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. . .