Day 10 -- Father Jim -- The Church of St. Peter (Jesus' prison and place where he was scourged) and a trip to the mouth of Hezekiah's tunnel through the neighborhood of Silwan

In the 37th chapter of the Book of Genesis the writer describes a scene where Joseph is looking for his older brothers, he has a message from their father, Jacob.  Lost and wandering Joseph comes upon a stranger and asks him where the other sons of Jacob are.  "In Dothan" the man answers and events are set in place.  Joseph is sold into slavery, taken to Egypt where he flourishes after many trials. His family joins him there after a devastating drought, and eventually Moses brings the people out of Egypt, to the promised land, and the inaugurating narrative of the Jewish people is complete.  None of this could have happened if the stranger hadn't come upon the wandering boy.  Lawrence Kushner, rabbi and Kabbalah scholar, says that the stranger was a "malak, " an angel.

This afternoon Mary, John and I went looking for the mouth of the tunnel built by King Hezekiah.  It is the channel cut in the rock from the 8th century BCE, but it flows from the primeval Gihon Spring up to the pool of Siloam, where Jesus used mud to heal a blind man. There was a time when one could enter the tunnel from the south end, where we were, up toward the pool.  But no longer, as this end was barricaded off by the Jerusalem Authority.  Now the only way is to enter is to buy a ticket and approach from the upper end.

So anyway, we got lost looking for this tunnel, which is in the village of Silwan, the original site of the city of David.  Somehow we found ourselves slipping and sliding along a very narrow goat path down a very steep slope.  It was bad until John called out, "look out for the mud!"  Then it got worse.

We struggled until we found ourselves literally in the door yard of a very modest home.  Just as we began to ponder our next move a "malak" popped his head out the door.  "Where are you from? Come, come. Would you like a cup of coffee?"  We spent the next half hour hosted by our new friend, Waseem, his sister and his mother.  Afterwards we were shown several other archeological sites, the tombs of Solomon's wives (see picture below), and the place where Solomon was anointed king.  It was a unique afternoon for us, drinking coffee in the modest home of an Arab Muslim family in the heart of the oldest settlement in the city of Jerusalem.  None of this would have happened if we hadn't got lost. 

Daniel Boone once said he never got lost, which is all well and good.  But if you never get lost, there's no chance you'll never be found.  We certainly had an afternoon we won't forget.

A section of the village of Silwan where the tombs of Solomon's wives are.