Samaria Field Study . . . And Stuff

Today was a bit different than normal. Well, there was at least one normal thing; I had to run back to school again once we got to the bus stop because I forgot my Camera this time. I felt so stupid. Like I said the other week, it’s not always a bad thing to start the day off with a nice jog. Today’s field study was in the area of Samaria. We visited, both, the tribal territory of Manasseh and Ephraim. We really only stopped at two major locations. The two places were ancient Shechem, which is now Nablus, and Shiloh. We also stopped off the road a few times to get a lookout and to see the land in relation to some biblical stories. A lot of emphasis today was on the initial accusation of the land in the time of Joshua. When the Israelites first took the land, the first place that they started to settle was in the Samaria region.

Samaria, and the northern kingdom is definitely much different than Jerusalem and the territory of Benjamin. Samaria, and northern capitol cities lay in a much more open and well traveled land. Especially Ephraim has many routes crossing its territory. This is mostly due to the easy access to the Jordan Valley, and the rolling, mostly Cenomainian limestone hills. This is a large contrast to Jerusalem which is tucked away in the hills, and to the east is the area of the Judean Wilderness which houses a strip of Senonian limestone. Israel’s land features change so rapidly. I can be standing one a mountain and see one type of rock or soil, and on the other side is a definite line where another starts.

The idea that struck me the most today was that in the time of Joshua the land of Israel had been heavily wooded. This seems weird to me for today it looks more like a desert. We read, in class today, a passage in which Joshua tells the people of Israel to move off the narrow strip of land and to the wooded hills. He tells them to clear the land so that it can be settled for more room. Our teacher said that mostly during the time of the Ottoman Empire and the Arab conquest the land was stripped of many of its resources. Because of this, a lot of the mountains, hills, and valleys have become more eroded. Without the trees there to hold all the soil in place, it all washes away.

The best sight of the day was standing on Mt. Gerazim looking over present day Nablus. Nablus, or the old Schechem, is located right between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerazim, as stated in the Scriptures. The location of this sight has remained despite its name change. Mt. Gerazim was incredibly high. When looking below, the fields were like little squares. I felt like I was looking on the land from an airplane. Shiloh was the most spiritually intriguing place of the day. Shiloh used to be the place of the Ark of the Covenant, as well as the Tent of Meeting in the OT before it was moved to Jerusalem. There wasn’t much to see at the present day tell of Shiloh, but just knowing the history behind the ancient sight was enough. An interesting time today occurred as we pulled of the road late in the afternoon to get a good look at a valley were the Patriarchal Highway split off from the watershed ridge that runs north/south through the hill country. As we pulled off, we had to walk through a cow grave-yard of sorts. It was crazy creepy and smelly. Some of the heads were just lying there; the eyes just looking straight ahead. Also, we found some rib cages, as well as other bones. It wasn’t really much of a graveyard, as it was more of a ditch with a bunch of trash and cow parts. Either way, it was interesting.

In other news, the past couple days have been a lot of fun. We finally got our first rain! On Friday morning, it started to sprinkle as I was sitting outside journaling. The weather has also started to shift. It is starting to become a lot more windy, show a lot more clouds in the sky, and the temperature has begun to drop a little. Shabatt dinner this past Friday was also a lot of fun. For some obscure reason, a girl placed an anonymous entry in our Friday news. It was a clip that informed the guys that they smelled and they needed to shower. This was actually for real. So, for dinner, all the guys put on a heavy film of cologne, lotioned up with good smelling lotion, and brought deodorant sticks with us to dinner so that we could re-apply every few minutes as we ate dinner. Haha. After dinner, we had a great vespers service that included worship, a testimony from a 69 year old student, communion, and Scripture. Then, after the vespers service, Mr. and Mrs. Wright invited us into their home for dessert. It was such a great day.

I have a little less homework this week, as the Jewish New Year is coming up and many of my professors are taking time off. It’ll be a nice change. . .

Benjamin Field Study

Today did not start off with the best time. Dan and I got all the way to the bus, and realized that we did not have our passports. We had to run back to the college 1/3 of a mile, get our passports, and then run 1/3 of a mile back to the buses before they left. It was crazy tiring, and I only had a little for breakfast because I was late for the bus in the first place and had to run out. I think I burned off my breakfast in the run. Although the morning started off on the wrong foot, it was not a picture of how the rest of the day went.

