Book Review: Lars Kierspel. Charts on the Life, Letters and Theology of Paul

Lars Kierspel. Charts on the Life, Letters and Theology of Paul. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel, 2012. 284 pages, pb. $26.99. Link.

Kregel has recently revived the idea of a “chart book with their “Charts of the Bible and Theology” Series. I reviewed Herb Bateman’s Charts for the Study of Hebrews earlier this year.  Lar Kierspel (Ph.D., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) contributes a collection of charts for Pauline studies. As with most books of this type, some charts are more useful than others, but my overall impression is that this is a useful book for teaching the Pauline letters.

The first 8 charts (13 pages) are concerned with background material, including the history and structure of the Roman empire. Chart 6 (Paul’s Greco-Roman Background) lists a number of words / concepts in the Pauline letters that resonate with Greco-Roman philosophy, ethics, and culture. The material presented here is good, but sometimes not tied as closely to the Pauline letters as they could be. For example, there is a nice chart summarizing Greco-Roman philosophy, but this might be improved by indicating the Pauline ideas that are like / unlike these broad categories. Perhaps a chart tied to a book could have presented this material differently, such as Magic in Ephesus.

The second set of 24 charts (38 pages) cover Paul’s life. This section deal with chronology and attempts to blend Acts and the Pauline letters. Some of these are long lists (all the men in Paul’s letters, for example). A six-page chart collects all the verses in Paul’s letters describing his opponents (with descriptive phrases in bold text). Chart 32 collects opinions on why Luke finished Acts without reporting Paul’s death, chart 33 collects traditions concerning Paul’s trip into Spain, and chart 34 collects 6 texts reporting Paul’s martyrdom (1 Clement 55 through Lactantius).

The largest section of the collection concerns the Letters of Paul. There are 42 charts covering all of the Pauline letters, including a “snapshot” for each book. In most cases this “snapshot” is a single page offering information on audience, occasion, opponents, structure, purpose, and any special features unique to the book. While these single pages connect the letters to the book of Acts, there is no specific date given for the book. Remarkably there is no chart offering various schemes for dates of the letters. Chart 77 collects a number of problem texts in the Pauline letters and offers extremely brief summaries of suggested solutions. I thought any one of these would make a decent chart. For example, the problem of “all Israel will be saved” in Romans 11:26 has five views suggested. By adding a list of scholars supporting each view, this would make a nice single-page chart.

I personally found the charts on quotations and allusions in the Pauline letters very useful (charts 45-52). All of this data is drawn from Nestle-Aland 27 so there is nothing new here, but students who do not own the NA27 will find the chart helpful.  I am not completely convinced that all of the allusions to intertestamental literal are valid. At best these are all potential allusions, but this is a problem with the NA27 list, not Kierspel.

The fourth section covers Pauline theology. In general these follow the usual loci for theology, often simply listing words with texts. For example, chart 90 has three pages of “eschatological concepts,” a list of terms like destruction, resurrection or reward, with the Greek words and a few texts. There are several pages of virtues and vices which are laid out in the same fashion. There are a few special charts on the gifts of the Spirit (chart 93) and Elders (chart 94) that are more detailed.  There is a single chart on the New Perspective on Paul, this ought to be read along with the page of explanation in the back of the book.

There are a few charts that are interesting, but I doubt their usefulness. For example, chart 42 contains two useful charts listing the number of words in each Pauline letter alone with the number of hapax legomena (“spoken once,” words used only once in the New Testament). The first chart gives the percentage of total words in each book that are hapax, and the second the percentage of total vocabulary that are hapax. This is interesting and useful. But the next three pages list all 601 words which are hapax in the Pauline letters. While I did stare and these pages for a few minutes, I am not sure of the usefulness of this information.

As with other books in this series, Kierspel has a paragraph on text explaining each chart in the final section. This 44-page section is important to read since it is here that he gives bibliography for the data he includes. In some cases these are mini-introductions to controversial topics (like Pauline chronology, for example).  The book has an extensive 31 page bibliography.

