The Approaches to Jerusalem

Jerusalem Approaches

            I felt like this field study was packed with many different places and a lot of information, it was a good day.

            Looking at Jerusalem from many different angles and directions has highlighted the question for me, ‘Why did God choose Jerusalem?’ Why did God choose a land that is on the verge of drought for about half of the year and producing just enough to get by without starving? Why did God choose Jerusalem? Jerusalem is a city that is nestled fairly deep on the edge of the hill country, just out of reach of the rugged Sorek valley and pushed up against the Mount of Olives, the only thing keeping Jerusalem from being swallowed up by the arid wilderness on the other side.  It’s off of the highway and nowhere near the routes that the kings and nations use.

            We started by looking towards Jerusalem from Mount Scopus, a mountain on the Mount of Olives range.  From this perspective Mount Moriah stands out like a dot in a bowl. This eastern border is crucial for Jerusalem, because the height of the Mount of Olives is slightly higher than the watershed ridge route it moves the rain shadow and the wilderness to the east side of the Mount of Olives.

            The Mount of Olives did not only separate wilderness from farming land, it separated the shepherd from the farmer, the nomad from the settled and though the relationship between the two was often a tenuous one, it was also one that, when they worked together, could benefit and protect each other. Many stories we know in the Bible have these underlying tensions woven into them. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were shepherd, David was also a shepherd. Jeremiah grew up in Annoth, a town in the wilderness, and it Judah that the Babylonians were going to come from the East and they were going to be taken into exile.

God placed Jerusalem in a spot where the relationships were not always safe, but a place where relationships with the people surrounding them were necessary. Maybe this is an example for us.  Maybe we are placed in places where the relationships are not always safe, but God calls us to build them anyways, any to do that in a way that is going to glorify Him.

            Also from the East we looked at the story of Jesus coming into the city on Palm Sunday. As he is going down the Mount of Olives he stops and weeps for the city.  At this point it looks like Jesus is doing the exact opposite of what King David was doing when his sons were trying to take over his throne and his life was in immediate danger. David left the city of Jerusalem using the same route, weeping. Maybe Jesus is pulling a parallel act to tell us something about what he is coming into the city to do.

 A little later in Luke 23 a group of women are following Jesus as he walks to the cross and Jesus tells them not to weep for him, but to weep for the city and for people. Maybe Jesus saw things were not as they were supposed to be. Maybe he knew what was to come and knew that many of the people would not recognize him for who he was and what he was to be doing.  

a second temple period tomb on the mount of olives

After looking at Jerusalem from the East we traveled around to the West and looked at the Sorek Valley. The ruggedness of this valley protects Jerusalem from the West as most don’t want to travel through it. We went to a place called Safat.  There we hiked down the steep hills that make up this valley. The Cenomanian limestone that is common in this area is known for the steep valleys that erosion creates.  It is also known as the type of stone that can support life.

We talked of the farming practices that take place in these hills. Families like on the sides of the hills, maybe starting in caves that naturally occur in the layers of rock.  Carefully and with lots of work they created the terraced gardens all alongside the hill, taking out the large stones to build a wall on the edge and leaving the little rocks there so that the dew can collect on them during the long dry summers. We talked about how everything was done out of necessity, just in order to survive. Marriages were done tie families together and make alliances.

So when the people of Israel rebelled and pleaded for a king so that they could like all the other nations, there was a lot for them to lose. Their sons and daughters would be taken away and used for the king in the armies or in his palace. It didn’t take that long for such things to become a reality. Maybe God’s idea for his people was different. It reminds me of the proverb that asks God to give us what we need so that we may not sin because we have too much or too little.

Proverbs 30:8-9

    give me neither poverty nor riches,

    but give me only my daily bread.

 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you

    and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’

Or I may become poor and steal,

    and so dishonor the name of my God.

Cenomanian limestone is ideal for springs, there was one that we went up a tunnel to see

It was also interesting to see the farming methods that were used and the imagery that comes from the grape vines and fruit trees that are around.  It was interesting to hear the about how when a vine does not produce fruit is it often because the vines are growing on the ground and don’t have enough room to let the fruit fall and ripen. Therefore it is necessary for the vine to be lifted up and rocks be placed underneath e to give the fruit room to grow and ripen. When I looked up the word in the Greek it is actually αἴρω which is often translated to ‘to raise up, to lift’ so it actually makes more sense culturally to use it as lifting up rather than “He cuts off”.

John 15:1-2
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful.

 

 After looking at the Western approaches to Jerusalem we headed to the south, to Bethlehem and Herodium.  Here there is not mountain like the Mount of Olives protecting it and therefore it is part of the wilderness.  Out here in the wilderness Herod created an administrative center and a palace for himself. Far enough away from Jerusalem that he could get away from the religious activity that centered itself there, yet close enough that he could keep an eye on what was going on there.

Out here as well we talked about David growing up as a shepherd and writing the Psalms. We looked at Psalm 23 as a Psalm that illustrates the life of a shepherd. Green pastures are rock hillsides with little blades of grass wherever the dew can settle. Still waters are not the rushing wadis that are found the wilderness, but the springs or wells that are scattered around.  One of the images that I appreciated was the line “surely goodness and mercy will follow me” being picture as ‘tov’ (good) and ‘hessed’ (mercy/love/more than English can translate...) chasing me.

While in Bethlehem we stopped by ‘The Shepherds Field’ and talked a little bit about the Christmas story. It was an interesting perspective that was presented to us. For years I had heard that it was more likely a cave than a stable, but I had never added in the fact that it would have been likely for there to be lots of family around. With the Middle East being such a family oriented culture Mary and Joseph probably would have been put up with the extend family. And it would not have been uncommon for families to have a manger in some area of the ‘house’ (probably a storage room) for the sheep when it got cold and nasty in the winter. Being that the sheep were out in the field, that room would have been available. In addition, child-bearing was extremely risky to both mother and child.  The mothers and grandmothers of the family would probably do everything that they possibly could to make sure that both Mary and the baby survived.

looking out towards the shepherds fields

The last place we stopped was an interesting place to think about. We stopped at Ramah Rachel. This place is not mentioned in the Bible at all, but yet because of the artifacts found there it appears to be an important site politically and maybe religiously. It dates back significantly and it is in fairly close proximity to Jerusalem, yet we still don’t hear about it at all. We talked about how we use the Bible in this study of Historical Geography. The Bible wasn’t written as a historical account of the land and therefore there may be places and things that happened in this area on which the Bible is silent and that is ok.