The Cardo

The main street North/South, in Roman times, was called Cardo.

In Jerusalem we walked part of the Cardo underground

There were shops. This piece of art had the whole book of Deuteronomy written in Hebrew. Artwork like this was appropiately called "Scripture Art."

Shops with Jewish merchandise.

A first century map of Jerusalem

The Cardo at the first century level, with first century pavement.

We walked on it.

Crusader

The Souks

Going into the Souks

The man with the cart has a tire on the back. Going downhill, these carts are hard to stop.

The tire is used as the brakes for the cart. They do this by standing on it and dragging it through the street.

Shopping: 4 shekels to the American dollar

The Canadian dollar was even more valuable than the American dollar.

It had been in the news, so the last day people accepted Canadian dollars too.

Lots of things are for sale:

Frankincense and Myrrh too

Dresses for belly dancing, and in the butcher shops goat heads (no picture).

A shaft with walls in it from a long time ago - from the Hasmonian and first temple periods.

Here you can see how high Jerusalem grew.
At the bottom of the pit is first century pavement.

Jaffa Gate

We jumped in the taxi when they (finally) arrived and went to the Jaffa gate.

We passed David's tower (picture by Josh).

Unintentionally, the taxi driver got a very tiny tip because we mixed up our money. Some Israeli coins are big but not worth very much.

Jaffa Gate

Gates are named because of the direction they face. When you go out of the Jaffa Gate you end up on the road that leads to Jaffa (Joppa).

On the wall you can see a Mezuzah - A tube with scripture in it. This is based on the commandment in Deut:6, where it says to write Gods law on the door posts.

Day 9: Hotel Jerusalem

Two men in front of the Hotel.

Shoe shiner ready to "set up shop" in front of the hotel

Joelle & Robin ready to "take on the city".

Young people in our group: (clockwise) Josh, Jeremiah, Devon, Olga & Vanessa

Breakfast on the last day, raindrops are on the window.

There was a large group from Oakville. This is their pastor.

The Last Supper the Jewish way

We stopped at a shop where they sold beautiful olive wood carvings. This one, of the last supper, gives a good impression of how they would have laid down, and how the main guest is the second person on the left.

According to the Bible, John was the first (beginning from the left), and Judas the third; both were places of honour. Peter, as the foot-washer, was at the other end of the table.

Foot-washing

Carrying the arc of the covenant.

Nativity scene

Dead sea float

The water in the dead sea is 1/3 minerals. It's very good for your skin. People with psoriasis often go to the Dead Sea for a few weeks every year.
We just played in the water.

You can not sink. You just kind of float on top of the water.

Even the mud is good for your skin, so we put it on our bodies.

Now we understood why Ben said, "Don't forget your camera's! You'll need them for black mailing later".

You can even buy the mud to use as a skin mask. They sold it in plastic sealed bags. But, the bags were actually more expensive down here then at our hotel in Jerusalem.

Qumran

This is the site of Qumran - lots of caves in the mountains. There was a community living here called the Essenes, close to the Dead Sea. They took Isaiah literally:

"In the desert prepare the way of the Lord" (Isaiah 40:3).

Lots of their pottery was found. The building below is their communal eating room

For the Essenes it was important to have living water for cleansing. They had elaborate water systems made.

Living water is water that was not carried but came directly from God

They found a water trough and quite a few Mikvaot (ritual baths).

Every day ritual cleaning would involve:

Head * may my thoughts be cleaned

Heart * may my will be cleaned

Hands * may the things I've done be cleaned

Feet * may my lifestyle be cleaned

It is interesting to note where Jesus' wounds were on the cross:

Nails - pierced through his hands and feet

Crown of Thorns - on his head

Spear - pierced his heart

The one thing that the Essenes are most famous for is the scrolls that were found around the area. There were lots of scrolls from the Hebrew Bible and also book about this community. Today, these are known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Essenes called themselves "the sons of light."

These scrolls were found quite by accident. They aren't sure exactly how they are found, but the popular story is that a shepherd boy found the scrolls while looking for some of the stray animals.

The famous cave where the fist scrolls were found.

A boy threw a rock in the cave and heard breaking pottery.
That's when the discovery of the ancient scrolls was made.

It took a while before the importance of the scrolls was discovered.
Because of the scrolls, we know that the scribes were very precise when they copied the scriptures.

En Gedi

Faith Lesson:

On a plateau, the Dead Sea on one side, and En Gedi on the other, Ben taught us another faith lesson. The salt sea looks so attractive, but it is dead. The desert looks barren but there is the spring of living water. Our culture can be like the salt sea (i.e. Hollywood, money, fame). It all looks good, but it doesn't satisfy. Our Lord is the God of the desert and he gives us living water.

Also, "The sin of the desert is to know where the water is, and how to find it, but not tell anyone".

Ibex

At En Gedi we saw Ibex right away. They are "the deer" from the psalms.

"He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights" (Psalm 18:33).

They all jumped quickly over the fence except this one. It's leg was hurt.

It was hard to see them. They are incredibly fast and can walk on very steep hills.

En Gedi, waterfall in the desert.

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God" (Psalm 42:1).