Visiting the Burial Site of Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac and More!

Today we traveled to see the Tombs of the Patriarchs. This structure was built by King Herod the Great and it began as a synagogue. Today this structure still stands, but is actually shared by both the Muslims and the Jews. Each religion has a half of the building in which they hold their worship. It also holds the tombs of Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, and their wives. Seeing these ancient tombs and knowing that the Fathers of our faith were located there was a surreal moment in which it was necessary to step back and take a moment for prayer in order to acknowledge the divine plan which began thousands of years ago in order to bring us to salvation and to offer us the heavenly kingdom. 

(Underneath represents the place of Abraham's Burial)

After leaving the tombs we headed to the tree of the oaks of Mamre from Genesis 18 in which the Lord appeared to Abraham and told him that his wife Sarah would bear a son. Upon hearing of this Sarah laughed knowing that she was far past child bearing year. Once their son was born he was named Isaac which means, ‘laughter.’ This amazing site of this tree in which at its trunk the Lord gave news to Abraham that seemed out of the realm of reality was a beautiful chance to remind us that with God nothing is impossible. 

(Oak of Mamre tree which marks the place of Abraham and Sarah were visited)

This moment at the tree was especially beautiful to show all of us that so often the things that God asks of us seem like something that can never come to fruition, but through trust in the Lord He can take those who are weak and unequipped and transform them into lights in his world of darkness.