The Walls of Jerusalem are very evocative for Jews and Christians. So much so that on any given day there were odd (I use the word ambiguously) people standing on the current walls reading passages of the Bible out loud to nobody in particular.
There are several Biblical reasons for doing this if you choose to find them This, from Isaiah 62,
I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night.You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.
As ever Jerusalem provides far too much complexity for us simple souls to know what to do. The walls on which this and other passages were being read aloud (in English of course, and with a South African or American accent depending on who it was) were built to protect Muslim Jerusalem by Suleiman, whose famed inscription reads,
he who has protected the home of Islam with his might and main and wiped out the tyranny of idols with his power and strength, he whom alone God has enabled to enslave the necks of kings in countries (far and wide) and deservedly acquire the throne of the Caliphate.
I have severe doubts that the readers are intending to promote his 16th century (AD) plan. Also, the walls are in the 'wrong' place biblically speaking and do not surround Zion with which in the scriptures they are associated.
But this picture from those walls contains a nearly hidden addition to this story. For, looking out toward Bethlehem, in the far distance it is possible to see another wall, the 21st century wall that divides Israel from the West Bank. Whether you are Palestinian or Jew - or for that matter a foreign visitor - this is the real wall of Jerusalem. It, and the issues it represents to Jew and Palestinian alike, are the real cause for prayer.
There are several Biblical reasons for doing this if you choose to find them This, from Isaiah 62,
I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night.You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.
As ever Jerusalem provides far too much complexity for us simple souls to know what to do. The walls on which this and other passages were being read aloud (in English of course, and with a South African or American accent depending on who it was) were built to protect Muslim Jerusalem by Suleiman, whose famed inscription reads,
he who has protected the home of Islam with his might and main and wiped out the tyranny of idols with his power and strength, he whom alone God has enabled to enslave the necks of kings in countries (far and wide) and deservedly acquire the throne of the Caliphate.
I have severe doubts that the readers are intending to promote his 16th century (AD) plan. Also, the walls are in the 'wrong' place biblically speaking and do not surround Zion with which in the scriptures they are associated.
But this picture from those walls contains a nearly hidden addition to this story. For, looking out toward Bethlehem, in the far distance it is possible to see another wall, the 21st century wall that divides Israel from the West Bank. Whether you are Palestinian or Jew - or for that matter a foreign visitor - this is the real wall of Jerusalem. It, and the issues it represents to Jew and Palestinian alike, are the real cause for prayer.
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