Before I get started, some good news: the technology fast will be lifted on Christmas day. Mom and Dad, be prepared for a Skype call.
I love when biblical stories line up with excavated history. It gets me excited. Our contact Ted (name has been changed) took us on a tour of Jerusalem when we first arrived in the country. The highlight of that tour for most of Sofia was Hezekiah’s tunnel.
King Hezekiah ruled in Judah between 714 and 686 BC. Parts of his reign are detailed in 2 Kings 18:1-20:21, in 2 Chronicles 29:1-32:33, and in Isaiah 36:1-39:8. One of his achievements mentioned in 2 Chronicles 32 is the construction of a tunnel to bring water into the city. On Sunday, we walked through that tunnel.
Most of us were up to our thighs in water for the first ten minutes of the thirty to forty-five minute trek. Those of us over the height of 5’3″ were stooped over for most of the walk. Our feet were prunes by the time we exited the tunnel. At the exit, we were met with another sight: the pool of Siloam. Jesus healed a blind man by sending him to the pool of Siloam in John 9:7. And it’s a real place. These are real places. It’s amazing to see first hand the things the bible talks about.
Right now, Sofia is teaching English until the 10th, at which point, we’ll head back to Jerusalem to work at a soup kitchen. We’re hoping to hit the Dead Sea out here, since it’s only about twenty minutes from our current location, but we’ve learned from people who have been there before us: whatever you do, don’t, under any circumstances, put your head under the water. The burning sensation is said to be unpleasant, at best.
