We all left our hotel in the gray light before sunrise, walking to the nearby Garden Tomb.

A beautiful garden with trees, flowering plants and shrubs and meandering stone paths leading to a  small open area in front of a rock-cut tomb set into a high wall which may, or may not be Jesus’s tomb. It’s a beautiful place to remember and celebrate his resurrection this Easter day.

There were probably about 1,000 people there, sitting on chairs on terraces, open spaces and paths around the garden. They had some screens and loudspeakers scattered around the garden. Philip and I stood for the English-speaking church service. Philip could see a screen but I couldn’t – a tree blocked my view. But we all had song sheets.

Wonderful music and full-throttle singing with everyone joining in. Celebrating the joy of a Saviour who is alive and no longer in the tomb. Some prayers, readings and a speaker. We couldn’t see an actual sunrise, but I could see the sun lighting up the green branches of a pine tree near me as the sun rose higher in the sky. A wonderful service. A highlight of our trip so far.

 

After breakfast back at our hotel, we headed off for more adventures. First off was our visit to the City of David. I thought I knew my history and Bible fairly well. But I know hardly anything.

The city that King David captured from the Canaanites or Jebusites (about 1,000 BC) was a small city on the spur of a hill below where the main centre of Jerusalem is now. Near a spring that constantly flows and was the water source for this city of Jerusalem. They’ve excavated the fortifications of the Jebusites’ city wall (1400 BC) and King David’s wall foundations. They’ve also found houses from the time of the prophets of Isaiah and Jeremiah.

Paul, our tour guide explaining the ancient stones.

An ancient toilet seat was found and the remains show the people were reduced to a starvation diet when the Babylonians came to destroy the city. (587 BC).

Can you see the square block with the hole in it? That’s the toilet seat.

And they’ve found walls from Nehemiah’s time. I have no idea how archaeologists date all this stuff!

But the most amazing thing we experienced was splashing along a narrow channel called Hezekiah’s Tunnel. Constructed by King Hezekiah when Jerusalem was threatened with an Assyrian invasion. They cut a tunnel through sheer rock for 533 metres and by using the 30 cm altitude difference between its two ends, which corresponds to a 0.6‰ gradient, the engineers managed to convey the water from the spring to the pool. Archaeologists found an inscription that says the tunnel was excavated by two teams, one starting at each end of the tunnel and then meeting in the middle! Isn’t that astounding?

Talk about skilled engineering! It’s the myth of chronological snobbery (as C.S.  Lewis called it). That we, our ideas, our skills, our inventions are getting smarter through the years and the centuries.

So the tourist thing to do is wade through the cold water of the tunnel, using a torch. The water level varies from mid-thigh to mid-calf. It never feels like you’re walking downhill but the water rushes smoothly along. The tunnel is narrow. Sometimes the roof is high and sometimes so low you have to stoop down. The most amazing feeling as you’re splashing through the water to be touching chiselled walls that are thousands of years old. Still bearing the marks of their tools as they worked.

This tunnel then opens out to the pool of Siloam. (Also mentioned in the Bible.) You can see Philip standing on the steps of the pool of Siloam. The steps are all that’s left of the pool.

And then walking down a short street nearby – in a tunnel – that was part of the street that Jesus would have walked down on his way to the pool of Siloam. History made so alive.

There was more archaeology to be explored. Some of it Philip and I had already explored last week. But much better explained by our guides. I really appreciated his explanations of the different temples of the Jews and how it relates to us as Christians now.

On the way back to our hotel, we detoured to go past the important Jewish Western Wall. Also known as the Wailing Wall. Very crowded there too. But I wanted to touch it. Just so I could say that I had. So I was able to wriggle through and did touch it. I was in the women’s section and so many women, of all ages, deep in prayer and contemplation. After you touch the wall, you have to back out. You don’t turn your back on the wall. I guess that’s a sign of respect.

An amazing day! Celebrating Jesus’s resurrection with so many other people from around the world. Exploring and seeing history come alive. History that has had such a reverberating impact down through the millenia, the centuries, the decades, the years.