The Dead Sea (Day 3)

To start this blog off, here's a picture of the room we stayed in. Everything was orange and it was amazing. :)


October 13, 2008
After breakfast, but before heading to Masada, we paused to look at a model of Israel at the Hostel. While not completely accurate, it was fun to see and to be able to recognize places we’ve seen in 3D.

From there it was off to the back of Masada where we hiked up the siege ramp (or beside it). In retrospect, I’m really glad that we hiked up that side rather than the other side.

Once on top we admired some more of Herod’s architecture. We visited the North Palace and the Bath house (both with some remaining plaster and painted walls, I believe).

Quite impressive. I poked around in a few other places before finally heading to the cistern. The million gallon cistern. Wow. That was huge. And to think of the work it would take to fill it in the middle of a desert with around 1 inch of rain annually. Trey had poured out his nalgene down there, just to demonstrate. It barely made a damp spot in the dust. Now there’s an image of futility.

We also discussed the likelihood of Josephus’ story having actually happened. Probably not too likely. Still, it’s a good (though tragic) story. At least in part because of that story, it’s become a huge symbol to the State of Israel. (Side note here: after we had this discussion on top of Masada, someone asked my archaeology professor, who, it must be noted, is Jewish, what he thought of Josephus' story. He seemed to think that it was fairly reasonable and probably, in its basic form, a good representation of what actually happened. So there are differing opinions.) Masada is also important in the archaeological world as the originator of three things: it was the first time volunteers paid for the opportunity to dig, it made the first use of the re-construction line, and (almost) all the remains on it are from one time period, making it a “type site” for first century pottery.

We got to hike down the snake path which was very exciting. The last time I was at Masada it was a bit more rushed and I had to take the tram both up and down. The snake path really wasn’t bad to go down, but it was really, really hot. Plus, I was really hungry by this point. So at the bottom I was really tired. And hungry. And rather warm. But it was fun.

The next stop was the Dead Sea where we floated for a while and then had an amazing lunch of hotdogs and non-pita bread! It was wonderful.

After lunch we stopped at En Gedi and hiked around and swam a bit. The group I was with on the way down really enjoyed seeing the Ibex and Conies and took lots of pictures of them. It was a beautiful area. Since I’ve been in Israel I’ve come to appreciate water and greenery more and more. The desert is beautiful, but I’m always glad to see trees and flowers. The fresh water was especially refreshing after the 38% salt content in the Dead Sea.

The last stop of the day was Qumran. I must admit that by this time I was feeling pretty worn out. We’d been three days on the road, and that day especially I was worn out by heat, hiking, and playing in water. So, I tried to summon up enough energy for this last stop. There were approximately three billion people there, but I think we managed to avoid most of them. We watched a video, sort of about Qumran. It had cool flying pictures. I like those.  It also suggested that John the Baptist may have been part of that group for a time. Interesting thought. Some think that Jesus may have spent some time here too. They had interesting ideas about the Messiah. I wonder… We walked around the site which was interesting, but there wasn’t a whole lot to see. Then we climbed up to a cave. Lovely view. Up there we talked about Ezekiel’s visions and the water of life flowing out of Jerusalem, healing the waters of the Dead Sea, and spreading to the Nations. Someday…Lord, help us spread that water now, as much as we can.


And now we’re home. Over all, it was an amazing trip. I’ll need some time to process it all, but I really enjoyed it. Now for some sleep…!

The Negev and Beyond (Day 2)

October 12, 2008
The day started at Tel Beersheva. Well, technically, it started at the youth hostel and then the shuk, but the information we’ll be tested on didn’t really begin to issue forth until we got to Beersheva (the tel). As a side note, I think that the breakfast at the hostel was more like a “typical” Israeli breakfast than what we have at the school. Not that they were so different, but the hostel had a few additions to what is usual for us.

Once at Beersheva, one of the first places we stopped was the well outside the city gate. We dropped a stone and tried to time how long it took to fall. I’m not sure how accurate our timing was (I think we figured about 3.5-4s). After that I was distracted for a while trying to figure out the depth of the well. I think I eventually came up with 81m. I re-calculated it just now and got more like 64m. I think it was mostly a matter of rounding errors. And, of course, it is dependant on how long the stone actually fell… At any rate, it is really quite deep.

From Joining the Heavens

We spent some time talking about the syntax of a home, which is something I hadn’t thought about before. It makes sense, though, and it was interesting to hear of the syntax of a middle-eastern home. The front room is the guest room. Things get more intimate the further back you go.

