I'll start with the old joke, "I just flew from Cape Town to New York and boy are my arms tired..." Yes its lame and, yes its not my arms that are tired. Everything else is.
For those of you who don't know, I flew Turkish Airlines to New York with a stop in Istanbul. I decided to stay awake the whole flight to Istanbul and only managed to get +- 5 hours of sleep on the Istanbul to New York leg. And that sleep was fitful and uncomfortable. And it was not my width that was the problem. It was my length. Sure Turkish Air is cheaper than the competition but there is reason for that. No legroom at all. Technically its better than SAA because the inflight entertainment is MUCH better than the rubbish SAA delivers for more money, but no leg room is still no leg room. I tried to order a seat with more leg room. No dice. At least Delta lets me upgrade to a Economy Comfort seat which has more leg room. So the San Fran leg of my journey will be much more enjoyable. I hope :)
So can I write a decent blog post while VERY tired? My body is craving sleep but I want to watch the first episode of the new season of Franklin and Bash which is at 10pm New York time so I must wait! And since my computer is telling me that its now 2:48am Cape Town time on Wednesday 6th June you can calculate how much sleep I have gotten over how much elapsed time (Cape Town time) and then imagine how my body must feel about that! Well my dear reader. I will let you be the judge!
I am very excited to be in New York. It has been a dream of many years to come here and now that dream is starting to become a reality. I think some people must have looked at me askance today and I had a smile on my face all the way into Manhattan. Seeing the Manhattan skyline for the first time was truely awesome. What was most fun was that I could even pick out some of the buildings. Not many but a few.
On our way into Manhattan I saw something else I actually had not expected. There is a scene in Men in Black 1 where Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones track a bug alien to Queens. The scene in question plays out when the bug tries to get away in one of the space ships that has been left at the site of a previous close encounter with extra-terrestrial life. J and K as they are called fire their weapons and bring down the ship whereapon it crashes through a huge steel structure that represents a globe of earth. This is what I saw on the way to my hotel. And I liked it. We also drove past Madison Square Garden which was one of the sets for another New York based movie Godzilla. Caught a glimpse of the building where supposedly Jonah Jameson had his newspaper, the Daily Bugle. It was also the site where Neal Caffree of White Collar base-jumped after replacing a painting he had stolen with a forgery.
I remember someone mentioning (possibly also in a movie) about how there seems to be a Starbucks on every corner in New York. Well I went looking for a DVD this afternoon and walked down one street and saw four Starbucks coffee shops. Four. Two of them were even within line of site. And I only walked about a kilometer and a half. Thats alot of coffee! I also got the very strong impression that these coffee shops are really all about coffee. There really isn't much else on the menu. Our own home grown product Mugg and Bean at least has a diverse menu that allows you to enjoy a good cup of coffee (or used to do so) AND have a meal if you so chose. Not here. I still need to find a place to eat breakfast. I have one option available so far. They do pancakes and potentially other things as well. At least my breakfast needs in San Francisco will be taken care of! More about that later :)
T-Mobile can only give me Edge connectivity on my really cool iPhone 4S ( :( ) but it is much better than nothing. And Google Maps is a Godsend on the iPhone when you need to plan your routes around a unknown town like New York. Well its unknown to me at any rate :)
Well rather than ramble on forever I will close off by saying I am really glad to be in the Big Apple finally and am looking forward to all the sites I will see tomorrow when I venture out on my first unassisted day of touring. Time Square here I come....
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sir, we would see Jesus
Hermeneutics is the study of the rules for interpreting Scripture. The importance of these rules CANNOT be overstated. If you do not have a set of rules or principles for interpreting Scripture how can you be sure that your interpretation is accurate? "Does it matter?" someone may be heard to ask. Well let me phrase the question this way. Does it matter if for us to know what God actually said instead of what we think He said or what we want Him to say? Jesus said "If you love me, you obey my commandments" John 14:15. Well if we don't know what His commandments are, how can we obey them. Which of course implies that if you truly love Jesus you will endever to know what His commands are so that you can put them into practice.
The reason I bring this up is that I heard a sermon recently where a passage of Scripture was used and when it was cited my immediate reaction was "Did this interpretation come from the context?" At that exact moment I was unable to answer this question as I wanted to continue listening and I didn't have all my tools at my disposal. The text in question was Psalm 32:8 and was quoted from the NKJV as follows:
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye."
The next verse was also added.
Do not be like the horse or like the mule,
Which have no understanding,
Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle,
Else they will not come near you.
Now according to the preacher, the point of this passage is to tell us that God wants us not to be like the horse or the mule that must have a bit or a harness before you can guide them. Don't be stubborn. Let God guide you with His eye. Be so in tune with Him that He only needs to look in the right direction and you will be off doing what He wants you to do. Sounds good right. Lets look at it more closely. What is the context of the psalm itself.
Verse 1 and 2 talk about how Blessed the man is whom God pardons of sin! In verses 3 to 5 David tells us how when he refused to confess his sin, God's hand was heavy upon him, and then how when he confessed it God forgave him. Verse 6 starts "For this cause..." leading on from the end of verse 5 in which David tells us that God forgave his sin. Then follows prayer and praise in verses 6 and 7. Now comes verse 8. Question one. Who is speaking here? Commentators are divided, on whether David is speaking himself, or if he is quoting the words of God Himself! Of course if David is speaking then the interpretation given above is completely out of court. However the majority of commentators agree that God is speaking in verses 8 and 9. Is the interpretation thus vindicated? Well we haven't exhausted our options for analysis so let's look a little deeper.
