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Olive trees continue to grow at the foot of the Mount of Olives, just across the Kidron Valley from the Temple Mount and Jerusalem’s eastern wall. The name Gethsemane comes from the Hebrew gat shemanim, “oil press.” Olives were crushed there under heavy stone to release their oil. God will handle it! He will deal with the gossiper, the informant, and the evil worker. When the time is right, He will uproot the evildoer and establish His faithful as a “green olive tree in the house of God” (Psalm 52:8). According to tradition, Psalm 52 was composed by David during one of the darkest moments of his life. Doeg the Edomite, the chief of King Saul’s herdsmen, had informed the treacherous King Saul that the priest Ahimelech had helped David escape Saul’s wrath. Saul then commanded Doeg to murder Ahimelech and all the priests of Nob (1 Samuel 21–22). David, now a fugitive, describes this wicked informant as having a deceitful tongue and as a tree that God will “uproot from the land of the living” (vs. 1-5). This gnarled olive tree in Gethsemane near the Church of All Nations in Jerusalem has outlasted centuries of storms. The faithful are like it: “a green olive tree in the house of God” (Psalm 52:8). A heart rooted in God’s steadfast love keeps growing quietly and is still standing long after the storms have passed. In contrast, the author of Psalm 52 says, “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever” (v. 8). The imagery fits the biblical lands well and makes a powerful connection between fact and faith. Olive trees stay green all year, live for centuries, and send up new shoots from the roots even after they’ve been cut down. Their oil fueled the lampstand in the sanctuary and was used to anoint priests and kings. It was used for cooking, has medicinal properties, and was used for human consumption to sustain life. It was, and is today, a staple crop in the land of the Bible, with a lifespan longer than other trees, some living beyond a thousand years. One olive looks small, but it holds oil for light, food, healing, and anointing. A fruitful life is built the same way, one faithful day at a time, by staying rooted in God. Jesus said, “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). A beautiful image that connects us to the sustaining nature of faith and to the promise of eternal security and love found in God. Indeed, God will uproot evil workers and informants from the land of the living. Those who serve the Lord are “like a green olive tree in the house of God.” Evil Doeg had stood at the sanctuary (1 Samuel 21:7) but never belonged there. David, on the other hand, while driven from home with no house of his own, says he is planted in God’s house. His security came from where he was rooted, not from where he was standing. When others speak evil or try to destroy you, always remember that a heart rooted in God’s steadfast love keeps growing quietly, bearing fruit, and will still be standing long after the storms (and our persecutors) that tried to tear it down have passed. So, be a green Olive tree. Root yourself in God's steadfast love, especially when you are attacked, threatened, or suffering hardship. You will be blessed and fruitful forever. By John W. Moore This olive tree grows on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, beside the west side of the Erechtheion temple, in the area the ancient Greeks called the Pandroseion. The Greeks prized the olive for its lasting value. It gave them food, light, and oil, and it could live for centuries. Athens protected its sacred olive trees by law, and winners at the city’s Panathenaic Games received jars of oil pressed from those trees.

By John W. Moore Few places in Jerusalem put your feet in the actual place where Jesus once stood, as the southern steps do. Nearly every time I visit, I see Christian groups doing the same thing. People slow down. They look at their feet. Someone opens a Bible to the Psalms of Ascent and reads aloud. For a few quiet minutes, a modern tour group reenacts what many believe happened some two thousand years ago, as Jewish worshippers ascended these steps on their way to the inner court and ultimately to the place of sacrifice. The southern end of the Temple Mount Platform. The Southern Steps can be seen to the right of the perpendicular wall which intersects the large retaining wall below the Al-Aqsa Mosque Place yourselves in their sandals. Reverently walk up these steps, emerge into the court of the gentiles, and, in humility, pass through one of several entrances into the court of the women. After waiting patiently, it is finally your turn to walk through the Nicanor doors and into the court of the Israelites, where your sacrificial offering will be given. The air is thick with the odor of blood and smoke as you watch numerous animals and birds being led to slaughter. If offering a lamb, you gently give it to the priests, who take it to the priestly court and into an area reserved for sacrificial preparation. With its legs bound and facing west, its head is guided through a metal restraining ring. A sharpened knife is placed at its throat, and your innocent lamb is put to death. Its blood is sprinkled on the horns of the altar, and its body is burned as the ransom price for sin. It was a graphic, bloody affair, but wrongdoing had to be punished, and the pure, innocent animal you had purchased and carried to the court was sacrificed on your behalf. Hearing the bleating of animals at the slaughter and the priest singing songs of redemption nearby reinforced the doctrine of God’s relentless pursuit to purify your soul and reconcile you to His loving arms. The aroma of seared flesh and the sweet scent of burning incense filled the air, etching the images and the message into your mind forever. You joyfully leave the courts in full assurance of salvation, knowing that God is your redeemer and friend. If you had been a Jew living in the first century, the events described above would have been all too familiar. Yet those heart-piercing moments were merely the climax of a day filled with anticipation, family gatherings, and a wide range of experiences that began long before you entered the Temple. A PILGRIMS’S JOURNEY When Jews arrived in Jerusalem for one of the three mandatory festivals of Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost), or Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles), they often began their celebration and day of worship at the Pool of Siloam, at the southernmost edge of the lower city of David. Here, worshippers might cleanse themselves in this massive water reservoir and ritual cleansing pool, using water that had descended from the famous spring of Gihon. During the Feast of Tabernacles, pilgrim worshippers might have witnessed priests drawing water from the same pool for a libation to be poured out on the altar of sacrifice at the Temple. At the southern end of the City of David, archaeologists have unearthed steps leading to an ancient water reservoir and ritual bath dating to the first century. Just to the right and below the photo, archaeologists recently discovered a 2,700-year-old dam. Leaving the pool, joyous pilgrims would make the ½-mile climb up the steep slope toward the temple. Their pilgrimage carried them along the carefully crafted limestone pavers of a street called “pilgrims’ way.” Singing as they walked, they would often stop to sell a clay jar, food, or a trinket to raise money for the temple tax or to purchase a sacrifice. A map from the Israeli Antiquities Authority Parks Division which illustrates the uphill climb along Pilgrim's way from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount With money in hand, they continued their rapid ascent toward the massive 35-acre temple complex, always ahead of them and easily in view. Along the way, they were joined by thousands of excited worshippers, and they could hear the boisterous cacophony of celebration reverberating down the busy streets of a city bursting at the seams. Those sounds included singing, the shofar's trumpeting, and high-pitched celebratory yelps, similar to what is still heard near the Western Wall today during a Bar Mitzvah or at the end of Sukkot (Feast of the Tabernacles). The Temple to which they journeyed had been enlarged by King Herod the Great around 20 B.C. His massive renovation of this sacred precinct included beautiful entry and exit points. At the southwestern corner stood a monumental staircase, supported by a massive 50-foot-wide stone arch, leading to the Royal Stoa perched high above the southern entrance. Along the base of the southern wall were the double and triple gates. Nearby were multiple Jewish baptisteries (i.e., mikvaot), where many would stop to ritually immerse themselves for ceremonial cleansing. THE SOUTHERN STEPS Once properly purified, worshippers would walk up a series of beautiful stone steps carved from the bedrock where the Temple foundation had been laid. Some call these the “Teaching Steps” because of the broad, theater-like staircase, 210 feet wide, that leads up to the familiar double-gate entrance. Some argue that rabbis and teachers used these steps as a convenient and appropriate place to stand while providing instruction in the law or on proper decorum for entering God’s sacred house. The Southern Steps (The wall to the left did not exist during the 2nd Temple Period and the time of Jesus). The steps appear to serve another function as well. Designed with alternating, uneven widths, they featured a pattern of narrow, wide, narrow, and wide steps. This alternating pattern required pilgrims to look down as they approached the Temple, apparently to encourage worshippers to walk slowly, deliberately, and prayerfully. Rather than rushing and being inattentive, the steps likely fostered contemplation, humility, and reverence as pilgrims approached God’s holy house. After several personal visits to these historic steps, I grew increasingly intrigued by the apparent intent behind their design. Approaching God in humility and reverence was not only required by the Law but also seemed to be a concern of the Temple’s architect. This caught my attention and piqued my curiosity. Was this the setting for the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector who “went UP into the Temple to pray” (emphasis mine; Luke 18:10)? Jesus said the Pharisee exalted himself, but the tax collector was unwilling even to look up. He humbled himself before the Lord and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” AM I THE PHARISEE OR THE PUBLICAN? Whether the setting of this parable was here or elsewhere at the Temple, the southern steps became the perfect place to reflect on my attitude toward others and how I approach God in worship. Do I approach Him in humility and love? Am I deliberate and serious in worship? Am I always reverent and thoughtful? Or do I hurry to worship, giving little thought to my attitude and demeanor? Am I high-minded and prideful about my appearance at worship, all the while judging others for theirs? Have I condemned others for their faults while overlooking my own? I am ashamed to say that at times I have acted more like the Pharisee than the tax collector. Jesus condemns this behavior not only in this parable but also in the strong language of passages such as Mark 7:20-23 and Luke 14:7-11. He also warns against vain worship and our focus on outward appearance at the expense of the weightier matters of the law, such as justice, faith, and mercy (Matthew 23:23-28). Praise be to God, however, for His mercy when we acknowledge these sins and turn to Him for forgiveness. How we approach God and the demeanor we show others should never be taken lightly. The entrances and steps at the Temple were no doubt intended to provoke serious thought on the subject. However, their stately appearance and varied widths served another purpose as well. PSALMS OF ASCENT The 210-foot-wide area of the Southern Steps would not only accommodate large crowds, but the wider steps would also provide a landing where worshippers could stop, as visitors often do today, to recite the Old Testament Psalms of Ascent. Found in Psalms 120-134, these poignant hymns of praise are sometimes called the Psalms of Ascent, a set of 15 Psalms that many scholars believe worshippers sang as they ascended the hill of Zion. Others believe the Psalms of Ascent refer to musical notations indicating that the notes were to rise in succession by gradual tonal degrees. From the Kidron Valley, looking up to the Temple Mount, visitors would have to ascend to God's holy hill. Still others believe Jewish pilgrims sang the Psalms of Ascent as they traveled from the lower elevations of the Bible lands to Jerusalem during the annual feasts. Another tradition holds that priests sang them at each of the Temple's fifteen steps, which led from the Court of the Women into the Court of Israel. A popular view among visiting tourists is that they were sung at each landing along the southern steps mentioned above. Wherever the Psalms of Ascent were sung, I can easily imagine Jewish families joyfully singing them as they made their way to God’s holy house of worship. Despite the pride they may have felt in their glorious, stately temple, each Psalm was intended to direct a person’s thoughts toward God himself, not toward a building or place of worship. Throughout these Psalms of Ascent, the Lord’s name appears 53 times, and an additional forty-five pronouns refer to Him. They were meant to glorify God, emphasize what He provides, how He worked in history, and how one should therefore live in response. As worshippers ascended to the Temple, the steps were meant to slow them down, and the Psalms were designed to glorify God. Like the Jews who sang these psalms of ascent on their journey to the temple, we can sing them today as we prepare to worship God each Sunday, gathering to remember our Passover lamb. They are deeply theocentric and should evoke in everyone a desire to worship and praise God throughout life, especially on our pilgrimage to His eternal home. The final phrase of this collection of Psalms ends with the Lord “made heaven and earth” (134:3). In this one verse, we are reminded of God’s sovereign reign and dominion. The majestic, complex elements of the natural world, with all its grandeur, beauty, and power, are the result of an all-powerful, all-wise God. All creation owes its existence to the creative hand of a mighty and holy being who is anterior to—and yet intimately involved in—the world in which we live. Therefore, let us come before His presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout aloud to the God of our salvation. And as we remember the steps leading to the Temple, may we always approach God in humility. Let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. “For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand” (Psalm 95:6). FURTHER STUDY The Southern Steps were the pilgrims’ front door to the Temple. Three times a year the Law of Moses called every Jewish man to “appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses” for the Feasts of Unleavened Bread, Weeks (Pentecost), and Booths (Deuteronomy 16:16). Pilgrims coming from the lower city of David, and from as far off as the Diaspora, would arrive here. Along the southern wall stood two sets of gates: The Double Gate (to the west) was reached by a broad staircase about 210 feet wide. Half of its original Herodian lintel and relieving arch are still visible today. The Triple Gate (to the east), reached by a smaller stairway about 50 feet wide. Some believe that the Triple Gate was used mainly by priests, and that the Double Gate was the main entrance and exit for ordinary pilgrims The Mishnah calls these southern entrances the Huldah Gates, after the prophetess who counseled King Josiah (2 Kings 22:14). Both opened into tunnels that climbed beneath the Royal Stoa and emerged onto the Temple platform. Inside the Double Gate tunnel, pilgrims passed stone columns and domed ceilings carved with floral and geometric designs. It was an entrance built to impress. Many of the steps were cut directly into the bedrock, and some have survived since the first century. Others have been restored. Look closely, and you’ll notice the steps aren’t uniform. They alternate between narrow and wide, and this deliberate pattern forces you to watch your feet, and slow down. Weathered over time, the original Southern Steps were cut directly into the bedrock. In many places, newly crafted modern steps now lie over the originals. Some call these the “Teaching Steps.” The broad, theater-like staircase would have made a natural place for rabbis and teachers to stand and give instruction in the Law, or in how to conduct yourself before entering God’s house. The wide steps also gave crowds room to pause, as visitors still do today, to pray or recite a psalm. Mikva’ot (Ritual Baths) In the area of the Southern Steps, archaeologists have found dozens of mikvaot, the stepped ritual baths Jews used to purify themselves before entering the sacred courts. More than fifty have been uncovered in the area. A Mikveh (Jewish Ritual Bath) lies fully intact just west of the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount Most of what we know comes from the excavations Benjamin Mazar began in 1968, just south of the Temple Mount, and continued for ten years. Ronny Reich resumed the work in the 1990s. Because digging on the Mount itself isn’t allowed, these southern excavations (today the Jerusalem Archaeological Park) are among the best windows we have into the Temple Jesus knew. That’s what makes this place so special. Most so-called holy sites in Jerusalem are marked by later churches or traditions, and we can only say an event happened “somewhere around here.” The Southern Steps are different. Jesus came up to Jerusalem for the feasts throughout His life, and this was the main entrance for those coming up from the lower city. It’s hard to imagine He never walked this stairway. Standing there, you are very likely standing where He stood. The Psalms of Ascent and Their Focus on God The Temple Mount in Jerusalem sits on a hill nearly 2,500 feet above sea level and is surrounded by valleys. The so-called “Songs of Ascent” in Psalms 120–134 (sometimes called the “Psalms of Degrees”) are a group of fifteen psalms that many scholars believe Jews sang on their pilgrimages from the lower elevations of the Bible lands, quite literally, up to Jerusalem. Others believe the “ascending” is a musical reference to notes that rose by degrees with each successive psalm, an idea first proposed by the Hebrew scholar William Gesenius. Another tradition suggests the