We climbed to the look out tower and were able to see where the Beersheba and Hebron Wadis came together, right around the old city of Beersheva. Of course, they were both dry.

From Joining the Heavens

After Beersheba we moved on to Arad, the location of an Early Bronze Age city and a later Israelite Fort. Arad is basically in the middle of nowhere, centrally located in a barren desert. It’s hard to imagine what possible purpose it could play. Yet it’s there that Narmer’s name was found on a potsherd. And an Israelite presence was apparently constant from the days of Solomon to the fall to Babylon. It was fun to see the wall with the semi-circular towers, just like we talked about in Archaeology.

From Joining the Heavens

It’s really an amazing site – so huge! And so little water! The fort had a couple interesting aspects as well. The first is that over 100 ostraca were found in a small room, most of them relating to their defense against the Babylonians, if I remember correctly. The second item of interest (also possibly mentioned on one of the ostraca) was the “temple.” I suppose that we cannot be 100% sure that it was meant to be a temple, but its similarities to the temple in Jerusalem are striking. The “problem” that we have with this temple is two-fold. First of all, why is there a temple at all in a Jerusalem supported fort of Solomon’s time? Weren’t they supposed to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem where the Ark of the Covenant resided? Was the building of other temples and altars and even “holy of holies” permitted? The second issue is the fact that there appear to be two standing stones and two incense altars in the Holy of Holies. Does this mean that the Israelites there were worshipping false gods in a Yahwistic temple? Was it for Yahweh and His “consort”? And if so, why was this allowed by Jerusalem? While we can’t say for sure, it does seem likely that there was a lot of syncretism in Judean culture, for which God is always calling them to repentance. It makes me wonder where we are syncretic with our beliefs.

From Joining the Heavens

Following a lovely lunch at Arad we went to the Wadi Zin. It was a beautiful area. Not quite at lush as the Nahal Yehudia, but still quite green in the bottom. I suppose that without the built-in hand rails and walls it could be a really difficult and terrifying hike. As it was, it wasn’t bad. Such things do kinda tickle my funny bone, though. At any rate, it was a fun hike. I’m not sure that I would like to be wandering in that sort of landscape day and night for weeks, or months, or even years, as some of the Israelites did. But it was fun for an hour.

From Joining the Heavens

From Joining the Heavens

The next place we visited was Avdat, the Nabatean city. Really, what the Nabateans did to live and even thrive in that area amazes me. It makes me wish that I could live up to such a challenge. They seem like the sort of people books are written about – Native Americans who can cross the American desert and find water (Louis L’Amour), the Sand People in Dune, etc. The ruins of their city were pretty amazing too. One of the largest wine presses in the country (HOW did they grow grapes here??). Two churches (many converted to Christianity at one point). And now they’ve faded away into nothingness, their secrets lost with them. That was a fun place to explore. I wish we had had more time. Really, as Matt said, you could draw this trip out from 3 to 5 days easily. There’s so much to see and learn.

From Joining the Heavens

The last and possibly most spectacular stop of the day was at Makhtesh Ramon (also called the Super Bowl). I guess you could call it the Grand Canyon of Israel (except it’s a crater, not a canyon). I had heard many people talk about it, but had never been there myself, so I was excited to see it. It was amazing. Breath-taking. (I want to come back in the spring and see the flowers!) Looking out, Ada recited Psalm 90 for us. The first part talks a little about how God formed the earth. His work was “established” you could say. The Psalm ends with a request for us to see God’s glory in his work, and then adds a request that God would “establish” our work. Amazing thought, that.

From Joining the Heavens

We came back to the modern city of Arad for the night. We’ll see what tomorrow holds!

Side note: today I finally found out why this school is called “Jerusalem University College.” (Hopefully I can recall it properly.) Apparently, back in the day, JUC was pretty international. People would come from Europe and associated countries. However, in places like that “institute” and “college” denote high school level, so there was confusion. On the other hand, they didn’t qualify as a University in the American sense because they weren’t broad enough. Thus, they took the title of “University College” to denote that they offer specialized undergraduate and graduate work.