Firstly if we look a little bit closer at verse 9 we see something interesting. The bit and the bridle are not used in this context to guide the horse where you want it to go (to do as you command) but simply to get the horse or mule to "come near you". One could interpret verse 9 as saying "Don't be an idiot that I have to drag near me." In the broader context of the psalm which talks about unconfessed sin and the joy of forgiveness at confessed sin it would seem to me that verse 9 is saying that if you hide your sin you are like a horse or a mule without understanding that has to be pulled closer to the master.
Hmmm. Our interpretation is breaking down. And we haven't even brought out the big guns yet. Lets look further. What does the word "guide" mean. No not in the English. In the Hebrew. From the lexicon we see that the word translated "guide" actually means counsel or advise. Now you may say to me, "Dude I don't have all those lexicons. How am I supposed to know what the text means if I don't know the Hebrew?" Good question. However if you had been in my hermeneutics class you would already know the answer. The simplest way to check a translation is to compare it with other good translations.
NASB: I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you
ESV: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
NIV: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you and watch over you.
HCSB: I will instruct you and show you the way to go;
with My eye on you, I will give counsel.
Here are just four examples. Most translations (though not all) render the verse similarly.
Notice the repeated use of "counsel". Also notice the "with my eye UPON YOU" All the commentators I have consulted agree with this rendering of the verse. The Tyndale Old Testament Commentary has this to say about the alternate rendering:
"But the well-known rendering in AV, ‘I will guide thee with mine eye’, which suggests our
responsiveness to his glance, is not accurate, although there is a similar thought in 123:2,
where the servant watches for the master’s signal. The point here is God’s vigilance and intimate
care, … with my eye upon you; our response is in verse 9."
Now if you remove my lexicon lookup and also ignore the Tyndale Commentary reference you still have the argument of context and the argument of parallel translations that even the newest Christian can apply to correctly interpret this passage. And the conclusion is that it does NOT mean what the preacher says it means.
This is one of many errors in interpretation that I found in ONE sermon. Another one was a misuse of Romans 1:21 where the argument was made that it is a lack of thankfulness (in general) that causes our hearts to be darkened. The problem is that the passage is talking about the ungodly who most importantly do not honor God AS GOD! In fact in the original language the emphasis of the verse is not on their thanklessness but on their lack of acknowledgement of God as God!
Now the church that the preacher is a part of does teach Biblical hermeneutics. AND they teach the very principles that I have just used to analyse these texts. So why does the preacher not use them? And more importantly, why should the congregation apply correct hermeneutical principles when the leadership refuses to do so? This is a recipe for disaster! Paul commands Timothy to be diligent to show himself approved of God a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Well this preacher OUGHT to be ashamed, because they did not rightly divide the Word of Truth!
Now why would someone who should know better do this? I think it is because they are more interested in what they have to say than what the Bible really says. Instead of getting their truth for the pages of Holy Scripture they get it from their own minds and then use Scripture wrongly to back up their own ideas. I am very concerned for them. James tells us not to want to be teachers because they will receive a harsher judgement. And I would not want to be in this preachers shoes for all the tea in China.
But there is a bigger problem here. The sheep are being misled. They are having bad Scripture
interpretation modelled for them every week. And worse than that, they will then apply that bad method to their own reading of Scripture. Which means that nine times out of ten they will not be hearing a word from God when they read Scripture, they will be hearing a word from themselves. It will not be God speaking to them, but their own hearts. And the Bible tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
What do I want? I want the people of God to hear a word from GOD! Not me. Not the preacher. From the God of the universe. That is why I harp on hermeneutics so much and that is why I am so critical of preaching that does not apply those basic and simple rules. I heard a story of a pulpit in a church where a sign was hung that only the preacher could see before he ascended to give his sermon. It said something to the effect of, "Sir, we would see Jesus" And that is my prayer. That preachers would wake up and let the congregation see Jesus, hear from HIM, and put HIS words into practice in their lives. That they would thus learn to know Him more and love Him more for the marvelous work He did on Calvary.
Preacher! Let them see Jesus!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Please be patient, we are attending...
You may be wondering where's the jolly blog today. Well my usual blog time was spent packing so no blog at present. I will see how the day goes. If I can't get to it before I will write on the 9 hour trip home. Then I can upload the result with my Vodacom sim when we reach Joburg.
Good night from Israel.
-- Post From My iPhone
Good night from Israel.
-- Post From My iPhone
Friday, April 30, 2010
Coming to a close...
Yes one is beginning to feel that the tour is reaching it's conclusion. That and one of my roommates keeps reminding me.
Yes this was our destination for the day. The Israel museum. And the Shrine of the Book. At least I can now say I have been inside. Not being able to take pictures is annoying. Something I just realised now is that there is no justification for preventing photo's in the museum except for greed. You must buy the book. No you say, the flash might damage the documents. Not actually. Most of the documents there are copies. Faximilies. Fakes. So no damage would occur. And if it did it would be easy to fix. The model of Jerusalem they had just inside the entrance was very good. The model was of Jerusalem in the second temple period just before it was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD. The temple conpound is huge. It takes up a significant portion of the city. Herod's palace was on the other side of the city and one theory puts Jesus' trial before Pilate there. This would mean that they would have only needed to march Jesus across the courtyard to take him to Herod instead of across the city. They had an arrow on the wall to indicate where the modern Western Wall where the orthodox pray is. Isn't that nice of them :)
Was able to pick out the name of God from the Isaiah scroll. Facsimilie. Fake. Yes I am just a little annoyed. I bought a book at the shop called "The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English" with not a biblical scroll in sight. Not one of the biblical scrolls are included. Fortunately I bought a critically marked up version of the biblical scrolls in English. So it was not a total loss. I am more offended over the title than anything else.
