Jerusalem

Church of Mary Magdalene, a Russian Orthodox Church
near the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem

If you believe the story of Noah and his Ark (not to be confused with Jonah and the Whale) to be history rather than allegory, then Noah's family tree would be ancestors to each and every one of us.

How about that, Cousin?

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Adam is
purportedly buried directly below where Jesus was
crucified,

Before you dismiss God's flooding the world as religious claptrap, perhaps you would find it helpful to substitute the term "Climate Change," and assume that the "sins of the world" were some ancient euphemism for pollution.

Or, in the current day, substitute "God" for "Climate Change," and perhaps you'll at least find tolerance for whatever morality tale you previously scoffed at.

Church of All Nations Mural
of Jesus at Garden of Gethsemane.

You also could find rationalization in thinking of the flood as a more localized event, wiping out every place Noah, who lived in an age before cars and jets, probably knew of existing or at least had ever visited in his lifetime.

An apocalyptic destruction of his world, perhaps along the lines of the civilization-ending event for the Minoans in Crete, would seem like the entire earth must have been covered with water.

In any case, for the sake of this narrative, let's assume that we all must have descended from Noah, who incidentally was the tenth generation down a family line of Adam and Eve.

Noah had three sons: Ham, Shem and Japheth.

Julie at Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed after
partaking in the Last Supper with his disciples.

Several generations later, in about 4,000 BC, some descendants of Ham established a civilization in the country we call Egypt, which of course became quite an amazing civilization.  About the same time or maybe 1000 years later (what's a few hundred years when you're having fun?), other descendants of Ham established a city called Jebus, the city that would become Jerusalem.

The Church of All Nations beside the Garden of Gethsemane.

The tenth generation of Noah's descendants down the line of Shem included Abraham, who had a few interesting adventures that I won't go into here.  Several generations later came Moses, who became step-royalty to the Pharoah in Egypt before leading his people on an Exodus to the Promised Land, which became Israel.

After conquering their new homeland and settling in, the Israelites decided they wanted a king, despite the fact that God told them He would guide them through His prophets.

Mural of Jesus Praying at
Church of All Nations

They chose Saul, a Schwarzenegger-like man who stood head and shoulders above the rest of the Israelites.

One day, an army of Schwarzeneggers, the Philistines, showed up in the Valley of Elah (a valley we saw on our way into Jerusalem) and made camp on one hillside, taunting King Saul and the Israelites on the opposite side of the valley with threats of their impending violent, merciless attack.

The Philistines challenged Israel to send out their greatest champion, who most Israelites would have thought to be Saul, and let only those two men fight to decide who would rule the Promised Land, saving the obviously inferior fighting force of Israel from being utterly slaughtered by the superior Philistine fighting force.

The Philistines sent out their greatest champion, Goliath, who was an intimidating giant in full battle regalia.  Just the sight of Goliath was so frightening that no Israelite, including Saul, would come forward.

A humble shepherd boy named David, who was in the fourteenth generation of Abraham's heirs, happened to be there.

Embarrassed by this humiliating spectacle of neither the powerful king nor any other Israelite warrior coming forth, David stepped forward with the belief that God, to whom he sang Psalms of praise daily while tending his sheep, would stand with him, just as David protected his flock. He knew that with God's help, anything was possible.

We all know the story.  As he walked toward the giant who wielded the most gruesome weapons of that age, David pulled out the sling shot used to fend off predators who would otherwise ravage his lambs.

Ancient Olive Tree in Garden of Gethsemane

As Goliath laughed at this mere boy sent to combat him, David put a rock in his sling shot and landed a stone right between the titan's eyes, and Goliath fell forward like a felled tree.  David took Goliath's huge sword, almost too heavy for the boy to hoist, and cut off the giant's head.  At least that's the way I learned the story.

Ceiling at the Church of All Nations

The Philistines ran away upon realizing how powerful this God of David and his ancestor Abraham must be, if a mere boy could defeat their hero.

David became a great fighter and then general in Saul's army, greater even than Saul himself.    Despite not being Saul's heir to the throne, David was selected by the Israelites to be king.  What was the first order of business for King David?

Gateway to Jerusalem

"David and all the Israelites marched to Jerusalem (that is, Jebus). The Jebusites who lived there said to David, “You will not get in here.” Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David....

