DAY 13 (May 9, 2011): Second Journey, Day 3
Western Wall Tunnel tour, Walk through Hezekiah’s Tunnel, Walk old city, Walk Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna), Walk old city again.
Walk, walk, walk. Must’ve logged a good five miles today. Started at 9:45 at the western (“Wailing”) wall where I met Dan Kingsley and Paul Schreiner. We then walked underground through caverns and tunnels northward along the western wall. Awesome. Just awesome. Saw the largest of the Herodian foundation stones. Something over 40 feet long, 11 feet thick and perhaps 14 feet tall, it’s estimated to weigh 580 tons. And to think Herod’s men somehow, some way, moved that thing into place 2,000 years ago and set it so perfectly upon the course below that there’s no way to slip a piece of paper between those stones. My oh my oh my. Lighting and space conditions are quite constricted, so the photo of a small section of this magnificent stone doesn’t begin to tell the tale.
Another half mile walk and innumerable stairs took us over to the City of David, deep down into the bowels of his foundations and eventually into the mind-boggling engineering triumph of King Hezekiah – his water tunnel. For a third of a twisting mile we walked thigh-deep through water and in total darkness (but for Dan’s headlamp). And I was in a constant state of amazement. Solid rock, 1,700 feet, and the channel has less than one foot of decline over its entire length! In an understatement for the ages, the Scripture only says, “Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?” (2 Kings 20:20).
Photos of the entrance sign and our exit at a pool under a Byzantine church.
These first two walks through colossal conquests of natural obstacles make me marvel at human ingenuity and determination. They are wonderful success stories in the realm of physics. But the next walk (maybe one mile altogether) was a sobering stroll though physical beauty but horrific spiritual failure.
We met Ferrell at the entrance to the city of David and the four of us drove over to the train station where Dan and Paul parted from us for Tel Aviv and home. Ferrell and I drove toward the hotel and on the way came to the upper end of the Valley of Hinnom. I jumped out of the car at the light while Ferrell went on back to the hotel. Thus began an almost eerie walk through a most beautiful setting with a haunting memory.
“The sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight," declares the Lord, "they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. They built the high places of Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind. Therefore, behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place. The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. Then I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a ruin.” (Jeremiah 7:30-34)
The setting for this ominous place of monstrosity looks like this today. The first picture is from high up at the top of the valley and the second picture is of the central part. The lowest end of the vale is not safe to enter so I don't have any photo of the area where the Hinnom and Kidron valleys come together.
After walking down into and then back out of this simultaneously gorgeous and dreadful swale, I came up to the city walls and walked northward to the Joppa Gate area (seen below) and then through that gate and down into all the colorful little shops of old Jerusalem for perhaps half a mile before finally emerging from the city through the Damascus Gate on the north side. After perhaps another mile through newer city areas I got to the hotel.
What a day! What a day for marveling at man’s triumph over nature in one sense and his worst capitulation to it in another.
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