Our next stop was the Anglican International School in Jerusalem.
It was a hospital first. But as in Zefat the Jews did not want Christians ministering to sick Jews so they built their own. So it was changed into a school. There was a pulpit in the waiting area of the hospital and people who came in got to listen to a gospel presentation while they waited. Much better than the usual magazines I think :) We were given a short message on evangelism to the Jewish people with a few moving testimonies by the head of Shoresh tours. He was also so kind to give me back my baggage tag. So considerate of him. Thanks we have done all we can now it's your problem. Not that it's actually their fault. They did what they could and technically it was above and beyond so I guess I can't complain. Guess I'll have to put in an insurance claim. See if this global travel insurance is all it's cracked up to be. They had better not want to take anything from me at the airport this time. You will be reading about me in the news if that happens. Nuff said.
I guess shopping was not completely banished from the menu for this trip. The bus driver had the rest of the day off and so we had to walk back to the hotel. Not too far but we had two shopping options. Didn't want either but had to choose one as I would be walking either way. Had food at MacDonalds again. Actually tried Burger King but the service sucked so badly that I rather went to Mickey D's.
Took a leisurely stroll back to the hotel.
Took a short detour into the Jaffa gate as you can see :)
The longer the tour continues the more I realise going on your own, even when part of a tour group, is not for me. It's not that the other group members are nasty to me but there is a distance. Each person has someone close to them experiencing the tour with them. I feel like the extra wheel. It is a feeling I am very familiar with but it still sucks. And no Terri that doesn't apply when you are with me, just in case you were wondering. ;) Next time I take a cheaper ten day tour and bring someone along. Even if I have to pay. It's worth it :). Well enough pity parties. No one likes them anyway.
After that it was a beer at the hotel and a very insightful article about the whole Ergun Caner debacle that is about to break. Ask me later.
Then a trip to the turkish bath. Big mistake. It's unisex. So lots of barely clad young ladies pouring water on themselves and rubbing themselves down with some weird sponges. I felt similarly when I went to Clifton beach for the first and last time. Decided the empty jaccuzi was a much better prospect. Which it was!
Supper and then bed!
Tomorrow is a church day so lots of walking and covered knees.
-- Post From My iPhone
Yes this was our destination for the day. The Israel museum. And the Shrine of the Book. At least I can now say I have been inside. Not being able to take pictures is annoying. Something I just realised now is that there is no justification for preventing photo's in the museum except for greed. You must buy the book. No you say, the flash might damage the documents. Not actually. Most of the documents there are copies. Faximilies. Fakes. So no damage would occur. And if it did it would be easy to fix. The model of Jerusalem they had just inside the entrance was very good. The model was of Jerusalem in the second temple period just before it was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD. The temple conpound is huge. It takes up a significant portion of the city. Herod's palace was on the other side of the city and one theory puts Jesus' trial before Pilate there. This would mean that they would have only needed to march Jesus across the courtyard to take him to Herod instead of across the city. They had an arrow on the wall to indicate where the modern Western Wall where the orthodox pray is. Isn't that nice of them :)
Was able to pick out the name of God from the Isaiah scroll. Facsimilie. Fake. Yes I am just a little annoyed. I bought a book at the shop called "The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English" with not a biblical scroll in sight. Not one of the biblical scrolls are included. Fortunately I bought a critically marked up version of the biblical scrolls in English. So it was not a total loss. I am more offended over the title than anything else.
Our next stop was the Anglican International School in Jerusalem.
It was a hospital first. But as in Zefat the Jews did not want Christians ministering to sick Jews so they built their own. So it was changed into a school. There was a pulpit in the waiting area of the hospital and people who came in got to listen to a gospel presentation while they waited. Much better than the usual magazines I think :) We were given a short message on evangelism to the Jewish people with a few moving testimonies by the head of Shoresh tours. He was also so kind to give me back my baggage tag. So considerate of him. Thanks we have done all we can now it's your problem. Not that it's actually their fault. They did what they could and technically it was above and beyond so I guess I can't complain. Guess I'll have to put in an insurance claim. See if this global travel insurance is all it's cracked up to be. They had better not want to take anything from me at the airport this time. You will be reading about me in the news if that happens. Nuff said.
I guess shopping was not completely banished from the menu for this trip. The bus driver had the rest of the day off and so we had to walk back to the hotel. Not too far but we had two shopping options. Didn't want either but had to choose one as I would be walking either way. Had food at MacDonalds again. Actually tried Burger King but the service sucked so badly that I rather went to Mickey D's.
Took a leisurely stroll back to the hotel.
Took a short detour into the Jaffa gate as you can see :)
The longer the tour continues the more I realise going on your own, even when part of a tour group, is not for me. It's not that the other group members are nasty to me but there is a distance. Each person has someone close to them experiencing the tour with them. I feel like the extra wheel. It is a feeling I am very familiar with but it still sucks. And no Terri that doesn't apply when you are with me, just in case you were wondering. ;) Next time I take a cheaper ten day tour and bring someone along. Even if I have to pay. It's worth it :). Well enough pity parties. No one likes them anyway.
