Temple Mount. Dome of the Rock. Bethesda Pools. Western Wall. Bethlehem
First thing this morning we visited the Temple Mount. The Dome of the Rock is an Islamic shrine (there is also the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount) and it sits over the site believed to be the Jewish Temple Holy of Holies. Security is very tight. The tension between Christians and Muslims and Jews fills the air in a very real way - it is a sad commentary on humanity. Security is everywhere. The stunning views of biblical places and events, the history and the realness of God’s Word are breathtaking.
We spent a good deal of the morning around the base of Temple Mount, seeing steps and roads that our Bible Hero’s would have actually had to walk on to go to and from the Temple. We saw the Bethesda Pools, Churches connected with Mary’s mother Anne and the suspected birthplace of Mary. We spent more time at the Western Wall observing devout Jews saying their prayers and putting small slips of paper with prayers on them into the crevices of the wall.
We traveled south to Bethlehem and went to the Church of the Nativity. We stopped and discussed David and Goliath in the Elah Valley.
And we stopped and looked across the valley at Zohar - the home town of Sampson.
This evening we went to a laser light show in The Tower of David.