Conclusion. Like other books in this series, there a staggering amount of information presented in these charts. While I question the usefulness of some of the charts for classroom use, the book is a worth while investment for those who teach the Pauline letters in church or classroom.

Thanks to Kregel Academic for kindly providing me with a review copy of this book. This did not influence my thoughts regarding the work.

Israel 2013, Day 11 – Homeward Bound

This was our last day in Israel, and we made it count. Staring at Tamar at 9AM, we drover north to En-Gedi. This is the canyon where David hid from King Saul in 1 Sam 24. While there are plenty of caves, I doubt any of the current caves are the place where David was hiding when Saul came to “cover his feet.” With a supply of water, shade, animals and defensive lookouts, it is little wonder that David would have used this canyon as a base of operations in the Negev. The Israeli Parks service has made this an easy hike, although there are a few scrambles up rocks. We started about 9AM, so the park was not really crowed, only a few small groups. We had a few photo ops with rock badgers, but the wild goats were all in hiding from the heat. We did see an unusually large fresh water crab.

Kodie samples the water at David’s waterfall

After drinking water (and eating ice-cream, just like David did I am sure), we continued north to Qumran. The site is little changed from previous visits, but this time there were almost no other visitors. It was about noon by this time and quite hot. Most groups do not even go out to the site, they stop for the buffet and shopping area. This is sad, because Qumran is one of the most significant sites for the study fo the New Testament. Since the Dead Sea Scrolls were found near the site, I usually take the time to talk a bit about the Essenes and the problems with the relationship between the villa at Qumran and the presence of the scrolls. I tend to accept the “standard” view that the villa was used by some Essenes and that they collected the scrolls and stored them away in the caves prior to A.D. 70. Because of the heat, we walked the site quickly and spent some time in the shaded area near the cave view talking about the contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls and why they are important to the study of the New Testament.

After some lunch and shopping, we drive to the Inn of the Good Samaritan, a relatively new site on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem. This was a new site to me since it was only recently added to the National Parks pass. The main attraction is a nice museum of mosaics from various synagogues and churches. There is a room dedicated to the Samaritans as well. The museum is built on the site of a crusader era church dedicated to the Good Samaritan. If you have an hour or so, and do not have a group of tired college kids with you, it is worth a stop.

After the Inn of the Good Samaritan, we drove to the Jaffa Gate for a final few hours of shopping in the Old City. Since it was a Friday afternoon, the crowds were a bit lighter than our previous visit. While most of the students had shopping lists of souvenirs they wanted to buy for people back home, I really just wandered around watching people. I listened to a Guide give an explanation of the Holy Sepulchre which was sad indeed. He gave far more time to the story of the Keeper of the Key than to Jesus. His talk was devoid of real history (mostly legends about the building) and he had no real idea who Jesus was. I guess it did not matter, most of his group were playing on their cell phones and not really paying attention.

After we re-gathered we headed to the airport. As I said, this is Friday evening. Ben Gurion Airport was in Shabbat mode. Only a single coffee stand was open and the place was as silent as a grave. This was a pleasant change from the usually midnight flight crowds. Since our fight did not leave until 12:40 AM, we had to hunker down for a few hours.  Passing through security was a big part of that time, since several of our people had to open bags and explain their 30 tiny jars of honey (or other odd images). Our return flights were smooth and on time. In fact, we got to Chicago before our drivers arrived to pick us up!

This was a great trip overall. The students were excellent, attentive, and well behaved (at least in front of me). I thoroughly enjoyed the trip despite being sick for most of the time. Thanks to all of you who have been reading along. I obviously finished this last installment after I caught up on some sleep over the weekend!

Israel 2013, Day 10 – The Negev

We got an early start from Tamar, driving north and a bit east to Mamshit. This is a well preserved Nabatean trading village along the Incense Route. I have only visited this site once before, in January 2012, so there are a number of this I wanted to explore, at the top of the hill there is an early Byzantine church with a number of Greek mosaics and a most interesting baptismal in a side room. The size and shape both strike me as odd, since it seems to have been used for immersion (there are steps), it it is so small it would have to be a self immersion at best. Mamshit also has a large Nabatean mansion with several nicely reconstructed rooms. Since we saw the Nabatean tombs at Petra, it is god to see how the wealthy lived.

