Fraternity-Testvériség, 1964 (42. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1964-12-01 / 12. szám

4

FRATERNITY

JERUSALEM — A WALLED CITY

By Dr. Frank M. Field

Where in the world today would you go to find a city surrounded by walls? In the Middle Ages there was scarcely a city of much importance without walls. But not today. In some cities a little stretch of ancient walls or a city gate has been restored, as in Paris, Rome or Istanbul, just as show pieces. In Corinth, Antioch and Ephesus I have seen traces of the city wall of Paul’s time. But for a city surrounded by real stone walls, with gates and towers, much as in olden times, I must go to Jerusalem. Jerusalem has always been a walled city, and

it is this feature which distinguishes it from other cities and preserves a distinctive resemblance to the city which Jesus knew and loved.

The walls and gates are not all in the same location as in Bible times, but some are, especially those along the eastern and western sides, and generally we can think of the walls having much the same

appearance as those of 2000 years ago.

The present walls around the Old City were built by the Sultan Suleiman in the years 1537 to 1543, twenty years after Palestine and

Egypt had come under the Turkish rule. For 300 years the wall ramparts had been somewhat neglected but were so completely restored

that most sections have remained intact for four centuries until the

present time. The wall surrounds an irregular quadrangle nearly three miles along the four sides, with seven gates and 34 towers. It varies

in heights from 20 to 75 feet and eight feet wide at the top.

Fortunately in 1930 I was able to walk on top of the wall most of the distance around the city, a privilege which had been made possible by the Pro-Jerusalem Association. Before that time some tourists were taken around the walls — not on them — but now even that

is impossible. On that wall top journey I felt I was journeying back into ancient times and trying to read the story which these old walls and their environs could tell if they could be made to speak. I could see many sights reminding me of incidents in both the Old and New Testaments. There was the Damascus Road, the Jericho Road, the Skull Hill Calvary, the Garden of the Tomb, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Tower of Antonia, the Temple Area, the Kidron Valley, and I could see all over the old Jerusalem of the Bible and

the surrounding area.

Walls of Jesus' Time

After about a mile walk along the northern side and on the east wall to St. Stephen’s Gate, I came down to the ground because I wanted to think of what the wall along the Temple Area had to tell me about what Jesus may have seen here. He didn’t see this particular wall, but undoubtedly did see a similar one along the same line, towering over the Valley of the brook Kidron, which lay between the wall and the Garden of Gethsemane. We see no brook now, for no