Quick Report of Day 7

Today was a test and free day, although I think that is contradictory. I did well on the test only missed two. For the free day I went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and saw the traditional site of Jesus' death and resurrection. It was not moving because it is a church and there is little semblance of any history there at all other than the history of that church. After this I went up to a viewpoint near the hotel at David's Tower, it was built by Herod and has nothing to do with David. Great view. The place also had ruins from teh first wall of Jerusalem built by the Hasmonians circa 160 BC. It also had houses from that time period. On top of the houses were large stones that could possibly be the foundation for Herod's palace.
After the tower I had lunch and then went to the Israel Museum for the second time on this trip. I went because when we visited the first time they were about to open an exhibit which had the Isaiah A scroll. This is an extremely important scroll. It is the oldest scroll of a complete book 120 BC, and the secon longest 250 cm. It was very interesting seeing the Hebrew words, a few that I could make out although it was difficult because they did not provide vowel pointing at that time. I caught a few words. It was also interesting to see scribal corrections and damaged areas. This is the first time the scroll has been placed on display in forty years, so it was well worth the trip. While leaving I saw they had an art portion that was "Orphaned Art." It was an exhibit of art that was stolen by the Nazis during the Holocaust and was able to be claimed by people. it included a couple of Monets, a Manet, a Renoir, and some other important artists. On the bottom floor while leaving I noticed a side room with some artifacts, I went in to fine the Tel Dan Stele. This is the only extra-Biblical evidence that we have of a Davidic line of kings. It is extremely important when validating the Bible as a historic account. After the Museum I went shopping and then to dinner and a lecture.

This could be my last post for a few days because internet access will be questionable in the hotels over the next four days.