From Mamshit it is a short 40 minute drive to Tel Arad. This marvelous site has been on all six of my tours for several reasons. First, the Canaanite villages allows visitors to see a Canaanite home (in contrast to a four room house) as wee as a Canaanite sacred precinct. At the top of the Tel is an Israelite fortress excavated to the eighth century B.C. The large gates loom over the site, but the real highlight is an early Israelite temple at the center. This complex of rooms is the same general proportions as Solomon’s temple, although the Holy of Holies in the center of the Temple rather than at the end. A standing stone was found in the Holy of Holies, but it has been moved to a museum. Two incense stands were found buried in the ground, either as the result of Hezekiah or Josiah’s reforms.

From Arad we drove to Masada, the highlight of any tour of the Dead Sea region. Masada was a desert fortress / palace built by Herod the Great on the top of a steep, flat-topped mountain. He had cisterns and a water system built to collect the minimal rainfall and provide water for most of a year, and storehouses for food, wine, weapons and other supplies. While the Herodians planned for a worst case scenario, it was a group of Zealots who captured the citadel when Jerusalem rebelled against Rome. When Jerusalem fell, the Zealots held put at Masada for over a year, finally choosing to kill themselves rather then be captured by Rome.

Our visit was early afternoon, so it was beastly hot. We made our way to the store rooms, northern palace, bath house and fantastic view of the Dead Sea valley, looking to the north. Most of the kids went down the stairs to the palace, I stayed on top to take their picture. Not that I couldn’t walk back up those stairs…

We had more than an hour for the Dead Sea float. We went to a private beach behind a cosmetics store, which has a nice patio with cold drinks and that type of thing. Everyone went into the water, although I neglected to warn the ladies to not shave their legs that morning (I never remember that, for some reason).

Tomorrow is our last full day in Israel, starting the the desert at Tamar, hiking at En Gedi, visiting Qumran, and a final fling in the Old City.

 

 

Israel 2013, Day 9 – Swimming in the Red Sea

This is a short Entry because today was a long travel day. Seems like every tour has a day where you have to drive more than you visit. We left Petra at 9am, and made it across the border by noon. It went very smoothly entering Israel at Eilat, other than the fact the security agents thought some of our boys were cute and hassled them an extra long time. One girl told Ben Stout that his Snicker Bar was illegal in Israel, which confused him hinge he bought it in Israel! (I personally think there is something sick about a person that its a Snicker bar and keeps it for several days before eating it…)

To break up the travel, I dropped some of the kids off at Corel Beach, a national park on the Red Sea for a little snorkeling. This is not really a “biblical” site or activity, but it was popular with the students. They had a great time swimming, and the break from the tour was good. The rest of the group went a bit further down the beach to a public beach with a mall and several coffee shop options. I did have a nice latte in Cafe Neto and later an iced coffee at Cafe Cafe, which is probably an indication of some sort of addiction.

That night we arrived at the camp at biblical Tamar, which is about 35 miles north of Petra, in Israel. It would have been more convenient to drive across the Aravah, although quite a bit more illegal. Tomorrow we visit Mamshit, Arad, Masada, and will float in the Dead Sea.

Israel 2013, Day 8 – Hiking in Petra

Our guide Mohammed scored big points by suggesting a 9am start time (I was holding out for 6:30). But he was right, a visit to Petra is all about timing. Arriving at the Treasury in the morning is best since the sun hits the facade just right and brings out the color and detail. I cannot understand big groups arriving at two in the afternoon, the hottest part of the day and the time when the colors are not as vibrant.

The walk down the Siq was pleasant and cool, if not chilly in the shade. A few moments in the sun reminded you that you were in the desert. Mohammed did a serviceable with the explanations, but I thought he did not do a very good job pointing to the (rather thin) connections to the New Testament period. Perhaps he did not fully understand the audience, but the students could have been better informed. I tried to do this more privately as we walked along.

