Rosh HaNikra

The longer I am in Israel, the more I see of it, the more I find myself falling in love with the land. I first loved it for the history, the geography, the connection to the Bible. I still love that aspect, more all the time, in fact. But I've come to love more than that. I think it may help that this is my second spring here. It's a land that is easier to love in the spring, when the hills are all abloom with a multitude of wildflowers, the fields of wheat are fragrant with the coming harvest, and the sky is scattered with fluffy white clouds. It's glorious. In the summer and fall with everything brown and dead and hot and dusty it can be difficult to understand why God ever choose this land. But when those first rains kiss the ground and green again becomes part of the color spectrum, everything seems so much more clear.

With fewer required field studies this year I've had more chances to explore. I still often visit sites of historical interest (indeed, they are nearly impossible to avoid) but I've visited places more off the beaten track, and in addition to a better understanding of the history and geography of the land, I've also managed to get more of a feel for the land: the flora and fauna, the smells, the roads, the deserts and the shores.

Today I visited Rosh HaNikra. It's as far north on the sea coast as one can get in Israel. There the sea constantly throws itself against the white cliffs, eating away at them, forming and enlarging caves where the breakers can dash themselves with deafening thunder. Perhaps there are days when it is calmer, but this was not one of those days. It was a perfect day. Yesterday was gray and the air full of dust but the night wind blew it all away and we woke to a sunny day, scattered with clouds and waves joyfully racing to the shores.

I took hundreds of pictures, but they don't do justice to the feeling of being inside the groto, hearing the wave rush in the opening, seeing the light fade as the entrance is blocked by the foaming water, the joy and splendor or the water racing towards and up the sides of the cave, the surprised wonder when the force of the rush is enough to sprinkle all observers with a good amount of salty blue water. Still, I'll try to give you a taste of the beauty and the drama in this "slide show."



1Chronicles 16:29-34 
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness;  tremble before him, all the earth; yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.   Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!"  Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it!  Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.  Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!


Job 30:22 
You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

Psalm 42:5-8  

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.  Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.  By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

Psalm 46:1-3  
To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song. 
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

Isaiah 17:12-14  
Ah, the thunder of many peoples; they thunder like the thundering of the sea! Ah, the roar of nations; they roar like the roaring of mighty waters! The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm.  At evening time, behold, terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us, and the lot of those who plunder us.


Isaiah 51:15  
I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD of hosts is his name. 

Revelation 1:12-16
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

Life and Breaks

September 20, 2009

This past week has been just a little bit crazy. Part of that craziness has included the impossibility of finding a good internet connection anywhere. Campus is always a little iffy, and now our ISP at our apartment has apparently decided we don't exist and therefore will not be allowed to access the internet. These sorts of things have conspired to keep me from updating my blog. *gasp* "Oh, the humanity!" as Adria would say.

Anyway...let's see if I can find a few points of interest to recount.

Most of the week I have spent searching diligently for Beit Aven. "Clearly a Biblical sight of significant proportions," you think, having never actually heard of it. Hint: Look here. That might give you an idea of what we're trying to find. It's not that simple, though. There are several issues involved in the search, such as...

1. When the Bible uses the term "Beit Aven" is it always refering to an actual town named "Beit Aven", or is it using it as a derogatory name (House of Iniquity) for some other place with its own name (like Bethel)?

2. What is the proper way to understand the geographical references given in the Hebrew Text?

3. Beit Aven is close to Ai, Bethel, and Michmash, which would seem to make it easier to find...if we were certain where Ai, Bethel, and Michmash were located.

4. Beit Aven is somewhere in the West Bank, which makes it difficult to do any further archaeological research. But that's ok, because

5. We're not necessarily sure of when Beit Aven should have been occupied. It depends on how you date the conquest of Joshua...and that's a whole other issue.

6. Add to all this that people have been searching for Beit Aven for over 100 years now. At least 8 different sights have, at one time or another, been put forth as a possible location for Beit Aven. Most of them have been discounted, but there are still a few that are fiercely argued for and against among scholars.

That should give you an idea of what my semester is going to look like. :) We'll be done looking for Beit Aven after this week, but other dilemmas are yet to come.

Outside of school things have been a little crazy too.

I went with a couple friends to David's Citadel this week. It's sort of a museum/park, and I'd never been inside before. It's really quite beautiful inside,

with grass, lovely panoramic views of the city, and good information on the history of Jerusalem from ancient to modern times.

One of my flat-mates had a family friend show up, needing a place to crash for a few days. She's a nice lady, and we've enjoyed having her, but it was a bit of a surprise and added to the chaos just a bit. The night she came, 3 other people were over at my house, and the juice man came. Some how there must be a rule that Thursday nights must be chaotic.

Here in Jerusalem it's "Holiday-Central." The Muslim month of Ramadan is just coming to and end, accompanied by much feasting and rejoicing. At the same time the Jews are celebrating their New Year - Rosh Hashannah.

