the same composition on it's dome, but looks comparatively dull.  We have noticed that Muslims generally do not seem to take care of their things on the same order as other peoples.  It seems to denote a lack of reverence for their sacred things

 The interior had a very Scandinavian flavor with lots of tole painting

 The paintings are always one of my favorite parts of the cathedrals.  Here we see a beardless Christ standing in judgement before Pilate.  There were some others of the part Mary Magdalene played in the Saviors life, but unfortunately they turned out too dark to see

And here is an example of some of the intricate wood work inside the chapel.  By the way we were intrigued to see that in this cathedral the chapel was on the second floor

The Valley of Jehosephat - the Valley of Decision

 Here we are standing in the Kidron Valley, also variously called The Valley of Jehosephat, The Valley of Decision.  This is the Muslim side.  In the upper left of the photo, you can see the blocked up Golden Gates.  You should know that the gates are not in the same location as they were anciently.  Right under the wall you can see part of a huge Muslim burial ground...They hope to keep the Messiah from entering the temple mount, just behind the wall.  The Muslims believe that a cable will be strung up between the temple mount and the Mt. of Olives and people will be compelled to walk it.  If they make it, they are righteous, if they fall off, it is because they are wicked

 This is the Jewish side of the Valley Kidron.  On the lower left is Absolom's tomb.  They are in the process of putting in sidewalks, benches and will soon landscape the bare dirt.  It will be beautiful

 Literally hundreds of thousands are buried in the Kidron Valley.  There are some very famous tombs including, here Absoloms pillar, errected by King David after Absoloms death... a most tragic story.  Also buried here are Zechariah, Jehoshaphat, and the Apostle James

This is Zechariah's tomb.  Behind this is one of the largest, most tightly packed cemeteries in the world as Jews are buried on top of each other and packed in so tightly that there is barely room to walk.  It is an amazing sight.  

Spring's Gorgeous Pallate - some of the beautiful spring flowers we saw

The Elah Valley - a place of many battles

 We are standing on top of the north hill bordering the Elah Valley.  On the side opposite of us is where the Philistine fortifications are.  The most famous battle to occur in this valley was the battle between David and Goliath!  We had such fun imagining how it might have been.  Each morning for 40 days, Goliath and the Philistine army would assemble at the bottom of the hill where we stand, and challenge Israel to send someone to fight with Goliath.  Below where we are standing there is a small brook, no doubt where David picked up his 5 small stones

 Here we see the remnant of one of the 2 gates that lead into the garrison area.  In the background we can see Bethlehem on the far hills, about 15 miles away.  Can't you just see David traipsing over hill and dale with provisions for his brothers, only to discover that no one is fighting because they are afraid of Golliath?  I can just see David's indignation.  How could they challenge the God of Israel!  They were just challenging an army in his mind

Here we are standing between the double walls that enclose probably 15 acres of land on the hill top.  The walls are 3,000 years old!!  We were amazed at what a good state of preservation they are in.  Apparently they are not visited as often as many of the more popular sites

This is one of the garrison areas where Saul's men  would have slept, stored food, weapons, armor, etc.  This hilltop fortification is maybe 2 miles from Bethshemesh

Another gate.  The town of Bethshemesh had the same name as this fortification.  Bethshemesh means 2 gates. This fortification is only about 12 miles from the Old City, which at the time of the battle between David and Goliath did not yet exist

Gamaliel - The Apostle Paul's teacher

 On this same trip we went to this little convent commemorating Paul's teacher Gamaliel.  This is also the place where Stephen was buried after he was stoned outside of the walls of Jerusalem.  Also by tradition Nichodemus was buried here and probably Gamaliel himself.  The Catholics believe that they both converted to Christianity after Christ's death and resurrection

 A couple of nice murals of Stephen's judgement in front of the high priest in Jerusalem.  This one inside of one of the 3 churches on the site of where Gamaliel lived

 Sorry the sun was shining on this side but here is depicted the stoning of Stephen

  And here is the view looking towards Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea.  Israel has gotten at least 125% of normal rainfall this winter and it is gorgeous and green, as you can see 