"David then took up residence in the fortress, and so it was called the City of David.  He built up the city around it, from the terraces to the surrounding wall, while Joab restored the rest of the city.  And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord Almighty was with him."

---1 Chronicles, Chapter 11 Versus 4, 5 and then 7 through 9

Like all Jews, Jesus came to Jerusalem for all high holidays.

In the Temple as a boy, He amazed Hebrew religious leaders

with his wisdom.  As an adult, He overturned tables of
money changers who took advantage of poor worshipers.

King David's palace in Jerusalem (location unknown) became the site of much drama.

One night, restless and unable to sleep, David went up to the roof of the palace for some fresh air.  He happened to see a gorgeous woman bathing nearby on what I imagine was a hot summer's night.

We walked Via Dolorosa, the route Jesus took to Calvary.

King David sent a servant to find out about the babe, Bathsheba, and learned she was already married to Uriah, a soldier who happened to be out of town on a military campaign.

The king, accustomed to having anything his heart desired, becoming less in tune with God, and so he sent for Bathsheba and...yada yada yada...."I'm pregnant!"

Church of the Holy Sepulchre marks the spot where Jesus was
crucified and also the place where He was entombed and then
finally resurrected, which we celebrate on Easter.

David sent for Uriah in order to get the soldier home from war and into bed with his wife, so that Uriah wouldn't think something's fishy when his wife has a baby almost nine months later.

But Uriah turned out to be a dedicated soldier, so devoted that he refuses to go to see his wife.

David took it a step further with a deadly cover-up.  As commander-in-chief, he ordered his general to send Uriah to the fiercest fighting against the Ammonites, hoping Uriah would be killed.

Julie enters the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Mission accomplished.

David made Bathsheba his wife, and she gave birth to their son.

However, God knows all and sees all, so He sends the prophet Nathan to speak to David on His behalf.

Worshipers pray at a hole that is purportedly
the exact spot where the cross of Jesus stood.

"I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the Word of the Lord by doing what is evil in His eyes?"

David confessed his sin and begged forgiveness, and Nathan, still speaking for God, told David that God would take away his sin and that his life would be spared.  However, Nathan went on to say that the son of David and Bathsheba would die.

David donned sack cloth and prayed that his son's life might be spared, sincerely contrite for his sins, but seven days later, his son died.

Eastern Orthodox Representation
of Jesus on the Cross

David had hoped God might change his mind as He had with Ninevah after they repented following warnings from Jonah (not to be confused with Noah), but no such luck.

David went to comfort the grieving Bathsheba, and....yada yada yada...about  nine months later a new son, Solomon, was born.

David then undertook finishing the war against the Ammonites in which Bathsheba's first husband Uriah had fought, and you may be surprised to learn that they won, bringing back plunder to Jerusalem and forcing all the Ammonites to slave away making bricks, apparently in preparation for a building boom.

David and Bathsheba's second son grew to become Wise King Solomon, whom the Lord loved greatly.

The Wailing Wall, or Western Wall, is the only remainder of

the 2nd Temple of Jerusalem, built on the site of the 1st

Temple constructed by King Solomon in about 1000 BC.
A 3rd Temple on the same spot is blocked from construction
by presence of the Dome of the Rock mosque,
which bans non-Muslims visitors.

King Solomon built the first Temple in Jerusalem in about 1000 BC.

What do you make of that story?

I'd say the Lord works in mysterious ways.

Jews controlled Jerusalem for 300+ years before being overrun by the Assyrians.

Slab where the body of Jesus
was anointed in olive oil.

About a hundred years into Assyrian rule, Babylonians won control of Jerusalem and carried the Israelites into exile.  This was fourteen generations after King David.

Other kingdoms came and went over the millennia.

Roman Empire rule, which lasted in one form or another for over 700 years, began when Pompey the Great besieged Jerusalem in 63 BC.  Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar, Julius Caesar's great-nephew, ruled at the time of the birth of Jesus, followed in 14 AD by Augustus's stepson Tiberius Caesar, who ruled at the time of the crucifixion.  The life of Jesus in Jerusalem, by the way, is covered in the separate narrative accompanying our photos herein. The Roman Empire continued into the early 300s AD and morphed into the Christian Byzantine Empire under Emperor Constantine.  The Byzantine designation is one made by historians; the Byzantines thought of themselves as Romans.

