Israel Day 5

Saturday, April 25, 2015

We start our day in Ein Karem (Ain Karem), the town and birthplace of John the Baptist.  The meaning of Ein is spring; Karem is vineyard, so making the “Springs of the Vineyard”.  The Hebrew meanings for John are-God have mercy; Jehovah has been gracious; has shown favor.

We visit the St. John Ba Harim Church.  Ba Harim means “in the mountains”.  The church was built in the 4^th century and was built on the spot where John the Baptist was born, the house of Zachariah & Elizabeth.  Inside is a cave where his birth took place.  There is an altar in the cave, under it a marble star bears a Latin inscription: “Hic precursor Domini natus est” meaning “Here was born the Precursor of the Lord”.

In the yard, opposite the church, hang texts in many different languages of the world telling about John’s destiny.  While we were there in the yard, Pastor Drew read the passage from John 1:6-9 “he was sent to bear witness of the light”.

2^nd stop-The Israel Museum

We viewed a model of Jerusalem in the 2^nd period, just before Jerusalem was destroyed (1^st century).  The sources for having the model built were Josephus Flavius (a Jewish scholar and historian) and The Bible.  Jerusalem grew in 4 periods.  Jerusalem today is half the size of what it was then.

The Temple (2^nd) was built by King Herod the Great for the Jews.  This is where Jesus played as a child and taught during His ministry.  It was also the sight where He chased away the money changers.  The Temple was destroyed in the year 70 AD by the Romans.  The only remnant remaining is the Western (Wailing) Wall.  Jerusalem was conquered in 632 by Moslems who built the Dome of the Rock over the temple sight of the Holy of Holies and the rock (which still exist today) where Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac.

The “Shrine of the Book” Building

The first 7 of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered by chance in 1947 by Bedouin’s in a cave in Qumran on the NW shore of the Dead Sea.  They threw a rock/stone in the cave to see if there was any movement by a lost sheep, what they heard was a jar breaking.  They took the leather scrolls to a cobbler to have sandals made, the cobbler saw the writing on the scrolls and decided to keep them and make the sandals out of a new piece of leather in his shop.  The Isaiah scroll was one of the scrolls found in the cave, it is word for word as in the Bible!

3^rd stop-Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

“The Birthplace of Jesus Christ” Luke 2:1-7

The church is 1500 years old and is an active operating church still today.  It is run by the Greek Orthodox, but it is not for one denomination.  It has been saved from destruction 3 times!  You enter through the “Door of Humility”, a small rectangular entrance to the church created by the Christian community for 2 reasons: 1.) to prevent looters from driving in.  2.) to force visitors to bow when entering the holy place.

Many of the pink, polished limestone columns have Crusader paintings of saints and the Virgin & Child.  There are also fragments of wall mosaics dating from the 1160’s on both sides of the nave.  Two big chandeliers with Crowns on top were gifts from the Czars of Russia over 200 years ago.

We entered the Grotto of the Nativity, a cavern beneath the church to see the sight of Christ birth which is marked with a silver star.  There are 14 points on the star to represent the 3-fold 14 generations of Christ genealogy.  Not far from the star is the Chapel of the Manger, where Mary laid Him.

** Each of us had the opportunity to kneel down and place our hands on the Star (spot) of Jesus’ birth.  What an exciting privilege. **

Next adventure-LUNCH!  Joseph gave us a choice for lunch this day.  We chose to go with the “Tent Restaurant” in Shepherds Valley.  It was done family style with a salad/bread course first with lots of different dipping sauces.  Then we had chicken and a lamb/beef mixture with fries and tomato.  We all enjoyed this meal very much.  Outside of the restaurant there was a Sycamore tree!  Brought back to memory the story of Zacchaeus in the Sycamore tree!  Lots of laughs and fun for us.

Next stop-The Shepherds Fields

This is where the angels appeared to the shepherds to announce Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:8-20).  The angel on the front of the chapel points toward the church being reconstructed in Bethlehem.  It is a 1 ½ mile walk from the chapel to Bethlehem.  We enter the tent shaped “Chapel of the Angels” designed by Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi.  The chapel adjoins the remains of a 4^th century church.  Paintings in the chapel depict the angel’s announcement to the shepherds, the shepherd paying homage to Jesus and the shepherds celebrating the birth of the Messiah.

Just beyond the chapel is a cave with one entrance where we entered and sat down.  Pastor Drew talked about how the shepherds would herd the sheep in the cave and then stack hay in front of the entrance, one shepherd protecting all the sheep (Jesus protecting all his flock).  We had a worship service here.  Pastor Drew read Luke 2:8-15, then we sang Christmas carols!  Pastor Drew closed us with prayer.

Then off we go to do more shopping at a store called Boaz Fields!  After our pocketbooks and wallets got a little bit lighter it was back to our hotel for dinner and sleep!

 St John Ba Harim Church (Ba Harim means "in the mountains". The church was builtin the 4th century on the spot where John The Baptist was born, the house of Zacharia & Elizabeth. Inside the church is a cave where his birth took place.