After that it was a beer at the hotel and a very insightful article about the whole Ergun Caner debacle that is about to break. Ask me later.
Then a trip to the turkish bath. Big mistake. It's unisex. So lots of barely clad young ladies pouring water on themselves and rubbing themselves down with some weird sponges. I felt similarly when I went to Clifton beach for the first and last time. Decided the empty jaccuzi was a much better prospect. Which it was!
Supper and then bed!
Tomorrow is a church day so lots of walking and covered knees.
-- Post From My iPhone
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Tunnels
Here we sit in traffic in Jerusalem. We have had a very early start. I am not completely awake yet. We are headed for the Western Wall tunnel. And we seem to be taking the long way round.
This is the view of the Mount of Olives from the bus.
Time warp. We are at the end of the day. I sit here on my hotel bed listening to some music and feeling my legs. Boy did we walk a lot today. But I am sure you want to hear all about it :) Well at least I hope so. However once all is told you will understand why a blow by blow option would not work!
Back to the bus. Early morning traffic. Well fighting that meant we got to the Dung gate early. The line to enter the Kotel was very short and we got to the Western Wall without much of a fuss. But that was not our destination yet! We were going under the ground. The Western Wall tunnel. I am still amazed at how Herod managed to get those stones in there. Inside the first building we looked at a model of the Temple Mount. The mount was then modified to show what Herod did to expand the hill itself. The temple was then placed on the platform. Then of course it was removed and replaced with nothing to indicate that it had become a rubbish dump. And then last of all the Dome of the Rock was placed on the model. Now we had a view of how the temple mount had changed over time. Then as is common in Jerusalem we began our descent. I can never get over the fact that to see back in time to what was built in a previous era we have to dig. And not a little bit either. We looked at a few underground arches that had been above ground once. We went down to Herodian times and even lower to the time of the Hasmoneans. Who were they you ask. They were a Jewish kingly dynasty that was set up for a time after the Maccabean revolt. So they predate Jesus.
We were shown to a model of the temple mount that was more ornate than the one at the entrance. It had a remote that controlled the lights so that one could light up sections of the mount to point them out. Yes the area we were in at the time was a little dark. So some creative tricks had to be pulled to get decent photos. Which of course explains why there are no iPhone shots. Not enough light for the poor camera. :( One particularly interesting thing we saw before reaching the tunnel was a mikva that was two small for anyone to wash in. They suspect it was a ritual bath for dishes. Weird huh?
Now it was time to face the tunnel. It took us all the way along the wall away from the Kotel. There were some places where it was fairly low and the authorities had kindly provided cushioning so that one would not hurt ones head. We headed for the surface through what looked like a water cistern. We heard how the Muslims had kicked up a fuss when the extention was build claiming that the Jews were trying to undermine the foundations of the mosque. Which was nowhere near the tunnel. But it started riots that ended in many deaths. Which were reported as "Those horrible Israelis suppressing the peaceloving Muslims" Yeah right.
Our exit was surprising. It was surprising because I recognized where we were. Outside the entrance to the Church of the Flagelation on the Via Dolorosa. Since it was still early we encountered little pedestrian traffic in the city. Heck most of the shops hadn't opened yet. One Arab seller who didn't buy our excuse that we were coming back later (we were in a hurry) started to say that "all South Africans are liars" I called back to him that he wouldn't get much business from us by calling us liars. Anyway. We did a quickstep all the way back to the Kotel. Through the metal detectors yet again! :). Now we had twenty minutes to look around before our next stop. Since today was not the Sabbath I could take photos for which I am very grateful. I think I got a few good ones. It was very special for me to wear Dad's kippur on the temple mount. I wish he could have been there with me! Even now I cry just thinking about it. I think he would have really liked being there. Today was a special day as many boys were having their Bar Mitzvas. So there was a lot of rejoicing and singing and dancing and such. Quite a few broadcast quality video cameras on the scene too. All the moms were at the dividing wall between the men and women looking over the partition watching their boys go through the motions. I even took some video. I'm sure you will want to see it :) In many ways this iPhone really has been useful for this trip. Will have to upload all these videos to Youtube as well. Just need some editing. I also got the priviledge to go into the synagogue at is right at the wall. Got a few pictures there too.