 Welcome to Tel Bethshemesh.  You might not even remember this town, but it played a fairly important part in the ancient history of Israel.  About the time that the prophet Samuel became the prophet of Israel, the sons of Eli, Phineas and Hophni, took the ark of the covenant hoping it  would give them the advantage in a battle against the Philistines, instead the Israelites were routed and the ark of the covenant was taken by the Philistines.  After 7 very bad months of plagues and death the Philistines decided to return the ark. They crafted a new cart, attached 2 milk cows, who had never been trained to wear a yoke and placed gifts of gold with the ark and sent it on its way.  The oxen headed directly for Bethshemesh, which was a Levite city.  The Israelites gratefully received the ark, performed sacrifices and then the Lord slew 50,070 Israelites for disobediently looking into the ark of the covenant.  It was moved then to Kirath-Jearim

The place is also near the hometown of Sampson.  If you enlarge the photo you will see a white barn in the distance that is near the birthplace of Sampson or the ancient town of Zorah, as mentioned in Judges 13

 And also from the top of Tel Bethshemesh, looking west towards ancient Philistia town of Gaza, beyond the ponds is where Delilah was living when she seduced Sampson, cut his hair and delivered him into the hands of the Philistines

And we finish this session with a flock of sheep returned from a morning of grazing to the tent of their shepherd

 This is a painting of what the building of Rachels' tomb looks like with the surrounding terrain, which can no longer be seen because of the walls.

 Jewish interpretations of some Old Testament scriptures that may apply to them, although the top scripture we think applies to the slaughter of the innocents at the time of Christ

 There has been some recent studying and some think that this may have been the location of where the temple flocks were kept anciently. It may have been near Rachel's tomb.  The place was anciently called Migdal Edar, where Jacob camped with his family after burying Rachel.  It is  about 2 miles from Bethlehem and about 3-4 miles south of Jerusalem

 The Jews seem to have taken up the Catholic practice of praying to various saints.  We have visited at least 3 "empty" tombs ; to Samuel, to king David and to Rachel, where the Jews come to seek solace and to pray.  It seems out of the ordinary

These may be the fields of the temple flocks.  They are more lush, somewhat flatter ground and not so many places for temple lambs to mar themselves as compared with the fields that are right in Bethlehem, that are actually very steep, and very rocky hillsides with little vegetation 

 Here is a little taste of the barrier walls that surround the West Bank.  Israel decided that they wanted to worship at Rachel's tomb which is on the way to Bethlehem and so they took it and surrounded it with a wall.  After all it is just a little piece. The people will never miss it

 complete with barbed wire

 The road in

 No scene is compete without the proverbial feral cat

The nearness of the West Bank neighborhoods

Here is ONE reason why the Pharisee's and Sadducees hated Jesus so much!

 After the 1967 war, when the Jews regained control of Jerusalem, they saw that the Jewish quarter had been so badly damaged that it was not rescue-able, so they tore it down.  Since it was leveled, they decided to do some archaeological digs before they began to rebuild.  They found what had been one of the premier housing area's of 2nd temple period Jerusalem.  We have toured through this pharisee house.  What you see in these photo's is a model of what the house might have looked like.  It is HUGE!  Each storey was probably about 2,000 square feet and they think it was 3 stories high, including the roof top for entertaining and to catch the cool evening breezes on hot days.  

 This is the main hall, probably a public room or judgement hall.  It could easily hold 100 people.  Some of the interior decorations are still visible on the actual walls (not the model).  It had to have been a stunning room.

 This pool is probably about 1/2 the size of an olympic swimming pool.  It was used for ritual cleaning for the priests before they went up to the temple mount... called a mikveh.  There were at least 2 smaller ones in other areas of the house.  They had a special walkway from where they lived so that they would not be contaminated on their way up to the temple mount to perform their priestly duties.

 The dining rooms had to be much larger than what we are accustomed to because all the guests were seated in a semi-reclining position at the table.

Here is a long view of the house.  The second floor was destroyed in the fire and destruction, so not much of an idea of how it was configured, but on the main floor we saw solid stone bath tubs, beautiful mosaic floors, marble tables, beautiful wall treatments, and other remnants that were found in the ruins.  I was struck by the fabulous wealth that these ancient leaders of the Jews possessed.  For the first time I had some insight and understood why Jesus was such a threat to them.  They had resorted to unlawful religious power when the Romans conquered Judea.  All the legal heirs had been put down.  For instance we know that had things followed their true course, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, would have been the high priest at the time of Jesus' birth.  Their appointments had basically become political appointments and not based necessarily on personal righteousness, as the Savior often pointed out. As a conquered nation they could not collect taxes but they devised other means for enriching themselves, and they were fabulously wealthy.