A great view of the South end of the Temple Mount. The gray dome is the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The remains you see include the staircase leading up to the Temple where Jesus and other Rabbis would have taught. Start at the dome and follow straight down to the corner of the wall--that's the staircase. Our instructor took us there for a lesson.

I've been blessed to have great classes at Liberty. Knowing a lot about the archaeology of the Temple Mount, I was able to point out and identify nearly every archaeologically significant feature by myself before we went over them as a class. As an example, the bright patch you see in the wall here is reconstruction from where the Muslims had bulldozers and heavy equipment on top of the Mount and the wall could not withstand the pressure so it started to bulge. The Muslims were given permission to build a fire escape for their mosque, but in the process built an elaborate entry way. They bulldozed thousands of pounds of archaeologically rich material from the inside of the Mount to build their Mosque. To them, the mounds are just trash since they believe, bewilderingly, that a Temple never existed. The fill that was removed from the Mount was placed into a trash heap. It was recovered and moved to the Mt. of Olives by Archaeologist Gabi Barkay where it is being sifted. Dr. Randall Price, a professor of mine who is also an archaeologist, knows Gabi and told me at one time that he would mention me to him since I wrote a paper that dealt with Gabi's work. I'm going to go to the Mt. of Olives in my free time to help with the sifting project. I've already found some pottery handles and rims at Gezer and the Herodium.
This is the Russian Orthodox Convent from a distance. It's one of the most beautiful buildings in Jerusalem.

I've been blessed to take my Hebrew Bible with me from sight to sight. As my professor reads important passages from the Old Testament I've been following along in the Hebrew text. Here you can see the Dome of the Rock from the Mt. of Olives. Imagine Jesus praying on this hillside looking up to the Temple before his own people slaughter him for heresy. In the middle of the wall above is the Eastern Gate. Scripture prophesied that when the Messiah comes he will enter from the East. Jesus entered the Temple Mount here and was greeted with "Hosanna!"

Called Absalom's Tomb after David's son. Actually, it is a first century Tomb that has been attributed by some to Zechariah, John the Baptist's father. This is located in the Valley of the Kings, or the Kidron Valley (the valley that runs between the Temple Mount and the Mt. of Olives.

A view straight up to the Herodium, the manmade mountain Herod built. On the top he built a magnificent palace. The surrounding region can be viewed for miles and miles. Jerusalem is visible from this point.

The interior of Herod's palace on the Herodium (this is only one angle, more can be seen from the other side, including a massive pillar built up from the ground).

A view of Herod's pool from his palace looking down. Yes, those are people. Herod literally did nothing small.

Thirsty? A knock-off of Starbucks from the Palestinian territory near the Church of the Nativity.

A mural over a doorway in the Church of the Nativity. Murals like this with Greek and Latin inscriptions cover the inside of the church. The red text you see says, "the beginng/birth of Christ." I had to zoom in to read the banner held by the angel, but it translates, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace." One of the most exciting things is to find Greek, Hebrew, and Latin inscriptions in art or on stones in the various sights we visit. Depending on the century in which it was written and the difficulty of the text, I can translate some of what I see. This particular church was great for me because a lot of the Greek and Latin was extracted from Bible verses where I am used to reading the Greek text.

There is a massive wall that runs for miles and miles dividing the Israel proper from the Palestinian territories. The Israelis and Palestinians hate each other. This mural was on the wall as we were leaving Palestinian territory to return to Israel. Two Israeli officers with automatic assault rifles, hand guns, and armor entered the touring bus and when down the aisle checking passports and faces. There is a noticible difference between Israel proper and Palestine. Israel is clean and the houses are nice. Palestine is covered in trash, the houses are half-built and the place is a ghetto. The Israelis refuse to share the natural resources of their land with the Palesinians. As long as the Israelis refuse to treat the Palestinians like human beings, and as long as Palestinian suicide bombers continue to run into the streets of Jerusalem, there will be no peace.

The day began in the Judean wilderness. This is where John the Baptist lived, where Jesus wandered for 40 days and where David shepherded his sheep. It looks like sand dunes but actually these are hills of limestone. Rain water never makes it out this far. From our vantage point there were miles of unbroken, uninhabited wilderness. It gives context to, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death."


Bedouin farmers who live in shacks on the edge of the wilderness came up to our group trying to sell us beaded necklaces and camel rides.


A bedouin boy took special interest in my 10x50 binoculars. I had to stand there and hold them just to make sure he didn't run off with them. We played with each other for a while until it was time for me to go. I tried to get my binoculars back but he was insisting I not leave. Finally, as he was looking into the distance, I pulled 4 shekels out of my pocket. When he heard the sound of the change clanging together he froze and stared at me in the eyes. I bartered a trade of my binoculars for the shekels. He accepted the trade and gave me one of his beaded bracelets. He then skipped around smiling and chasing me.