After all that writing one would think we were done. It's only 9am. So we leave the Western wall plaza to climb temple mount. Problem. By this time the line to go to temple mount has gotten rather long. We enter that line but before long Shela our guide is jumping out of line. As David one of my fellow travellers noted later, one hour in a line is a really bad idea when you are on a schedule. So we changed our plans and went to the excavation museum
( I forget the name) and check out some of the excavations made at the one corner of the Western Wall. Here again there was violence in the past as the Muslims maintained that the work was undermining the Al Asqua mosque although it is more than 70 meters away. John told us that he was at that stop when an Al Jezeera reporter was telling lies about the site while looking at it and knowing she was lying in front of all the other media outlets. He called her on it and her attitude was how dare you tell me what to report. Anyway we see again an example of how the land has risen over time. After much digging they actually found rubble from the Romans destruction of the temple. It was depressing to look at actually. Here was visible proof of the fullfillment of Jesus' prophecy. Here was something of interest. High on the wall there was some Jewish graffiti from the Byzantium era. One problem. There was no Jews allowed near Jerusalem at that time. Except for two years when one of the emperors who hated Christians tried to encourage the Jews to rebuild their temple which would prove a prophecy of Jesus false. Poor bastard. He was assasinated and the next guy in charge was not anti-Christian but anti-Jew and the window was closed. They think the graffiti happened in those two years. Near the corner you can see what is left of Robinson's arch. It must have been magnificent when whole but there is little to see now. It led to one of the entrances to temple mount that was closed up. Following along the wall we came to a set of steps on the south side of temple mount. There were two entrances to the mount here. It is believed (And I concur with this idea) that the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost happened here on these steps. The street below the upper room would not accomodate 3000 people let alone more but the steps outside the temple would. Also it says they were in the house and one name for the temple was "The House" Possible. I think so :) We then went to the museum on the site which houses old coins, ancient artist impressions of what they believed the temple looked like and another model of Jerusalem.
Lunch was now fast approaching so we left the museum and walked up to the Jewish Quarter and made use of the excellent options there. I settled for a burger chips and a coke for R108. It was a big burger :) Kosher pizza didn't appeal to me as that means vegetarian pizza. Remember that kosher means no meat and dairy and cheese which is an integral part of pizza is dairy. Found some free wifi which was handy for downloading a few things. Checked out a bookstore but there was little that appealed to me so I didn't buy anything.
Guess where I was. :) yes I was on Temple mount. We waited in a much shorter line after lunch and made it to the mount. This is where I received a most unwelcome phone call informing me that El Al cannot find my stuff. So that is a flash and battery charger down the drain. I am really angry about that. Not sure where to go from here.
So we explore temple mount, get a view of the mount of Olives and discuss various possible sites for the temple. Now we have to rush to make our next appointment at the City of David site and we exit the Temple Mount from a different place to that which we entered it from. Again we find ourselves in the heart of old Jerusalem and again we hurry. :) We end up back at the Kotel, cross it quickly and exit at the dung gate. We pick up our wet gear at the bus and walk a block to the City of David excavation. This is on the site where Davids original Jerusalem was outside the walls of the city of today! We look at various ruins but are distracted by a rowdy bunch of school kids. They make it reaaly hard to hear our guide and so we miss much of what is going on. The wet gear was for Hezekiahs tunnel. Boy was that a long dark walk. That place was not made for someone as wide and tall as me. But I got through ok. Where we finally exited the tunnel we reached the Pool of Siloam. This was where Jesus told the blind man to wash the mud off his eyes. I really enjoyed seeing and photographing the pool. This concluded our day in Jerusalem. On to the bus and back to the hotel.
Here since my legs were really sore I decided to make use of the jaccuzi and a massage. Both felt wonderful. Then to dinner and to bed. I finished the last few drops of my wine tonight. Ah well, it was good while it lasted!
Now with sore legs I will bid you all good night and look forward to seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls tomorrow. Sweet dreams.
This is Robert le Clus reporting from Jerusalem, Israel!
-- Post From My iPhone
This is the view of the Mount of Olives from the bus.
Time warp. We are at the end of the day. I sit here on my hotel bed listening to some music and feeling my legs. Boy did we walk a lot today. But I am sure you want to hear all about it :) Well at least I hope so. However once all is told you will understand why a blow by blow option would not work!
Back to the bus. Early morning traffic. Well fighting that meant we got to the Dung gate early. The line to enter the Kotel was very short and we got to the Western Wall without much of a fuss. But that was not our destination yet! We were going under the ground. The Western Wall tunnel. I am still amazed at how Herod managed to get those stones in there. Inside the first building we looked at a model of the Temple Mount. The mount was then modified to show what Herod did to expand the hill itself. The temple was then placed on the platform. Then of course it was removed and replaced with nothing to indicate that it had become a rubbish dump. And then last of all the Dome of the Rock was placed on the model. Now we had a view of how the temple mount had changed over time. Then as is common in Jerusalem we began our descent. I can never get over the fact that to see back in time to what was built in a previous era we have to dig. And not a little bit either. We looked at a few underground arches that had been above ground once. We went down to Herodian times and even lower to the time of the Hasmoneans. Who were they you ask. They were a Jewish kingly dynasty that was set up for a time after the Maccabean revolt. So they predate Jesus.
We were shown to a model of the temple mount that was more ornate than the one at the entrance. It had a remote that controlled the lights so that one could light up sections of the mount to point them out. Yes the area we were in at the time was a little dark. So some creative tricks had to be pulled to get decent photos. Which of course explains why there are no iPhone shots. Not enough light for the poor camera. :( One particularly interesting thing we saw before reaching the tunnel was a mikva that was two small for anyone to wash in. They suspect it was a ritual bath for dishes. Weird huh?
Now it was time to face the tunnel. It took us all the way along the wall away from the Kotel. There were some places where it was fairly low and the authorities had kindly provided cushioning so that one would not hurt ones head. We headed for the surface through what looked like a water cistern. We heard how the Muslims had kicked up a fuss when the extention was build claiming that the Jews were trying to undermine the foundations of the mosque. Which was nowhere near the tunnel. But it started riots that ended in many deaths. Which were reported as "Those horrible Israelis suppressing the peaceloving Muslims" Yeah right.