The Treasury, which is really just the most ornate tomb in the necropolis, was as crowded as usual. It does not look like much has been done with the lower tombs other than to shore up the barrier keeping the tourists back from the steps. I noticed several areas with new barriers, such as the cult site in the Siq, the Byzantine chapel, and quite a few tombs which used to be open. My first time at Petra there were no barriers at all, even at the theater. But with increased tourism comes an increase in wear and tear on the soft sandstone monuments.

Mohammed walked us up to the Royal tombs, specifically to the large tomb usually referred to as the Byzantine chapel. Tis is a long climb up stairs, past a bewildering array of Bedouins trying to be you to “stop and have a look.” The chapel itself is in remarkable, although the large chamber shows off the rose colors of the sandstone nicely. The main reason for hiking up the steps is the views of the rest of the valley. From up at the top you can see just how many tombs are in the necropolis at Petra.

After a quick “box lunch” we gave the kids free time to explore and haggle. I walked with the Shaws to the Temple of Zeus. The is the first time I have visited this location, and it was a rewarding visit. The temple was excavated by Brown University and they have done an excellent job restoring much of the Temple while preserving some things as found. We spent an hour climbing to the top of the temple complex, but at least another hour would be necessary to really see the whole complex.

Are there any biblical connections in Petra? Petra is a fantastic site and everyone should visit it if you have the chance. But why put it on a biblical studies tour? First, the wife who was divorced by Herod Antipas was a Nabatean princess. Second, Nabatean king Aretas IV is sometimes described as the Herod the Great of the Nabateans. He expanded the kingdom to its largest extent. Third, Paul mentions in 2 Cor. 11:22-23 as the King who ordered that Paul be arrested. While there is little direct reference to the Nabateans, the do lurk in the background of the New Testament.

After the long uphill hike back to the bus, all people wanted to do was to return to the hotel and hit the pool. I cannot blame them, as wonderful as Petra is, this was an exhausting day.

We are back to Israel tomorrow, spending a bit of time at the Red Sea and sleeping at Tamar before our big day in the Negev.

 

 

Israel 2013, Day 7 – Crossing into Jordan

Because of our extremely long day driving to Petra I was unable get a post finished yesterday. We arrived at 8pm, so by the time we had some dinner, it was far to late. In addition, I have been fighting a cold most of the trip. For whatever reason it chose to settle in my sinuses, so I tried to get a good night sleep. Thanks to Whitney’s traveling pharmacy I was able to get through the day. (It turns out the girls on this trip have about half the pharmacy section of Walgreens with them…which is good since the guys did not bring anything with them!)

Our long travel day began with crossing the border in Jordan. This went very smoothly since the tour company provides me with the proper paper work. We were almost the only people crossing at the Tiberias crossing, which helped. We met our Jordanian guide, Mohammed, who walked us through the Jordan side of the crossing. Again, we were the only people entering at the time, so it went fast.

Mohammed took us to the bus where we met out driver, Said, and the travel security agent also called Mohammed. We are assigned a security agent mostly for our peace of mind, there is really no danger in Jordan, especially where we travel. Our bus was more of a van with delusions of grandeur, but the air was cool (mostly).

We had about an hour drive to the first stop, Jerash. Mohammed did a decent job with he usual tour guide chatter, saying the word “agriculture” in some form several dozen times. Jeresh is an important city excavated to the Roman period for the most part. There is a large gate dedicated to Hadrian, although a smaller version of the gate is the actual entrance to the city. A major highlight is the column-lined oval plaza which connects the Cardo to the Temple of Zeus. While we were listening to Mohammed explain how the plaza we discovered, we were surrounded by elementary school girls who wanted to talk to us. Hillary’s long blonde hair was a huge hit with the girls, who were probably sixth grade, all wearing school uniforms, playing with cell phones and giggling a lot. So pretty much like an American elementary school field trip.

