Today we're looking at the background and context of Jesus' birth. We started our day with a visit to the church of the Nativity. The first temple was built by Solomon and destroyed in 586 BC. After the Exile, was the return (the period covered in Ezra and Nehemiah). Today we're going to look at the Second temple period. We're going from the Church of the Nativity to the Second Temple Model to the Mount of Olives.
We started our story with Matthew 2, the story of the Magi. The common themes we identified were dreams, supernatural guidance, traveling, and prophecy being fulfilled. From the birth story in Matthew, we can discern that there were three Herods: Antipas, The Great, and Archilaeus. There are actually about 40 different Herods in recorded history. This rule over Judea and Galilee is the backdrop for the Nativity Story. Herod the Great built the Herodian.
So we chatted, and then we did a walking tour of the church of the Nativity. After that, and a brief tour of the Orthodox church that was the site of Jerome's cell, we went off to the Herodian.
At the Herodian, we were at the foot of the Palace fortress complex. There is a place with columns that we're sure was a swimming pool. It would have been plastered around outside and covered with mosaic. Near the pool are the administrative offices.
One of the things we discussed is that, in addition to "Son of God" being a political title, the use of the term "gospel" is to announce the birth of a king. We looked at political writings used to announce one of the Caesars(?) and then looked at the language in one of the Gospels. They were identical. The Greek word Evangeliion was used to mean the Birth of a King.
From the Mount of Olives, Jesus could easily have seen Herod's workers building the Herodian. He could have seen Herod command them to take down one mountain and put all the excess dirt onto another mountain. This puts the phrase "faith to move mountains" into a new light. Jesus' use of "faith that can move mountains" MIGHT refer to Herod's moving the dirt to make the top of the Herodian higher than any surrounding structure. "Faith to move mountains" doesn't mean magic, it means effort, coordination and determination in the face of seemingly impossible odds.
Matthew 2 has reference to "the house" or "his house." That could be Jesus' house. Peter was telling us all the reasons why Jesus was not a peasant, including the language he used towards the Pharisees (this also applies to the language Paul used towards the Corinthians). This language suggests an intimate relationship, not necessarily an adversarial one.
We tried to go to the Orthodox Shepherd's field in Beit Sahur, but it was closed. So we went out of Bethlehem and to the Mount of Olives. From the Mount of Olives, we went to the Israel Museumm and saw the Second Temple Mount model. We also saw the Shrine of the Book, the Israel Museum's exhibit of copies of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
For lunch we went to some place where we had Schwarma, hummus, and falafel. It was great!! Then we went to a mall to look for some aspirin. I got some granola bars.
We went to the Shepherd's Field, the same one from last year. Along the way, it occurred to me that in life, you get choices. You can see everything painted with the same broad strokes, categorizing or compartmentalizing things so you can attach value (or lack thereof) to them, OR you can deconstruct things so much they completely lose their (or any) meaning. Reality and life exist somewhere in between.
This has been really sketchy because I'm really tired, and just trying to jot down my notes. I don't even have enough steam at this point to put in any personal observations -- I just hope that when I finally have time to upload the pictures, that things will start to make sense. But I want to close here with a quote. I don't know whose it is, but I saw it on that horrible wall that surrounds Bethlehem. It says "Any existence deprived of freedom is a kind of death." -Graffitti from The Wall.
It seems to me that the people of this area are all dying a kind of death. Over the last couple of weeks, I've seen lots of similarities in the genesis of many Near Eastern religions. This does nothing to negate or diminish the reality of the Gospel story, in my mind. But it does tend to make me think twice about any religious tradition that would have exclusion or exclusivity as part of its foundational tenets. It makes me think that such movements have elements of cultism where there should be elements of faith.
My thoughts aren't coming out the way I want them to, and I'm going to bed. Tomorrow we do Jerusalem, then we'll do communion in the Garden of Gethsemane on Wednesday, and then on Thursday, I think, we'll leave for home. I'm sorry I didn't go to Jordan this time; will have to do that next trip.
Here's a link to the photos
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