by Rev. Donald MacLean, Glasgow
On Saturday morning, the first day of May, 1971, a group of Free Presbyterians began to gather at Abbotsinch Airport, Glasgow. There were twenty-four of them, and they were beginning a journey to the Holy Land where they were to spend fourteen days visiting the various places of interest to all Christians. The flight to London was uneventful, and there they were joined by another five, making a party of twenty-nine in all. At 12.30 the party left Heathrow Airport, London, on a plane of the Israeli airline which is called El Al. We had a stop at Munich, where we were delayed by a ‘go-slow’ among the airport control operating there. Eventually, we touched down safely at Tel Aviv Airport, and after collecting our luggage, travelled by ‘bus to Jerusalem.
The following day being Sabbath, an arrangement was made with the hotel to screen off part of the lounge there so that we could have morning and evening services. As we gathered to worship God together for the first time in the “city of the great King” there seemed to be a wonderful peace. The first text was Psalm 48, verses 8 and 9—”As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah. We have thought of Thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple.” The services on the two Sabbaths in the Promised Land, as well as morning and evening family worship, were most pleasant and helpful spiritual experiences. It was wonderful how willing the hotels, both in Jerusalem and Tiberias, were to provide facilities. As we enjoyed this fellowship, some of us thought of the late Rev. Donald Urquhart labouring in solitude among the Jewish people. How lonely he must have felt at times as he was surrounded on all sides by the evidences of the power of unbelief!
On Monday, the party set out sightseeing on foot in the old city of Jerusalem. Our guide’s name was Zecharias, an Arab professing to be a Christian. He was a government-trained guide of a very high standard, well-experienced and patient, and very willing to answer questions. We had expected a temperature of about 70°F, but it turned out to be much warmer. The cause of this was the Kham-sin, the wind which blows from Egypt, and is the cause of exceptionally hot weather while it lasts.
We had a look at the site of the city of David, very little of which remains, and is actually outside the walls of the old city. We then entered the temple area itself. For this we needed special permission. The temple itself is no more, but professing Christian bodies have their respective services there. (The Moslems consider Mount Moriah to rank in sanctity only after Mecca and the tomb of the prophet at Medina.) We remembered that David had bought the site of Moriah from Ornan the Jebusite to build the temple there. This was indeed done by his son, Solomon. This temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 B.C. It was rebuilt after the Babylonian captivity by Zerubbabel in 516 B.C. This particular temple was reconstructed by Herod and was the temple visited by Jesus. It was destroyed in A.D. 70 by the Romans, and Mount Moriah was virtually abandoned. Antonio Tower, built by Herod, in memory of his friend Mark Anthony, stands on the north-west of the temple area. It was here that Paul was prisoner, as we read in Acts 21.
The Arabs revived interest in this mount, however, by their contention that the rock of Moriah was the place where Abraham offered up Isaac. There is a rock on the top of the mount which is reputed to be the actual altar used on that occasion, and it has been enclosed by the building of a mosque called the Dome of the Rock. This building is a magnificent piece of workmanship, going back to the seventh century, and the golden dome is one of the tourist attractions in Jerusalem. The Jews apparently agree with the Arabs that this is the place of Isaac’s sacrifice, but the Arabs further add the story that from this stone Mohammed ascended to heaven. It is interesting to note that from this point one can look eastward to the Mount of Olives, from whence the Lord Jesus, the Prophet mighty in word and deed before God and all the people, did indeed ascend to His Father.
We visited the Wailing Wall, which is divided into two parts, one being for men and the other for women. This place is called by the Jews the Western Wall, and here they assemble to pray and lament, especially on the eve of their Sabbath and at the times of their feasts.
We went along the Via Dolarosa, which is reported to be the road taken by the Saviour from the Praetorium to Calvary. To the present writer this seems doubtful, yet as the road leads one through the market, the scenes which surround one must be similar to when Jesus was there. Along the route there are various stations, as they are called, marked out by the Roman Church, and which are supposed to indicate the places of certain happenings. These are (I) Jesus condemned, (II) Jesus receives the cross, (III) Jesus falls for the first time under a sense of weakness, (IV) Jesus meets His affected mother. There is no record in Scripture of such an event. (V) Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry the cross, (VI) Veronica, who was supposed to be the woman who was healed of the issue of blood wiped the face of Jesus with a cloth. This is pure fancy. (VII) Jesus falls the second time. Of this there is no record in Scripture. (VIII) Jesus speaks to the daughters of Jerusalem, (IX) Jesus falls the third time. Again there is no record of this. (X) Jesus is stripped of His garments, (XI) Jesus is nailed to the cross, (XII) Jesus dies, (XIII) Jesus taken down from the cross, (XIV) Jesus laid in the sepulchre.
When travelling along the Via Dolarosa we noticed a group of Roman Catholics moving from station to station, stopping at each station, and singing in a most doleful way what we took to be hymns relating to each station. They were accompanied by a man bearing a wooden cross. We noticed that when they came to station V, another young man took up an end of the cross in imitation of Simon of Cyrene. The earnestness of the people only added to the sadness of such idolatry.