From this plaza we walked up to the Roman theater. This one of the best preserved I have seen. The acoustics are repaired and work perfectly. If you stand in the center spot and speak in a normal voice, you an be heard throughout the theater. Unfortunately the school girls were already there and climbing everywhere. As usual, a pair of men dressed as Jordanian soldiers came out and played bagpipe and drum. This is a tradition that dates back to Lawrence of Arabia, although our guide insisted bagpipes were invented in the Middle East. The school girls linked arms and began to dance (while still giggling and screaming, which I would not have thought possible). If ever asked to define “cacophony” I will describe this scene.

We retreated from the theater and briefly visited a Byzantine church with a fascinating collection of mosaics. Unfortunately we are not permitted to get close to the, but the viewpoint makes for some good pictures and was mercifully not on the school girl’s tour for the day.

The temple of Artemis dominates Jerash, as it would have in the mid second century when it was built. The huge pillars are designed to sway with the wind or small earthquakes. If you place a stick or spoon in one of the crack, it will show how much sway the pillar has. I suppose you could use you fingers, but that might be an unfortunate end to your tour.

Ben Stout, Roman

We walked down the sacred steps leading up to the Temple of Artemis (seven sets of seven steps, which is either mystical numerology or just a nice pace for people). This long stairway opens on to the Cardo, the main road through a Roman city. Mohammed took us into one of the Roman shopping area where several “bell” stones are house. These were originally set on pillars along the Cardo, and if struck, a bell inside sounds. We banged on the top with a rock (Ben Stout actually laid down a funky beat). It is thought this was some kind of warning system in case of an earthquake, but that may not be the case.

We wandered the length of the Cardo and returned to the bus. We had ordered ahead “box lunch” so we could eat quickly and get back on the road. I had a lamb kabob, in fresh pita. This was one of the best lunches I have had on this trip. Very tasty indeed, with French fries, some veggies and a coke, $10.

From Jeresh we drove through Amman, the modern Capitol on Jordan, taking its name from the Ammonites of the Old Testament. Our next stop was an hour and a half south, Mount Nebo. This is the place where Moses viewed the whole land just before the died. There are a number of interesting mosaics there, although the church at Mount Nebo is still being restored, so we cannot see them all. We also saw the Madaba Map at St, George’s church in Madaba. This is a large mosaic dating to the sixth century AD which locates sacred sites in the Holy Land for pilgrims. Think of it as an early Tourist Information center.

From Madaba to Petra (Wadi Musa) is a long, three and a half hour drive though quite boring desert. This is an area where Israel crossed before entering the land in Joshua, but the Desert Road does not offer much variety of scenery. About half way we made a “bathroom break.” There are several of these places about an hour and a half from Petra. They are clean bathrooms (please tip the man who has the paper towels) and a wide selection of Jordanian souvenirs. The marked prices are very high, so negotiations are required. Ben Stout had a thousand dinar ($1500) sword in his hand, but I doubt he was really going to buy it.

The Marriott at Wadi Musa is very nice, the college students are usually thrilled with the big rooms and great food, not to mention the free wifi in the lounge. Like most Arab countries smoking is permitted (encouraged?), so this is not the most pleasant place to sit in the evenings.

Tomorrow we are up early for a long hike to Petra, one of the highlights of the trip.

Israel 2013, Day 6 – The Jesus Sites

I usually refer to this day on the Tour as the Jesus Sites day. That was only mostly true this year because I chose to stay an extra day in Jerusalem and omit the usual trip through the Golan Heights because of the troubles in Syria. We started at Yardenet, the tourist site for the Jordan River. It is set up to handle massive baptisms, but we just snuck into one of the many stairwells and read the Baptism story in Matthew. We talked about the likelihood that this was even close the the story in Matthew (the students decided it could not be since people were coming from Jerusalem to be baptized.)

After a short bus ride we hiked Mount Arbel, not a biblical tie, but it has a spectacular view of the northwest end of the lake, with the major locations clearly identified. The view of the “Horns of Hattin” is fantastic.

