Reflections from the Holy Land is a series of journal entries from my summer spent in Israel last year while excavating at Hazor.
Entry Five, Fourth Day, Jerusalem
It's almost unbearably hot out today but the heat is not what is bothering me—toady we are leaving Jerusalem for Hazor to begin excavations this summer. I thought to myself this past night, as the sun set over the ancient city of Jerusalem—the so-called city of peace—that Israel is a land with so much promise and yet equally so much sorrows. My last day in Jerusalem lead me to the markets to find something to buy as a reminder that I was here in the capital city that my Lord once knew and wept over.
After some interesting wrong turns in the ancient city and successfully—or so I thought—haggling with the merchant, I decided to purchase some Israeli-ware ceramics and tiles. It was at this time that I returned to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to offer another prayer, but I found the cold and damp sanctuary with tourists to be repressing my thoughts, I headed for the Western Wall to envision what the Temple Mount would have looked like in Christ’s day. It was there before praying Jews and mingling tourists that I looked upon the Western Wall and Dome of the Rock and realized the awesome power of faith on people.
That night I spent the hours before morning speaking with our hotel’s Palestinian concierge about Islam, Palestine, Christianity, Israel, Arabs, America, education, Jews, the Holy Land, and so much more. Speaking with him put a human face on the Palestinian people. Kousay was thoughtful, articulate but less hopeful about peace than I had been.
He spoke of the plight of the Palestinian people and really touched my heart about the humanitarian crisis—writing this now, I’m not sure what will be the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Having befriended both Israelis and Palestinians since being in Jerusalem it is yet an emotional topic for me to consider. It’s 7:30 AM in Jerusalem and I have to go to breakfast before we leave for the Dead Sea and off to Hazor. I know these thoughts will continue to trouble my mind as my time in Israel increases.
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