Help Comes from the North - Psalm 121

First of all, our room is not cold. You folks back home are suffering through blizzards with negative temperatures, and Sos complains every time a cool breeze drops the temperature below 60.

Anyways, the first day I was here, I wondered around the Old City eventually ending up at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I spent about an hour exploring the Church, amazed by all I saw, but at the same time, clueless as to what I was actually looking at. It wasn’t until we visited the Church during our first field study that I began to peal back the layers of biblical and historical significance.

During another field study (which usually last 11 hours – sun up to sun down) last Sunday, my eyes began opening to the never ending wonders of Jerusalem. There were so many times when our class would pause at a portion of the wall, a tunnel, or a pile of rubble, all I saw was a portion of the wall, a tunnel, or a pile of rubble. But as our professor began to explain the site, a wave of biblical weightiness would come crashing over me until I could hardly believe the place where I was standing. It happened again and again as we moved from site to site; I could hardly stand it. My heart began racing as my imagination filled with thoughts of David seeing Bathsheba on the roof, Hezekiah building his wall, a trumpet blast sounding Shabbat from the temple, Jesus healing the cripple by the pool, Solomon walking in the King’s garden, Jew singing the songs of ascent, Rabbi’s teaching there disciples on the temple steps, and the Sadducees administering the ritual baths. Though they remained silent, these places came alive, and I could hear their voices testifying to the things past.

One of my greatest moments of the day came at sunrise, standing on the North end of the City of David. Looking out over the geography surrounding this small part of Jerusalem, chills shivered up my spine as one of my classmates read Psalm 121. It has always been one of my favorite Psalms, one that I prayed before all of my soccer games last fall (in the most non-ritualistic, un-superstitious way possible). But standing there in the City of David, it was like hearing that Psalm for the first time. I felt as though I was peering over the Psalmists shoulder as he penned those words in the palace of the king. I scanned the horizon as my classmate read, “I lift my eyes unto the hills, where does my help come from, my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.” I saw tight hills and valleys coming up over the city like tempest waves crashing over the sides of a ship; I realized that the only way an attacker could enter the city was from the North. The only obstacle for the enemies of Israel was the temple of Yahweh, which stood like a fortress at the North end of the city. Conveying to all of Israel that Yahweh is literally their strength and their shield; and to their enemies that if they want to get into the city, they will have to go through Yahweh first.

The LORD is my keeper (and Alex is my back-up keeper),
Danny