Levites sang these psalms at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple during the night of the fifteenth of Tishri. The Mishnah preserves a tradition that these fifteen psalms were sung on the fifteen steps in the Court of the Women, the steps leading up to the Court of Israel: “On the fifteen steps… corresponding with the fifteen songs of degrees, stood the Levites… and sang” (m. Sukkah 5:4). Nancy deClaissé-Walford notes that the Songs of Ascent were “traditionally recited at the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths or Sukkoth) in the Autumn of the year.” She adds that “the Feast of Tabernacles commemorates God’s care for the Israelites during the time of Israel’s wilderness wanderings, reinforcing the ‘pilgrimage’ theme of the Songs of Ascents.” Whatever their original purpose, these psalms were surely meant to focus the pilgrims’ minds on why they were going to Jerusalem and to prepare their hearts to worship God as they approached His sacred mount. Today, a favorite custom is to read one psalm (or its first verse) at each wide landing of the Southern Steps, climbing two steps between readings. We can’t say for certain that pilgrims did this here. But these were their traveling songs, and they were headed for this very stairway. “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD’” (Psalm 122:1). “Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!” (122:2). With all of this in mind, I can easily imagine Jewish families singing these psalms as they traveled upward to the Temple. The psalms were designed to remind God’s people of who He is, what He does, what He provides, and how they should live in response. Those truths about God must have motivated them on their journey to His holy hill, and they can motivate us today. These psalms can inspire us when we are weary from life’s journey or discouraged. Above all, they keep us focused on God as we come into His presence to worship the One from whom all blessings flow (cf. James 1:17). Jewish families still conduct festive and religious ceremonies along the entrances and Western Wall Plaza of the Temple Mount The songs weren’t really about the building. When asked to write a chapter for Bear Valley Bible Institute’s annual lectureship book, I was assigned 7 of the Psalms of Ascent from Psalms 128–134. In each of those Psalms I found that God stands at the center of each. In just those seven Psalms, “the LORD” appears 28 times, with 35 more pronouns referring to Him. Across all fifteen of the Psalms of Ascent, His name appears 53 times. As the pilgrims climbed, they sang that God blesses (128), avenges (129), forgives (130), comforts (131), remembers (132), unites (133), and reigns as the One “who made heaven and earth” (134:3). What drew them up the hill was God Himself. Clean Hands and a Pure Heart The mikvaot at the foot of the steps echo an older question: “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart” (Psalm 24:3–4). Pilgrims washed before they went up. The water could cleanse the body, but the psalms kept reminding them that God looked at the heart. Pentecost and the Church When the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost, Jerusalem was full of pilgrims for the Feast of Weeks (Acts 2:1–11). Peter preached, and “that day there were added about three thousand souls” who were baptized (Acts 2:41). Where do you immerse three thousand people in a city on a hill? The many mikvaot around the Southern Steps would have been a natural place, just outside the Temple where the crowds had gathered. Soon after, Peter and John healed a lame man at the gate called Beautiful (Acts 3:1–10). Some have suggested he begged somewhere along these steps or on the street above them, where the crowds heading to worship were largest. Closing Thoughts The Psalms of Ascent begin with a pilgrim looking up: “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1–2). They conclude with the same Creator: “May the LORD bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth” (134:3). We no longer go up to Herod’s Temple. We “have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22). Yet the lessons of those old stone steps still hold. Come slowly. Come clean. Come together. Above all, come humbly, like the man who could only say, “God, be merciful to me.” “Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand” (Psalm 95:6–7). “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” (1 Peter 5:6). By John W. Moore WORKS CITED AND RESOURCES CONSULTED Avigad, Nahman, Discovering Jerusalem. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1980. Bahat, Dan. The Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem. (Festive Edition) Carta, Jerusalem, 1990. Beitzel, Barry J., ed. Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016. Botterweck, Johanes (editor). Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. William B. Eerdmans publisher, 1974. Broshi, Magen, and Gibson, Shimon. “Excavations Along the Western and Southern Walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.” Ancient Jerusalem, ed, Hillel Geva; Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1994. Galor, Katharina, and Bloedhorn, Hanswulf. The Archaeology of Jerusalem: From the Origins to the Ottomans. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2013). Gesenius, William. Thesaurus Philogicus Criticus Linguae Hebrae et Chaldae Veteris Testament i, 2nd ed., vol. 2 (Lipsiae: Fr. Chr. Wil. Vogelius, 1839). Josephus, Flavius. The Jewish War. Translated by G. A. Williamson. Revised by E. Mary Smallwood. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books, 1981. The Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible 2017: n. pag. Print. Mathews, Joshua G. “Blessing.” Ed. Douglas Mangum et al. Lexham Theological Wordbook 2014: n. pag. Print. Lexham Bible Reference Series. Mazar, Eilat. The Complete Guide to the Temple Mount Excavations. Shoham Academic Research and Publication; Old City Press. Jerusalem, 2022. The Mishnah : A New Translation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988. Print. Reich, Ronny. Excavating the City of David: Where Jerusalem’s History Began. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2011. Ritmeyer, Leen. “Locating the Original Temple Mount,” Biblical Archaeology Review 18.2 (1992): 24, 26, 29, 32–37, 43–45, 65. __________ The Quest: Revealing the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Carta, Jerusalem, 2006. Ritzema, Elliot. “Song of Ascents.” Ed. John D. Barry et al. The Lexham Bible Dictionary 2016: n. pag. Print. Swanson, James. Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) 1997: n. pag. Print. Walford, Nancy L. deClaissé. “An examination of the Songs of Ascents and Psalm 119 in 11QPsa”.https://www.academia.edu.

By John W. Moore "For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place." — Psalm 132:13 "As the mountains are around Jerusalem, so the Lord is around his people." — Psalm 125:2 It is early morning on the Sabbath during Ramadan, and a peaceful calm blankets the Old City of Jerusalem. Most of the Jewish and Muslim communities are locked away at home, and many shops lie closed inside their respective quarters. It's my favorite part of the day. At the Western Wall, you mostly hear the chorus of birds flying to nests tucked in the cracks of the massive stones, along with the low murmur of prayer. If you let your imagination wander, you can almost hear the crowds of ancient history on pilgrimage to the temple, celebrating the redemption of Israel with their families. It's the perfect time to visit, when you feel as though you have the whole city to yourself, with ample time to stop, reflect, and pray. The Western Wall of the Temple Mount with the Muslim Dome of the Rock in view The Old City has a unique aura. From its ancient defensive walls to its ornately crafted gates, history is written all over it. Its buildings, ancient and modern alike, wear the look of antiquity, and its limestone streets are polished smooth by centuries of foot traffic. As you wander, the Christian Quarter stirs with the quiet voices and hurried steps of pilgrims longing to walk where Jesus walked. Near the Jaffa Gate, you'll often see Haredi Jews in traditional black attire, moving purposefully toward the Western Wall to pray. The scent of fresh bread mingles with jasmine and za'atar as the markets along the narrow streets slowly come to life. As you wander deeper into the alleys, you notice ancient architecture, art, and walls scarred by Jerusalem's tumultuous past. Hundreds of thousands arrive here each year, most longing to be closer to God, some seeking confirmation of their faith, and others simply observing the devotion of others. Walking the streets of what is arguably the most important city in the world gives you a clear sense of its religious history and fervor, but it also gives you a bit of a workout. Jerusalem isn't always conducive to a light, leisurely stroll, and its hills present real challenges for anyone with limited mobility. Moving between quarters means climbing up and down sizable hills and valleys. As the psalmist wrote in Psalm 125:2, Jerusalem was built on several hills, surrounded by more hills and valleys. Reaching the Temple Mount inevitably means walking up, then down, then up again. In some places, that climb is quite noticeable, but within each hill and valley lies part of the story of Jerusalem's history, expansion, and the temple itself. In many ways, the topography shaped the city's development and the temple's story as well. The old city of Jerusalem with its narrow streets and hills LOCATION AND APPROACH Because of its defensible location, reliable water source, and sacred sites, Jerusalem has always been a prized and cherished city, a natural home for the temple. Situated in the Judean hill country of southern Israel, it lies roughly thirty-three miles east of the Mediterranean and fifteen miles west of the Dead Sea's northern tip, nestled at the southern edge of the tribal territory of Benjamin. The Hinnom Valley, just south of the city, marks the boundary between Judah and Benjamin, first established during the Israelite conquest of Canaan (Joshua 11:18-20). At roughly 2,500 feet above sea level, Jerusalem's terrain is a patchwork of small hills and significant valleys. Its location mattered greatly to King David, who sat just south of an important crossroads on the central Benjamite plateau, giving him easier access to govern his nation and to reach trade routes and military objectives to the east and west. Travelers reached Jerusalem via one of four major approaches. The first came from the north, via the central Benjamite plateau (Judges 19-20; 1 Samuel 12:1-9; 2 Chronicles 16:1-6). The second came from the south, along the Judean Ridge Route through Bethlehem and Hebron (Judges 19:1, 10; 1 Samuel 17; 2 Chronicles 20:2, 20), known today as "the Way of the Patriarchs" for its heavy use by the families of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and for being the easiest route from the Negev into the southern hill country. The third approach, from the west, was far more difficult. The hills of the Shephelah and the deep, V-shaped valleys carved into the hard Judean limestone made travel rugged and treacherous. Jerusalem was easier to reach along the north-south ridge route than from the coast or the Rift Valley, which kept the city somewhat removed from the major coastal trade routes, but it gained the security of natural defenses in exchange (Rasmussen 188). The fourth approach came from the east, via the ascent of Adummim from Jericho through the Judean Wilderness, passing the Mount of Olives. Jesus and His family often took this route to Jerusalem for worship, and it was the route of His entry into the city during the week of His crucifixion (2 Samuel 15:23, 30; Matthew 20:17, 21:1-12; Luke 19:41-44, 24:50-53). Because the Mount of Olives stands higher than the temple's mount, a traveler crossing its summit would suddenly be greeted by the full splendor of the temple and the city surrounding it, whether in David's smaller city or in the temple's later glory. A pilgrim's approach from the east meant a sudden, overwhelming view of magnificent walls and buildings set within God-designed hill country. From above the Kidron Valley on Mount Scopus, one can see the mountains that surround Jerusalem It was along this eastern approach that the prophet Jeremiah traveled from his hometown of Anathoth to Jerusalem on many trips. I can imagine him reaching the crest of the Mount of Olives one evening, greeted by the glow of the candlelit temple courts and their great ivory pillars. I can also imagine what he felt when he saw that same skyline later, ablaze under Babylonian siege, after having spent much of his ministry warning Jerusalem of the judgment their idolatry and moral decay would bring, including his great sermon of denunciation delivered within those very temple courts (Jeremiah 7). That geographical vantage point alone adds weight and emotion to the temple's story as we try to see it through the eyes of those who first walked it. TOPOGRAPHY The Mountains Ancient builders prioritized two things above all when choosing a city site: high ground for defense and a reliable water source. Jerusalem met both. Ophel, standing 2,200 feet above sea level (Nehemiah 11:21; 2 Chronicles 27:3), forms today's southern extension of the Temple Mount, though centuries of excavation and expansion have blurred its once-distinct outline. Its southern spur, sometimes called the Eastern Hill, is a peninsula-shaped ridge bordered to the east by the Kidron Valley, to the west by the Central (Tyropoeon) Valley, and to the south by the Hinnom. This spur held the ancient City of David, his palace, and the original Jebusite stronghold, along with Early Bronze Age remains dating to roughly 3000 B.C. Just east of it lies the Gihon Spring, the constant water source that sustained the city's lower residents as Jerusalem later expanded westward. As the population grew, so did the city's boundaries, its walls, and the challenges those hills and valleys posed for the temple's expansion. Mount Zion is harder to pin down, having been identified with three different locations over the centuries. In Hebrew literature, it symbolized God's dwelling place (Psalm 125:1) more than a fixed spot, though by the First Temple period it was most often associated with the Temple Mount. Scholar J. Carl Laney identifies Zion with the Spur of Ophel, based on its frequent pairing with the City of David (e.g., 2 Samuel 5:7). Modern visitors, however, will find "Mount Zion" labeled on the Western Hill, home to the traditional site of David's tomb, the Armenian Quarter, and the Citadel. This misidentification dates back to early pilgrims who assumed the larger, higher Western Hill must be the temple's true location. Only in the modern era did clear evidence establish that the City of David and the Temple Mount lie east of the central valley, not west. The "Mount Zion" on today's maps, in other words, isn't the Mount Zion of the biblical era. Mount Zion is also closely tied to Mount Moriah, "traditionally identified as the mountain in 'the land of Moriah,' upon which Abraham offered Isaac" (Laney 171), and to the site where David purchased a threshing floor from Ornan the Jebusite, which later became home to both the first and second temples (2 Samuel 24:18-25; 2 Chronicles 3:1). The name "Moriah" means "foreseen by God," a striking thought: God foresaw, on this very ground, both Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac and, centuries later, the sacrifice of His own Son. The "Golden Gate" at Mount Zion and the Kidron Valley below The Western Hill, mentioned above as the mistaken "Mount Zion," became part of the city during the westward expansions of Kings Uzziah and Hezekiah in the 8th and 7th centuries B.C. (2 Chronicles 26:6-15; 32:5). By Jesus's day, it housed the homes of Jerusalem's upper and middle classes, the Hasmonean Palace, the high priest's residence, and Herod's mansion. Crusaders later identified the alleged sites of David's tomb and the Upper Room here as well (Laney 172). Today's Old City wall, built by Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566), runs west through the center of this hill before turning north along its ridge. East of the city, a long ridge runs north to south, parallel to the Kidron Valley, and includes both the Mount of Olives and the Hill of Offense. The Mount of Olives rises to 2,700 feet and first appears in Scripture in 2 Samuel 15:30, during David's flight from Absalom. Jesus returned here often (John 8:1; Mark 11:1; Matthew 24:3, 26:30), prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane at its base, and ascended to the Father from its summit (Acts 1:9-12). Ancient olive trees near that base have long been associated with the traditional Gethsemane site, though Scripture never pairs the word "garden" with "Gethsemane." The name itself means "place of the press," and just north of the traditional garden, a cave containing an ancient olive press has been discovered, leading many to believe this cave, not the garden, was where Jesus and His disciples spent that final night before the crucifixion. From the Temple Mount one can easily see the Mount of Olives with the Kidron Valley below South of the Mount of Olives, along the same ridge, lies the Hill of Offense, where Solomon built pagan altars to Chemosh and Molech to honor his foreign wives (1 Kings 11:1-7), corrupting Israel's worship until Josiah tore them down (2 Kings 23:13). Given the topography, it's sobering to realize that temple worshippers could likely see those pagan shrines perched on a nearby hill, perhaps hidden from view within the temple's colonnaded porches, yet plainly visible from higher ground or from just outside the temple to the south. Now, zoom out beyond the city's own internal hills, and notice that Jerusalem is surrounded by a wider ring of higher hills. To the north stands Nebi Samwil, traditionally identified with ancient Mizpah, rising to roughly 2,920 feet, the highest point in the immediate vicinity. To the east, Mount Scopus reaches about 2,710 feet, and the Mount of Olives, at 2,700 feet, stands just above Jerusalem's own elevation of around 2,500 feet. Together with the hill country stretching south and west, these heights form a literal ring around the city, the same "bowl" effect described below in the section on the valleys. These surrounding hills are precisely the image the psalmist had in mind in Psalm 125:1-2: "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people, from henceforth even for ever." The psalmist wasn't reaching for a vague metaphor; instead, he was describing an actual, visible