Samaria Revisited.

(Disclaimer: this posting will have no similarities to the book Brideshead Revisited so please lower your standards accordingly.)

By the way, happy March 1st and Rabbits and all that. :)


Samaria Impressions, March 1, 2009

Last fall, field studies tended to be hot and sweaty. This spring they've tended to be cold and rainy. Apparently some form of dampness is inherit to all field studies, whatever the time of year. Ironic, considering the dryness of the land.

At any rate, today I joined the Physical Settings class for their Samaria Field Study. We followed a route nearly identical to that which we took last fall (Look-out point east of Shiloh, Elon Moreh, Mt. Gerazim, and finally Shiloh). Since I already wrote about them, I will try not to repeat myself as I recount my impressions from today.

My reasons for going on this trip were, perhaps, neither very spiritual nor very accademic. I wanted to go to see this particular portion of the land "clothed in the garb of spring" - the green fields, the flowers, the almond trees in blossom... It was beautiful in the dry brownness of the fall, and it was even more beautiful today. If I had to choose one portion of the land of Israel to make my home, I think I might well choose the area around Shiloh. No wonder the Ancient Israelites tended to center around that area.

Today we were blessed with the unique experience of seeing wadis flowing with water, pools of water standing in fields, and a waterfall in the wilderness.

We were also blessed with a few brief moments of sunshine. There were so many times I wished that we could stop the bus and take pictures. I guess I'll have to go back on my own someday. As it was, I still managed to take an outrageous number of pictures.

However, I did not only take pictures. I did try to listen and learn too.

We visited Pinhas at the Jewish settlement of Elon Moreh again. Not only do we get a great view of the Fari'ah and Michmatocha valleys, but we get an interesting perspective on Jewish Zionism to go along with it. We were talking about him as we left, wondering what he would do if the "Two-State Solution" ever became the reality. Given the choice to become a Palestinian citizen or to leave, what would he do? Dr. Wright said that he would probably have a heart-attack if he had to choose between those two things. Even if forced off the land, Pinhas would continue working to re-claim it for Israel. Then he said (and I attempt an exact quote), "The idea of its rightness [the right of the Jews to possess the land, etc.] is tied to his very being." It made me wonder, what would it take to change the mind of someone so singleminded? Pinhas is not the only one so passionate, either. I think that many of us have some similar passion at the core of our being.

On top of Mt. Gerazim we paused to look over Biblical Shechem and Matt shouted out the blessings from Deuteronomy 28 (see also Joshua 9). As he was reading, the call to prayer started playing from the various mosques below. It was rather poignant, in an extremely sad way: God's promise of peace and prosperity rejected again as we search for our own way of salvation.

We visited the Samaritain Priest on top of Mt. Gerazim again as well. As we drove from there we had another interesting discussion. In a couple classes lately I had heard the teachers claim that the Samaritains now deny that there was every a Samaritain Temple on top of Mt. Gerazim. However, both times I have talked to the Samaritain priest, he seems to freely refer to the temple that used to exist there. I asked Dr. Wright about this and his theory was that they perhaps Jewish universities like to teach that the Samaritains claim there was not temple (in spite of a considerable amount of evidence for its existence) to strengthen the case for a Jewish claim to the land. I suppose that's possible. At any rate, I was struck by the discrepency and reminded that, however intelligent and knowledgeable they are, the teachers here are still biased (most are very zionistic, I believe) and have their own agenda (and/or have themselves been taught by biased sources).

Our final stop was Shiloh, with its green valleys, red poppies, and blossoming almond trees. The lady there complimented us on our bravery in venturing out in the rainy weather. It is apparently the "off" season, in addition to being rainy, so I guess we were the only visitors of the day. It was beautiful. (I'll stop gushing. Sorry.) It was also a good reminder of God's grace and judgement (see Psalm 78).

Over all, today was very similar and very different from the trip last fall. The rain gave us some different views and also shortened the day as people tended to talk less out in the open. :) However, a the sites were the same and much of the information was the same. It was a good day to review, see the land at a different time of year, and get to know some of the new students a little better.