Judah and the Shephelah (Day 1)

We recently spent 3 days in the southern part of Israel, which means and impression report from each day. I will attempt to post those with pictures now. :) Here's the first:

It’s amazing how much things can change in ten years. Ten years ago, in October of 1998, I made my first trip to the land of Israel. The sites I visited then are not exactly the same as the sites we’ve visited so far this semester, but many have been the same or similar. Last time, I distinctly remember visiting Azekah and looking down on the Elah valley. It was incredibly hot, especially for us Montanans who were preparing for winter back home. I remember that we were impressed by the large amounts of pottery to be found all around. My sister especially enjoyed collecting it. With our guide we searched out the shade of a lone tree on top of the hill to listen to him talk. We sat in the dirt or stood. I’m pretty sure that we had the site to ourselves. Today, what a difference! It was not so extremely hot, for starters, though I don’t think that has much to do with the ten year time difference. Perhaps memory serves me poorly, but I’m about 99% sure that it was much more developed: more picnic benches, more paths, more places to sit. And, of course, more people. Perhaps this had something to do with the fact that this time we came on a Saturday, and I’m fairly sure that last time we came on a week-day. Nevertheless, it was a very different experience. I must add, as much as I enjoyed that two week trip, it’s nice to spend more time over here and have a chance to digest what I’m learning. (Here's our group on top of Azekah.)

However, Azekah was our third stop of the day, so let me back up a little. The morning started out in the beautiful (and relatively rugged) Sorek System. We hiked down the Wadi to what used to be the Arab village of Safat. On the way we stopped by a cave – one that at some point had probably been a house. We talked about how Israelites probably lived during the time of Solomon: “Each under his own vine and fig tree.” We even saw a vine and fig tree together a little later on. While there we also talked about how grapes are (were) raised in Israel and looked at a couple places where this imagery is applied in the Bible. God compares Israel to a vine that, though it had every conceivable advantage, refused to produce the proper fruit. Jesus used the image of a vine to remind His disciples of the importance of “abiding in Him” as well as bearing proper fruit.

From there we crossed into the Rephaim Canyon, and then down to the Sorek Valley. . We cut across the chalk trough and stopped at Beth Shemesh. There we talked about Sampson and looked across the valley to the place where he lived. It was one of our first looks at the swinging door area of the Shephelah where so many of the Philistine/Israeli conflicts took place.

From here one can clearly see the hill country, the stronghold of Israel, and the beginning of the coastal (Philistine) plain. It’s a battlefield just waiting to happen, and it doesn’t have to wait long. After our discussion of Sampson, trying to see him in the land, we got to look around the tel there a little. There were some fun burial places and a large cistern shaped like a cross.

Our third stop was, of course, Azekah, looking over the Elah valley. As a note of interest, Azekah is the center of the Shephelah. We could clearly see Gath to the West from the top. We talked about why it’s likely that the David and Goliath story took place around the corner in the Elah valley, and not right in front of where we were. From there we continued along the diagonal route, past Maresha, to Lachish. I’m looking forward to going to Lachish with Dr. Barkai and learning more about that place. We talked briefly about the Israelite fortifications and the Assyrian siege. Those Assyrians were not the sort of people I would want my daughter to bring home. Then we looked around a bit at the palace and the well. (This is a couple of guys from the other class re-enacting the conquering of Lachish by the Assyrians.)

The last stop of the day was as Ashkelon. I went (with a few other people) with Leah and Larry to look at the site. Larry’s place had many different layers. One of the most interesting things he told us was about a place they had found pottery with erotic scenes on it, so they figured it was a brothel. Later on, in a Roman pipe, they found many skeletons (something like 200, I think) of infants. All but one of them were male. Likely enough, when the women at the brothel got pregnant and gave birth, they threw out the males but kept the female to raise to be prostitutes. How tragic.

Leah’s sight made her happy, but they didn’t find anything all that exciting. The sight right next to it had some amazing statues, though. There were a lot of fun Byzantine remains in the area.

We also saw a large glace and the remains of a Canaanite arch.

Then we went down to the beach. It was lovely to wade in the warm water, look at shells, and watch the sun set. What a beautiful place.

Around 7 we arrived at Beersheva, ate dinner, and went to our rooms. Small, but efficient, and sufficient. And now I need to sleep to be ready for tomorrow!

Beersheva

Hey, I'm at the hostel in Beersheva which actually has some sort of internet access. This technological age is amazing. :)

We had a good day in the field. I'll probably post more on it later. We spent the last part of it at Ashkelon. I actually looked around at the ruins/dig (some people in our group dug there this summer, so they gave us a tour) but most people just hung out on the beach. I managed to do a bit of that too. :)


From there we went to Beersheva, arriving about 7:00. After dinner and a shower, a few of us went out to look around a little. Mostly, we had ice cream and played at a huge park. It was a amazing. Really fast spinning things (like a small merry-go-round), tall slides, it was great. And now it's far past my bedtime. A couple things to finish up and then it's off to dream land for me. And tomorrow, off to Wadi Zin and the "Super Bowl!"