feature of the landscape that any worshiper standing in the city could see with their own eyes: a real ring of higher ground surrounding Jerusalem on every side. Just as those encircling hills gave the city a sense of settled security, so God's presence surrounds His people, not as some poetic abstract idea but as a real, abiding, all-sided protection that really exist and one with which its readers would have been familiar. The Valleys Picturing ancient Jerusalem requires thinking in three dimensions, not two. Imagine the city sitting on two parallel ridges within a large bowl, with the bowl's rim rising higher than the ridges within it. The western ridge, higher and broader, is bounded on the west by the Hinnom Valley, which begins northwest of the city, turns south, then east, marking the ridge's western and southern limits. The narrower, lower eastern ridge is bounded on the east by the Kidron Valley, which runs north to south before joining the Hinnom and continuing southeast through the Judean desert to the Dead Sea. Between these two ridges lies a valley the Bible never names, known to geographers as the Central Valley, or the Tyropoeon, the "Valley of the Cheesemakers." To the north, both ridges continue to rise as they curve northwest, and the valleys, the Hinnom, the Central, and a tributary of the Kidron, veer in that same direction. A west-east valley feeding into the Central Valley forms the western ridge's natural northern boundary, while the eastern ridge's northern limit rises more gradually, broken only by minor depressions draining into the Bezetha Valley. The outer-city wall with the Hinnom Valley bleow The elevation changes are dramatic. The crest of the Western Hill stands 2,536 feet above sea level, while the meeting point of the Kidron and Hinnom Valleys sits roughly 615 feet lower, at about 1,921 feet above sea level, a striking drop over a short distance. To the north, between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives, the change in elevation isn’t as steep, but the difference is still impressive and formidable. In Bible times, these valleys made Jerusalem difficult to attack from the south, east, or west, forcing any invading army to fight uphill, which is why fortifications were concentrated on the more vulnerable north side. The Kidron Valley is also known for its dark history as a site where idols were burned in worship of Baal and Ashtoreth before King Josiah destroyed them (2 Kings 23:4-6). It was also the valley Jesus and His disciples crossed on their way from the Upper Room to Gethsemane (John 18:1). The Hinnom Valley carried a similarly grim reputation as a site of child sacrifice to Baal and Molech (2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6). WATER SOURCES No resource mattered more to an ancient city than water, used for drinking, cleansing, and sustaining crops. Jerusalem's primary source was the Gihon Spring on the eastern side of the Eastern Hill. Early in the city's history, builders cut a vertical shaft through the city wall to the pool at the mountain's base, securing a constant water supply. In the 8th century B.C., Hezekiah famously dug a tunnel from the Gihon Spring westward through the base of the Ophel spur to the Pool of Siloam, bringing the spring's water safely inside the city wall while sealing it off from outside access, denying any invading army its use (2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:30). That tunnel still exists and is open to visitors today. The old city of Jerusalem is surrounded by Mount Scopus and Mount of Olives in the distance Jerusalem also relied on cisterns and pools built to capture rainwater runoff, used mainly to water (and wash) animals and crops and, in desperate times, for drinking and bathing as well. Water from hill-country springs and cisterns was carried or channeled to pools and baptisteries throughout the city. The Pool of Bethesda, just north of the Temple Mount, is where Jesus healed the infirm man in John 5, while the Pool of Siloam, at the city's southern end on the western side of the Ophel spur, is where He healed the blind man in John 9. Other pools included the Tower Pool in the western part of the city and the Serpent's Pool just west of the Upper City. Archaeologists have also uncovered more than 150 mikvot (ritual immersion baths) in and around the Old City, many near the Temple itself, confirming the Jewish practice of ritual purification before entering the Temple or observing feast days. CONCLUSION Jerusalem's hills and valleys are not merely a footnote to its history; they are its history. Every approach to the city, whether from the plateau of Benjamin, the ridge road of the patriarchs, or the long climb up from Jericho, required travelers to descend before ascending, to pass through low, difficult ground before ever reaching the high place where God chose to dwell. Perhaps that is the enduring lesson tucked into this ancient terrain: our own walk with God rarely runs along flat, easy ground. We too pass through our share of valleys, seasons of struggle, doubt, or grief, on the way to the mountaintop moments of worship and peace. Yet the same God who gave Jerusalem's residents a hidden, constant spring to sustain them through siege and hardship promises the same to us today: a steady, unfailing source of grace and hope for whatever climb lies ahead. And just as the psalmist wrote, "as the mountains are around Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people" (Psalm 125:2), we can walk our own hills and valleys with confidence, trusting that God surrounds us on every side of the journey, not only at the summit but at every step along the way. Works Cited and Sources Bahat, Dan. The Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem. Translated by Shlomo Ketko, Carta, 1996. Laney, J. Carl. Concise Bible Atlas: A Geographical Survey of Bible History. Baker Book House, 1998. Rasmussen, Carl G. Zondervan Atlas of the Bible. Rev. ed., Zondervan, 2010.

I was hoping to venture inside, but I was almost certain men were not allowed. I was in Jerusalem and wanted to see up close the famous rock lintel inside the small synagogue near the women’s section at the Kotel (“Wailing Wall”). Thankfully, Carla agreed to enter on my behalf and to take on the difficult task of capturing B-roll footage for our documentary about the Temple. Worshippers gather beneath the massive Herodian lintel of Barclay's Gate in the women's section of the Western Wall. This ancient 1st-century entrance remains one of the closest accessible points to the original site of the Temple (photo property of Bible Passages) Capturing video at this iconic place meant carrying camera equipment into an area where worshippers were seeking solitude and personal quiet time for devotion, but my brave wife was up for the adventure. Trying not to be intrusive, I watched her gingerly make her way through a crowd of Jewish women who were waiting in line to approach the wall. Just down from the crowd was the synagogue, which was actually just a tiny room used for prayer and study. With a bit of trepidation, she climbed a few worn and aged steps and made her way into the small stone structure, which had been built against the famed western wall of the Temple Mount. The one-room synagogue lay beneath a stone ramp built in the Middle Ages. The ramp led up to the Mughrabi Gate, where non-Muslim visitors could access the Haram Al-Sharif and the platform where the Jewish Temple had once stood so proudly in the days of Jesus. Made of stones from various historical periods, the small room was lined with copies of the Talmud along its southern wall. In the center, several women sat in plastic chairs facing a large area toward a massive stone that is some 21 feet long, nearly 7 feet high, and weighs approximately 50 tons. All agree that this massive stone was the lintel above what had once been a massive opening or gateway into the lower section of the Temple complex, a gateway built during the reign of King Herod the Great. Looking closely at the ancient, 50-ton stone lintel of Barclay’s Gate, located within the women's prayer section of the Western Wall Plaza. This massive masonry once spanned a grand 27-foot-high entrance to the Temple Mount during the Second Temple Period. Today, the original entrance is blocked by smaller stone tiers, but it remains one of the few surviving original western entrances to the Temple Mount (photo from Bible Passages video and documentary, The Temple Then and Now) Today, this lintel and former entrance to the Temple Mount Complex is known as Barclay’s Gate. But why? And how are Thomas Jefferson and the Churches of Christ connected to this place where Jewish women often gather to pray? Who is James T. Barclay, and why is his name permanently associated with one of the four major entryways on the western side of the Temple complex? More on this in a moment, along with some of the history behind the rather mysterious and clandestine events surrounding the discovery of this now-sacred area. The First Temple To better understand Barclay’s Gate, let’s first examine the basic history of the sacred Temple of the Jews. The Hebrew word bay’it is translated in some versions of the Bible as “temple,” and in others as “house” or “dwelling,” and in each case it refers to the permanent structure housing the tabernacle and its furnishings (Brown, 108). Like the tabernacle, the Temple was considered a house or dwelling for Yahweh and the place where His presence was encountered. During the Israelite exodus from Egypt, the subsequent conquest of Canaan, and the period of the Judges, God’s tent of dwelling had, to some degree, been mobile, resting in places such as Gilgal, Shiloh, Nob, and Gibeah. However, in the 10th century BC, it came to permanently reside in Jerusalem, where Solomon erected an elaborately furnished temple on Mount Moriah, which was also the place where Abraham was called to offer his son Isaac (Genesis 22:2; 2 Chronicles 3:1). This same mountain came to be known as Mount Zion, the temple Mount, and to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif. This era of the temple, which lasted until its destruction, is known by historians and archaeologists as the FIRST Temple. Over three hundred years after Solomon built the temple, the Babylonians destroyed it in 586 BC. It, along with much of Jerusalem, was destroyed in a massive fire, and many Jews, along with captives from other nations, were taken as slaves to Babylon. The Second Temple Approximately seventy years after the destruction of the Temple, Persia conquered Babylon and took possession of its captives, including the Jews. According to both the Bible and the discovery of the famous Cyrus Cylinder, many of the captives were set free and allowed to return to their respective homelands. We also know from these sources that the Persian government helped finance the rebuilding of their temples and places of worship, and as the book of Ezra reveals, this was true for the Jews as well (Ezra 1:1-11). Between 538 and 520 BC, construction of the temple began once more, this time under the direction of Zerubbabel, the grandson of King Jehoiachin of Judah (1 Chronicles 3:17). This new era of construction became known as the Second Temple period, which, for most of its duration, was officially under the control of foreign rulers (e.g., the Persians, Greeks, Ptolemies, and the Seleucids). According to the books of Ezra and Haggai (Ezra 3:12; Haggai 2:1-3), this Second Temple paled in beauty and grandeur compared to the one built by Solomon. Ezra records that at the dedication of Zerubbabel’s Temple, those who had seen the First Temple wept, presumably saddened by its comparison to its former glory (Ezra 3:12). However, as history reveals, an expanded and greater version of the Second Temple would gradually emerge. Its initial improvements came during the Hasmonean reign, not long after the Hellenistic period. During the Roman Empire, even greater improvements were witnessed, many on a grand and elaborate scale. Don't stop reading! The bats and fractured skull are coming, along with an important lesson. Those larger improvements came not long after the rise of King Herod the Great. In 37 BC, the Romans appointed Herod, a cunning politician and military leader from Idumea, as King over Jerusalem and the territory of Judea. To garner favor with a nation that had largely despised and rejected him, he developed a plan to renovate and expand the beloved Jewish temple. His plans were ambitious and included an entire temple complex, which was arguably one of the great wonders of the ancient world. Under Herod’s direction, the inner sanctuary and temple proper, along with the court of the women, adjacent service buildings, the royal stoa, open-air plazas, and porticoes would reach their peak of sophistication and beauty. The temple had even mesmerized the disciples of Jesus, who remarked, “What wonderful buildings and stones” (Mark 13:1-2). Descriptions from various sources reveal its size and grandeur to be majestic. A model of Herod’s Temple Mount was a monumental architectural achievement of the ancient world. Begun around 20 BCE, this grand Jerusalem sanctuary expanded the Second Temple complex to cover an entire area upon which 27 NFL-sized football fields could be placed. To construct such an elaborate structure, an appropriate, structurally sound foundation was needed, but the mountain on which the previous temple stood was simply too small to accommodate the plans for such a sophisticated design. The first order of business was to enlarge the platform to accommodate the expansion. So, in 23 BC, workers enlarged the base of Mount Moriah by building gigantic retaining walls; one along the eastern edge, another to the south, and then a colossal wall on the west. In some places, the retaining walls are estimated to be 15 feet thick, with one of its largest stones weighing approximately 600 tons (45 X 11 X 15, Bahat). Huge portions of these foundational walls still stand, including the highly visible and important shrine known as the Kotel, or the Western Wall. Some even refer to it as the Wailing Wall because each year, on the 5th of Av, Jews from around the world still gather at its base to mourn the destruction of the temple and to sing the songs of lamentation from the book of Jeremiah. From the Western Wall Plaza at the Kotel, 28 rock-hewn courses are visible, with another 17 rows beneath. In the first century, the first course would have been exposed to the open air, and visitors could have walked beside this gargantuan wall, gazing up at an incredible 196-foot structure, with the temple sanctuary's ground floor at its top. The existing platform and its retaining walls give us an indication of the size and enormity of this sacred precinct. Some 26 NFL-size football fields could be placed on its surface, and by comparison, would have covered more than 4 times the area of the Acropolis in Athens (34 acres vs. 7 acres). A view of the Western Wall (Kotel) in Jerusalem's Old City. Built by King Herod around 19 BCE, this massive limestone structure is the last surviving remnant of the retaining wall that supported the Second Temple. It is the holiest site in Judaism, where millions of visitors come to pray and reflect. (photo property of Bible Passages) Entering and exiting the temple via one of the large retaining walls mentioned above could be done from several locations. Along the southern wall, evidence reveals two separate entry points (or gates), one known as the triple gate and the other as the double gate. The gates, which can be seen today, were reconstructed in the 16th century, but the remains of the original gate structures are visible in the unique Greek and Roman-style headers and in the door jambs and lintels. Some refer to these as the “Huldah gates,” but the term most likely referred to entry points from an earlier period located on the temple platform just north of the Royal Stoa. Hang in there! The bats are coming along with Barclay's grand discovery. Along the eastern retaining wall stood the Shusan Gate, where the red heifer was presented for sacrifice and where the scapegoat exited on the Day of Atonement (Numbers 19:1-10; Leviticus 16:8-10). Some have suggested that this is the gate Jesus entered on Palm Sunday, in fulfillment of the messianic prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 (cf. Ezekiel 43:1-5). The gate at this location today is known as the Eastern Gate, sometimes called the Golden Gate. Remains of a Hasmonean gate (141 to 37 B.C.) are located below the ground at this same site. This gate was accidentally discovered in 1969 by a university student from Jerusalem University College, who allegedly fell into a subterranean passage while walking at the base of the city walls of Jerusalem after a heavy rain (Fleming, 1983). Along the northern wall, there was yet another prominent entry point into the Temple. From there, visitors could enter through the Sheep’s Gate mentioned in Nehemiah (3:1), which also appears to be identified in John’s Gospel (John 5:2). A little farther west along the northern wall stood the Fortress of Antonio, which Herod named after Mark Antony, a Roman general and ally of Julius Caesar. This fortress was designed to protect the Temple’s most geographically vulnerable area and to provide temple officials and Roman soldiers with quick access to the Temple grounds. This scale model of Herod's Temple complex captures the western perimeter of the Temple Mount. It highlights the four main historical entrances along the Western Wall: Robinson's Arch, Wilson's Arch, Barclay's Gate, and Warren's Gate, which connected first-century Jerusalem to the Herodian Temple Complex. On the western side of the Temple, Herod expanded the temple platform on a massive scale by erecting a massive retaining wall that extended into the central valley. This wall is approximately 1,600 feet in length and stands about 105 feet high at its southern end. Along this colossal wall, four entrances were constructed, each identified today by the names of modern explorers who discovered them. Wilson’s Arch supported a bridge that gave access to the temple from the upper city. Warren’s Gate, located to the north, is still visible but was closed and permanently sealed in the 12th century. Today, it is accessible only underground and remains a popular place for Jewish women to gather and pray. The most impressive of the four western gates was located at the southwestern corner, where explorer Edward Robinson discovered the remains of an ancient archway jutting out from the retaining wall. His discovery corroborates the testimony of Josephus, who described an elaborate staircase leading up to the Royal