We then drove to the Mount of Beatitudes, the traditional site of the Sermon on the Mount. This again has a fairly low chance of being the right place, primarily because the site has shifted overly the years. I think that just about any hill will do, and there are some problems thinking of the Sermon on the Mount as a single sermon “preached” at a single time. The current church was in part funded by Mussolini and is a small octagonal chapel with each wall dedicated to a Beatitude. The garden itself is pretty, and is as good a place as any to read Matthew 5. The students wandered a bit, reading scripture and praying. I spent just a few minutes reading the Beatitude to Ben Stout. It was very moving to hear him re-word them in ways that got to the heart of the saying.

From the Mount, we drove to Capernaum and the traditional site of St. Peter’s house. Unlike the Mount, I can say that is certainly Capernaum, and the house is really a first century house. The tradition that identifies this as Peter’s house is fairly old. I am willing to accept this tradition, although for me that does not matter too much. We read Mark 2, the healing of the paralytic at Peter’s house. What this story does is reveal who Jesus is (the one who forgives sin). They are doing a great deal of work on Capernaum, the front wall and the shaded area is roped off and torn up. I am not sure what they are doing, but right now many of the finds along the side fence are no longer visible.

After lunch at the Jesus boat museum (sandwiches and juice) we drove a hour to Tel Dan. The park is putting cement paths in, so there was a slight detour, and we were under a bit of a time crunch since it was two hours to closing. We got a good picture at the Pistacio Lookout point, I think that is two or thee times for that picture. The gate has not changed much, although I do not remember the cult stone at the entrance. We walked to the cult center, where Jeroboam built one of the two golden calves after the kingdom split after Solomon’s death.

This is the last night in Galilee, which disappoints everyone since Ma’agan is such a good hotel. Tomorrow early we cross the border to Jordan and work our way down to Petra. I may be a bit late with one or both of those blogs since I am not sure the Internet will be affordable at our hotel.

 

Israel 2013, Day 5 – Heading to Galilee

Today was a travel day, north from Jerusalem to Caesarea and then on to Galilee. It is amazing how minimal the traffic is on Sabbath in Jerusalem. Later in the day we were in Beit Shean and there was no other car driving and only a handful of people on the street.

Caesarea is a thoroughly Roman city built by King Herod the Great to show that he was a king over a wealthy land that honored the Roman emperor. It turns up the in the Bible several times, primarily as the seat of Roman authority. Pilate lived there, and Paul appeared before both Felix and Festus in the city. Philip the Evangelist settled there, and eventually the city became an important location for both Jewish and Christian scholars (Origen and Eusebius, for example).

We started in the large theater, which originally held about 4000. Today it was set up for a rock concert. Not exactly an authentic experience, but perhaps Pilate enjoy a nice heavy metal show now and then. We walked to the imperial residence, which is all but swallowed by the sea. There are usually a number of fishermen on the rocks. Funny how college kids want to go collect shells when they see an ocean! After a few minutes of collecting sea shells by the sea shore, we continued through the hippodrome (horse track) and up to the Byzantine Period houses. These have well preserved mosaics, a number of which contain scripture. In the Tax Records office there is a warning that those who do good have no need to fear the government, based on Romans 13:3.

After poking around several other of the Roman period rooms (including the Mithraeum, although I did not see much there that made it clear what the room was), we walked through the Crusader castle. One of the things that makes Caesarea an interesting site is this wide range of periods nicely preserved and presented. Plus, I had a pretty good Turkish coffee.

The plan was to drive from Caesarea to Beit Shean, but due to a miscommunication our driver that we wanted to be dropped in Nazareth at the Church of the Annunciation. This was not too far out of the way, so I thought we could at least look around Nazareth for a half hour, use the bathrooms, and move on. As soon as the driver pulled away, I realized I had left my cell phone in the bus and could not call him when we were done. I could still see the bus, so I sent the group up to the church and I took off running (well, walking briskly) thinking that I could catch the bus because of the traffic. I figured that Scott and Luann Shaw (triple platinum belt in Tae Kwan Do) could handle things

I did not count on the bus turning, and I did not see where he turned. This is all a great deal funnier if you know how crazy traffic in Nazareth is, and the likelihood that i am going to out tun a bus. At the bottom of the main drag I guessed he probably turned left, but I simply did not see a lot for busses. After walking a block I saw a bus poking up above a fence and found the Nazareth Municipal Bus Lot. I saw a friendly looking Arab Christian (who was using Rosary beads at the time, so he got to be honest, right?) I asked him if he knew where the tourist busses parked, but his English was not good. He led me to the back of the lot, which sounds scarier than it was, where I found our bus and driver. He thought it was all quite funny since I had just ran (well, waddle rapidly) about a mile at that point. He gave me a water bottle and a ride on a municipal bus back to the church. Other that wasting time and taking a year off my life, there was no harm done.

