Tiyul to Ir David

by Anna Voskoboynik,       11^th grade,         Indianapolis

Walking through the beautiful streets of the City of David, we can only imagine how much history is under our feet. Today we got the amazing opportunity to visit an incredible place, Ir David. It’s just amazing that we are able to be in the location that we are actually acquiring knowledge from not just looking at pictures back at home in the States.

a view of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan from the look out point at Ir David

What are the accomplishments and failures of each of the Isarelite kings we learned about today?  In the Tanach, we learned that there are certain criteria for the kings:  not to have too many wives, horses, not to be a thief, and to carry around a Torah at all times. Shaul, the first king of the Israelite tribes, fit under all of these characteristics which is why God chose him to be a king. He was tall, handsome, and very charismatic. He was an amazing leader and he had the ability to win, but he was not good at following instructions. He took people’s belongings when he was conquering cities and he made an idol of himself. He angered God so he was dethroned. 

 

walking through part of the Jewish quarter of the old city on the way to Ir David

Another king that we learned about was David Hamelech. He came from the tribe of Judah. He was a shepherd like everyone else living in his area and had many characteristics similar to Moses. He was very sensible in speech, a musician, and a poet. He was a very successful king because he conquered the whole city of Jerusalem, and he fits into all the criteria that the Tanach describes in Deuteronomy 17.  He unfortunately made many mistakes too in his kingship. One major mistake that David made was that one day he saw a girl cleansing herself and soon after they had intimate relations. The girl, Bat Sheva, found out that she was pregnant and David wanted to hide this so he sent her back to her husband but it was unsuccessful so David arranged the girl’s husband Uriah to be killed. God was not very happy with this. The Tanach gives us both the good and the bad sides of these characters to show that people can make mistakes because we are all humans. 

 

two of my classmates act out the biblical story of David and Goliath

Why did King David choose Jerusalem for his capital?

The reason why David chose Jerusalem for his capital was because Jerusalem was a Jebusite City that did not belong to any one of the 12 tribes. Jerusalem was a very difficult city to capture so there would be a spectacular amount of military achievement that united all of the 12 tribes under David’s leadership. The last reason why King David chose Jerusalem for his capital was because it was the site of Mount Moriah where Abraham almost sacrificed his son Isaac in Genesis chapter 22.

 

inside of Warren's Shaft, the archaeological excavation that leads to the water tunnel

What are some of the archaeological findings that were excavated at the City of David and what is their significance? 

When archeologists where digging through the walls, they found a long water tunnel which was one of the main sources of water when the city was under attack by the Assyrian empire in the year 701 BCE. Also they excavated what scholars believe was the royal palace of King David. It had many aristocratic buildings including metal stairs installed for modern visitors which I took a tumble on :). 

Overall this experience was tremendous. Everything in Israel is so beautiful and spiritual which is why it was so amazing to see something as incredible as Ir David.

 

the entrance to Warren's Peer at Ir David