Day 10 - Southern Temple Mount - > Western Wall -> Lunch at Notre Dame Hotel -> Mount of Olives

The Southern Temple Mount. Excavations here have unearthed the southern steps, a flight of stairs that led to the main entrances of the Temple Mount. Other interesting finds here include a first-century street, a series of public ritual bathing wells (mikveh) for pilgrims to purify themselves before entering holy places and the ruins of Solomon’s stables. This is probably where 3,000 were baptised when they were saved on Pentecost (Acts 2:37-41).

Southern Wall




Model

Second Temple Period Archaeological Park

Right side of Western Wall -the Pinacle of the Temple which Satan asked Jesus to throw himself down. Christ was capable of saving himself ig he threw himself down since He is God. But if He did that, we all will be lost forever.


Right side of Western Wall


Temple Mount



Southern Wall

Group photo at Southern Wall

The Western Wall is part of the retaining wall from the time of the Second Temple and is the most sacred structure in Judaism. Jews have been praying at the Western Wall for centuries believing that the spot is the holiest site on earth after the Holy of Holies. Your friends can see you live at the wall via the Internet when you are there as there are 24-hour video webcams and live cameras installed there.

Next, we visited the western wall which is the furthest the Jews can get to and the nearest to the Temple Mount. This is divided into Man and woman sections. My camera was lost so no pictures on woman's side.

Fully dressed Jewish man with phylacteries on his forehead and arm praying at the Western Wall




Lunch was at one of the restaurant of NotreDame Hotel - a very nice hotel!





Usual stuff - food was ok


After lunch, we went to Mount Olives
Rev Quek's Notes:

Olivet is a mountain ridge east of Jerusalem's Old City. It is named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes.

The Mount has been used as a Jewish cemetery for over 3,000 years, and holds approximately 150,000 graves, making it central in the tradition of Jewish cemeteries.

As it is believed to be the place from which God will begin to redeem the dead when the Messiah comes, Jews have always sought to be buried here. The most famous of these graves actually lie at the foot of the mountain, flush against the Old City walls, including the Tomb Of Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the priest (2 Chron 24:20).

The Mount of Olives is first mentioned as King David’s escape route during the rebellion of his son Absalom.(II Samuel 15:30). King Solomon erected altars on the hill dedicated to false alien gods. They were later destroyed by King Josiah who "filled it with bones" to prevent future worships. (2 Kings 23:13-14)

It referred to in the New Testament, being the route from Jerusalem to Bethany and a favourite location for Jesus' teachings to his pupils and where he wept over Jerusalem (Matt 23:27). Jesus is said to have spent time on the mount, teaching and prophesying to his disciples (Matthew 24–25), including the Olivet discourse, returning after each day to rest (Luke 21:37), and also going there on the night of his betrayal (Matthew 26:39). In the book of Acts, Jesus ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives as recorded in the book of Acts 1:9–12. The Jews, and many Christians, believe that when the Messiah returns, He will descend on the Mount of Olives and enter Jerusalem through the Eastern gate. (Zechariah 14:1–4; Ezekiel 44:1–3; 46:1–2, 8).

Temple Mount taken from Mount of Olives