We arrived at Beit Shean, which was quite hot but virtually empty by this time of the day. Beit Shean was a Canaanite city at he time of Saul. When he fell on his own sword, the people of Beit Shean took his body and displayed in on their walls (1 Sam. 31:8-13). It is later controlled by Solomon, but little else is know about the site until Rome re-founded the city as Scythopolis. While it does not figure significantly in the NT, the archaeology of the site is excellent and the National Park service has done a great job presenting the city at the Roman level.

Despite the heat, the kids troop all over the city, and quite a few went to the top of the Tel to get the panoramic overview. I stuck to the main city and walked through the Bathhouse with Becca and Brianna.

We arrived at Ma’agan Holiday Resort, the best place to stay in Galilee and maybe in all of Galilee. Tomorrow we visit the Jesus sites and I hope to end the day at Tel Dan.

Israel 2013, Day 4 – Around the Zion Gate

I am continuing day 4 in this post. We are checking out of the Dan Hotel in about an hour and heading north, by this evening we will be at Ma’agan in Galilee. This is a beautiful resort on the Sea of Galilee, and has free wi-fi in the lobby. I am sure it is more reliable that the Dan Hotel!

From Caiaphas’ backyard?

After our hike in the Kidron, we had the bus drop us off near the Zion Gate. my intention was to visit David’s Tomb and the Upper Room (the Cenacle). This is the first time since 2005 i have visited these sites and much has changed! The Tomb of David is now divided, with separate places for men and women, and I am fairly certain that the whole place is re-designed. Locating the Upper Room was a bit of a challenge, there is no signage marking the place (or I completely missed it). If there was not another group in the place, I probably would have missed it entirely. This was a short visit, but I did talk a bit about Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 which refers to the Tomb. Nether the Tomb nor the present Upper room are authentic, bit it is likely they were in these approximate locations in he first century.

I then took the group through Zion Gate, which is always an adventure to get through since it still allows cars to pass. The gate itself is marked with bullet holes from the Six Day War. The Jewish Quarter was heavily damaged in that war, but that allowed archaeologists to survey the area before it was rebuilt.

A walk through the Jewish Quarter on a Friday afternoon was refreshing change fom the Christian Quarter. it was quiet and clean, and most of all, not really crowded.  Just as we arrived there was a bit of thunder as cooler weather moved in. After looking at the Cardo, the group broke up to explore. Some visited the shops, there are so many good art and jewelry shops in that area of the city. Scott Spooner, Kyle Vegh and I walked down the the place where the Roman Cardo is visible and around the corner to the “broad wall”, usually identified with Hezekiah’s expansion of the city after the fall of Samaria in 722 B.C.

I had an excellent Turkish Coffee at a kiosk near Hezekiah’s wall. I do not recall the name of the place, it was a “to go” shop (I recommend it!). We walked around to Hurvah Plaza and watched the people for a half-hour and chatted about the variety of Israelis living in that part of the city. Like the variety of Christians in the Holy Sepulcher, there is a bewildering variation of practice among the people passing through that Plaza.

Walking from the Zion Gate to the Church of Saint Peter Gallicantu, we tried to peek into the garden where Oscar Schindler is buried, but the site is only open in the morning. I guess I have to be satisfied with a photo of the gate.