Before the Throne

Tonight at "vespers" an ex-muslim woman came and gave her testimony of how she had come to faith in Jesus Christ. I'm rather at a loss to express how amazing it was. God is so good to work in people's lives. She talked about how, when she was younger, she couldn't understand why women were treated like they were. She felt like she was being punished for being a woman, and since God made her that way, why was he then puninshing her? So she started reading the Koran and finding out what it said about women. Eventually she came to a point where she said "God, I know you exist, but I don't want to pray to you or obey you or have anything to do with you. I think humans are better than you because they love their sons and daughters more than you love us. I know heaven and hell are real, and I choose to go to your hell." Eventually, through a series of events I won't go into, she came to faith in Christ. One of the barriers that kept her from faith at first was the fear of bringing same to her family, and possibly of being murdered by a family member. God worked miracles for her in that her mother and her brothers were all very accepting of her new faith (and her mother has since been saved). Nevertheless, she is still afraid that someone will try to kill her. She told the story of a woman who was murdered by her father fairly recently. The woman hadn't even come to faith yet, but her husband had, so she was murdered before she could, to "prevent her from going to hell." So we pray for thousands of converts because, as she said, they can't kill all of them! Right now she is ministering with Campus Crusade in Israel. Pray for her and her ministry. Pray for protection, especially for the ex-muslim Christians. Pray comfort and growth for the "muslims" who secretly believe but are too afraid to tell anyone.

Tonight we sang the song "Before the Throne of God Above" both before and after this dear sister shared. It's an amazing song, but my thoughts the second time seemed to have added poingnancy after what I had heard. I'll put the words below and try to elucidate a few of my thoughts next to them.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

This is so different from the Muslim god that she spoke about. His name is not Love. The God we serve does love us, unconditionally. And He loves Muslims and wants them to also know this great love.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

I think that there would be huge temptations to despair, even for those who are saved, in a Muslim environment. Yet they too can find hope in Christ. And the freedom they find in Christ must be incredible when compared to the bondage of Islam.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One with Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

One with Himself I cannot die - even for those believers who are murdered by their family members, it is not the end. Their life is eternal and abundant. This is also a good reminder for me to not value my own life too much. Am I willing to lay it down?

It was a good night. Tomorrow we head off on a three day long field study (so if you don't hear from me...that's why.) We are going to the Shephelah, Beersheva, the Negev, Arad, the Dead Sea, En Gev, Qumran, and various sites in those areas. It should be fun. :) And I should go and finish packing.

Random fact of the day: 10 years ago today, I was on my way to Israel for the first time. I'm glad I finally made it back! :)

Yom Kippur

Tonight is the beginning of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. I'm guessing that most people who might read this have an idea of what this day entailed for the ancient Israelites. I'm also guessing that very few of you know what it's like in modern day Israel. Now, I don't at all claim to be an expert, but let me tell you what it's been like so far.

Yom Kippur, of course, starts at sun-down. It's kind of like a super-Sabbath, so everyone wants to be sure to be home and ready before sunset. Thus, most things in the city were closed by early afternoon. In general, Jerusalem is a pretty noisy city. There are always sirens, horns, and loud music to be heard. But now, there are no cars on the roads (exept possibly emergency vehicles), and everything is silent. There are people out walking (probably to and from Synagogue and the Western Wall) and I can hear their voices as they go along. That's how quiet it is. It's pretty amazing.

Most people will spend the day tomorrow fasting, still quiet, repenting, and going to Synagogue. In the eastern (Muslim) part of Jerusalem, life will go on as usual. But here in western Jerusalem, it's a day of quiet, time to repent of sin.

There are a few people who will be hard at work in spite of the holiday. Since the Yom Kippur attack, nearly 50 years ago, this is always a day of high alert for the security forces.

Here at school we actually have the day off, which will be nice. I think some of us might go to the Wall for a while to observe. Perhaps I will have more of an update later. :)

History of Ancient Israel Field Study

Of all the classes I'm taking this year this one has been, well, shall we say the most controversial? Interesting, though. The professor is a practicing Jew who also teaches at Ariel University Center, near Samaria. At any rate, we went on our first field study for this class on Sunday. It was also the first field study I had done without Dr. Wright leading.

We first headed out of Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. We went to the Eretz Israel Museum, which was first founded as an archaeological sight upon Tell Qasileh. The museum has expanded its interests quite a bit since that time, so the archaeological remains are not as well cared for and displayed as our teacher would like, but they were interesting. We saw the remains of a Philistine temple (apparently destroyed and rebuilt 3 times). Here's a pasted together photo of that. The different numbers in different colors point out areas of the temple during different phases.