Our exit was surprising. It was surprising because I recognized where we were. Outside the entrance to the Church of the Flagelation on the Via Dolorosa. Since it was still early we encountered little pedestrian traffic in the city. Heck most of the shops hadn't opened yet. One Arab seller who didn't buy our excuse that we were coming back later (we were in a hurry) started to say that "all South Africans are liars" I called back to him that he wouldn't get much business from us by calling us liars. Anyway. We did a quickstep all the way back to the Kotel. Through the metal detectors yet again! :). Now we had twenty minutes to look around before our next stop. Since today was not the Sabbath I could take photos for which I am very grateful. I think I got a few good ones. It was very special for me to wear Dad's kippur on the temple mount. I wish he could have been there with me! Even now I cry just thinking about it. I think he would have really liked being there. Today was a special day as many boys were having their Bar Mitzvas. So there was a lot of rejoicing and singing and dancing and such. Quite a few broadcast quality video cameras on the scene too. All the moms were at the dividing wall between the men and women looking over the partition watching their boys go through the motions. I even took some video. I'm sure you will want to see it :) In many ways this iPhone really has been useful for this trip. Will have to upload all these videos to Youtube as well. Just need some editing. I also got the priviledge to go into the synagogue at is right at the wall. Got a few pictures there too.
After all that writing one would think we were done. It's only 9am. So we leave the Western wall plaza to climb temple mount. Problem. By this time the line to go to temple mount has gotten rather long. We enter that line but before long Shela our guide is jumping out of line. As David one of my fellow travellers noted later, one hour in a line is a really bad idea when you are on a schedule. So we changed our plans and went to the excavation museum
( I forget the name) and check out some of the excavations made at the one corner of the Western Wall. Here again there was violence in the past as the Muslims maintained that the work was undermining the Al Asqua mosque although it is more than 70 meters away. John told us that he was at that stop when an Al Jezeera reporter was telling lies about the site while looking at it and knowing she was lying in front of all the other media outlets. He called her on it and her attitude was how dare you tell me what to report. Anyway we see again an example of how the land has risen over time. After much digging they actually found rubble from the Romans destruction of the temple. It was depressing to look at actually. Here was visible proof of the fullfillment of Jesus' prophecy. Here was something of interest. High on the wall there was some Jewish graffiti from the Byzantium era. One problem. There was no Jews allowed near Jerusalem at that time. Except for two years when one of the emperors who hated Christians tried to encourage the Jews to rebuild their temple which would prove a prophecy of Jesus false. Poor bastard. He was assasinated and the next guy in charge was not anti-Christian but anti-Jew and the window was closed. They think the graffiti happened in those two years. Near the corner you can see what is left of Robinson's arch. It must have been magnificent when whole but there is little to see now. It led to one of the entrances to temple mount that was closed up. Following along the wall we came to a set of steps on the south side of temple mount. There were two entrances to the mount here. It is believed (And I concur with this idea) that the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost happened here on these steps. The street below the upper room would not accomodate 3000 people let alone more but the steps outside the temple would. Also it says they were in the house and one name for the temple was "The House" Possible. I think so :) We then went to the museum on the site which houses old coins, ancient artist impressions of what they believed the temple looked like and another model of Jerusalem.
Lunch was now fast approaching so we left the museum and walked up to the Jewish Quarter and made use of the excellent options there. I settled for a burger chips and a coke for R108. It was a big burger :) Kosher pizza didn't appeal to me as that means vegetarian pizza. Remember that kosher means no meat and dairy and cheese which is an integral part of pizza is dairy. Found some free wifi which was handy for downloading a few things. Checked out a bookstore but there was little that appealed to me so I didn't buy anything.
Guess where I was. :) yes I was on Temple mount. We waited in a much shorter line after lunch and made it to the mount. This is where I received a most unwelcome phone call informing me that El Al cannot find my stuff. So that is a flash and battery charger down the drain. I am really angry about that. Not sure where to go from here.
So we explore temple mount, get a view of the mount of Olives and discuss various possible sites for the temple. Now we have to rush to make our next appointment at the City of David site and we exit the Temple Mount from a different place to that which we entered it from. Again we find ourselves in the heart of old Jerusalem and again we hurry. :) We end up back at the Kotel, cross it quickly and exit at the dung gate. We pick up our wet gear at the bus and walk a block to the City of David excavation. This is on the site where Davids original Jerusalem was outside the walls of the city of today! We look at various ruins but are distracted by a rowdy bunch of school kids. They make it reaaly hard to hear our guide and so we miss much of what is going on. The wet gear was for Hezekiahs tunnel. Boy was that a long dark walk. That place was not made for someone as wide and tall as me. But I got through ok. Where we finally exited the tunnel we reached the Pool of Siloam. This was where Jesus told the blind man to wash the mud off his eyes. I really enjoyed seeing and photographing the pool. This concluded our day in Jerusalem. On to the bus and back to the hotel.
Here since my legs were really sore I decided to make use of the jaccuzi and a massage. Both felt wonderful. Then to dinner and to bed. I finished the last few drops of my wine tonight. Ah well, it was good while it lasted!
Now with sore legs I will bid you all good night and look forward to seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls tomorrow. Sweet dreams.
This is Robert le Clus reporting from Jerusalem, Israel!
-- Post From My iPhone
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
On the way to Jerusalem
This morning broke with a beautiful sunrise as we bid adue to our home for the last few days.