(Apparently, it's traditional to have round challah for Rosh Hashanah. I don't know what it normally looks like, but this is my attempt.)

Yom Kippur is next week, and then Sukkot will be upon us in no time...which means the rains are coming. In fact, they are here. Apparently it rained a little in Jerusalem yesterday, which is an occasion for great rejoicing.

I, however, was not in Jerusalem to appreciate that rain. Another of my flat-mates rented a car this weekend so she could see "the pretty" outside of Jerusalem before city life drove her crazy. Yesterday she kindly took the rest of us along on an adventure.

We got a little bit of a late start...which was ok. It was Shabbat, after all! We headed down south of Jerusalem, skirted Hebron, waved at Arad, and stopped at Mampsis/Mamshit, one of the Nabatean cities of the lower Negev. The Nabateans were really a facinating people, and they left some impressive ruins.

(This is the "Market" which reminded me of the fairgrounds back home...)

Of those, Petra is of course the most famous, and the most spectacular, but Mampsis was fun to visit. We ate lunch there before exploring. They had some "impressive" staircases, a dam, a couple churches with some nice mosaics, a fresco, and a couple sweet stables. I would live there, if I were a horse. (I'm not, for the record.)

From there we drove to Be'er Sheva where we first stopped to get a new rental car. The breaks on ours were making a funny sound...so with remarkable ease (especially considering the holiday) we traded it for a different one.

We paused again to get ice cream and then proceeded to a park commemorating the last successful cavalry charge in history: the Charge of the Australian Light Horse Brigade. The park had one statue and a couple informational signs to commemorate the event. They also had some pretty sweet playground equipment. I would play there if I were a kid. For that matter, I would play there if I were an adult. Actually...I might have made Adria ride the merry-go-round with me... :)

We then set off in search of a Turkish bridge (build in 1914-1915 for World War II, according to our map...hmmm....) We some how managed to totally miss it as we drove past the first time...so we back-tracked, looking for wadis that might possibly have Turkish bridges over them. We stopped at 2 such places, parking the car in random locations and tramping off over hills and around trees, trying to spy a bridge. We were close to giving up when, "Oh hey, is THAT the bridge?"

In retrospect, I really don't know how we missed it so completely the first time driving past. Or how we could have thought it would have been over those little tiny wadis that we found. Oh well, we had a good walk, and we did eventually find it.

We then scurried off to Ashkelon to watch the sunset on the ocean. It was beautiful.

We had to stop for dinner, though, before heading back up into the hills. Cameron had been going on and on about wanting french fries...so we stopped at the first McDonald's we found. Oh the joys of greasy salty food.

Now it's Sunday. Luckily for me, the majority of the students are off on a field study today, which means that now that breakfast is done, I don't have to do much until I start on dinner. I might even get to go to church!

It was a beach day.  

I have to say that one thing I really love about Israel is the variety of landscapes here.  You can start in Jerusalem (hill country) and within a couple hours be at the ocean, or the Dead Sea, or Galilee, or the Golan heights.  It would be like starting on the California coast, passing through Death Valley, driving through mid-west farm land, pausing at the Great Lakes, and ending in the Rockies.  All in one tiny, hotly contested piece of land.  I think that there must be something here (land-wise) that would remind anyone of the land of their nativity.  

So today six of us took the day and went to the beach by Tel Aviv.  Most of us took a car that one of the students here has rented for a while.  Some of us were thinking about visiting a museum, but that (unfortunately) didn't happen.  Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable, and mostly relaxing, day.  I was glad I wasn't driving - the traffic and twisting, convoluted mass of one-way or taxi-only roads would have surely frazzled my nerves.  Eventually, though, we always managed to get where we wanted to go.

We spent most of our time on the beach, sitting, laying, reading, talking, sleeping, walking, taking pictures, getting sand blown in our eyes, watching wind-surfers, laughing, dancing in the waves, trying to leave footprints in the sand.  I was even inspired to write a poem of sorts (it's rough, I know, but I'm too tired to put effort into editting it):

Footprints in the sand, some shells, a rock,

All quickly washed away.

The roving waves come wandering in each hour

To seize their rightful pay.

And in their wake the beach is renewed,

Purified each day.

Perhaps we need some days like these

To clarify our minds.

To sweep from them the cares and thoughts

With which our lives are lined.

To grow closer to one another and build

Some friendships that will bind.

And as we grow to better know the One who made this shore,

We'll continually come to know the plans for us He has in store.  

Anyway, it was an enjoyable day.  Given the  choice between Dahab and Tel Aviv...yeah, I'd definitley pick Dahab.  But for a short trip, Tel Aviv was fun.  

...and now I'm going to live in the library for the next two weeks before the end of the semester.  See you then. ;)