Yes, we were pilgrims in Israel.
But we weren’t the only ones.
No surprise, folks have been traveling to Israel for millenium.
Among the most important and therefore famous one was probably Helena—Emperor Constantine’s mother. She was busy.
But then, so were we!
(Helena marked Christian spots, built basilicas, and purchased relics. We admired her work.)
Other famous visitors include Mark Twain (1860s), Napoleon (1810ish), Margery Kempe (1415), and Alexander the Great (300s)
Of personal interest to me? Biddy Chambers (1919) and Lettie Cowman (1912).
They all traveled to Israel and left changed.
I did, too.
Why pilgrims in Israel? Isn’t there anywhere else to visit?
Pilgrims are people on pilgrimages.
What are pilgrimages?
A pilgrimage is a journey undertaken for a religious motive. Although some pilgrims have wandered continuously with no fixed destination, pilgrims more commonly seek a specific place that has been sanctified by association with a divinity or other holy personage.
The institution of pilgrimage is evident in all world religions and was also important in the pagan religions of ancient Greece and Rome.
Britannica
In our case, we went to Israel because, as the daughter of a geographer, I realized I needed to see where the hills were with my eyes–not by reading a book.
I was shocked to learn the Sea of Galilee is small enough you can see to the other side (widest spot: 8 miles; longest spot: 10 miles). People would have been able to see where Jesus went after he sailed across the lake.
It put the Bible stories into context.
Even now, nine months after our return, I picture where I stood when I hear Bible stories.
I’ll never hear the Upper Room story in Acts without picturing the church I attended in an upper room overlooking the Temple Mount.
When Jesus visits Sidon, the map opens in my mind and I can picture him trodding the hills of upper Judea.
I love how Jesus lived in a specific time and place–and I got to visit it years later.
Glory.
Others, however, weren’t exactly religious pilgrims to Israel.
Mark Twain traveled on a tour led by Henry Ward Beecher, and out of that excursion came his book Innocents Abroad. (Ultimately the best selling book he wrote in his lifetime.)
He had a specific idea in mind for his book: “This book is a record of a pleasure trip. . . . I have written at least honestly, whether wisely or not.”
Twain maintained a reporter’s sensibility, but dropped it briefly at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher:
He looks at all these places with interest ([throughout Israel], but with the same conviction he felt . . . that there was nothing genuine about them, and that they are imaginary holy places created by the monks. But the place of the Crucificion affects him differently. He fully believes that he is looking upon the very spot where the Saviour gave up his life.”
Innocents Abroad p. 322
Other 19th century writers who described their trips include Hermon Melville (Moby Dick) and US President Ulysses S. Grant.
Melville’s 1857 visit (Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land), left him dismayed at the poor condition of sites associated with Christian history.
Traveling on a world tour in 1878, “Grant was unimpressed by Jerusalem’s holy relics and agreed with Twain’s assessment, regarding them as “side-shows” and “unseemly impostures.”
Biddy Chambers and Lettie Cowman visit Israel
Biddy Chambers’ 1919 visit to Israel came at the end of her four year service with the YMCA at Zeitoun, Egypt.
Along with her seven year-old daughter Kathleen, she took a train north to Israel to visit the Holy Land.
Biddy commented on the sober remains from the recently ended war–armament, and burned vehicles still cluttered the roadsides. Biddy and Kathleen toured Jerusalem for nearly a week seeing all the traditional tourist sites.
In 1919, Biddy thought the Church of the Holy Sepulchre beautiful and astonishing. Kathleen dipped her toes into the Pool of Siloam and pronounced herself, “healed.”
Shortly after their return to Egypt, they sailed home for England, content they’d seen all they needed to see.
Lettie Cowman, on the other hand, stopped in and out of Israel seemingly whenever she traveled past. (The first time she and her husband sailed through the Suez Canal, Oswald Chambers traveled with them).
Over the years, Lettie met Streams in the Desert fans, Indian missionaries, and numerous important people while staying near Jerusalem.
The point of being a pilgrims in Israel?
To honor our religious heritage, and as I’ve written before, to put our faith into historic fact.
Christianity (and Judaism) are the only world religions that do that.
Jesus was a real person who walked the earth.
Biblical archaeology constantly turns up “proofs” that King David lived, Solomon was king, and the Jerico walls really did come tumbling down in an usual way.
I loved my entire time there.
And, even Mark Twain found a few ways to enjoy himself as well!
Tweetables
Why be a pilgrim in Israel? Click to Tweet
Pilgrims and tourists to Israel through the ages. Click to Tweet
Thank you for your thoughts about Israel. My husband (we are getting married this Friday, July 21st) and I are going there on a worship tour in October. What an honor it will be to see some of the places our Jesus saw and walk where He walked.
Congratulations! Have a great trip!