I was able to download a whole hour of James White this morning and had a good time listening to it on the bus ride.
The main event for the day is Neot Kedumim. However you spell that. I saw at least three spellings. One on the itinerary, one on the map and another on the street sign. No matter. At the biblical garden as it is called we learnt a few things about the time of the Bible. Did you know that there are seven native plant kinds in Israel. Olive, fig, grape, pomegranate, date, barley and wheat. Did you know that there are some interesting similarities to the dress of the high priest in the temple and the coverings and related paraphanalia associated with the Torah scrolls in the synagogue? We were shown how threshing, sifting and all these processes of getting the wheat out were done.
We also met a scribe hard at work copying the Torah. He even sang/chanted while reading the scroll. Yes I have video :) The scroll was supposedly five hundred years old. Not sure if that is true since it was outside and not in a museum. Could have been an embelishment for effect.
The metal device sticking out the side was for pointing at the appropriate place as he did not want to defile the scroll by touching it. The passage is from Exodus where Miriam sings her song after the destruction of Pharoahs army in the Red Sea. Some very interesting processes for fixing a mistake in a scroll. The scribes name is Zechariah and he comes originally from Yemen.
At the date palm we were told about date honey which has nothing to do with bees. This I found very interesting.
By this time we were hungry and so we went for lunch. The lunch was subsidized and we paid only 10 shekels. Well I always say you get what you pay for and we sure got our moneys worth. Remember that most of our lunches were in the region of $10. We got a shepherds lunch. Half pitas with humus, sour cheese, and two other strange things as well as pieces of cucumber. Well I had paid my money so I ate. One pita. While fighting the flies and boy were there alot of them! Had two cups of mint tea. One without honey and one with two teaspoons of it. The honey mint tea was very good. A highlight of the meal was the dessert. Plain yogurt with date honey. Excellent. I nearly went for seconds but we had to catch the bus. Didn't even have time to finish my watermelon piece. Then on to Jerusalem! We took a short detour to a place that overlooks Bethlehem. It was one of the front lines of the 1948 war. We walked over the trenches. Hectic. We walked past a memorial that has three very tall pillars with two live olive trees growing on top. One interesting thing that we learnt there was about the shepherds that the angels met to announce the birth of Jesus. They were no ordinary shepherds but worked for the temple and were raising lambs for sacrifice. So what the angels were actually saying was "Good News. You're fired!" Donald Trump would be proud! The Lamb who takes away the sin of the world has come!
Well our day was fast winding to an end. We stopped at a lookout point for five minutes to see the Old City. Then it was on to the hotel. Turns out our three person room had only two beds. But we sorted them out but quick! The wifi was not free, mores the pity but this we can also manage.
Took a short walk on my own towards the old city which is very close to the hotel. Had to turn back as it was getting close to supper time :( well we will see her tomorrow God willing.
Time for me to go to bed now as it is an early morning as our visit to the Western Wall tunnel starts at 7:40am
Good night for Mt Zion Hotel in Jerusalem!
-- Post From My iPhone
I was able to download a whole hour of James White this morning and had a good time listening to it on the bus ride.
The main event for the day is Neot Kedumim. However you spell that. I saw at least three spellings. One on the itinerary, one on the map and another on the street sign. No matter. At the biblical garden as it is called we learnt a few things about the time of the Bible. Did you know that there are seven native plant kinds in Israel. Olive, fig, grape, pomegranate, date, barley and wheat. Did you know that there are some interesting similarities to the dress of the high priest in the temple and the coverings and related paraphanalia associated with the Torah scrolls in the synagogue? We were shown how threshing, sifting and all these processes of getting the wheat out were done.
We also met a scribe hard at work copying the Torah. He even sang/chanted while reading the scroll. Yes I have video :) The scroll was supposedly five hundred years old. Not sure if that is true since it was outside and not in a museum. Could have been an embelishment for effect.
The metal device sticking out the side was for pointing at the appropriate place as he did not want to defile the scroll by touching it. The passage is from Exodus where Miriam sings her song after the destruction of Pharoahs army in the Red Sea. Some very interesting processes for fixing a mistake in a scroll. The scribes name is Zechariah and he comes originally from Yemen.
At the date palm we were told about date honey which has nothing to do with bees. This I found very interesting.
By this time we were hungry and so we went for lunch. The lunch was subsidized and we paid only 10 shekels. Well I always say you get what you pay for and we sure got our moneys worth. Remember that most of our lunches were in the region of $10. We got a shepherds lunch. Half pitas with humus, sour cheese, and two other strange things as well as pieces of cucumber. Well I had paid my money so I ate. One pita. While fighting the flies and boy were there alot of them! Had two cups of mint tea. One without honey and one with two teaspoons of it. The honey mint tea was very good. A highlight of the meal was the dessert. Plain yogurt with date honey. Excellent. I nearly went for seconds but we had to catch the bus. Didn't even have time to finish my watermelon piece. Then on to Jerusalem! We took a short detour to a place that overlooks Bethlehem. It was one of the front lines of the 1948 war. We walked over the trenches. Hectic. We walked past a memorial that has three very tall pillars with two live olive trees growing on top. One interesting thing that we learnt there was about the shepherds that the angels met to announce the birth of Jesus. They were no ordinary shepherds but worked for the temple and were raising lambs for sacrifice. So what the angels were actually saying was "Good News. You're fired!" Donald Trump would be proud! The Lamb who takes away the sin of the world has come!