Stoa, perched atop the southwestern portion of the temple. The base structure of that staircase was discovered in 1838, and we now know that some 45 feet from the main wall, the stairs turned southward and descended into the central valley, where they joined an area crowded with shops and Jewish ritual baths, known as Mikvehs. Barclay’s Gate and Early Explorations (Here come the bats and fractured skull) The last of the four major entry points along the western side of the Temple complex is known today as Barclay’s Gate and is, of course, the subject of this article. It lies just north of the grand staircase that led up to the Royal Stoa, but like the other original gateways into the Temple, it is no longer accessible. Barclay’s Gate was filled with rocks and sealed sometime during the 10th century. This now well-known gate, where Jewish women often gather to pray, had been forgotten and lost to memory until 1850, when a medical doctor named James Turner Barclay from Virginia discovered it in a bit of a clandestine operation. But who in the world is James Barclay, and how did he discover it? James Turner Barclay was born in 1807 in Hanover County, Virginia, to Thomas Barclay, the Quaker apologist and close friend of American presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Educated at the University of Virginia, James Barclay later earned a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and became both a physician and a pharmacist. Dr. James Turner Barclay (1807–1874) was an American physician, missionary, and explorer best known for his 19th-century work in Jerusalem. He served as the first foreign missionary for the American Christian Missionary Society, arriving in 1851. He explored and mapped Zedekiah's Cave and uncovered an ancient, Herodian-period gateway (now known as Barclay's Gate). He is also known for owning Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate from 1831 to 1836. Throughout his life, he served in numerous educational and governmental roles and was also known for purchasing the deteriorating Monticello property from the family of Thomas Jefferson. He had high hopes of establishing a successful silkworm farm on Jefferson’s property, but it lasted only four years before he was forced to sell. Above all, Barclay was known as a devoted Christian and humanitarian, helping thousands of Jerusalem residents during a major malaria outbreak in 1851. He also became the first missionary sponsored by the American Christian Missionary Society of Cincinnati, Ohio. Its first president, Alexander Campbell, one of the early preachers of the churches of Christ in America, helped orchestrate the sending of Barclay and his family on a major missionary campaign to Palestine. Barclay and his family labored for about 8 years in Palestine, mostly in Jerusalem. From Barclay’s books and memoirs, we learn of the arduous journey across the Atlantic and the horseback trip from Tyre to Jerusalem, which in total took 5 months. On February 10th, 1851, he and his wife, Julia Ann, and their three teenage children arrived in Jerusalem for the first time and took up residence near the Damascus Gate. Facing opposition from local religious groups, he was able to baptize only 31 individuals over the next three years. In 1854, they returned to the United States and would eventually make it back to Jerusalem, working for several more years before events connected with the American Civil War forced their permanent return to the United States in 1865. In addition to Barclays’ missionary efforts, he also found time to explore and write about his observations of the land of the Bible. Archaeology had not yet developed as a scientific discipline, and in the 1800s, much of what was known about Jerusalem was assembled through tradition and the works of ancient historians such as Josephus, Philo, and others. Much about the city from the time of Jesus remained unknown, yet, thanks to the work of explorers such as Edward Robinson, Charles Warren, Conrad Schick, and others, the ancient world of the New Testament gradually became clearer. Though not nearly as well-known, James Barclay and his voluminous book, The City of the Great King, made significant contributions to the growing body of knowledge about the world of the Bible. Because of Barclay, we now know more about the design of the Temple complex and key aspects of its construction. As will be shown below, he is credited with the discovery of Zedekiah’s Cave, so-called, which legend connects with Zedekiah’s escape from the Babylonian siege (Jeremiah 39:4-5). In truth, the cave served as a quarry for the construction of ancient Jerusalem. Many of Barclay's discoveries, including Zedekiah’s Cave, were made under the cover of darkness. It seems local Muslim officials weren’t always keen on foreigners and non-Muslims defiling the sacred ground beneath their Noble Sanctuary, where the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque now stand atop the Temple Mount. Nevertheless, Barclay was determined to better understand ancient Jerusalem and uncover its hidden treasures. As described in his book, he also wanted to “explore the magnificent subterranean remains of the gorgeous palaces of King David, Solomon, and various other monarchs of former times” (Barclay, 459). Dr. James Turner Barclay rediscovered Zedekiah's Cave in 1854 when his dog fell into a hidden pit near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. Zedekiah’s Cave is also known as "King Solomon's Quarries," but most likely dates to the period of the 2nd Temple. A massive 5-acre underground limestone quarry it is hidden beneath the Muslim Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. (photo property of Bible Passages) Barclay’s book likewise describes how he and his son, along with a colleague, often conducted nighttime explorations through underground passages and caves. While the following quote is lengthy, I believe you will find it highly interesting and helpful in understanding the curiosity and courage exhibited by early explorers: Having received some intimation of the existence of an entrance to a very extensive cave near the Damascus gate…we provided ourselves with all the requisites for such a furtive adventure—matches, candles, compass, tap-line, paper and pencils—a little previous to the time of closing the gates of the city, we sallied out at different points, the better to avoid exciting suspicion, and rendezvous at Jeremiah’s pool, near to which we secreted ourselves within a white enclosure surrounding the tomb of a departed Arab Sheikh, until the shades of darkness enabled us to approach unperceived, —when we issued from our hiding place amid the screeching owls screaming of Hawks howling of jackals and the chirping of nocturnal insects. (Barclay, 460-461). His account continues with a description of their location and the process of digging through soft dirt, during which they had, fortuitously, noticed the day before his dog digging with great intent, as though he were looking for something. It was at that exact location that they uncovered a hole extending through the 10-foot-wide wall and began worming their way inside. The following describes what happened next. On scrambling through and ascending the inner side of the wall, we found our way apparently obstructed by an immense amount of soft dirt, which had been thrown in, the more effectually to close up the entrance; but, after examining a while, discovered that it had settled down in some places sufficiently to allow us to crawl over it hand and knee; which having accomplished we found ourselves enveloped in the thick darkness, that might be felt, but not penetrated by all our lights so vast is this hall. For some time, we were almost overcome with feelings of awe and admiration, and I must say apprehension too, from the immense impending vaulted roof, and felt quite at a loss to decide in which direction to wind our way… The cave is upwards of 3000 feet in circumference, supported by great numbers of rude natural pillars. At the southern extremity, there is a very deep and precipitous pit, in which we received a very salutary warning of caution from the dead—a human skeleton! Supposed to be that of a person who, not being sufficiently supplied with lights, was precipitated headlong and broke his neck, or rather his skull, I should judge, from the fracture I noticed on picking it up!... We noticed bats clinging to the ceiling in several places in patches varying from 50 to 150, hanging together, which flew away at our too near approach, and for some time continued to flit and scream around and about our heads in rather disagreeable propinquity… A few Arabic and Hebrew inscriptions (though too much effaced to be deciphered) prove that the place was not unknown to the Jew and Arab. Indeed, the manner in which the beautiful white solid limestone rock was everywhere carved by the Masons rough chisel into regular pillars, proved that this extensive Tavern, though in part natural, was formerly used as the grand quarry for Jerusalem. (Barclay,461) Barclay’s discovery of this ancient underground stone quarry was of tremendous importance. It revealed the largest artificial cave in Israel (roughly 97,000 square feet) and provided physical evidence of quarrying methods from biblical times. The sheer scale of the underground chamber—yielding an estimated 350,000 tons of rock—demonstrated the massive engineering feats required to build ancient Jerusalem. Archaeologists and historians believe that this high-quality limestone, known as Melekh (royal) stone, was extensively quarried by King Herod for the Second Temple and the Western Wall (Lewy, 187-196). Barclay’s Gate: Its Discovery and Importance Beyond Barclay’s discovery of “Zedekiah’s Cave,” the place in Jerusalem today that most bears his memory, as discussed above, is the gate/entry along the western wall. What was well known to first-century visitors to the Temple (and to others in ancient history) but later sealed and forgotten was rediscovered by James Barclay during one of his nightly explorations. His book, The City of the Great King, describes the discovery. The quote that follows comes after his description and examination of the double-gate entrance on the southern wall of the Temple Mount: I discovered an ancient doorway, quite similar to this [the double gate], on the West side, about 270 yards from the southwest corner, which is also walled up…This gate is without doubt one of the two mentioned by Josephus as leading into Parbar [the court];and is an important element in the restoration of the temple. It also affords another proof of the reliability of the Hebrew historian. It is immediately beneath the present Mugaribeh Gate…During the period of my admission into the Haram enclosure I discovered in this immediate vicinity, on the interior, a portion of a closed gateway, about fourteen or fifteen feet wide; but whether it is connected with that on the exterior, I was not enabled to determine, for the guards became so much exasperated by my infidel desecration of the sacred room, el-Borak, where the great prophet tied his mule on that memorable night of the Hegira, that it was deemed the part of prudence to tarry there but a short time and never to visit it again. (Barclay, pp. 490-91) What Barclay describes in his book has been well documented by others and is evident in the photographs I have included. His discovery, though often overlooked, was monumental, and the following reasons help explain why. A photo taken in approximately 1940 from the inside of the Temple Mount and from the perspective of how Dr. Barclay would have seen it in 1851. The room is now known as The “al-Buraq” Mosque and show us the internal gate passage from the inside of "Barclay’s Gate", along the western wall and inside the Haram (Temple Mount) enclosure. (photo courtesy of The American Colony and https://www.lifeintheholyland.com/). First, it provided further evidence of the Second Temple's existence and its often-debated location. This on-the-ground evidence of the Herodian expansion of the Temple Mount has also enabled scholars to correlate the physical ruins with historical texts such as the Bible and the Mishnah. These findings have helped corroborate the testimony of writers like Mark regarding the disciples of Jesus and their amazement at the Temple's grandeur (Mark 13:1-2). Second, the discovery of Barclay’s Gate confirms Josephus’s account of the temple, further supporting his credibility as a reliable witness. In his Jewish Antiquities, he says the following: Now in the western quarters of the enclosure of the temple there were four gates; the first led to the king’s palace, and went to a passage over the intermediate valley; two more led to the suburbs of the city; and the last led to the other city, where the road descended down into the valley by a great number of steps, and from there up again by the ascent for the city… (Jewish Antiquities; Book 15 Chapter 11) The four western gates, identified by Josephus, were discussed earlier in this article. Two of them were Warren’s Gate and Barclay’s Gate, which led to the “suburbs” or the lower street of the business and retail district. The other two were Robinson’s Arch/Bridge on the southwest corner and Wilson’s Arch across the central valley. Wilson’s Arch served as the support for the bridge that crossed the Central Valley, providing access to King Herod and his court from his palace, situated at the western extremity of the city. Illustration of how "Barclay's Gate" may have looked as it entered the Temple Mount (photo Illustrator unknown) Third, Barclay’s Gate helps us better understand how pilgrims and workers at the Temple may have accessed the underground corridors and chambers beneath the Temple Mount without having to ascend to the upper courts. Unlike other structures, such as Robinson's Arch, which used monumental external staircases to carry crowds onto the Temple Mount, Barclay's Gate was an underground, tunnel-like entryway. It also revealed the complex, multi-tiered infrastructure designed by Herod’s architects. Conclusion The discovery of "Barclay’s Gate" was truly monumental, and I, for one, am extremely grateful for his work in archaeological exploration and geography. Students of the Bible and archaeologists seeking to better understand the world of the Bible are indebted to him for his many discoveries and for the detailed descriptions of Jerusalem and its environs. He is certainly remembered for his time in Jerusalem and for the purchase of Thomas Jefferson’s famed Monticello. A complete study of his life will also reveal that Barclay was far from perfect and experienced various disappointments. However, his greatest legacy must be measured by the conviction of his faith and his love for the souls of others. Barclay was, above all else, a humanitarian and, more importantly, a gospel preacher and evangelist. It is true that much of the time he spent in the Bible lands was dedicated to gaining a better understanding of the Biblical text within its historical context and to serving as an apologist and defender of the faith. However, his greatest legacy lies in how he used his education and experience to further the cause of Christ through education and evangelism. Because of his medical expertise, he helped the citizens of Jerusalem during a major malaria crisis and with many other physical ailments. But above all, he taught precious souls the gospel of Christ and ministered to them through the Word. His missionary efforts to establish the church and the sacrifices he and his family made in traveling so far from their home are beyond admirable. It is obvious that James T. Barclay loved people and loved the church of our Lord. Today, some 175 years later, his life and legacy weigh heavily on my mind. I, too, love the land of the Bible and am often enthralled by the importance of geography and archaeological discoveries. I understand the essential nature of apologetics and the value of academia. I rejoice in being able to walk where Jesus walked and am often giddy with excitement at seeing the hills and valleys trodden by great heroes of faith. But to what end, I ask? And for what purpose? Our mission must always be to preach the gospel in all the world (Mark 16:15-16). And what each of us does in our respective work must never be done out of “selfish ambition” or by putting “confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 2:3; 3:3). Barclay’s mission was to save souls and to share with others the beautiful gospel of Christ. His work inspires and encourages me, and his life offers many lessons. Defend the faith? We must! Explain scripture within its historical context? Without a doubt. But above all, Jesus, our savior, our redeemer, our Lord, must be at the center of all that we do. His name must be glorified, not our own. All glory and praise must be given to Him. Jesus, and Him crucified, must always be at the core of our lives and of what we teach (1 Corinthians 2:2). Souls must be saved! Thank you, Mr. Barclay, for helping me remember! And by the way, thanks for pushing forward and making some great archaeological discoveries, despite the bats. By John W. Moore Works Cited and Resources Consulted Bahat, Dan. The Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem. (Festive Edition) Carta, Jerusalem, 1990. Barclay, James, T. The City of the Great King: or, Jerusalem As It Is, And As It Is To Be. James Challen and Sons, J. B. Lippincott and Co., Philadelphia, 1858. Brown, John T (editor). “J.T. Barclay” Churches of Christ: A Historical, Biographical, and Pictorial History of the Churches of Christ in the United States, Australasia, England, and Canada. Forgotten Books, London, 2018. Fleming, James. "The Undiscovered Gate Beneath Jerusalem's Golden Gate" January/February 1983 edition of Biblical Archaeology Review (Volume 9, Number 1). Josephus, Flavius, translated by William Whiston. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987. Harp, Scott. “James Turner Barclay” History of the Restoration Movement. www.therestorationmovement.com. Mazar, Eilat. The Complete Guide to the Temple Mount Excavations. Shoham Academic Research and Publication; Old City Press. Jerusalem, 2022. Ritmeyer, Leen. “Locating the Original Temple Mount,” Biblical Archaeology Review 18.2 (1992): 24, 26, 29, 32–37, 43–45, 65. Ritmeyer, Leen. The Quest: Revealing the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Carta, Jerusalem, 2006. Rodriguez, Seth. “Picture of the Week: Interior of Barclay’s Gate”, Bible Places.Com, January 31, 2013. Lewy, Z. 2005. “Geological and religious factors for subsurface quarrying that formed the Zedekiah Cave in Jerusalem, Israel.” Geoarchaeology, v. 21, 187-196.