Old Testament Jericho. This wall is the foundation for the brick walls "that came tumbling down" during Joshua's siege. Since I have had courses in archaeology, it has been exciting to approach sites like this already knowing a about what I'm looking at.

I came across this in tell-Jericho. From what I know, this could either be a grinding stone where a smaller smooth stone would be used to grind a substance placed in the hole of this rock, or it could be the socket into which a gatepost sad and swiveled open and shut.

An orthodox Jew sits near the cemetery beside Nabi Samuel and reads his Torah. Nabi Samuel ("prophet Samuel") is a tower built upon a high hill providing magnificent views for miles. Near the site is Rammah where Samuel was buried.


A view of Israel from Nabi Samuel.

The Old Testament city of Gezer. Several important things take place here.



A tablet found at Gezer contains an inscription in paleo-Hebrew that discusses the many agricultural seasons in Israel. It is presented in a sing-song fashion so scholars think it was possibly a poem memorized by school children who were learning to read and write. One of the words is mispelled and the writing is sloppy, which may indicate that a child inscribed this.

Archaeological remains at Gezer.

Masseboth, or standing stones, were sometimes set up as signs of political or religious covenants between people or between a people and their gods. Since I recently wrote a research paper on Israelite involvement in Canaanite cultic practices, the instructor let me explain the possible meaining of these stones at Gezer. There are 36 standing stone areas in the land that are from ancient Israel. They can also be found all over the ancient Near East and especially in teh desert wilderness the Israelites wandered through for 40 years. They are thought to be aniconic (not an image of a god but an object representing that god) presentations or memorials to the gods. In ancient Near Eastern art, a god stands to the right and his consort stands to his left. In this picture, you can see how the large stone on the far right is joined by the much smaller stone standing just to the left of it. All such masseboth are facing the East, but that is a feature common to basically all religious centers. Sometimes, inscriptions are found on these stones reading "the house of such and such a god". For an example, read what Jacob does in Genesis 28.

On this day we went to places that provided us with fantastic panoramic views of Jerusaelm. This was taken from the Hebrew University campus. You are looking at the Muslim Dome of the Rock, which sits where Solomon's Temple once sat.


This is the Russian orthodox church. It was magnificent. Its golden domes can be seen from far away. They glow very brightly when the sun hits them.

The Dormition Church, beside Jerusalem University College. The rooftop I'm standing upon is in an area where it is traditionally thought that Jesus and his disciples held the Last Supper.

A statue of King David across from the entrance to the Dormition Church.


The top is Hebrew, "David, The King" (dwd hmlk).

The western wall (not "Wailing Wall," which is located on the other side of the wall in the back of this photo. The massive stone where pushed off the Temple Mount by the Romans as they destroyed the city in 70AD. Where the woman in the red shirt is standing is the only place in ancient Israel where archaeologists feel certain Jesus walked. Those are the actual Roman pavement stones He walked on.

In Hebrew this reads, "If you mess with us, the Israeli Mutant Ninja Turtles will come out!" I'm making my professors so proud.


The Dome of the Rock sits were Solomon's Temple once sat. The Muslims have controlled this space since the 300's AD. This is where Muhammad allegedly pilgrimaged, where the hooves of his horse stopped on Mt. Moriah (the bedrock stone in the mosque where Abraham traditionally attempted to sacrifice Isaac). The Quran never mentions "Jerusalem," nevertheless Muslims would start a war if Israeli's tried to take control of this sacred space.

This was surreal.


The hills of Jerusalem create fantastic views of the city at night.

Bedrock tombs like this one surround the ancient city walls of Jerusalem. I wanted to crawl in but my roommate wouldn't let me.

The Western or "Wailing" Wall was filled with orthodox Jews praying feverishly for the advent of their messiah and the rebuilding of the Temple. My roommate and I went into this area with head coverings and even went into the Rabbinic Tunnel (not seen here) where judgmental eyes did not greet the uninvited goyyim ("gentiles"). The Rabinnic Tunnel is as close as orthodox Jews can get to where the Ark of the Covenant once sat. They could go up to the Dome of the Rock but, since they are not sure where the Holy of Holies exactly was on the Temple Mount, they do not want to accidently walk over it and defile it, so they never go up to the Temple Mount. An elderly Jew with a long grey beard put his hands over his eyes as I entered the tunnel, only to raise them once I had passed. It saddens him to see unclean men enter near the Ark of the Covenant. "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped" (Isa. 35:5).

I'm not sure the status of my left eye in this shot, but behind me is the Western Wall and in the corner of the walls the Rabbinic Tunnel lies, a place where orthodox Jews pray continually.

Years of studying Hebrew have prepared me for this moment...now I will never go hungry. Actually, their is no Hebrew word for McDonald's. As with other foreign words, they just use the Hebrew letters that sound like the foreign word.



