Time and history

There is that Jesus text that says to God a thousand years is as a day. That is what it feels like here in the Holy Land. Time means nothing. Our guide throws time about as if it were only a passing thought. And I don’t mean time as in “what time do you have?” No, this is time as in “Only recently in the first century” sort of time. This is a place where you have to clearly delineate between BCE (BC) and CE (AD). We visited a site thought to be the place of the Upper room and within 100 yards the place of King David’s tomb. Those two events occur thousands of years apart, but given the time of the place they seem continuous.


Part of that continuity comes from the building on top of ruins. Given the topography of the land it is much more efficient and effective to simply build on the foundation of the last building. So that we have been continually reminded we are walking several “layers” above where Jesus and the disciples would have walked. When we are at excavation sites, you can clearly see the layers in the soil. At walls, you can see where one builder simply started on the last builder’s wall, and simply piled on the stones. Even in places that are routine, lays historical ruins. The ruins of the third Jerusalem wall lay just outside of our hotel, in the easement between the buildings and the road.

Given this notion of timelessness, having knowledge of history would be helpful. And although I disdain history, I do keep up (or would that be keep back) with it. We are fortunate in that we have a social studies teacher and an archivist with us, but that hasn’t kept me from wishing that I had brought a time line with me. I always mix up my “metal eras.”

Today we will visit a place of historical significance, Masada.