Introduction In his books Anxious Generation and The Coddling of the American Mind, Jonathan Haidt and his coauthors propose an interesting theory. The idea goes something like this: the reason American teens, college students, and adults are fighting many mental battles is because they have not been allowed to or exposed to enough struggle in their lives. Jonathan and his peers qualify this theory in two ways. First, they don’t deny that people are still struggling in certain ways. Our teens, for example, seem to be under more pressure than ever from school and from organized, busy schedules. Second, they are not dismissing mental illness under the guise of a one-size-fits-all antidote. There are those who struggle with real, clinical issues that require professional-level care. Their thesis, however, is that, in general, the American psyche is fragile. To make their point, they use studies and illustrations. One illustration they used was of trees grown in a laboratory environment. The intent was to experiment with farming under a dome on another planet. In the biosphere, the trees that they were growing fell over well before maturity. As the scientists investigated why this happened, they discovered that without wind resistance, the trees had not developed roots or “stress wood” that could sustain their size. They learned that resistance was actually a critical part of tree development. As the tree struggled against the wind, the roots dug deeper and stronger. If we think about it, the idea that struggle leads to strength is something we know intuitively. We work out with resistance weights so our muscles will tear and rebuild stronger. We know that shortcuts often lead to worse results. We intuit this truth from our life experiences. When I think about this, it reminds me of a story in scripture that became the foundation for a nation. It all starts in Genesis 32. Jacob is in distress. He is returning after many years to his brother Esau after fleeing for his life with his birthright and blessing. The text says that he was “greatly afraid and distressed” in verse 7. His plan was to send out a parade of gifts and people in the hopes that Esau would be forgiving and allow him to return. As the parade departed, he was left alone in the camp. The Jabbok River - the river where Jacob "wrestled with God" It was at this time that something happened that I find hard to understand. Seemingly, with no context and no buildup, the text simply says, “a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.” The two of them were locked in an evenly matched struggle. When the unidentified man did not prevail, it says he touched Jacob's hip and put it out of joint. As day broke, the man said, “‘Let me go, for the day has broken.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’” Apparently, the man agrees, and he changes his name to Israel. Israel is a combination of two Hebrew words. El is the word for deity. Sarah (the same as the name) is the word for to strive, content, struggle, or even wrestle. If you put them together, you get (I) sra el. The man (clearly now identifying as not merely a man) says that is Jacob's new name because he has “striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Obviously, God knew what he was doing when he applied that name, not just to Jacob but to his chosen nation. Over the course of the next 1500 (3500?) years, you could sum up the entirety of Israel’s existence by saying that they struggled with God. This idea of struggling with God is something that we carry forward into the New Testament and into our lives. I want to consider a few things that I have found interesting about our struggle. God invites us into the ring (so to speak) Although most of us are not part of the physical nation of Israel, God has invited us into the community of his covenant people. We are spiritual Israel, and we, too, strive with God. I think one of the hardest things to understand is how Jacob could be “evenly matched” with God (or however you want to describe this divine being). The only thing that I can think of is that God would condescend or lower Himself to make this an even match. Yet that is exactly the terminology that we use to describe the incarnation of Jesus. In a familiar passage, the writer of Hebrews says that he was “tested in all points as we are yet without sin.” So in a way, we have been invited into the “wrestling match” that God wants us to be part of. It is not a physical match, however, but one of our own mind and will. Consider how we might struggle with God. First, we wrestle with simply understanding God. This account is a great example. What does this event fully mean? How did it transpire? What does it tell me about God? I don’t know that I have all of the answers. In a way, scripture actually guarantees that we won’t have all of the answers (“My ways are not your ways”). That being said, God invites us into the fray. He wants us to wrestle with his nature. He wants us to build strength through the mental exercise of comprehending his deity. I think of Paul in Romans as he attempts to bring that church along with him on a journey of understanding. He even says in regards to something they cannot get their minds around, “How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” Yet in the midst of that discussion, he uncovers more about God and his plan for salvation than we get in any other book. God wants us to attempt to comprehend the uncomprehendable because he knows it will lead us to greater holiness and a deeper understanding of him. Second, we struggle with God's commands. If you have ever met someone who claims they don’t struggle with the demands of Christianity, I think it would be safe to call them a liar. Paul writes that all have sinned and fallen short, yet we are given commands to be holy and perfect and blameless. Life is a constant struggle to eliminate sin and be the people that God wants us to be. All the while, we are cognizant of our own failings and shortcomings. The only way to describe this tension is that we wrestle with it. Again, to quote Paul, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” In this section of Romans 7, he sounds like a crazy person. I want to do one thing, yet I seem to keep doing the very opposite. Sound familiar? More could be said about this, but I think to stick with our theme, consider how wrestling with sin can make us stronger. In Acts 3:14, Peter accuses the people of denying the Holy and Righteous One. You might be thinking, “thats rich coming from Peter!” Not two months ago, Peter was the one standing in the courtyard denying Christ. Yet that is exactly the point, Peter is one who is done denying. He has known the pain, he has known the hurt, he has known the sin. He would never deny Jesus again, and tradition tells us it ended up costing his life. The struggle made him stronger. Third, we struggle with life's issues. If you make it to the conclusion of this article, I mention a pretty big struggle that caused a lot of heartbreak and headache for a lot of people. This is just the reality of living. Things happen to us that are unpleasant or hard simply because we are part of a fallen humanity. Struggle is an inevitable part of our existence Building on that last idea, although we don’t like it, there is ample evidence that we are destined to struggle. No one has made it through life without experiencing some sort of hardship. Conflict is so integral to the human experience that it actually is what makes stories interesting or believable. Think about the last time you watched a movie or read a book. Did the protagonist get out of bed, commute to work, come home, go to bed, and live happily ever after? Or was there a struggle, conflict, or hardship that befell them that they had to overcome? Even if there are no explicit obstacles, the idea of work itself involves struggle. Solomon in Ecclesiastes explores all of these ideas and more. He recognizes that under the sun it is good for a man to work. He further recognizes that, although we work, our lives often feel like we are striving (another word in the struggle category) after the wind. We struggle with our bodies and their frailty, we struggle with our minds and their fragility, we struggle with our emotions and their temporality. Our life is destined for this struggle. One could argue that we are even designed for struggle With all of that in mind, I want you to consider one more point: perhaps we are not only destined to struggle, but we are actually designed for it. One of my favorite analogies about Bible geography is how the wilderness wandering relates to our Christian existence. The wilderness wandering is characterized by two water crossings. It begins when the Israelites cross the Red Sea and ends when they cross the Jordan into Canaan. The analogy goes something like this: our Christian walk also starts with water - the waters of Baptism. Our promised land, the rest, as the Hebrew writer puts it, is what happens either when we die or when Jesus returns (for the Christian). This, in a sense, is the second water - when we enter into the rest. If these are the markers of our existence, then where do we figuratively spend our entire Christian lives? In the wilderness. We have left the comforts of Egypt behind (our sinful life) and have voluntarily ventured into the wilderness, where we have nothing but God to lean on. This is exactly what God wants for us. Just as the Israelites realized their only path to survival was through God, who provided for their needs, we need the spiritual food and water supplied to us by God. What is the problem with that? It is a struggle. It's hard to rely on something or someone else. God’s character is such that he has given us no reason to doubt, yet we doubt. God supplies beyond what we can even ask or imagine, yet we wonder if he still hears or provides. Seemingly, the best place to be in our lives is a constant state of dependence. We wake up, still in the spiritual wilderness, longing for rest, and willfully engage in the mental and physical struggle of trusting in God. It's what we are here to do. Consider one more point regarding this idea that we are designed for struggle. If this indeed is how we are designed, why might that be the case? Remember, we have already explored the idea that resistance is actually necessary for strength. We don’t want our spiritual trees to fall over from a lack of roots. James says we should cultivate a joyful attitude when we encounter trials, because we know that the testing of our faith produces patience. That patience, then, when it has had its full effect, makes us complete. We are not designed for struggle because God is malicious and just wants to see us flounder. Ultimately, we have been given this life to glorify God. We can do that in two ways. First, by engaging in the struggle, building deep roots, and trusting in Him. That way, we declare that he is worthy of our effort, time, and attention. Second, we declare his glory by anticipating a rest. We may be designed in this life for struggle, but we know there is coming a day when the struggle will be over. God has promised that after a short time of difficulty, we can have an eternity of rest. What does it all mean? So if we are invited to wrestle with God, we are inevitably going to encounter struggle, and we are perhaps even designed for it, how does that apply? By now, unless you are living under a rock, you know what is going on in the Middle East. Bible Passages feels a very close connection to Israel because of our work and time spent studying about, traveling to, and teaching about the land. There is no other word for the emotions that we have; we are experiencing some struggles. One thing I haven't mentioned so far is that, although we may be designed for struggle, it still doesn’t make it fun. It is hard to have an eternal perspective on the things that happen in our lives. It is especially hard to consider it a joy the closer we are to any given event. When it just happened, it is hard to put on a smile, so to speak. Consider the range of emotions that we have to wrestle with in our own minds over the recent events. We hurt for our brothers and sisters in Christ As far as we understand it, there is a very limited population of New Testament Christians in Israel. We have developed a close relationship with the church in Nazareth, and we hurt for their particular struggles. Their livelihoods have been impacted, their loved ones endangered, and their country threatened. They are alone in the country as the only church, and yet they are still trying to be faithful. Our hearts hurt for them. Also, as I understand it, there are also brothers and sisters in Iran. We have met individuals from Iran who have escaped to other parts of the world. They tell us of conversion stories, of hidden Bibles, of parental faith. Although we have no firsthand knowledge of faithful members of the Lord’s body, it does fit the pattern of God’s church. People have been able to find the truth throughout history and follow it. Although we don’t know them firsthand, our heart also hurts for those in Iran. We yearn for peace and freedom for the Middle East We, like most people, would like to see peace come to the Middle East. There are many who hold a fatalistic view of the idea that there could ever be peace in the region. I don’t know that I subscribe to that line of thinking. I especially don’t in light of the promises of Scripture. Jesus' work, words, and power are strong enough to accomplish anything. There are evil people everywhere in the world, and they, in the name of self-interest or misguided understanding, stand in the way of peace. What should happen to those who rebel against God and his mission? What is our responsibility from our home in the West to interfere in the East? What are the limits of our means to accomplish God’s mission? We don’t purport to have all the answers (or maybe even any answers), but we know that God is in control, and we wish that all could live in peace. We agonize over the loss of life Regardless of motivation, righteous or otherwise, war brings death. We know that there can be just reasons for fighting (although some have used the guise of righteousness for personal gain). Yet, each person killed, regardless of race or nationality, is made in the image of God. Jews, Palestinians, Iranians, Saudis, Jordanians, Americans, and whoever else you can name are directly in harm's way. This loss of life should not be minimized or trivialized. We can become desensitized to it, or worse, cheer for it because of the distance, the constant news coverage, or our longstanding bias against a people. People are important. People matter. In the face of what seems to be building into a long, drawn-out war, we hurt for the people involved. We pray that there can be minimal loss of life, and we pray that all can come to a knowledge of the truth before their death. We hope