IBEX Spring 2009: Tunnel me...

Today we had our official Old Testament Walk of Jerusalem. We saw far too many things to recount and accurately speak of, so I have made it a point to just hit a few highlights of our day. The first site we went to upon arriving in the Old City was a small portion of the wall remaining from the reign of King Hezekiah. This was significant because we were able to picture and read the story of King Hezekiah in his defense against the siege of the Assyrians led by Sennacherib. As the Bible and history confirm, the Assyrians were one of the most brutal empires during their conquests of the eastern world in that time. They had just ran through Judah's big brother Israel in the north and were next planning to seize Jerusalem and overrun Judah in the south. Sennacherib set up outside of the walls of Jerusalem and sent Hezekiah a most insulting message oozing with arrogance. In Isaiah 37 Hezekiah responds to the threatening message by relying completely upon the Lord. In verse 20 he says, "Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his (Sennacherib's) hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God." Hezekiah, knowing what the Assyrians had done to many, had the option of simply surrendering to the empire and going in peace; yet instead, he thrusted Himself upon the grace of God. By the way, this was not necessarily the easiest decision to come to for Hezekiah in light of Judah's alliance with Egypt being severed prior to this Assyrian expansion. As a result, he received grace in a comforting message from the Lord spoken through Isaiah saying, "'He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city,' declares the Lord. 'I will defend this city and save it for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!'" It is immediately after this message that we read in verse 36, "Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty five thousand men in the Assyrian camp." So the Lord answered Hezekiah's prayer and made Himself known by disallowing this vast empire and supercilious dictator any possibility of conquering, let alone touching Jerusalem. This brought conviction to my heart and caused me to consider deeply my shortcomings in dealing with my own sin. I pray that God would enable me to trust Him like Hezekiah in battling my own sin and desire the result of God's glory in the end.

Next, we we're able to see the grave of Oskar Schindler, which lies right outside the city to the south. This was very neat to see and it was also from here that we could see the Hinnom Valley. This is where many people in Jerusalem were sacrificing their sons and daughters as Jeremiah mentions in chapter 7. It was also interesting to find out that "ge," the Hebrew word for valley, is combined with Hinnom to make the Greek word "Gehenna," which we translate to mean hell.

At the end of our day, we made our way down to the City of David, which is just south of Jerusalem to walk through Hezekiah's Tunnel. Before we did this however, we visited the Water Gate and read Nehemiah 8. It was so cool to picture all of Israel, who had returned from the exile, assembled at this place to hear the reading of the Word by Ezra for hours and days upon end. They were convicted and cut to the core just from simply hearing the Word of God read to them. After visiting the Water Gate, we walked through Hezekiah's Tunnel, which was created to draw water from the Gihon Spring into the city walls of Jerusalem. Some of my friends and I had a blast splashing our way through the tunnel while singing some new Hebrew worship songs that we had learned this past week. It was a very tight fit as far as trying to squeeze through the tunnel but it was definitely well worth it to get wet on the beautiful day God had created for us. Finally, we visited the possible burial tomb of David and then got on our bus to head back to the Moshav. On Wednesday, we have our New Testament Jerusalem walk, which will hopefully be just as enriching as everything else we have done so far.

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