Carl Heinrich Bloch (1883), \u201cChrist Healing the Sick at Bethesda\u201d \u2014 from BYU\u2019s Museum of Art
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
At their request, we met with several of our group who were not otherwise obligated and took them over to al-haram al-sharif<\/em>, the \u201cTemple Mount,\u201d where the line to get up onto the Mount was the longest I\u2019ve ever seen it \u2014 extending out the Dung Gate and even somewhat down the hill. \u00a0Fortunately, though, when it moved, it moved fairly quickly.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
So we took them up past Al-Aqsa Mosque, past what I believe is the largest of the outdoor ablution fountains on the Mount, over to the Dome of the Rock, down to the Golden Gate, and out of the Temple Mount area via Al-Ghazali Square.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I spoke to them about the history of the site \u2014 though very sparingly of its biblical associations, owing to sensibilities among the Palestinian guards there \u2014 and most particularly about its connection with the story of the mi\u2018raj<\/em> of Muhammad.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once we were off the Temple Mount, we visited the Church of St. Anne \u2014 a traditional site associated with the birth and childhood of the Virgin Mary \u2014 and the Pool of Bethesda, which is directly adjacent to it. \u00a0We sang \u201cAs I Have Loved You\u201d in the church, which has marvelous acoustics. \u00a0We were a small group, but I don\u2019t think we were too bad.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
St. Anne (think of such places at Santa Ana, California) and St. Joachim (think of such places as San Joaquin, California) were, according to quite old traditions, the parents of the Virgin. \u00a0There is another tradition, though, that places her childhood in Sepphoris, very near to Nazareth.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Pool of Bethesda is interesting for a number of reasons. \u00a0For one thing, it\u2019s located so far below the modern street level. \u00a0That gives me a chance to speak about how ancient cities tend to grow upward and upward. \u00a0And it\u2019s a jumble of architectural style and archaeological layers, extending from roughly the eighth century before Christ through the time of the New Testament, and then through\u00a0Hadrian\u2019s Temple of Asclepius and Serapis \u2014 Asclepius was a Roman demigod of healing \u2014 and a Crusader church.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another reason that the Pool of Bethesda interests me is that, as I understand it, one of the arguments against the historicity of the gospel of John centered on the account given at John 5 of Christ\u2019s miracle of healing there. \u00a0There was, some apparently argued, no such place. \u00a0This site was discovered in the nineteenth century, however, beneath centuries of detritus and rubble, covered over by buildings, and long dry. \u00a0But it\u2019s there. \u00a0And the Johannine account became much more credible.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Jerusalem, Israel<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 At their request, we met with several of our group who were not otherwise obligated and took them over to al-haram al-sharif, the \u201cTemple Mount,\u201d where the line to get up onto the Mount was the longest I\u2019ve ever seen it \u2014 extending out the Dung Gate and even somewhat down the hill. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Notes from the Temple Mount and Bethesda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" At their request, we met with several of our group who were not otherwise obligated and took them over to al-haram al-sharif, the "Temple\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/notes-temple-mount-bethesda.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Notes from the Temple Mount and Bethesda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" At their request, we met with several of our group who were not otherwise obligated and took them over to al-haram al-sharif, the "Temple\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/notes-temple-mount-bethesda.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-26T14:40:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2017\/10\/Christhealingthesick.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/notes-temple-mount-bethesda.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/notes-temple-mount-bethesda.html\",\"name\":\"Notes from the Temple Mount and Bethesda\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-26T14:40:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-26T14:40:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" At their request, we met with several of our group who were not otherwise obligated and took them over to al-haram al-sharif, the \\\"Temple\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/notes-temple-mount-bethesda.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/notes-temple-mount-bethesda.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/notes-temple-mount-bethesda.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Notes from the Temple Mount and Bethesda\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Notes from the Temple Mount and Bethesda","description":" At their request, we met with several of our group who were not otherwise obligated and took them over to al-haram al-sharif, the \"Temple","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/notes-temple-mount-bethesda.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Notes from the Temple Mount and Bethesda","og_description":" At their request, we met with several of our group who were not otherwise obligated and took them over to al-haram al-sharif, the \"Temple","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/notes-temple-mount-bethesda.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2017-10-26T14:40:17+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2017\/10\/Christhealingthesick.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/notes-temple-mount-bethesda.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/notes-temple-mount-bethesda.html","name":"Notes from the Temple Mount and Bethesda","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-10-26T14:40:17+00:00","dateModified":"2017-10-26T14:40:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" At their request, we met with several of our group who were not otherwise obligated and took them over to al-haram al-sharif, the \"Temple","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/notes-temple-mount-bethesda.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/notes-temple-mount-bethesda.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/notes-temple-mount-bethesda.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Notes from the Temple Mount and Bethesda"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44694\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"BYU](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/10\/Christhealingthesick.jpg\")
<\/a>