for a better tomorrow If you have gotten this far, you might be thinking that this is simply a depressing article devoid of any answers or help. There is fairness and truth in that assessment. We don’t claim to have any answers or some great insight into this conflict. That is often what it means to struggle. I don’t understand it, but I have to engage with it. I know God is sovereign, but I can’t seem to find my place or my footing. I want so many things, and they seem to conflict. Should I support military action, or should I decry the loss of life? Should I stand up in support, or should I protest? Although we don’t have answers, here are some helpful thoughts. First, we have to engage. There is an instinct to “stay out of it.” At the risk of getting too bold, I would assert we have taken this path far too often. Under the pretense of remaining pure, we have failed to engage in the difficult discussions of our age. We have left the conversation open to interpretation by a host of interest groups, but we (Christians) have remained quiet. This is the opposite of what should happen - Christians should be leading the discussion and representing God’s voice. Okay, if we have to engage, then the next question is how? You might say to yourself, "I need to stay out of it because I don’t know enough to offer a resolution." That brings up a second point. The struggle is the destination. The desire to avoid conflict comes from two sources. We don’t want to intentionally do hard things, and we feel like we don’t have the answers. Interestingly, I don’t think God expects us to have the answers. In my mind, the invitation is this: get in the ring and fight - win, lose, or draw. God has the answers. He has provided them to us, and he wants us to fight for him to uncover their applications to modern contexts. What we cannot do is sit out because it seems hard. God wants us to get in there and battle in the fray. When we do, we build deep roots and represent our Lord. Third, we do know some things for certain. Although we don’t have all the answers, we do have some. The theme of Revelation is that God wins. I don’t believe at all that Revelation is talking about the specific issues with Israel and Iran today. Nor do I believe it is referring to any specific physical conflict we may experience. What is being talked about, however, is a cosmic conflict. Things are happening in the spiritual realm that impact our physical existence. What is comforting about that thought is that we have been given the resolution to the spiritual conflict. God has conquered. He wins. And we will all get to enjoy his victory if we are found on his side. Conclusion If you subscribe to my theory - that we are designed for struggle, then these things should come as a comfort. Although we may dislike it, we expect it. Through the mental exercise of wrestling, we become stronger and more equipped for the next struggle. More than that, if we are exercising our Christian principles, we are becoming conformed to the image of Christ, who also struggled even to the point of the cross. I believe (although I hope for something different) that the difficulties in the Middle East are just beginning. Christians play an important role in the difficult times of history. We are here as representatives of God, standing up for him and his desires. Sure, it is going to be a struggle, but it just might be it's the one we were made for. Photo Credits: Fallen Tree Photo by Andrew Yu on Unsplash; Wrestling Photo by C.F. Photography on Unsplash; River Photo by Jack Anstey on Unsplash; People Photo by Duy Pham on Unsplash

Has this ever happened to you? You are reading a text in the Bible, and you read about a wilderness (or desert), and you just assume it's always talking about the same one. Would it surprise you to know there are actually three wildernesses in the proper boundary of Israel (not to mention the ones that are mentioned outside of the traditional boundary of Canaan)? In this article, we will examine three of the main wildernesses in the Bible. What happened in each? What can each teach us about God and how he wants us to live? Looking out from Masada towards the Dead Sea First, let's give names to the three wildernesses and briefly discuss the geography. Jerusalem can be our anchor point, and we will primarily discuss the land of Judah. Jerusalem sits in the Judean Hills (or hill country). As you move out of that hill country, you encounter wildernesses both south and east. The Judean Wilderness The Judean wilderness lies just east of Jerusalem. And when I say just, I mean just. Not 1 mile as the crow flies on the other side of the Mount of Olives, the rain shadow from the hill country means that this geologically distinct area receives almost no rainfall. This desert area covers everything west of Jerusalem to the Rift Valley (Jordan River/Dead Sea). The Negev(s) The second and third wildernesses are geologically identical and thus only separated by their functions and roles to the people who live there. The Negev (or Negeb) is made up of a very poor soil known as loess (pronounced lo-ess). It is divided into two sections: the Biblical Negev and the Greater Negev. The Biblical Negev is only 5-10 miles wide in many places and is distinct because it is, to a degree, an area of settlement. It serves as a boundary between other regions and the Greater Negev, but it remains connected to the more settled areas through its northern border. The Greater Negev, on the other hand, is almost completely removed from civilization. There is a depression that may allow travel, but instead of true settlement, it is marked more by outposts and way stations. Now that we understand a little bit more about these areas, why does it matter? What are some significant events that happened in each, and how can we build our faith from an understanding of the land? I want to discuss three things we can read in the biblical text as illustrations for each area. The Greater Negev - The Place We Need to Conquer First, in the Greater Negev, we have the Solomonic outposts. Solomon represented the height of royal power in Israel. His kingdom's borders extended farther than those of any other king. In 1 Kings 9, the text gives a summary of his building projects and accomplishments, and in verse 18 it says he built Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness in the Land of Judah. There have been many archaeological digs and speculations about how many places Solomon may have built in the wilderness, but I want to consider, for a moment, a deeper question. Why would he be interested in building out here? The religious landscape can be imposing at times; it's frightening to put ourselves out there Solomon was intentional about building in the wilderness because it was, in part, a show of the greatness of his kingdom. He conquered new territories, established new cities, and built new watchtowers. As he had the ability, he wanted to put Israel on the map, so to speak, and expand, ultimately taking as much of the land as he could. As a faith lesson, I want you to consider that this is an area where American Christians have lost our way. If we use the Greater Negev as an analogy for the frontier that needs to be conquered, the idea is that we ultimately need to go into those places to set up outposts and start expanding our influence. In our culture and context, this is just an expression of the Great Commission, but the questions have to be asked: Where are the frontiers? Who is going? Do we identify as a Solomonic kingdom - expanding, growing, evangelizing? Or do we identify as a kingdom of one of the other kings, shrinking, defending, and retreating? There is no doubt that the Greater Negev is an imposing force of nature. With little water, heat, and no modern comforts, the task of building there must have seemed almost ludicrous at first. The same could be said about our situation. The religious landscape can be imposing at times; it's frightening to put ourselves out there, but if we remember these outposts in the wilderness, we too can begin again, expanding our frontiers. The Biblical Negev - The Place We Cannot Stay The second wilderness moving towards Jerusalem from the south is the Biblical Negev. I already mentioned it is not distinct in its geography but rather in its use. The best illustration of that is Abraham, who settled in Beersheba on the border of the Biblical Negev. Abraham seems to be moving through the land of Canaan from North to South, and that journey has not been without conflict. His wealth is a massive drain on resources, and if this traveling city happens to plop down in your watershed, you might not have enough water. Abraham seems to have settled in Beersheba, perhaps in part, because it was a place he could be without conflict. Beersheba was a place with water and on a trade route, but was remote and removed from the core of society. As we think about a modern analogy to the Biblical Negev, I want to bring up a trend I have both seen in others and experienced in myself. Many Christians, appropriately, hate what is happening to our culture and our society. Seemingly, we are embattled and losing the culture war on many fronts. Between secularism and materialism, to LGBTQ issues and school curricula, we have found ourselves, much like Abraham, as foreigners in a land of idolatry. The trend that needs to be addressed, however, is that we sometimes want to run away. I don't mean run away in a cowardly sense, but more in a monastic sense. We cannot raise our children in a bubble of ignorance, blissfully incapable of dealing with any hardship As conflict grows, there is a natural tendency to retreat - look for our Biblical Negev. We want to remove ourselves from the fray, shield our children from any harmful influence, and live conflict-free away from this sinful world. The faith lesson from this analogy is that the Biblical Negev is a place we cannot stay. Abraham ultimately settled in Beersheba, but it was never God's intention for him to stay there and raise up the Hebrews from within Canaan. God sent Abraham’s descendants to Egypt to become strong and ultimately demonstrate his power. Similarly, we must fight the urge to settle in our conflict-free zone. Our permanent home is not in this world, so we are not supposed to settle here anyway. We cannot retreat to the wilderness, or the mountains, or the plains, where there is no one to convert. We cannot raise our children in a bubble of ignorance, blissfully incapable of dealing with any hardship. We cannot write off society with statements such as "I hate people" or live the rest of our lives in a walled compound (as nice as that sometimes sounds!). Like Abraham, there may be seasons in our lives where these things are appropriate, but the lesson from the Biblical Negev is that we cannot stay. Wadi Kelt - Looking over the road from Jerusalem to Jericho The Judean Wilderness - The Place We Need Close By That brings us to the Judean Wilderness. I mentioned it already, but what really struck me about this particular wilderness is how close in proximity it is to Jerusalem. It is quite literally just over the ridge. It is safe to say that most of the wilderness events recorded in the biblical text occur here. It is where David fled from Saul, the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, the gateway of the conquest, and host to many other events. While lessons can be drawn from any of these points, I want to focus on the role of the wilderness during the time of the kings of Judah. For those kings, this wilderness was the escape hatch. David, during the United Kingdom, demonstrated the path that many of his successors would follow when trouble arose. When Absalom mounted his coup and marched on his father's kingdom, David was forced to flee. Although it had been many years, the way was not unfamiliar to him. The text says that David fled across the Kidron, ascended the Mount of Olives, and retreated into the wilderness. From that point on in history, when a king of Judah got in trouble, if they could escape, that is the way they chose. What then is the lesson from this wilderness? Sometimes we need a wilderness close by. I have argued that we cannot retreat and remain in the Biblical Negev removed from society, but sometimes we need a place to retreat, recenter, and struggle with God. The Bible does not always specify which wilderness, but Jesus constantly retreats to desolate places to pray. We, too, cannot live our whole lives in constant tension and conflict. Sometimes, we need a wilderness that is close by where we can retreat for a season. This may be a place in your house, a nearby park or mountain, or even a local coffee shop or library. Whatever it is, the Judean wilderness is our escape. Escape, however, has to have a purpose. Jesus, receiving his answer from the Father, knows that it would be a disobedient, cowardly retreat to avoid the coming mob. He knows that it would abandon humanity to hopelessness. He knows what he has to do. I want you to consider Jesus again. He demonstrates what it means to be human by escaping to the wilderness. He presumably used that time to rest and relax, but he also used it to pray. He did not use it as a place to avoid his mission. To illustrate this point, I want to paint a picture of one of the most powerful choices in history. The night is dark, and the apostles are sleeping. Jesus, pleading his heart to the Father, knows what is coming. At this very moment, soldiers and enemies are crossing the Kidron Valley and closing in on the garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Jesus has a decision to make. He is well aware of where he is. Not the garden per se, but on a road - the road of the king's retreat. David, his father, paved the way; David’s sons, Jesus' forefathers on this earth, followed suit. When the pressure is rising and the opposition is approaching, good kings and bad kings alike walk over the mountain and disappear into the wilderness to fight another day. But that is not what happens this time. Jesus, receiving his answer from the Father, knows that it would be a disobedient, cowardly retreat to avoid the coming mob. He knows that it would abandon humanity to hopelessness. He knows what he has to do. With the escape route so tantalizingly close, he denies himself and submits to the will of the father. Looking out over the Greater Negev Conclusion Wilderness theology is a rich and rewarding study. The geography - how people used the land to survive, thrive, and interact with their world has an impact on us. The wilderness is formative, transformational, peaceful, harsh, and inhospitable all in one. We need it in our lives: a place to conquer, a place to rest for a season, and a place to retreat to pray. Hopefully, when you read the Bible from now on, your eyes won't skip over the wilderness, but you will take time to pause, reflect, and ask yourself, "How is this shaping me?"

