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Day 8 in Israel: City of David, Pool of Siloam, and

Today was one of the hottest in Israel since we've been here but it was also our shortest,turning out to still be a good day. We visited the City of David, Hezekiah's Tunnel/Pool of Siloam, the Davidson Center and Bet-Guvrin-Maresha to participate in an archeological dig.

Some of the remains of King David's palace
We started the day off going to the City of David which is an Israeli national park and excavation site where Jerusalem sat during the time of King David. We were able to see the newly excavated structure which many believe to be King David's palace. Then we entered Hezekiah's tunnel, which was constructed by King Hezekiah to provide water for the city of Jerusalem prior to war against the Assyrians. This was a walk in complete darkness (except for our flashlights), in almost knee deep water through a tunnel that was not very high or very wide. Yet despite all that, it was a really fun experience for those who braved the waters of the tunnel. 

Walking through Hezeiah's tunnel

The Pool of Siloam
When we exited the tunnel we came out to the Pool of Siloam, where the man was healed of his blindness by Jesus in John 9. This was my devotion to lead and it was a spiritually high moment for me to speak about this story in the very place where Jesus healed someone. After, we went to the Davidson center which is a place near the Temple Mount that has excavations revealing the Jewish road that Jesus walked on, the benches the temple money collectors sat on (and later had their tables turned over) and the southern steps that Jesus and others would have used to enter the Temple as well as where Peter preached on Pentecost when 3,000 were saved. 

 
Southern steps from 1st century

Our group digging for artifacts
Then we had lunch which consisted of pizza from Dominos which tastes about like the Dominos in the USA. Then we made the 45 minute drive out to Maresha to participate in an ongoing archeological dig. This is in the area where Solomon's son Rehoboam established city-forts to protect Jerusalem, Bethlehem etc. from invasions. Here our team was able to go down into caves left by the inhabitants and dig and sift through the dirt to see what we found. Some of the objects found were pieces of pottery, building stones, bones, oil lamps and many other things. We were all really tired and weren't too crazy about going to this before but after, we all were really glad we did because we had a really great time.

Sifting through what we had dug out

Hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day in Israel. We will begin the day by visiting Herod's tomb, then the Israel History Museum, before going to the Garden tomb (similar to that which Jesus would have been buried in) to celebrate communion together before driving to Tel-Aviv for our flight back to the US. 

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