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    On Tuesday the 22nd we spent our last day touring the Mount Zion area. Here is a view looking back east toward the Mount of Olives from one of the overlooks we visited while on Zion.

     This next picture was taken slightly below the above location and shows some steps leading up from the floor of the Kidron Valley to where I was standing. (You can see that the tower I just referred to is in almost the exact same position as in the above shot)

    These stairs lead to the church which was built over the remains of a  complex which archeologists know was occupied at one time by an individual named Caiaphas, which incidentally was the name of the High Priest whom Jesus was brought before after His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. Interesting enough, this structure also contained a 'holding cell' which could only be entered by being lowered through a hole in the roof. 

     When you consider the fact that Jesus was most likely detained at Caiaphas' palace overnight before being brought before Herod and Pilate the next day, and this is the only building in the area that has been discovered which contained a holding cell of this type, there is a greater likelihood that this is in fact the actual site where Jesus was then any other site in all of Israel. Also, since the archeologists have unearthed the very lowest level of this site, when you descend into this cell, you are standing on the same floor that whoever was kept in here many centuries ago, also stood on.

     Here is a diagram of the layout of the cell.

     Here is a picture I took looking into the pit through the holes which are marked by the blue rectangle above.

If in fact Jesus was kept overnight here, He would have been lowered into the pit through this hole in the roof.

     The mosaic on the outside of the church gives us an understanding of how that might have been done.

Here is a relief showing Jesus being led away from Caiaphas' house back through the city to Pilate's headquarters.

     From here we moved a little further up Mt Zion to the site traditionally accepted as the grave of King David. Prior to the 1967 war when Israel gained control of all of Jerusalem, Jews had been denied access to the Wailing Wall which we saw earlier. The holiest site for any devout Jew until then was David's burial chamber. 

My primary reason for wanting to visit this site, while definitely associated with King David, had nothing whatsoever to do with his tomb.
Remember earlier that I had said that one of the reasons I had wanted to run on the walls of old Jerusalem was because of that chorus we had song so often that was based upon Joel 2:9?  Well, there is another praise song that we sing quite often, and part of it says that "I will dance like David danced..." 

     This chorus refers to the time when David brought the Ark of the Covenant into the City of David and himself danced wildly before the Ark. So much so that his wife, Saul's daughter Michal, despised David in her heart for his actions. Well, I had purposed in my heart before we left on our trip to Israel that one of the three things I wanted most to do during our journey was to dance before the Lord on Mt. Zion. Now, while I had indeed danced before the Lord with our brothers and sisters from Mt. Zion fellowship on each of the three days that preceded our time on Mt. Zion, we weren't actually on Mount Zion at the time. 

   So as we exited from David's tomb, we went through a large room used as a synagogue which is adjacent to the tomb. For a few moments I slipped away from our group and went into a corner of the room and completed the third of my three tasks. I danced before the Lord on Mt. Zion as David had done when he ushered in the Presence of the Lord, symbolized by the Ark of the Covenant, before the people.(see II Sam.6:14)  While I was not able to celebrate with ram's horns, trumpets and cymbals, it was only because I did not have any with me at the time, not because I would have been embarrassed to do so.

For those of you who are interested, here is a picture of the courtyard of the synagogue.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Here is a picture of Alice standing by the Zion gate which leads into the Old City. It seems that when the walls of the old city were rebuilt in 1542, the architect was not aware of the fact that originally Zion was inside, not outside the old city. Of interest also are the pockmarks on the wall itself. These are left over from the 1948 war for independence when Israeli forces were attempting to breach the walls and relieve the inhabitants of the Jewish Quarter who under siege at the time.

As we drove to our next destination, the model of Old Jerusalem at the Holy Land Hotel, one of Jerusalem's first tourist hotels, we passed by the valley of Gehenna.

Here are a few pictures of this model. In reality, I wish that we had visited this site before we went anywhere else in the Jerusalem area.You get a much better perspective of the geographical relationship of one site to the other, and a better idea of how the area probably looked at the time of Christ.

Hippodrome south of temple mount

Our tour group gives a good perspective of the size of
this 'model.' 

     Thus ended our stay in Israel. For each of us it was a thoroughly enjoyable visit. I believe that, Lord willing, we will return. One last side note. We left Jerusalem just as the sun was rising over the hills. That same day, 15 hours later we saw the sun set over the fields of central Illinois as we drove back home from Chicago O'Hare airport. Jesus walked for a day and covered maybe 15 miles. During a single day we traveled more than 5,000 miles!

     God bless, I hope that you enjoyed sharing our trip with us.