Our class left Jerusalem and headed east to Jericho. We headed to Jericho via the Ascent of Adummim. On our way to Jericho our bus pulled to the side of the modern day Ascent of Adummim road and we got out to walk on the old Roman Ascent of Adummim. The ancient Roman road was essentially a dirt path through the huge wilderness hills. We walked quite a while coming around many bends in the road and finally to a lookout where we could see Jericho from the wilderness. From this lookout, we could also see the rift valley, as well as the mountains of Jordan. It was an incredible view. While we were there, we were lucky enough to see the hawks start to rise from the wilderness Wadi Quilt. The hawks and other birds begin to hover on the raising warm air just like is mentioned in Psalm 139. We immediately turned there and read the psalm and took time to reflect as we looked out over the expanse.

First, after we arrived in Jericho, we went to Herod’s winter palace. Herod’s winter palace split over the Wadi Quilt. He had many new archaeological techniques that he had brought to Israel in which he implemented in this winter palace. After we saw Herod’s old palace, we went to the tell at the Old Testament site. Here we looked at a part of the old city wall, and saw the oldest man made structure on the planet. There is a stone tower that is located in the ancient Jericho that dates back to 10000 B.C. Our teacher gave us 20 minutes to look around the ancient tell, and look around I did. I was climbing around the tell, and got into a bit of a predicament. I was on the side of a wall that had been excavated, and the little ledge below me began to crumble. As this happened, I was reaching up to grab on some rocks above my head; these also began to pull out of the wall. This was a little scary, but I eventually got to a point that was stable and was able to get out of there.

As we left Jericho, we drove west. We, again, drove through the wilderness and to a place called the Emic. This is a rather flat area where many crops can be grown in the lush Terra Rosa soil. We stopped at the ancient site of Michmash, and then drove by Ai continuing to the Central Benjamin Plateau. We stopped at Nebi-Samwil and went to the top for a lookout on the Central Benjamin Plateau. From this lookout we could see the ancient tells of Gilbeah, Ramah, Mizpah, and Gibeon. Our last stop of the day was the tell at Gezer. Gezer is an ancient city that rises from the Aijalon Valley, and is a crucial city for defending the Benjamin territory. From Gezer, we could see the Mediterranean Sea, Tel Aviv, and most of the Aijalon Valley.

Throughout the entire day, we went from the backdoor of the Benjamin hill country to the front door of the tribe’s allotment. Benjamin might be a small territory, but in this little area over 60% of the biblical events take place. At many of our stops today we paused to read Scripture, to discuss ancient events, and tried to mold both of these together with our previous views of theology. I really enjoyed today be cause we got to see a lot of different types of terrain, and also got to see a variety of sites. I think I most enjoyed walking the Roman road and looking out over the wilderness. The most insightful stop of the day was at Nebi-Sanwil were we could look out over the Central Benjamin Plateau. Well, it’s off to bed before another full day of classes. . .

Nahal Yehudiya Hike

Today was a pretty amazing day. I said yesterday that it had been the best day since my arrival, but I think today now holds the trophy. This morning, again, we got up and left by 7 a.m. We headed out on a 2 ½ hour bus ride to the Northern Galilee region. Our destination was Nahal Yehudiya. This is a huge valley/mountain/stream hike location. I believe this is in the Golen area. Our day started off on a good foot. Our bus ride there went straight over to the Dead Sea, and headed North following the Jordan river and eventually leading to the Sea of Galilee. The sights were awesome on the way there.

Once we got there, our leader told us the schedule, when we needed to be back, and let us go out. In total, we hiked only like 5 hours, but the hike was incredible. I was completely awed many times by the sights and the views. We hiked down into this valley, and then met up with a stream. At times this stream was just a trickle, and other times there was huge water-falls and pools. We mostly followed the stream, but did stray around the valley a bit. The trail was full of many rocks and huge boulders that we had to climb over. By no means was it an easy hike, but it was so much fun.

We had to cross the stream pretty often. Sometimes the width of the stream was small and other times, it was wide. Sometimes it was deep, and sometimes it was very shallow. It was a challenge to keep my shoes dry. We did stop at a couple of the large pools to swim. The water was very chilly, and a great refreshment after we had hiked a good distance. There was one point were we had to swim a length of 30 yards or so where we couldn’t touch, and had to carry all of our belongings with us. This was very difficult for we had each brought at least 3 liters of water, and a lunch. I did it though.

The most fun part was when we went cliff jumping into some of the pools by the water-falls. The highest one that I jumped off was about 45 feet high. I wasn’t sure about it, but I knew that I’d never get the chance again. It was a rush, and definitely worth it. There was a ladder right beside the water-fall where the 45 ft. jump was that we had to climb back up after we had jumped. With no shoes, and a slippery/wet, metal ladder, it was scary. I got more scarred climbing up the ladder than I did jumping off the cliff.