Well our day was fast winding to an end. We stopped at a lookout point for five minutes to see the Old City. Then it was on to the hotel. Turns out our three person room had only two beds. But we sorted them out but quick! The wifi was not free, mores the pity but this we can also manage.
Took a short walk on my own towards the old city which is very close to the hotel. Had to turn back as it was getting close to supper time :( well we will see her tomorrow God willing.
Time for me to go to bed now as it is an early morning as our visit to the Western Wall tunnel starts at 7:40am
Good night for Mt Zion Hotel in Jerusalem!
-- Post From My iPhone
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
In a mirror...
Today was a day of reflection. We didn't actually do that much. A 9am start meant we could sleep a little later than usual. On the bus we had a summation of the Galilee leg of the trip, the good the bad and the dodgy.
Since this is a CMJ tour we stopped the bus at Beit Bracha which means House of Blessing. It is a retreat center and guesthouse run by CMJ as an outreach to the local community. They are situated in Migdal the town from which Mary Magdelene came from. The guesthouse is self sufficient and thus does not depend on outside funding to operate. If you remember from the first day in Jaffa we went to Beit Immanuel. This place is similar.
From there we took the drive up to Mt Arbel. This mount is famous or should I say infamous because many Zealots were thrown off the cliff here by the Romans. This part of the blog I am actually writing from the summit. From here one gets a good view over the whole Galilee area and is an appropriate place to sit and think over this part of the tour.
One amazing featur of the device I have in my hands is that with the map program and all the places I have geotagged over the trip so far I can immediately establish where everything is in relation to where I am now. From where I sit I can see Zefat in front of me with Migdal below. My biggest problem at this moment are the flies and the miggies. Small little blighters but very irritating.
From here it is on to Tiberius. More on that when I get there.
So here we are in Tiberius.
Since we only get just over an hour it is little more than a lunch stop. Had some of the obligatory MacDonalds which has become a tradition for me. When you do something once it's revolutionary, when you do it the second time it's tradition. Or so the rabbinic sages say. Big Mac meal. Costs R60 but it was worth it!
Took a short walk through town. A lot of high fasion shops, the odd appliance shop and one or two toy stores. Not much else where I was walking anyway. Saw a cool little shop. Full of radio controlled devices. Almost bought one. But since I dare not take it through customs I decided against it. Maybe when I get back. I sit here at the meeting point waiting for the others to arrive and it hits me again that this tour is fast coming to a close. Not long from now we will be on our way back to South Africa. Tonight is packing night. It has been good to stay at one hotel for so long even if Galilee got a bit much at times. Next stop Mount Zion hotel!
How I am looking forward to Jerusalem.
As I type we are on our way back to the hotel. If all goes according to plan I will finish yesterdays blog before bed tonight and then I will finally be up to date. Then God willing you can get the blow by blow account of Jerusalem!
Tomorrow is the Biblical garden place which should be interesting!
And with this entry I am finally up to date! Yay! So tomorrow evening God willing you will learn what I did yesterday!
Good night from Ramot Resort Hotel in Galilee Israel!
-- Post From My iPhone
Since this is a CMJ tour we stopped the bus at Beit Bracha which means House of Blessing. It is a retreat center and guesthouse run by CMJ as an outreach to the local community. They are situated in Migdal the town from which Mary Magdelene came from. The guesthouse is self sufficient and thus does not depend on outside funding to operate. If you remember from the first day in Jaffa we went to Beit Immanuel. This place is similar.
From there we took the drive up to Mt Arbel. This mount is famous or should I say infamous because many Zealots were thrown off the cliff here by the Romans. This part of the blog I am actually writing from the summit. From here one gets a good view over the whole Galilee area and is an appropriate place to sit and think over this part of the tour.
One amazing featur of the device I have in my hands is that with the map program and all the places I have geotagged over the trip so far I can immediately establish where everything is in relation to where I am now. From where I sit I can see Zefat in front of me with Migdal below. My biggest problem at this moment are the flies and the miggies. Small little blighters but very irritating.
From here it is on to Tiberius. More on that when I get there.
So here we are in Tiberius.
Since we only get just over an hour it is little more than a lunch stop. Had some of the obligatory MacDonalds which has become a tradition for me. When you do something once it's revolutionary, when you do it the second time it's tradition. Or so the rabbinic sages say. Big Mac meal. Costs R60 but it was worth it!
Took a short walk through town. A lot of high fasion shops, the odd appliance shop and one or two toy stores. Not much else where I was walking anyway. Saw a cool little shop. Full of radio controlled devices. Almost bought one. But since I dare not take it through customs I decided against it. Maybe when I get back. I sit here at the meeting point waiting for the others to arrive and it hits me again that this tour is fast coming to a close. Not long from now we will be on our way back to South Africa. Tonight is packing night. It has been good to stay at one hotel for so long even if Galilee got a bit much at times. Next stop Mount Zion hotel!
How I am looking forward to Jerusalem.
As I type we are on our way back to the hotel. If all goes according to plan I will finish yesterdays blog before bed tonight and then I will finally be up to date. Then God willing you can get the blow by blow account of Jerusalem!
Tomorrow is the Biblical garden place which should be interesting!
And with this entry I am finally up to date! Yay! So tomorrow evening God willing you will learn what I did yesterday!
Good night from Ramot Resort Hotel in Galilee Israel!
-- Post From My iPhone
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