Pictures

The Western Wall

Christine eating her first falafel ever, in the Old City Jewish Quarter

Dr. Duke looking hardcore at Gezer. You’re welcome, Mrs. Duke.

This is a sycomore tree like the one Zachaeus would have climed up into to see Jesus. No, it’s not 2000 years old and no, it’s not spelled with an “a”. The sycomore tree is in the family of the fig-tree and has no relation to the sycamore tree in the U.S.

Here we are looking at some ruins of Jericho from the middle-bronze age.

Here we are looking south from Navi Samwil.

This is Dr. Mullins pointing out a blown up copy of an ancient calendar that was found at Gezer. This calendar is the oldest Jewish text that we’ve found outside the Bible.

Here is our group overlooking Jerusalem from the South.

Here’s Dr. Mullins pointing out geographical points of interest as we look from the top of the Mount of Olives into the Judean Wilderness and toward the Dead Sea.

Here’s Ryan reading the Lord’s Prayer in different languages from the walls of the Poter Noster church, where Jesus allegedly taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer.

Inside the Church of All Nations. This is the rock on which Jesus may have prayed before his arrest.

The Herodian. King Herod’s mountain fortress to which he could flee in case of unrest in Jerusalem.

The Church of the Holy Nativity in Bethlehem. A possible but not certain location for Jesus’ birth.

The Pools of Bethesda.

If there is a place that we can be sure that Jesus stood, it is on this place, where some of our group are standing. Behind Cliff is the West Gate of the southern “Double-Gate” into the Temple Mount which has been blocked off. That small patch of ground is all that has been left exposed from Jesus time. To form a corner is another building which was built right up to the Temple Mount by the Crusaders.

These are the ruins (with a museum built around them) of an Harodian Villa in which there were found several Mikva’ot (ritual cleansing pools), suggesting that Temple Priests lived here. These would have been familiar to Jesus in his time.

Here is our whole group from APU in from of JUC with the Hinom Valley in the background.

This is one of the wider parts of Hezekiah’s Tunnel (the tunnel was built by Hezekiah to bring water from outside the city walls into the inside). Yes it was very claustrophobic…

This is the south-east most and highest part of the Temple Mount and could very well be where, according to the text, Jesus was tempted by Satan to throw himself down to be saved by the angels in Matthew 4:5-7.

This is one of the very few parts of Hezekiah’s wall, the dating back to 701BCE., which we can observe. This piece is located on the northern part of Hezekiah’s Kingdom (close to the middle of today’s Old City) and it is called the Broad Wall. From the ruins we can see that it is actually built right through a house… maybe read Isaiah 22:10 for a reference.

This is Cliff at the Pool of Siloam, where Hezekiah’s tunnel leads. You might remember this place in the story of John chapter 9. Those steps on which Cliff is standing date back to the time of the story.

Here we are entering the Old City of Jerusalem through Jaffa Gate, on the west side of the city.

Here is a view of King Harod’s palace, on the west side of the Old City, just inside the Jaffa Gate.

Here is part of our group walking along the ramparts of the Old City Walls of Jerusalem.

This is one of the theoretical locations for Golgotha, the place of Jesus’ crucifixion. Behind it and to the left is the “Garden Tomb,” a theoretical location for Jesus’ burial and resurrection.

This is the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem.

This is a picture looking down on the Old City from the Old city wall ramparts.

Some of us gathered at Zion Gate.

A few of us outside the church of the Holy Sepulcher.

This is inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is the traditional site where Jesus was nailed to the cross.

This is outside the traditional tomb of Jesus inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

This is inside the traditional tomb of Jesus in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

This is the West Wall or the Wailing Wall with the Dome of the Rock in the Background. A few of us took an excursion into the Old City of Jerusalem and this is as close as we got to the wall on the first day. We will be going back.

The Valley of Hinom, seen from the roof of JUC.

A few of us on the top of JUC looking down at the Valley of Hinom

These are the old city walls of Jerusalem, Dating back to 1517AD. JUC is about a two minute walk away from where this photo was taken.

Ryan eating fish and chips at Heathrow airport in London, England.

We’re getting ready to leave from LAX to Heathrow in London.

Maranatha is explaining what all the marks on her groups’ map are all about.

Michael taking notes.

Here’s Johanna. she thinks Archaeology rocks!

It’s not what you think… Cliff and his group are getting more acquainted with the regions and geographical setting in Israel.

Here we are, those of us who made it to class on time, at class ready for day 2.

Here Mike, Lindsey, Christine, and Peter mark up a map of the Galilee with historical hot-spots and trade routes in order to prepare for our trip.