Was it even possible? According to the book of Acts, three thousand were baptized in Jerusalem in just one day. And yet, baptisteries did not exist during the time of Jesus. Or…did they? Naturally, the New Testament does not require a specially constructed baptistery to fulfill the command to be baptized. But in Jerusalem, a place high in elevation and so far away from a river, how was it possible for so many to be immersed? The answer: in the many mikva’ot (Jewish ritual baths) located throughout the city, many of which were located near the southern steps of the Temple Mount. Mount Ophel with the Southern Wall of Temple Mount in Background and Southern Steps Leading to the Double Gate and Triple Gate Entrances to the Temple Religious purification by water played an important role in biblical Judaism, and by the first and second centuries B.C., the process of full-body immersion had become a standard practice. On regular occasions, and especially before entering the temple in Jerusalem, Jewish devotees would often ritualistically immerse themselves in a mikveh (singular for mikva’ot) and by the time of Jesus, mikva’ot were being constructed all over Israel. A Mikveh (one of several at this location) Adjacent to the First-Century Synagogue at Magdala Near the Western Shore of the Sea of Galilee I have personally observed their existence in several places in the regions of Galilee, the Shephelah, and the desert of Judea. The first photo in my article was taken in Jerusalem near the southwest corner of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and shows that they were likewise found in Jerusalem. Archaeologist Ronny Reich says that approximately 150 mikva’ot have been discovered in Jerusalem, with about 60 located in the upper city and about 40 near the southern gates of the Temple Mount (Reich, 52). In 2011, a conservation project was undertaken to preserve and showcase these pools, and today visitors can see many of these mikva’ot in what has become known as the Ritual Baths Trail (emekshaveh). Even more have been discovered since 2011, and one as recently as December of 2025 (see Israel Antiquities Authority, December 2025). Water for these reservoirs came from runoff in the Bethesda Valley and from collection pools southwest of Bethlehem at a place known today as Solomon’s Pools. Built during the Hasmonean period (141-37 BC), water from these pools was siphoned through pipes and aqueducts and into underground cisterns. The "Ritual Baths Trail" at the Southern Steps In Jerusalem (Inset Photo is of one of the many Mikva'ot found along the trial) During the 19th century, explorer Edward Robinson discovered and surveyed some 49 water reservoirs underneath and near the Temple Mount, most of which date to the second temple period. These sources, in addition to the pool of Siloam in the central valley, provided an abundance of water to citizens of Jerusalem and would likewise sustain both the needs of the Temple and those needed in ritualistic cleansing within the many mikva’ot. Illustration Showing a Few of the Massive Water Reservoirs/Cisterns Discovered Underneath the Temple Mount (Photo taken from "The Temple Then and Now Video" produced by Bible Passages To be baptized into Christ (Galatians 3:27), all that is needed is enough water to immerse. Thus, the ancient mikva’ot in Jerusalem would have provided ample space for two individuals to enter the baptistery and for one to baptize the other (cf. Acts 8:38). Any river, water reservoir, or body of water would typically be large enough “to bury” someone in water (see Colossians 2:10; Romans 6:1-5) but the sheer volume of mikva’ot available in Jerusalem would have made the task of baptizing 3,000 people convenient and manageable. The abundant supply of water and places to baptize in Jerusalem is but another example of the connection between faith and fact in the land of the Bible. By John W. Moore Sources *emekshaveh - https://emekshaveh.org/.../how-many-ritual-bathsmikveh.../ *IAA - https://www.iaa.org.il/en/page/news-index (See “Ahead of the Tenth of Tevet: A Mikveh (Ritual Purification Bath) from the Final Days of the Second Temple Period Discovered in Archaeological Excavations beneath the Western Wall Plaza” [December 29, 2025]) *Reich, Ronny. “The Great Mikveh Debate,” Biblical Archaeology Review 19.2 (1993): 52–53. *"The Incredible History of the Jewish Temple?" a Bible Passages Documentary by John W. Moore. https://www.youtube.com/@biblepassagesministry Everything we write or produce is available for free because of the generosity of our partners. We would be so greatful if you could join us in the mission. https://www.biblepassages.net/give

Sitting at the opening of a 2,700 year-old tomb near Jerusalem, Dr. Gabriel Barkay reflected upon one of the world's most celebrated discoveries: “I couldn’t bear the sight of this boy anymore." He was remembering how Nathan had continuously tugged at the back of his shirttail as he directed a major archaeological dig southwest of Jerusalem. He was “always asking silly questions, but so it happens,” as Barkay continued, “he made one of the most important discoveries in my life"--a discovery hailed as one of the greatest of the 20th century. Dr. Gabriel Barkay was born in the Jewish Ghetto in Budapest during the days of the cruel Nazi regime. He and his family would eventually relocate to Israel where “Gabby”, as he affectionately became known by many, soon developed an interest in ancient artifacts and in the religious history of his family heritage. Eventually enrolling at Tel Aviv University, Gabby began pursuing a degree in archaeology, with a dissertation planned for the study of ancient urban development outside the city of Jerusalem. “I tried to put myself into the shoes of the people,” he said. “Where would I put quarrying? Where would I put burial activities? Where I would put large public gatherings, etc?” His research and quest for new discoveries led him to a rocky knoll southwest of Jerusalem, just above the Hinnom valley and just below the modern-day Scottish St. Andrew’s Church. Ketef Hinnom Tomb location - Looking south near Joppa Gate in Jerusalem. Map of Old Testament Jerusalem oriented north (Photo taken by Bible Passages staff - Map courtesy of biblemapper.com After an initial site survey yielding several pieces of ancient pottery, Dr. Barkay began excavating the site, known today as Ketef Hinnom, between 1975 and 1989. His discoveries included a wealth of artifacts which spanned from the era of the first Temple period to the latter years of the Ottoman empire. The most fascinating part of the excavation occurred when Dr. Barkay’s team uncovered seven burial caves. Each carefully chiseled cave contained separate chambers with stone benches carved into the bedrock large enough for several decaying bodies. Some of the tombs also contained bone repositories underneath the benches which had been in use for generations of deceased family members. "The burial of the flesh took place upon the benches [and] the burial of the bones took place down below. So, they collected the bones after the decay of the flesh in order to make room for the next generation upon the benches" (Dr. Gabriel Barkay) These carefully crafted tombs had been cut from the shoulder of the hard limestone hill along the main road between Bethlehem and the ancient city of Jerusalem. The Hebrew word for “shoulder” is ketef and this name, along with hinnom from the name of the valley below the hill, was chosen to name the site “for want of a historic Hebrew name…and its topographic situation” (Barkay, Geva 85). Photo of on-site Israel National Parks Illustration of Cave 24 with chambers 13, 14, & 25 Cave 24 contained what today are called the Ketef Hinnom scrolls. Found in a bone repository identified as chamber #25 within Cave 24, Dr. Barkay describes the cave as follows: [The cave] had a large entry hall…flanked on all sides by 5 burial chambers…each of them [chambers] was meant for another son of the founding father. This chamber has three benches upon which they stretched the bodies. The benches are equipped with scooped out headrests for the heads of the deceased…down below underneath the benches we have the repository which was for the secondary burial. The burial of the flesh took place upon the benches [and] the burial of the bones took place down below. So, they collected the bones after the decay of the flesh in order to make room for the next generation upon the benches. (Kent Film Interview). Now exposed remains of "Cave 24" and chamber #25 with stone benches and carved indentations for the head of the deceased (Inset photo of mock up of human remains taken at the Ketef Hinnom Scrolls display) At first, it was thought that the repository in chamber #25 was completely devoid of artifacts, but it was later determined to have contained “a rich treasure without precedent in Jerusalem digs” (Barkay, Geva 99). Some of those treasures consisted of jewelry, weapons, pottery, and the now famous silver amulets (i.e. a small ornament of charm believed to bring a blessing) known as the Ketef Hinnom scrolls. In the book Ancient Jerusalem Revealed, Barkay confesses that, “the fondest dream of every archaeologist working in Israel and especially in Jerusalem is to discover written material” (Barkay, Geva 102). Cave 24 helped to make those dreams become a reality, as two tiny silver inscribed scrolls were among the many first temple period artifacts to be found. The larger of the scrolls measured 3.8 inches in length and approximately 1inch in width. It had been rolled into a neatly compressed scroll that undoubtedly had been worn about the neck as religious jewelry. One of two silver amulets found in the bone repository (Photo taken at Israel Museum) This famous amulet, now on display in the Israel museum, was inscribed with the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24-26 and written in Paleo-Hebrew. Dating to the 7th century B.C., it was at one time thought to have contained the oldest known written reference to the four Hebrew letters spelling God’s name, Yahweh (known as the “Tetragrammaton” and rendered “Jehovah” in older English versions of the Bible). While older artifacts have been discovered which show an earlier use of the four-letter name for God, the Ketef Hinnom scrolls remain the oldest known surviving complete verse of scripture from the Hebrew Bible. Dated some 450 years older than the Dead Sea Scrolls and matching nearly word for word the Masoretic text of the Bible, the Ketef Hinnom scrolls are but one more example of the rich heritage and legacy of the Hebrew Bible. It serves as evidence against critics (e.g. Lemche and others of the University of Copenhagen) who claim that the Old Testament was the product of the Hellenistic period (4th- 2nd century BC), suggesting that early Israelite history is largely legendary or mythological. " Then suddenly, when I turned around, I saw him holding 2 pottery jugs intact. I was ready to suffocate him on the spot! (Dr. Gabriel Barkay) Thus, from an apologetic perspective, the Ketef Hinnom scrolls discovered in burial cave 24 are of grave importance (pardon the pun). This beautifully designed amulet with a carefully inscribed verse of the Bible is physical evidence confirming that a text from the Bible was already well-known and in common use in the 6th century B.C. (cf. Proverbs 6:21; Isaiah 3:20). That a family member would choose to include it among important funerary objects also reveals the high degree of respect and value placed on scripture—much like someone today might insert a Bible or photograph into the casket of a beloved family member. Chamber #25 with bone repository to at right and benches for decaying bodies above But, in addition to the scrolls contribution in defending the historicity of the Bible, there is a compelling argument to be made for the scroll’s providential preservation and discovery. Like the Dead Sea Scrolls and their accidental (or perhaps, providential) discovery in 1947 by a young Bedouin looking for lost sheep, the silver amulets were also accidentally discovered. In the case of the Hinnom Valley scrolls, the discovery was made by Nathan—the boy who kept bothering and tugging at Dr. Barkay's shirttail. When the bone repository of chamber 25 was initially discovered at Cave 24, Dr. Barkay found virtually nothing on its limestone floor. Believing that looters from previous generations had beaten him to the punch, he soon went about his excavation in another area of the dig. In a bit of reprisal toward Nathan’s irritating behavior, Dr. Barkay confessed to assigning him a difficult task in the cramped and isolated repository of chamber 25. An interview with Dr. Barkay reveals the following: I couldn't bear the sight of this boy anymore… I gave him the job of cleaning up that place for photography. I told Nathan that the repository had to be as clean as his mother's kitchen—even if he had to lick it clean. It had to be spotless for the photograph to be taken. While he was there, he became bored and began banging a hammer on the floor. After a while…I feel my shirt being pulled from behind. Then suddenly, when I turned around, I saw him holding 2 pottery jugs intact. I was ready to suffocate him on the spot! It was against all possible instructions. I went back with him [to the repository] and then I realized what happened. Apparently, a layer of rock from the cave ceiling had collapsed and covered the repository floor. Nathan's hammering had broken it up and revealed the hidden treasure below. (Kent Film Interview) The second and smaller of the silver amulets/scrolls What had seemingly been an innocent act of boredom on the part of a young would-be archaeologist resulted in the discovery of one of the most important artifacts known to the Jewish and Christian communities. Nathan’s banging away at the floor of the repository had revealed that it wasn’t a floor at all. The collapsed ceiling had covered and thus preserved the treasure trove of artifacts that were just waiting for someone to discover: someone like Gabby Barkay who would carefully document and preserve them. Such important artifacts relating to biblical history, and written on silver, remind me of Psalm 12:6-7 which says, “The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified 7 times. You shall keep them, O Lord, you shall preserve them from this generation forever.” Indeed, God’s word has been preserved forever. While the rock cave which once encompassed burial chamber 24 is no longer in use after being quarried by previous generations and destroyed by time, God’s word is preserved and is the cornerstone for living for countless souls alive today. Instead of being forgotten or destroyed, the Bible—and in particular the priestly blessing found at Ketef Hinnom—is one of the most visible and remembered verses of the Bible. It is still in use in Jewish and Christian prayers, important holidays and in the inauguration of United States presidents. As a child I remember hearing it sung by teenagers from Medina children’s home in Texas. I have personally recited it at numerous weddings I officiated. Most recently I heard it used by a Rabbi and friend who lives in Israel, when my wife and I sat down for Shabbat dinner in his home near Jerusalem. The importance of the Ketef Hinnom scrolls cannot be overstated. Certainly, it is critical to our understanding of its use during the ancient period of Jewish history. However, its importance and meaning to our personal lives today is paramount and what is really most important of all. The theology of this text is of highest order, and even greater attention should be given to its meaning rather than to the silver amulet upon which it is inscribed, or the cave in which it was found. What greater blessing could one receive than the peace of God and for his face to shine upon them? Knowing of his divine favor and presence in our life is unmatched in terms of personal gratification and hope. It is this peace and divine presence that Jesus, as God’s son, offers as well (John 14:23-27). And so, it is only fitting that I should leave you, the reader, with these final words as well. “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26). These words were powerful 2,700 years ago when they accompanied the body of a Jewish soul to a tomb. They are powerful still and the greatest blessing ever desired. By John W. Moore Works Cited: Geva, Hillel (editor), Ancient Jerusalem Revealed. “Excavations at Ktef Hinnom in Jerusalem” by Gabriel Barkay; Israel Exploration Society, Jerusalem 1994 (85-106). Kent, Gary. The Incredible Journey. The Mystery of the Silver Scrolls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTrNyT6KeNw If you find our resources valuable, please partner with us in bringing the Bible to Life. https://www.biblepassages.net/give

BY JOHN W. MOORE The headliner for the Assyrian Post of 701 B.C. reads “Lachish Destroyed, Jerusalem Spared.” Of course, the Assyrian Post is fictional and newspapers didn’t exist in Biblical times—or did they? Between 700-681 BC an Assyrian “newspaper” did in fact report on the famed military exploits of Sennacherib and his conquest of the Levant, including Judah. The campaign included attacks against Lachish, Libnah, and Jerusalem as described in the Bible (2 Kings. 18; Isaiah. 36-37). Tel Lachish with Judahite palatial structure from the 9th and 8th centuries BC. Photo inset is from the Lachish relief depicting the Assyrian siege The “newspaper” mentioned above came in the form of images sculpted onto the walls of King Sennacherib’s palace in Nineveh in the modern country of Iraq. Now on display in the British Museum, these sculptures depicting the battle at Lachish, known as reliefs, measured 62 feet in length and were approximately 9 feet tall. Many different reliefs were discovered at Sennacherib's palace, but this specific one gives a detailed account of how the Assyrians conquered Biblical Lachish and then humiliated its captives. Lachish Relief from the Israel Museum showing Jewish captives being impaled Portions of the relief show Jewish citizens being forced to kneel before Sennacherib while others were impaled and flayed. A section of that relief has been recreated is now on display in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Other "news items" of this period were preserved on clay prisms and tablets. The famed 7th century prism discovered in 1830 by Colonel Robert Taylor reveals that Sennacherib was limited to have only encircled Jerusalem and leaving it intact. The prism recalls how Sennacherib could only cage Jerusalem “like a bird,” and this is similar to how the Bible describes the event as well (2 Kings 18-19). Taylor's Prism (aka Sennacherib's Prism) and Assyrian arrowheads on display at the Israel Museum But there is more! In the October 2025 issue of the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Stephen C. Compton argues in his article, “Sennacherib’s Throne-Room Relief: On Jerusalem and the Misplaced City of Ushu” that a section of the relief in King Sennacherib’s palace (different from the area where the Lachish relief was discovered) depicts Jerusalem as undestroyed, just as revealed in the Bible (2 Kings 19; Isaiah 37). This interpretation is consistent with other Assyrian records which boast of victories elsewhere but clearly avoid claiming Jerusalem’s destruction. Compton also argues that the presentation of the sequence of battles on the relief correspond to the chronology found in the Bible. Known to archaeologists as Slab 28, the relief was once on display in King Sennacherib’s throne room at his palace and Compton suggests that this may be the oldest known visual representation of Jerusalem. Slab 28 as the Cover Photo for the 2025 November-December Issue of Let the Stones Speak Many other fascinating connections are revealed in Compton’s article, but unless you subscribe to the Journal of Near Eastern Studies you may not be able to read it. However, a superb summary of Compton’s research can be found in the free edition of the 2025 November-December issue of Let the Stones Speak. Both articles are very much worth reading and reveal compelling evidence for the reliability of the Bible through the discoveries of archaeology. Indeed, the well documented evidences of the Lachish Reliefs, Taylor's Prism, and Slab 28 of Sennacherib's Palace are yet another powerful connection between faith and fact from the land of the Bible. If you find our resources valuable, please partner with us in bringing the Bible to Life. https://www.biblepassages.net/give

Pompeii is one of the most incredible places to visit in the ancient world. The reason it is so cool is because it is a snapshot of life in ancient times. When the volcano Vesuvius exploded, it buried the city under several feet of ash, leaving it exactly as it was in 79 AD. If you want to know what a Roman town looked like down to the ruts in the road, you can see it at Pompeii. There is, however, a somewhat creepy element to these remains. As the ash reigned down and people took cover, individuals were ultimately buried and died. The bodies of these deceased victims left cavities in the ash. Researchers and archaeologists, upon discovering this, figured out that you could add plaster to these cavities, which would then create an impression. What you get then is plaster molds of people in the exact position of their demise. I told you. Creepy. When I contemplate these ghostly figures, however, a thought occurs to me. What did the people of Pompeii think would happen the morning before the volcano erupted? I am positive their day started just like so many others before it. People were preparing to get the kids to school and get to work themselves. There were people in the market, people in the square, even people where they probably shouldn't be (Pompeii has an infamous brothel). Whatever they were doing, almost assuredly, they believed their day would also end like every day before it. They would go to bed and then wake to take on a new day's challenge. No one woke up that morning knowing that would be their last day on earth. In our preaching and teaching, there used to be an emphasis on the uncertainty of life. We have all heard the clichés "tomorrow is not guaranteed," "you aren't promised another second," and other such phrases. Perhaps it is just my perception, but I feel like we don't emphasize this idea as much as we used to. Maybe it was overdone. An argument could be made that the constant threat of an uncertain end loses its edge when tomorrow comes without incident. The reality of the situation is, however, that no matter how cliché, no matter how often we say it, the reality of life is that it is not guaranteed. Death or the second coming of the Lord could come at any moment. This thought should change how we behave in life. How would you like to be found if tomorrow never came? The position of your body wouldn't matter; the position of your soul would be everything.