The most amazing view was seeing a water fall that was at least 200 ft. tall. The water was no more than a trickle, but it was very wide. It fell into a pool that we swam in. You could see a large rainbow stretching across the whole bottom of the falls. At times today, I felt like it was in Africa, The Amazon, and the Grand Canyon (minus the red stone). I saw many sights that I have never seen anything like. It was truly an oasis from the Lord. Many times today, I faced fear, and said what the heck. I had a lot of fun, and am completely accident free. Today, was definitely the best day yet.

The BEST Day Yet!

Today’s physical settings trip was incredible. I don’t think I have had a more fun day in Jerusalem yet. We were gone all day; we left at 7 a.m. and got back at 6 p.m. This was the first of our tour bus classes. We would take the bus from site to site, and then do our hiking and walking at the area we had stopped, then move on to the next. This week’s class was pertaining to the approaches of Jerusalem. We went and saw Jerusalem and some of the immediate sights around from the North, South, East, and little from the West.

Some of the sights we went to today were the Mt. of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations, Herod’s Palace in the Hills South of Jerusalem (Herodium), Bethlehem, The Church of the Nativity, The Tear-Drop Church were Jesus cried over Jerusalem, an ancient 1st century threshing floor, Absalom’s (sp) Pillar, and King Hezekiah’s tomb. Among all of these sights, we saw many views of the country-side, and the surround hills of Jerusalem. Many times we would stop and see what we could identify from the city. The Dome of the Rock was always and easy identification to find our bearings.

My favorite place that I visited today was definitely the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of all Nations. This was by far my favorite church that I have seen yet. The inside was vey dark, for the windows were made of dark blue and purple alabaster glass. Also, the entire ceilings were mosaic, and each of the pillars was highly decorated. This church was more beautiful than any I had seen prior to today, but there was an unusual simplicity about it. I got to pause, and read each of the gospels’ account of Jesus in the garden before his arrest in the church. It was definitely a great time and a special site.

The place that stood out to me the most was Heord’s Palace in the hills just south of Jerusalem. This place was called the Herodium, and is located right on the edge of the hill country and the wilderness. From the top, I could see Bethlehem, Tekoa, Jerusalem, and a bit of the Dead Sea. Essentially, the Herodium is a natural hill that was built up even higher by King Herod so that his palace could be higher than anything else around. The hill was absolutely amazing. I could not imagine seeing the Palace on top of the hill when it was built. The views from the Herodium were incredible. We had a complete 360 degree view of the entire land. I took so many pictures from the top of that thing. Also, we went down and explored inside the old palace remains a bit. We had a bunch of fun around the site climb and crawling on the walls, pillars, and old caves.

Today was a day of exploration. We got to many sites and our teacher told us we had 15 minutes to go explore. Knowing a group of 15 college guys, we had a lot of fun. Every little nook and cave we found. Many times we climbed over gates, up walls, and through crawl spaces to see everything. It was a lot of fun. We do just enough exploring were it is really fun, yet still completely safe and within the “rules.”

I really liked today because everything that we talked about and saw was completely new for me. Also, being able to get tired, and then sit on a bus, regain our energy, and do it all again at another place was nice. Tomorrow, again, we have a big day. We are going on a 12 hour hike deep in the hill country. We are going up this large mountain, through waterfalls, and swimming through rivers to get to the top. It should be a lot of fun. It is crazy here. This place doesn’t even feel like school. Well, ok it does; Greek is owning me, but it’s a lot more adventurous than school. Once again, I’ll confirm it; I’m glad that I am here, and it is definitely a once in a life-time opportunity.

A Long, Crazy, Amazing Day

September 7, 2008

Today was a very intense day of hiking. We left campus this morning at 7:00 a.m. We, then, hiked until 12:00 p.m. After lunch, we again hiked from 1:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. It was very hot today, and my legs now feel like Jell-O, but it was worth it. We saw a lot of different and cool things today.

In the morning we went to see part of the “Broad Wall;” this part of the wall was dug up from the time of King Hezekiah. Then we went out of the city at the Dung gate and traveled down to David’s City. It was cool to see “where it all began” for Israel. I can’t imagine what the area would have looked like at that time. We walked from the top of David’s City to the bottom, looking at all the different archaeological digs, and what they were. Then, we got to go down into Hezekiah’s Tunnel and follow it from the Gihon Spring on the eastern side of David’s City in the Kidron Valley, to the Pool of Siloam on the western side of the old city in the Central Valley. This tunnel was over 1500m long, and took almost a half hour to walk. The spring still flowed from the source and was about knee deep the entire time. The water was ice cold and very refreshing, for we had been outside for a long time. Also, in the morning we went to the supposed place of Potter’s field and saw some 1st century tombs there. Then we came back for lunch.

