Jerusalem - Mount of Olives

Over the years, I’ve read about the Mount of Olives, mostly from Biblical accounts of the events that took place there during the life of Christ, and I’ve seen many photographs taken by friends upon the return from trips.  It wasn’t until today that I finally received true perspective of this hallowed hill as I descended the western slope into the Kidron Valley with my bride and two children on an afternoon full of discovery in Jerusalem.  

Walking back and forth between the apartment and the Old City, we’ve seen the Mount of Olives many times, and the best view was from the Temple Mount looking out over the Golden Gate, but we were anxious to set foot on the historic slope.  We quickly hailed a taxi outside our building and asked the Israeli driver to take us to the top of the Mount of Olives so we could check out the panorama and then hike slowly down.  We noticed that he was taking a strange route to the top, and when I asked about it he said that the normal way was too crowded due to the Muslim day of prayer which takes place on Fridays, so he was taking a longer but less congested route.  Even though the drive was longer, the driver generously charged us the normal fee when he dropped us off in the circle at the summit.

Mount of Olives Summit

The skies were still mostly cloudy, and it was cool and windy at the pinnacle, but we didn’t notice due to the incredible views of Jerusalem looking back to the east.  Having seen a lot of bigtime mountains in years past, I would categorize the Mount of Olives as a medium-sized hill set among other medium-sized hills. The majority of photographs and videos showing Jerusalem are taken from this viewpoint with the striking Dome of the Rock right smack in the middle.  Looking down the hill into the Kidron Valley, the slope is covered with 100,000 tombs in the Jewish cemetery, which has been used for burials for over three-thousand years.  Before we left the apartment, we spent some time together reading the major passages from the Bible that described the occurrences on the Mount of Olives so they would be fresh on our minds, and we recalled several of them as we began our descent, which took place over a series of switchbacks surrounding the cemetery.  We had hoped to visit the beautiful Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene, but it was closed, so we trekked on to the Catholic Church of Dominus Flevit built to commemorate the spot where Jesus wept for Jerusalem.  To our dismay, this church was closed as well, but a groundskeeper saw us on the gate camera inside, opened the massive metal doors, and motioned us inside so we could have a quick walk around the grounds —this was a very cool thing to do, and we thanked him profusely.  The view from this church is famous, and we took several pictures before continuing our descent to the Garden of Gethsemane located next to the Church of All Nations.

We spent the longest period of the afternoon in this beautiful garden full of olive trees with massive gnarly trunks which are either eight-hundred, one-thousand, or two-thousand years old depending on the source one chooses to trust.  Along with the Mount of Olives itself, the location of the Garden of Gethsemane is a certainty, and regardless of the age of the trees, it is a beautiful place that inspires prayer, worship, and for our family, a long discussion about the events that took place here the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested.  We had a memorable time together in the garden, and it was very difficult to leave for reasons we couldn’t quite explain.

Garden of Gethsemane 

From that point, we were at the foot of the Mount of Olives, and we walked the busy road along the east side of the Temple Mount and got another good view of the Golden Gate as well as the Pillar of Absalom in the Kidron Valley.  That’s the thing about Jerusalem—so much happened here over the course of thousands of years, and just when we think we’ve thoroughly studied and explored an area, we find out that someone got anointed in a pool nearby or there’s an ancient well or tradition says Zechariah slept here, and countless other events.  It’s difficult to stay focused when we think we might miss something important, but in the meantime, we’re visiting the places and seeing the things we’ve read about for years, and it might sound like a cliche, but the experience is bringing the Bible to life for us.

Pillar of Absalom

From the eastern wall of the Temple Mount, we began a steep ascent of Mount Zion heading for our last stop of the afternoon, the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu which means “cock’s crow” in Latin.  The area where the church stands is believed to be the location of the palace of Caiaphas, who was instrumental in the plot to arrest and kill Jesus.  It was in one of the courtyards of the palace where Peter denied knowing Jesus and the cock crowing afterward to remind him of Jesus’ prophecy of his denial.  There are ancient crypts below the church, and if indeed the palace of Caiaphas was on this spot, Jesus may have spent a long night in one of these crypts awaiting his presentation to Pontius Pilate the next morning.  The courtyard outside the church looked familiar to us, and we wondered if this location had been used to film one of the many movies about Jesus.  We spent the most time below ground exploring the small area of ancient crypts wondering if Christ had indeed been there long ago, and while we’ll never know, we at least have another association to call up whenever we study these passages of scripture again.

Courtyard

Another view of the courtyard

Crypt below the church

Possible holding cell

Byzantine cross engraved in the crypt ceiling

We arrived back at our apartment weary from hiking all afternoon but inspired by the incredible places we had visited and sights we had seen.  We hadn’t expected to see so much so soon in Jerusalem, but many of the major sights are close together and within easy walking distance from our temporary residence on Hebron Road.  We have a lot more time left here, and we’re excited that we’ll be able to see more places than we had anticipated.