We passed on to the site of the Pool of Bethesda, where the man who had an infirmity for thirty-eight years had waited so long for the troubling of the water, but was healed by the Angel of the everlasting covenant. The pool is near the Church of St Anne and St Stephen’s Gate. This church is supposed to be built on the birthplace of Mary the mother of Jesus, but the tradition appears only to have flimsy support. Similarly, it is held that Stephen was taken to be stoned through the gate which bears his name. The Sheep Gate is also near St Stephen’s Gate and Bethesda Pool.
When Herod the Great rebuilt the temple, he also rebuilt a fortress which had probably existed under the name of the Tower of Hananeel. To this structure he gave the name Antonio in honour of his friend, Mark Anthony, as we have already mentioned, and it was here that Pilate’s hall was situated. The western part of this palace has a courtyard paved with flagstones called Gabbatha (raised) where the public part of the trial of Jesus took place. The private part of the trial took place in the palace itself. Here we saw the place where the Saviour was questioned by Pilate and the Roman soldiers put the crown of thorns upon His head. We were told that the Roman soldiers often entertained themselves with the “game of the king”. This consisted of making a so-called king of some prisoner, lauding him with supposed honour and then putting him to death. This mockery was engaged in by the Roman soldiers with regard to the Saviour, and we were told that historians mentioned that only in the case of Jesus of Nazareth was a crown of thorns used in this brutal form of farce.
We then visited the Holy Sepulchre Church which has been built on the supposed site of the tomb of the Saviour. It was with a feeling of deep revulsion that one went down into the place supposed to be the tomb and met with all the idolatry of Roman Catholicism. There has been a great deal of dispute about the site of the tomb. This particular church is in the centre of the city, but outside the Damascus Gate there is a place called Golgotha where a part of the rock face is in the distinctive shape of a skull. This is believed to be the place where the Saviour was crucified. Near this place there is a garden, and in this garden there is a sepulchre which we were shown as the likely tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. In the sepulchre itself a place for one person only has been cut out. The claim that this is the site of the sepulchre has naturally been hotly disputed by the Roman Catholics. At least it was free from their horrid superstitions.
The following day, Tuesday, we were conveyed by ‘bus to the Mount of Olives which is to the east of Jerusalem, and the place from which the Saviour ascended to Heaven. There is an abundance of olive trees here, from which the place obviously gets its name. It is separated from Jerusalem by a Sabbath day’s journey, usually regarded as two thousand cubits, or about half a mile. There is a stone here which is supposed to bear the footprint of the Saviour before He ascended. This is a favourite place for Roman Catholics to visit and kiss this stone. This is another instance of how Popery makes its own superstitious use of these places of interest. South of the Dome of Ascension which marks this spot is a church called the Paternoster Church. In this place the Lord’s Prayer is set out on the walls of the church in fifty-eight languages, including Irish Gaelic.
We then proceeded to the Garden of Gethsemane which lies on the other side of the Kedron from the city wall. It was in this area that Jesus agonised and where He was betrayed. We were shown a tree in the garden which is reputed to be three thousand years old, and it was suggested that this was the likely spot where the disciples slept. Sadly this beautiful garden and its surroundings are defiled by Roman Catholic idolatry. We then passed down to the Pool of Siloam. On our way we passed a memorial to Absalom, called Absalom’s Pillar, which may or may not mark the place where David crossed the Kedron when fleeing from Jerusalem at the time of the rebellion. If so it is not very far from Siloam, and since the pool is opposite the place where the palace of David was, it seems likely that it was at this pool that Bathsheba washed when David saw her and was tempted. The waters of Gihon which rise in the valley of Hinnom still flow to Siloam, and the tunnel which King Hezekiah caused to be cut to secure the water supply of Jerusalem can be traversed without difficulty (2 Chronicles 32, v. 30). It was in this pool that the blind man was commanded to wash, and from which he came seeing. Looking towards the south we could see where the valleys of Kedron, Tyropaeon and Hinnom met together. The valley of Hinnom is of course the same as Gehenna where children were offered as sacrifices by fire to the pagan god Moloch until King Josiah threw down this idol. The name of the high place was called Tophet. At the time of Christ it was the place where the refuse of the city was burnt, and Gehenna was the expression used for hell. Across the valley is Aceldama, the field of blood, where the potter’s field was.
To the west of the pool of Siloam is a well-known church called St Peter of Gallecanta. The priest here told us that the church had been built over the house of Caiaphas the high priest. Excavations had brought to light a pit in this house which is thought to be the place where Jesus spent the night in the palace of the high priest. The road which He took leaving the palace has also been excavated, it is claimed. This claim is disputed by many scholars who state that the place was nearer Zion Gate which is further to the west of this church. It may be remarked here that the building of churches over these excavations of various sites makes it difficult for one to come to a conclusion about the claims made. Whether or not this pit is as is claimed, there can be no doubt but that such pits were used for the confinement of prisoners.
We now turned towards the tomb of David situated on Mount Zion. We were told that there was no real proof that David was buried here, but that the structure was more in the form of a commemoration of David. The traditional site of the upper room where the Lord’s Supper was constituted is built over by a church as usual. None of our company was impressed by the claim that this was the true site.
We paid a visit to the Israeli Museum, and entered the Shrine of the Book, a newly-designed centre for the Dead Sea Scrolls and other discoveries. We had the opportunity of inspecting the 37th chapter of Isaiah in these scrolls. The building is, of course, in the new part of Jerusalem, not far from the Knesset, the House of the Israeli Parliament.