After lunch, we went to go see the supposed place of the last supper. The room that is held as the actual place is not really the place, however. It is impossible for many reasons. We did see it, though, for the actual place, might have been quite close to this position. Then, we made our way down to the South-West part of the temple mount wall. We went through a museum and walked around to see the Richard’s Arch. This was a part of the arch that held up a massive staircase for people to walk up to Herod’s Temple platform. Also, we saw many blocks that had been thrown off the top of the mount when the Roman’s destroyed the temple. It was a very cool sight. After this, we went to the southern steps of the old temple. I can only imagine what the great temple would have looked like when it was still together. We then headed to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and headed back. We did, though, make many other stops throughout the day, but I tried to highlight the main places that we saw.

I’m officially through my first week, and I’m doing great. I really do like it here. The people are great, I’m learning a lot, and the sights are amazing. I have another large day tomorrow. I have 4 classes. The classes, though, aren’t like Taylor where they are all 50 minutes long. Some of the classes here are 2.5 hrs. To say the least, it will be a big day.

Yesterday for lunch, we had fish; all of the scales and fins of the fish where still on it. It was pretty disgusting. I did, though, try it and ate almost all of it. This is a huge feat for me. The food has been super good lately. And the desserts; our cook was a specialist with pastries before he came to work here. They are sooo good!

A Peaceful Weekend

September 4, 2008

The last couple days have had many blessings and fun times. The very day after I was complaining about the food, God heard my prayer. As I was walking up to lunch the day after my last blog, I was praying “Lord just give me something fired, maybe some French-fires, and some kind of good chicken, or better yet, I want a juicy burger.” Sure enough, as soon as I walked up the stairs, I looked at the tray of one of those that had just come from getting food, and there was a burger and French fries. I don’t know if any of you had prayed for me, or if God heard my prayer alone, but thank you. I was telling my friend Dan that I would attest to the power of prayer using this as an example for any person who is not a believer. Anyways . . .I had a great lunch, and extra helpings. Since then, I think my attitude has changed towards the food. This has been a blessing.

Yesterday I just got back from an amazing trip to the Mediterranean Sea. A group of us got in a large taxi and traveled the 45 minute trip to Tel Aviv, near the shore of Israel to go swimming. The “Great Sea” was so incredibly war for a larger sea/ ocean. Also, it was more salty than anything I have ever swum in. There were a couple people in my group that live on the east and west coast in the USA, and they said it was also the most salty thing that they have swum in. Also, the water was so incredibly warm. I felt like it was a pool. It was another beautiful 85 degree, sunny day: perfect beach weather. Although, we did have to walk a very long ways during the day. We are all stubborn, cheap, and poor college kids, so we would not take the bus, we continued to walk many of the routes of our journey. Many times people were like, “Oh it’s only a twenty minute walk up this street.” When we’d go thirty minutes, we’d ask another person, and they’d say, “Oh it’s only another fifteen minute walk up this street.” This happened like 4 or 5 times. It was an interesting time, but needless to say, once we got to the beach, we were all ready to just jump in and then lay all day. On the way back to Jerusalem, we took a large taxi the whole way. We found out that it coasted about 3 shekels more to ride the entire way back. This equated for a whopping one dollar more! We could only laugh at our self for how much we had walked only to save 1 dollar. Haha

Today, Dan and I took the liberty to sleep in until 11 o’clock. Neither of us had any classes today, so this worked out perfectly. In the afternoon, we played an ultimate Frisbee game in the Hinnom Valley. For those who don’t know what that is, it is the valley that is referred to as Hell in the Bible. It was crazy to stop in the middle of play and look up from the valley and see the tower of David and the wall right beside us. It definitely was a very memorable thing.

Also, tonight we had our own Shabbat ceremonies. We had our all campus cook out. It was amazing; we had hotdogs, hamburgers, and shish-ca-bobs. Then, afterward, we had a vespers service of teaching and singing. It was a very nice time to relax and praise the Lord. Also, afterward, a couple of us went up to the roof to sing and worship a little longer. It was amazing looking over the city and singing to the Lord.

I’m beginning to find a group of friends that I feel really comfortable with. There are a lot of people here who share common interests. Most are Christian Ed, Bible, Theology, or some type of major like this. We all share a deep passion for truth and for the Lord. I was telling one of the girls the other night that this feels like school in a camp atmosphere. For those who know Miracle Camp, it is these types of people that I am going to class with. IT is actually pretty awesome. Dan, I and a couple other Taylor people have really found a nice group of guys and girls that we hang out with pretty regularly. They are from all over the USA.