Dirt, sweat and really old stuff

The day after my birthday Brooke and I joined the IBEX crew (a study abroad program through The Master’s College) to help with an archeological dig in the City of David just outside of the Old City Walls of Jerusalem. Yeah, we were sifting through dirt that is believed to be where David’s palace was - just off the Kidron valley. Now I realize that for some of you back breaking work moving dirt around doesn’t sound real enjoyable. But when you realize that you might be touching an artifact that people all the way back to David’s time period may have touched it makes the work go easier. We found hundreds of pieces of clay pots, and dozens of small square mosaic stones used for making floors in homes. I found a horseshoe that our supervisor thinks would have been worn by a donkey. The square next to us found women’s jewelry and a coin. They also found the first artifact that the “dig” feels it can date to the second temple time period. This would be after the temple was destroyed the first time but before it was destroyed again by the Romans in 70 A.D. After the dig, Brooke and I walked around Jerusalem. We spent time at the Second Temple Excavations and at the Western Wall, then walked through the Jewish Quarter. When you realize that you are looking at stones from the original temple that Solomon built, when you see the stone rubble from when the Romans tore the temple down what you have read and believed takes on a visual reality of dare I say Biblical Proportion.



As I was standing at the Wailing Wall, touching the stones and praying, it struck me how thankful I was that the beginning started here at the temple, but didn’t end here. That Yahweh called us all, not just the Jews, and that he freed us from the burden of the Jewish Law through His Son. I am thankful for spiritual roots deep in Jerusalem, and thankful that those roots lead to the heart of He who redeemed us.