Shalom, Brief Israel Geography, Garden Tomb, a little bit of Temple Mount stuff

Shalom and marhaba from the Holy Land. I apoligize firstly to those who have been waiting what has felt like a lifetime for my blog posts to begin and secondly I apoligize to those who don't actually know I am horrible at everything pictures and so I don't have much as far as that goes. I know you don't have all day to read this blog so I am going to share some quick quips from my adventures and invite you to ask any follow-ups to my brief words. I will be making a weekly entry and will try to not be too extreme in politcal or spiritual things, but that just comes with the territory.  

BYU Jerusalem Center

The JC sits on Mount Scopus adjacent to the Mount of Olives. The JC is a state-of-the-art building with pristine gardens, a large glass auditorium with an impressive organ, nice housing luxuries, great security, and a ping-pong table. The tower in the upper right is the Augusta Victoria Hospital/ Lutheran Church of Ascension. Students make a 15 minute walk through East Jerusalem to get into the Old City where this picture was taken. One of the great things about studying in the Near East is seeing signs and hearing about random biblical geography. The Kidron Valley is at the bottom of the picture and continues running south into the Hinnom Valley. I love the Palestinian flag flying at the bottom right. Here is a quick breakdown of Palestinian-Israeli geography: The land of Israel was under Ottoman Empire rule until World War I when it was put under British Mandate. In 1948 todays boundaries excluding the West Bank (Jordan), Golan Heights (Syria), and the Gaza Strip (Eqypt) were given to the new Israeli State. In 1967 Israel attacked the surrounding countries and gained control of the three areas mentioned above. The JC is located in East Jerusalem on land that used to be under Jordanian/Palestinian control and thus it is inhabitated by Arab Israelis who don't enjoy full Israeli citizenship. The Old City in the middle of Jerusalsem is divided between Muslims, Jews, Armenians, and Christians. West Jerusalsem is completely Jewish land.   

Me at tomb entrance

Our first Sunday in Jerusalem we went to the Garden Tomb. The tomb was rediscovered in the 19th century and is ran by Protestant Christians. It is just North of the Old City and the Christians there do a great job of running the place. They are very clear in establishing that the place of Christs death, burial, and ressurection is less important than the fact that it happened. This is interesting to contrast with the other place in Jerusalem where Christians claim Christ suffered. That place is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is located inside the city and is controlled by Orthodox and Catholic churchs, which naturally gives it much more of an ancient/idolatrous feel. The four reasons many Christians think the Garden Tomb fits the bill includes: Location outside the city wall, location at teh crossroads of two major highways would have made exposure for the event desirable for Roman leadership, the spot was located on an ancient Jewish stoning ground and the Romans replaced the stoning practice with crucification, and lastly is the indentations in the rock wall adjacent to the tomb has the appearance of a skull (Golgotha=place of the skull). Within the tomb itself there were Christian symbols bored into the walls and the wine press also in the garden dates to the time of Christ.   

1st century wine press right by tomb

Inside Garden Tomb (smaller then I expected)

Golgotha (can't see well from this angle the lower indentation but "eyes" of skull are below what today is a Muslim cemetery)

One of the great things about our schedule (and me with my anti-do homework agenda particualry) is that we have time to go and explore the Old City. One of the days we spent at the Temple Mount. I enjoyed seeing soldiers praying at the Western Wall which is considered by Jews as the most effective palce to pray in the world. Jews wont go on the Temple Mount itself because they aren't sure where the Holy of Holies was and don't want to walk over that. Also the Temple Mount today is the third most holy place for Muslims as the 7th century Dome of the Rock and El-Asqa Mosgue are there.

Soldiers are everywhere out here

Dome of the Rock and a fountain for Muslims to wash before prayer

Dome of Rock upper left, Western Wall lower left, El-Asqa Mosque right

Some sheep being shepherded. Kinda cool.