Dear Jackson, You sure remind me of your dad. You notice things other people miss. The other day you were studying that Apologetics Press Bible action card and noticed Damaris seated in a large outdoor theater, and you asked, “How did they hear without a microphone?” Greek and Roman Theater at Ephesus (Theater Photo taken by Ya Ya) That’s a mighty good question. Most folks don’t think about things like that. But you do. She was indeed seated a long way from the front. Did you know the Bible talks a lot about preachers and teachers speaking to big crowds—and none of them had microphones. Imagine if you were to read a scripture or lead a song at the front of the auditorium at the Katy Church of Christ. Do you think everyone in the back could hear you? Probably not. Most could only hear you if someone in the control room turned up the microphone. Without it, your voice wouldn’t get very far. But in the days of Damaris—way more than 1,000 years before microphones were invented—even people in the highest seats at an ancient theater could hear just fine. So how in the world did that work? Now, Jackson, sometimes your grandpa can be a bit longwinded, but stay with me—everything I’m going to tell you is important, and it’ll make sense once we put it all together. How Sound Works The first thing to know is this: God made sound to travel. When something vibrates, like a drum, it makes a sound and travels to your ears by moving across rows and rows of invisible molecules. It moves from molecule to molecule like you swinging across the monkey bars at the park. Lego's Millennium Falcon Molecules are like tiny invisible connecting blocks that give structure to the air and hold it together like glue. Just like a row of round bumps on your Legos hold together each piece on your model of the Millenium Falcon, molecules hold together the air we breathe, the food we eat, and every living thing. You can’t see those molecules, but they’re there. Try this sometime: crumble up a tissue, set it on the table, and without touching it, place your hand as close to the tissue as possible. Now wave your hand back and forth and see what happens. The tissue will move even though you haven’t touched it. But how? It is because you pushed the molecules back and forth, much like pushing water in a pool or bathtub. The movement of sound is very much like a wave in water—in fact scientists call the movement of sound a “sound wave.” Sound waves are created from vibrations. The vibration from a drum, or the sound your daddy makes when he snores vibrates the molecules in the air. Each molecule crashes into the next causing it to vibrate—and the next, and the next—until the wave of vibrations reaches your ears. Those waves carry sound like the rapids in the river carry your fishing bobber downstream. My son Jordan at Leaning Bluff with Stepping Stones Across the River (to see his photos visit www.jmooreoutdoor.com) Another way to think of it are like steppingstones across the river at Leaning Bluff. I’ve walked across that river by jumping from one stone to the next. Molecules are like those stones, and sound can jump from one molecule or stone to the next to reach the other side, or your ears. We can’t see molecules and sound waves, and that’s a good thing. Imagine being up to bat and trying to watch the ball and see all the sound waves coming from the coach yelling, “You got this, Jackson!” You’d never have been able to hit those home runs that you did last season. Wind Gives Sound a Lift Sometimes sound needs a little help, and God gave it the wind. Think about when your dad was your size, and I had to hold his hand and help him to reach those steppingstones in the river at Leaning Bluff. Wind can do that for sound—it gives it a little boost so it can travel farther. If you have the wind at your back, it can even help carry the baseball over the fence after you hit it with your bat. When the wind was at the back of Jesus, it gave his voice a boost. Even without a microphone thousands could hear him preach. Natural Theater at the Sea of Galilee On my first trip to the Bible lands, we tried something interesting. We stood where many believe Jesus preached from a boat near the Sea of Galilee (Luke 5:1-11). With the wind at his back, one of my classmates read from the Bible down by the water, and I sat almost 300 feet up the hill—about the length of a football field. That’s a long way, isn’t it? And Jackson, I kid you not—I heard every word he read from the Bible. The wind coming off the water carried His words right up the hillside, like a home run ball being carried by the wind. Think of Your Catcher’s Mitt Jackson! There was something else at that location which helped to carry and lift the sound of his voice. It wasn’t just the wind, but also the shape of the hill where we conducted our experiment. It reminded me of an outdoor theater, or the auditorium at the Katy church building—except much steeper of course. Catcher with Catcher's Mitt - (Photo from Wikipedia Public Domain) Its shape also reminded me of a great big catcher’s mitt—wide up top, narrow at the bottom. Your catcher’s mitt is made to catch a baseball. That hillside had a shape that could catch sound. And, because the ground was hard, not soft like your mitt, the sound bounced around like the ball in your Poppa Lewie’s pinball machine. Hard surfaces help sound bounce and travel. Ancient Theaters Did This on Purpose People in Bible times figured this out too. They built theaters that used the same basic shape of an opened catcher’s mitt. They also designed them with hard marble seats to help the sound bounce around like a pinball. Your Yaya and I explored a big outdoor theater in ancient Ephesus—the same one mentioned in the Bible (Acts 19:29-31). Archaeologists say it once held about 25,000 people. That’s a whole lot more than your auditorium can fit at the Katy Church of Christ – it can only hold around 700 people. With a design like that—sloped seats, curved stone walls, hard surfaces—the voice of one speaker from down at the bottom could reach every person there. No microphone needed. That’s how someone like Damaris could hear everything clearly. All of this works because God made a world full of things we can see—like hills and stones—and things we can’t see—like sound waves and tiny molecules. So, you see they could hear without someone using a microphone. Pretty amazing, isn’t it? Love, Pa P.S. Here are some experiments that will help you to learn about sound. Aiding Sound by Wind and Bounce Outside Test Ask your sisters to sit on the grass with their backs to the wind. Walk 20 steps away and face away from them. Read Acts 19:29-36 in a normal voice. Ask if they heard what you were reading. Now switch places and read Acts 19:29-36 Discuss whether or not the wind helped your sisters to hear your voice Inside Test Have them sit on the fireplace hearth. Stand in the dining room with your back to them. Read Acts 19:29–36. Ask if they could hear the story. Think about how sound bounced off the walls in the dining room so that your sisters could hear your voice. See How Sound Travels To see how sound travels, throw a rubber ball inside a small room with concrete walls and a hard surfaced floor. It’s the kind of room similar to a racquetball court. If you have you have ever seen and heard a game at a racquetball court, you will notice that is usually very noisy? Just like a ball can easily bounce around, so do sound waves. When sound hits something hard, like the marble surfaces at ancient theaters mentioned in the Bible it bounced like a ball, back and forth all over the audience. Jackson's Fishing Bobber Floats Downstream on the Colorado River Near Leaning Bluff By John W. Moore

“Has anything like this ever happened?” This is a paraphrase of the question that God asked the people of Israel through his prophet Joel. The question is in response to a locust plague that had affected the people of Israel. The answer to the question is a rhetorical “no”; nothing like this had ever happened. Joel is trying to get the people of Israel to wake up, consider the plague that was sent from God, and see it as a sign of the coming Day of the Lord. Nothing like this had ever happened in their generation. But was Joel being hyperbolic? Was the locust plague really that bad? What about Joel 2:20 - was the army that came from the North actually locusts when locusts usually came from the south? Many questions arise when we read about these ancient events. The answers to these questions impact how we consider the message of Scripture. If Joel wasn’t accurate about the physical event, then how can we trust him regarding spiritual truth? The inverse is also true; if Joel was able to describe the locust invasion accurately, he becomes a credible source for God’s message. So, how do we know if Joel was credible? One way is by looking at a similar event in history. Is there anything that has been documented more recently that closely resembles what is described in Scripture? In the case of a Palestinian locust invasion, the answer is a resounding yes. The year was 1915. Here is an excerpt from an article about the Plague from the Library of Congress: Swarms of locusts were not unprecedented in the desert environment and periodic visitations to vegetated areas could be expected ... But the locust invasion of 1915, which began in Palestine in February, took hold in March and April, and lasted through June—and in some areas of the region, into October—astonished the locals in its length and ferocity ... the locusts moved across the Palestinian landscape upon the hundred thousands, forming various waves during their different stages of existence. As the first image in the album depicts, they made their initial appearance as great clouds of flying insects, darkening the day-time skies as they approached Jerusalem from the northern horizon. ... In the next phase of the plague, female flying locusts laid eggs in the ground, giving rise to the second, and most devastating, stage of the invasion. On April 19, 1915 local authorities issued a proclamation obligating men from age sixteen to sixty to gather and turn in several pounds of eggs each, or pay a fine, all in an effort to limit the multitude of eggs soon to hatch. Tens of thousands of new locusts could potentially be produced from eggs laid in just a few meters square of earth. The young men ... dutifully set about meeting the requirement. Soon the newly hatched larva emerged, wingless, and began moving in droves so vast viewing them made some witnesses motion sick. These crawlers advanced over the face of the earth, consuming everything edible in their path. They blanketed the road near the Jerusalem railroad station. They mobilized in countless rows like armies, leaving large portions of previously thriving landscapes devoid of vegetation. Former shade trees were rendered leafless. The locusts burrowed inside the trunks of palms and cactus. They invaded bee hives, consuming honey and bees alike. From this description, it is pretty easy to see that Joel was an eyewitness to a locust invasion. Consider some of the parallels between Scripture and the account above. 1:4 What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten. 1:7 It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white. 2:5 like a powerful army drawn up for battle. 2:20 I will remove the northerner far from you “Forming various waves during their different stages of existence” “leaving large portions of previously thriving landscapes devoid of vegetation. Former shade trees were rendered leafless.” “They mobilized in countless rows like armies” “As they approached Jerusalem from the northern horizon” In the Library of Congress article, the author describes the event in 1915 using almost identical language to Joel, and of course, has a photo album to corroborate their claims. Joel’s account of the locusts was accurate and credible. Since Joel was accurate about the locusts, it lends credibility to what he said about God. The message of Joel, then, is one that we should pay close attention to. There are three things worth mentioning here. Return to me with your whole heart, rend your hearts and not your garments. God only truly wants one thing, and that is your whole heart. True repentance, or even genuine religion, can have no pretense or facade. We need to ensure that we dedicate our entire being to God. That will result in only one outcome, total obedience to his word. And in those days, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh What is harder for us to believe, that locusts would come or that God would give us his Spirit? Joel was not only right about the locusts, he was right about the events at Pentecost. Peter, quoting directly from Joel, says that their ability to speak in tongues was what Joel had prophesied about. As God promised, we have the outpouring of the Spirit on all people who bear his name and give to him their whole heart. All those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved Finally, mentioned several times in the New Testament, most prominently in Romans 10, Joel states that all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Paul uses this to talk about our own salvation. We know that calling on the name of the Lord is what we do in baptism (1 Peter 3:21), appealing to God for a clean conscience. But how do I know that we will be saved? If the Bible is accurate about things that don’t matter, like locusts, we can trust it when it talks about eternal matters like salvation. Let us give God our whole heart, and in the end, we will enjoy his salvation. Not because we earned it, but because he promised to give it to us freely. All Images and the Library of Congress Article can be found here: “The Locust Plague of 1915 Photograph Album | Articles and Essays | American Colony in Jerusalem, 1870-2006 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress.” Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, www.loc.gov/collections/american-colony-in-jerusalem/articles-and-essays/the-locust-plague-of-1915-photograph-album/.