Church of Saint Peter Gallicantu is the traditional site where Peter denied Jesus. The church is built over the home of a wealthy family, traditionally identfied as Caiaphas, the high priest who questioned Jesus. Unlike my only other visit to this church, it was very quiet, almost deserted! We were the only group there for most of our visit. The highlight is the deep cistern in which Jesus was held after his arrest and interview with Caiaphas, but before his more public trial (John 18:1-11). Whether this is the location or not, it is a great place to read John 18 and think about Peter’s denial of Jesus. It is always shocking to realize that Peter swore to die with Jesus and tried to defend him in the Garden only to deny him a few hours later in Caiaphas’ courtyard.

There is a decent amount archaeology to see outside the church, but most is not well marked and there is an intimidating fence to keep visitors off the first century road and stairs. The church also has a model of Jerusalem during the Byzantine period. This is nothing like the quality of the model at the Israel museum, but it does show the major Christian sites. Standing around this map was excellent time trying to identify the locations we have visited, seem like everyone was able to point out major landmarks. Becca noticed that by the Byzantine period, the Gallicantu church was inside the walls, so we started to point out all of the differences between the current Old City and the Byzantine. Shayna saw that the Jaffa Gate was a bit off, then Scott Shaw pulled the ESV Study Bible up on his iPad and we compared the city at the time of David to the time of Jesus, etc. I think that this group of students could probably negotiate their way around the Old City quite well by this point.

On the bus we drove past the Valley of Hinnom, which I would really like to hike some time. The Valley is not very high on most tourist’s list of things to see, but there are a number of minor locations that would interest me.

I noticed that there were a few people dozing on the bus, I worked this group pretty hard today. Tomorrow we drive up to Caesarea, one of my favorite locations in Israel.

Israel 2013, Day 4 – Down The Mount of Olives and Up the Kidron

After writing most of this post, I realized that we saw a lot today, I amazed that we could fit all this into a single day. This might be the difference between traveling with college students rather than older adults, but I will say I saw some tired people on the bus ride back to the hotel! In fact, there is so much here I will split this post into two, just to make it a more manageable read.

On the Mount of Olives

We started the day at the top of the Mount of Olives. As always, the drop off for the walk down was crowded, lots of guides trying to jockey for position along the wall so their group can get that “perfect picture.” Since we have already walked throughout the Old City, the group asked really good questions, pointing out the places they have seen and trying to get their minds around the geography of the city. I had the impression that there were less vendors this year, I was not approached once. Maybe I just looked surely.

From the top of the Mount of Olives we walked down to Dominus Flevit, a small church at the traditional site of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. We read from Luke 19 and talked about what the crowds, especially the disciples, thought Jesus was going to do when he went up to the temple. One of the highlights of this church is the cave near the entrance with a collection of ossuaries. This indicates that the Jewish tradition of burying the dead on the Mount of Olives goes back to the first century.

The garden of Gethsemane was packed with tourists, as usual. we arrived at the same moment a Russian Orthodox group was leaving the Church of Mary Magdalene, so we were somehow lost in the crowd. My first visit in 2005 you could still walk between the trees, but there are far too many people for that now. Inside the Church of All Nations there are some renovations going, the center arches are being refurbished so there is a large scaffold in the center of the church. They did a nice job disguising the work, but it was not as solemn as usual.

After waking down the Mount of Olives, we were near the bottom of the Kidron Valley, so I marched across the street to walk down into the valley and see Absalom’s Tomb and the other monuments. I have only done this once before (in 2007) and did not think too much of it at the time. The walk then was not conducive to tourists, and it was full of broken bottles and trash. The Parks Authority has done a wonderful job cleaning the area and building excellent stairs down past the graves to the monuments. I should explain that these are all Hasmonean tombs and have nothing to do with Absalom or Pharaoh’s daughter, those are the traditional names.

Another new feature is a stairway up the other side of the valley that end a short distance from the City of David. It would be possible to have the bus drop a group across the street from the Church of All Nations and hike down the Kidron, up the other side to the City of David, then down the Canaanite tunnels to the pool of Siloam, the up the Herodian steps and sewer tunnels to the Davidson Museum to tour the excavations there at the Ophel. That might make for a long day, but quite exciting to me. Maybe on the 2015 tour?

I will be posting a bit more from this long day a bit later. Stay tuned!