AROUND THE WALLS OF THE HOLY CITY
I have tramped about the walls of Jerusalem on foot and have ridden round
them upon donkeys. Let us make the trip on foot.
Some of the walls which still stand were laid up by Solomon, others
were erected by Herod the Great, who built David’s Tower, and others by
Agrippa only a few years after Christ’s death.
We walk across the road leading to Bethlehem, down which the Wise Men of
the East rode on their way to the birthplace of the Saviour, and picking
our steps through a caravan of camels lying there, climb up the slope of
Mount Zion. There is a moat at the foot of the tower which is one hundred
feet wide and thirty feet deep, and the wall rises perhaps one hundred
feet above this. There are olive trees between the road and the walls,
and as we go we see ragged donkeys feeding among them.
Now we have passed the moat and come close to the wall. Though its lower
portions are about two thousand years old, the stones are as firm as when
they were laid.
Going onward, we pass tower after tower running fifteen or twenty feet
out from the wall and rising five or six feet above it. These towers were
used for the archers and watchmen stationed there on the lookout for the
enemy.
A little beyond David’s Tower, almost against the walls, is the great
church built by the Germans. Its site commands a view over the whole of
Jerusalem and was sold to the Kaiser of Germany by the Sultan of Turkey.
A part of the churchyard is the American cemetery, which was sold by
our consul. Its sale caused great excitement among the Americans at
Jerusalem, and the American colony here protested against the removal of
their dead, which they said was done after dark. The bodies were taken up
and carried to the English cemetery.
Continuing our walk we hug the wall looking down into the Valley of
Hinnom until we come to Zion Gate, and a little farther on to the Dung
Gate. Below this in the Valley of Jehoshaphat lies the Pool of Siloam. At
the Zion Gate a group of lepers are begging. They are ragged and filthy
and hold out the stumps of their hands asking for alms. On the inside of
this gate stood the house of Caiaphas, where Peter three times denied
that he was one of the disciples of Christ, before the cock crowed.
As we go on we see chickens scratching in the earth outside the wall, and
as we look at the gardens on the slopes of Kedron or Jehoshaphat observe
that the land is still rich. There are cows away down in the valley and
the bees are buzzing on the cacti and wild flowers on the slopes. In some
favoured spots the Holy Land is still one of milk and honey. The villages
near Jerusalem have dairies which supply excellent butter, and the honey,
which is largely made of orange blossoms, is delicious. It is served
every day at all the hotels, usually in the liquid form rather than in
the comb.
[Illustration: The houses of Jerusalem are of limestone with flat roofs
constructed to catch the rain water. The better houses have little domes
on them]
[Illustration: The Mount of Olives is climbed by walled and winding roads
and marked with many churches and chapels. Here Jesus often walked with
His disciples, and here He brooded over the city that rejected Him]
[Illustration: The Holy City is a beautifully framed picture when viewed
from a bell tower on the Mount of Olives. Across the foreground stretches
the wall of the inclosure of the Mosque of Omar]
The slopes of the Valley of Jehoshaphat are now spotted with red.
Thousands of poppies and anemones grow upon the ridges between the
gardens, and the peasants are working the crops. They use plenty of
fertilizer and, strange to say, most of that which comes from the city
is taken out through the Dung Gate. It may be from this that it got its
name. It is a great square hole in the wall just large enough for men and
beasts to pass in and out. It is not far from the temple platform and
within a stone’s throw of the Jews’ wailing place.
The southeastern corner of the walls of Jerusalem, and, indeed, a large
portion of the eastern walls, are a part of the plateau upon which
Solomon’s Temple once stood. In almost the middle of the eastern side
of the temple is what is known as the Golden Gate, through which Christ
is said to have made his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It has
been walled up and the Mohammedans say that it will not be opened until
the Judgment Day. A little farther on, at the corner of the temple, is
St. Stephen’s Gate, which some say was the place where St. Stephen was
stoned. Another legend is that the place of the stoning was near the
Grotto of Jeremiah, in Solomon’s quarries, farther along around the
walls. The tradition is that Stephen was here brought to the brow of the
hill and thrown over a precipice. His hands were tied, and after he had
fallen heavy blocks of stone were rolled down upon him from the brow of
the hill.
The walls near the Temple are among the first that were built. They are
in fine condition to-day, parts of them having been recently repaired.
The stones are of bright yellow limestone laid in white mortar. Those
at the bottom, which were laid up by Solomon, are of enormous size, one
being about fifty feet long and about fifteen feet high and evidently
cut from the bed rock upon which the wall stands.
Right at the Temple the walls rise almost precipitously from the Valley
of Jehoshaphat, and I judge they are one hundred feet high. They are
in excellent condition throughout. The towers are almost perfect, and,
although the vegetation is growing in the cracks, most of the masonry
looks comparatively new.
A curious feature of the walls of Jerusalem is a stone block as big
around as a flour barrel which juts out from that part above which stands
the Mosque of Omar to a distance of perhaps fifteen feet. This block or
pillar hangs right over the rocky Valley of Jehoshaphat. According to the
belief of the Moslems, Mohammed will sit astride this pillar at the Day
of Judgment, and Christ will have His seat on the Mount of Olives on the
opposite side of the valley. There will be a fine wire stretched from the
pillar across to the mountain, and upon this wire all mankind must walk
on its way to eternity. As the people of the various religions go those
who believe in Mohammedanism will be upheld by the angels and will reach
safely the opposite side, whence they will ascend into Heaven. The others
will drop down into the valley and perish.
There are cemeteries for both the Jews and the Mohammedans outside
the walls and not far from the Mosque. The Mohammedan cemetery, which
lies close to the walls, is just opposite the Garden of Gethsemane and
includes the Place of the Skull where General Gordon located the site of
Calvary. This site is now surrounded by a wall and fence, and Christians
are not permitted to enter it. Within it is the grotto where Jeremiah
is said to have written his Lamentations, and not far away, near the
Damascus Gate, are Solomon’s quarries.
Our walk has brought us back once more to the Jaffa Gate, where we join a
pilgrim-throng entering the Holy City.