The Ancient Jerusalem City Walls, with stones from Herod, the Muslims, the Crusaders, the Maccabeans, and others through its many reconstructions.



This is Hezekiah's tunnel. When King Hezekiah learned that the Assyrians were coming to invade Judah, he built a long tunnel through the bedrock underneath the Temple Mount (the huge platform the Dome of the Rock sits upon). The purpose of this was to provide a secret water source to the inside of the city so that the Assyrians could not cut off Jerusalem's water supply and thereby dehydrate the Jerusalemites into surrender. The tunnel is long and at points the water is up to the mid-thigh, other points down at the ankles. Sometimes the tunnel is 4' 5" tall and at other points is appears to be about 20' tall. If you are claustrophobic, this is not the activity for you. We walked for what felt like a mile or more. Hezekiah's men started on either side of the massive bedrock mound and tunneled through until they met each other in the middle. To this day it confounds archaeologists how they were able both teams found one another. Along the walls you see pick marks facing in a distinct direction. Halfway through the tunnel the pick marks change direction, indicating where the teams met. At the end of the tunnel, there is a Hebrew inscription left by the teams stating that they had done this. The Hebrew is quite ancient (paleo-Hebrew), so I am not able to make it out. This is the Hebrew before our earliest copies of the Old Testament. Obviously it has been translated and you can probably look it up online if you want.


Don't let the brightness of these photos deceive you--it was pitch black in the tunnel. The flashlights behind me were blocked by the width of my shoulders, so I couldn't see very well where I was walking. I just turned the flash of my camera on and aimed into the dark. The guys behind me are college students who, whether out of nervousness or a need for attention, chose to sing "Barbara Ann" and "Party in the USA" (Miley Cyrus) at the top of their lungs.

I finally made it on the flight from Germany to Israel--Praise God! I got off my plane in Germany with a 25 minute layover, so I ran the full length of the Frankfurt airport terminal with 50 pounds of luggage on my back. In the process I lost my passport, left my computer laying somewhere and almost lost my mind. Thankfully, I retrieved everything and made it on the plane to Israel just as it was taking off. If I had missed that flight I would have to get on the next one which left 12 hours later--If there was even any room on that flight.

Finally!

Jordan made it safely to Jerusalem! Praise the Lord! He barely made his connecting flight from Germany but was able to hop on just before it left! The Lord was surely with him! He is missing his luggage and the airline isn't quite sure where it is! Please continue to pray for him and that his luggage will arrive soon!

For those of you who would like to "see" Jordan you can download a free program called Skype. All you have to do is go to Skype.com and set up your account! We have done this and it has been so amazing to be able to video chat with him! Kelsie is constantly going to my computer and looking at the screen and saying "Daddy, Israel"! It is too cute! Once you have set up your account all you have to do is add him into your contacts. His name is righteousinchrist.

Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Airport Terminals

Well, I've been lodged up in the Dullus International airport terminal since 7pm yesterday (01/03/2010). My flights were delayed due to strong winds (45mph) in D.C. so I couldn't get on my connecting flight to Frankfurt, Germany. As of now (01/03/2010), I'll be getting on the 7:15pm flight to Frankfurt out of Dullus, then I have 45 minutes to get through customs and security in Germany until I have to board my connecting flight to Israel. If I can't make that--and I probably won't--then I'll have to get on a 10:50Pm flight out of Germany for Tel Aviv, Israel. Unfortunately this means I will have missed about 2 whole days of traveling through Israel, but I can only go as fast as they let me. After all, I don't want to be in a plane that lands nose first into the ocean due to wind.
The lady sitting beside me on my flight from Roanoke to Dullus said, "you can't fight Mother Nature." The truth is, you can fight it but you might lose. In light of that, it's reasurring for believers to know that Someone rather than something is in charge of the wind (Matt. 8:27).

Thank you for you prayers and support!

Traveling Update

"Shalom" Friends,

I just wanted to give you an update on Jordan. His flight from Roanoke yesterday was delayed by 2 hours due to the weather. This caused him to miss all of his connecting flights in order to get to Jerusalem on time. He got to Dulles and there was another flight headed to Germany but after standing in a line for 3 hours to try and get on that flight it was completely full by the time he reached the front. He spent the night in the airport and will be leaving for Germany at 7:15pm tonight, Monday January 4. Once he has gotten to Germany he has 45 minutes to get to his connecting flight to Israel. If he misses this flight he will have to wait another 24 hours for the next one. Please be in prayer for his as he travels and that everything will go smoothly tonight and tomorrow as he continues his journey!

Jerusalem Bound!!!

Jordan is Jerusalem Bound! He flew out of Roanoke and is headed to Dulles. From there he will go to Frankfurt Germany then will land in Tel Aviv Israel! Pray for safe travels!