If you look at the larger version of the picture you should be able to see three different colored #1's. The red one and the brown one represent the entrances of the 1st and 3rd temples (respectively) with stone thresholds. Of course, as soon as a threshold in a Philistine temple is mentioned, everyone's mind immediately jumps to 1 Samuel 5. :) Just in case your mind didn't quite make the connection, I'll summarize the story. The Philistines had captured the Ark of God and they put it in the temple of their god, Dagon. The next morning, Dagon had fallen face forward in front of the ark. They set him up again and the next morning, not only had he fallen, his head and hands were broken off on the threshold. Of course, what finding this means for the Biblical account is debated. The thoughts my professor gave were interesting, though probably not the direction I would go with it. At any rate, it is interesting.

On top of the Philistine site a new civilization moved in around 1000BC. They brought with them the four-roomed house (shown below with my professor) and collared-rimmed jars. Both of these are characteristic of Israelite civilization. Since David is thought to have lived around 1000BC, it is fairly likely that this is a Philistine town conquered by David and then settled by Israelites.


We didn't have time to visit a lot of the museum, but we did stop into their hall of pottery. It's a bit strange, but I find that the longer I'm here and the more I learn, the more excited I get about things like potsherds and other material remains of ancient civilizations. I guess it follows my theory that the more you know about something, the more you tend to appreciate it. Anyway, in this area we got to actually see in the flesh quite a few things that we had heard referenced in various classes.

Execration Texts (Egyptian "Voodoo"):

Household Idols from the Golon:

A butter churn from the Chalcolithic Age:

An ossuary with a nose, possibly from the coastal plain, though they were found all over, also dating to the Chalcolithic Age:


After that excitement we got back on the bus and headed a little way out of Tel Aviv to a hill topped with the remains of a small Israelite settlement. This is apparently one of the best preserved, earliest Israelite settlements. Here there were also three different phases, one of which was basically a large 4-room house with a couple "out buildings." There are a couple interesting things at this site.

The first is an ostracon that was found in a pit at this site. This is somewhat odd for a couple reasons. For one thing, this was a tiny settlement, and it was far removed from the center of Israelite civilization. One expects some amount of literacy near the center of government, but not necessarily on the outposts. Second, the letters are very irregular, though recognizable. There are 4 lines of writing on this ostracon and the first three make no sense. The fourth is recognizable as an alphabet. Someone has suggested that this was a child's school exercise. My professor doesn't like this explanation because of the size and placement of the settlement - it seems hardly the sort of place to support a school. He doesn't have a better explanation, though, so who knows? (See below a sign with a picture of the ostracon.)


The second object of interest in this settlement is its location. It is located on a hill above the ancient city of Aphek. Of course, the mention of "Aphek" together with some mention of and Israelite presence again make everyone's mind jump to the Bible, this time to 1 Samuel 4:2. Here we find the Philistines encamped at Aphek and the Israelites encamped at a place called "Ebenezer." An "Ebenezer" is again mentioned in 1 Samuel 7:12. Is it possible that this hill is the location of one or both of those events? Maybe. It's not certain, but with that possibility, the sight has been named "Ebenezer."


From there we moved on, passing the Jewish settlement of Ariel, arriving at Shiloh in time to eat a quick lunch before touring the site. This is the second time I've been at Shiloh in as many weeks. But I really like the area, so that's ok. :) I hope to go back in the spring too, and see all the wild flowers. There are enough even now to make me think that it will be amazing. (Really prickly, though!) However, what we learned was fairly similar to what we went over the previous time we were there, so I won't spend much time on that. Here's a picture, just for fun:


The next placed we stopped was near Michmash, where the Philistines were encamped in 1 Samuel 13:16. It was right around this area that the events of 1 Sam. 14 (Jonathan's heroic actions) took place. It's a good story. Read it and keep this sort of landscape in mind:


The last stop of the evening was at what is generally thought to be Gibeah of Saul. It is marked today by the shell of what was to be King Hussein of Jordan's Jerusalem Palace...until he choose the wrong side in the 6 day war. There has been some excavation done at that sight, but not much for us to look at. We mostly spent the time looking over the Benjamin Plateau and locating various places on the horizon. The picture below is the remains of a pillar with the tower of Nebi Samwil (which some people think is the location of Mizpah) in the background.


That was our trip!

Tonight starts Yom Kippur, probably the most holy and sombre day of the whole year.

This weekend (starting Saturday) we're going on a three day trip to the Shephela, Negev, and Dead Sea, so expect a long report at the end of that. :)