Touring the Old City

We've gone on one tour of the Old City before, about a year ago, but we didn't get to see everything there. We were able to take another quick tour today of some sites... but we still haven't seen everything. You can view more pictures from our first tour of the Old City here.

There is an American priest here that, for the last 20 years, has "attached" himself to the group of Americans where my husband works. Although you can imagine the many differences we have, he is a very nice man and unashamedly spoils us rotten with fancy dinners and gifts. I pray that our family can speak more to him through our testimony than we are allowed to in words. This man, who I will call Mr. P, gives tours of different sites around the city. Interestingly enough, he has given private tours to the Sec. of State, the V.P, and the P0TUS.. (believe me, he loves to show the pictures to prove it). Today he gave us a private tour. Besides this, we also had the luxury of a personal driver taking us to each location so we didn't have to be out walking in the hot sun... (YES, we are getting very spoiled!)

(When looking at these photos, please keep in mind that many of these places are only assumed to be the original site. I suggest looking at these as interesting views of what might have been, and not looking into it too much. Also keep in mind that I am not perfect, nor do I have all knowledge, so if you notice any mistakes in interpretation of Scripture, kindly let me know!)

First, we went to the pool of Bethesda.
John 5:2-9 says, "Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked..."
This is the (empty) pool....
And these are the steps leading down to the pool....
Next, we went to the Garden of Gethsemane.
Matthew 26:36,39 says, "Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder...And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."
Since Mr. P is a priest, he was allowed inside the gated garden... which meant we were also admitted inside. It was nice to get an up close view at the ancient olive trees....
And even nicer was the souvenir that Mr. P got for us....
From outside the Garden you can see the eastern gate of the Old City walls....
There is some interesting information about this gate (also known as the Golden Gate) here.

Next, we went to the Western Wall of the Jewish temple, also known as the Wailing Wall. We saw and touched this on our last tour, but since it was a Saturday we were not allowed to take pictures. This time I got several photographs. Here you can see the separation wall to keep the men on the left and the women on the right....
If you click to enlarge you might be able to see the crescent on top of the Dome of the Rock near the left side of the picture.

In scripture, after Jesus was taken from the Garden of Gethsemane, he was brought to the the high priest Caiaphas' house. These steps lead from the direction of the Garden, up to the remains of that house.... (they are slippery and hard to climb!)

Matthew chapter 26 speaks about Jesus being questioned and abused at Caiaphas' house. The first verse of chapter 27 says, "When the morning was come..." but it doesn't tell us what happened over night. The gospel of John also speaks of this event in chapter 18 saying that Jesus was sent bound to Caiaphas, and the next mention is also "early" the next morning. I say all that to make a point that the word of God does not tell what was happening to Jesus over this evening, nor does it definitively state where he stayed. But, tradition has handed down a story anyway. Once again, this is one of those things you take with a grain of salt and think of it as a "maybe". After all is said and done.... it doesn't matter anyway!
They have proof that this was Caiaphas' house because of an inscription found on the lintel. There are holding cells inside and a dungeon/pit as well. The story goes that Jesus was bound with cords and lowered into the dungeon through an opening at the top. (I can see a few holes in this theory, but oh well.) This is the view of the dungeon from an opening they made later on for viewing purposes....
Obviously, the stairs are not original either, neither is the podium in the corner. This is about the extent of the "room"; it's quite small.
This is the view from inside the dungeon, looking up at the hole in the ceiling....
Whether Jesus was held here or not, it is still an interesting picture of a similar treatment he may have suffered. And this was a 'working' dungeon at one time, so undoubtedly someone suffered here.

The last interesting place we saw was the Potter's Field. Matthew 27 tells of how Judas Iscariot went and hanged himself after betraying Christ. The chief priests then bought a field with the money they had paid Judas and buried him there. The field is also spoken of in Acts 1:18-20 and Psalm 69:25. Although property in Jerusalem is very valuable, this plot of land is uninhabited to this day....

There are still several places of significance that we'd like to see before we leave Israel, but at least we now have a few of those crossed off our list!