The Byzantines ruled until 637 AD, when following Mohammed's ascent, Arab Muslims took over Jerusalem, until Crusaders recaptured it a few hundred years later.

Old City of Jerusalem behind Suleimann-built wall.

In 1517, Suleimann the Magnificent (not to be confused with Wise King Solomon) took control of Jerusalem for his Ottoman Turks.  The Ottomans held Jerusalem for 400 years, until the end of World War I when the Brits took over.  We would definitely be crossing historical paths with the Ottomans throughout this trip, culminating in Istanbul where we were amazed by their treasures.  For his part, Suleimann, the greatest Ottoman sultan of them all, built Jerusalem's still-impressive city walls, among many other civic improvements which helped preserve the city for posterity.

Modern West Jerusalem on left, and East Jerusalem on right.

Today, 3,000 years after King David and the Israelites captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites, the descendants of Ham and Shem (and most likely Japheth too) continue to contend over control of Jerusalem and its holy sites.

Shortly after Israel declared its independence in 1948, Jordan annexed East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and Israel took control of West Jerusalem. Barbed wire divided the city in two.

The Jordanian side included the old walled city, with most of its holy sites, and an armistice agreement promised to allow Jews free access to those sites, but it was not honored.

Under the Rotunda, the tomb of Jesus

and a piece of the stone that covered
it are housed in the Edicule, built by

 the Greek Orthodox Church in 1810.

In practice, Muslim sites received maintenance while sites cherished by Jews did not, and that became the norm for 19 years.

In 1967, against the warnings of Israel, Jordan joined with Egypt (United Arab Republic was actually Egypt's name at the time) and Syria in an alliance against Israel.  

With the much larger nations amassing overwhelming forces on their borders, tiny Israel's vaunted secret service, Mossad, learned the exact time for the scheduled all-out assault by the Arab alliance, and thirty minutes before that time, the Israeli Air Force took to the skies.

Like David shocking Goliath with a rock to the forehead, Israeli jets mercilessly bombed Egyptian air fields, destroying almost their entire air force.  With that gambit, Israel had gained air superiority for the entire war.

Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea,
who donated a tomb for Jesus.

The United Arab Republic's military forces were built for offense, not defense.  How could they imagine a tiny country would dare to attack them?

Israel further surprised the alliance by invading the Egyptian-controlled Gaza Strip and also the Sinai with ground forces, inflicting heavy damage on all they encountered, capturing territory like my son Jay with hot dice in a game of Risk.

Israel did not want to open a war front against Jordan, but Syria and Jordan followed Egypt's lead and attacked.  Israeli forces surrounded East Jerusalem, but they did not attack for a number of reasons, including probable negative international reaction.  Despite Israel's warnings, Jordan continued firing artillery barrages from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, so two days into the war, on June 7, General Moshe Dayan gave the order to attack, and following heavy fighting, Israeli troops captured East Jerusalem.

The Woman's side of the Wailing Wall.

During the Six-Day War, Israel won control of East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria, and the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt.

Unlike many of the post-World War II policing actions by the United States and its allies in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, where we've tried to rebuild countries and give them back to their citizens, a truism of war throughout history has been: "To the victors go the spoils."

Shrine in Edicule.

In keeping with this tradition, Israel kept the territories it won, although according to our guide Miki, they'd like to give Gaza back to Egypt but the Egyptians are too smart to accept that constant headache.

The conquered territories to the east, on the other hand, provide an essential buffer to allow Israeli's defenses a chance to respond if attacked.

Did you realize that even after Israel added all of this territory captured in the Six Day War, the combined Islamic countries surrounding Israel are 640 times the size of the Jewish homeland?

Israel is the sliver of red, and Islamic colors are in green.

Can there not be one small sliver of land in the Middle East for a constitutional democracy in which everyone, whether Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Baha'i, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Taoist, Algore-ian Druid or WOMAN, has the same fundamental freedoms of religion, speech, the press and elections as the United States?

Our tour bus had a toilet stop in the outskirts of Jerusalem at this Elvis Gas Station,

 a shrine to the King of Rock and Roll   Despite a constant drum beat of serious

threats, Israelis retain their sense of humor.

The Wailing Wall

The Dome of the Rock Mosque

Location of the Crucifixion

Newer Mosaic of Jesus being lowered from the Cross
at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Greek Orthodox Edicule housing the empty tomb of Jesus.