It's December...

...and mosquitoes are in the air! I probably kill an average of one or two a day. Not a problem that is common in Montana in December.

(Oh, Happy first of December and Rabbits and all that. :)

I went to the Scottish Presbyterian church again on Sunday. You know what my favorite part is? They have music! I mean, like, hymnals where you can sight-read the music if you don't happen to know the song! They also sing hymns! The other churches I've been to (and our own vespers service) generally sing more "praise songs." Which isn't bad, but if you don't know the song, well, you're kind of out of luck because they're only going to sing through it once. The entire semester. Ok, so I don't want to be a grumpy, picky person, but I will say that is nice to be able to have music to look at while you try to learn the songs.

It was a rather busy weekend for me. I had a final and a paper due on Thursday and then two papers and a final today. Glad those are over! Now I just have two more finals. Hebrew is tomorrow and shouldn't be too bad. Archaeology is on Friday, and I am a bit more worried about that one. I think I will be eating, breathing, and sleeping archaeology for most of the rest of the week.

I leave for Egypt on Saturday! So exciting! That's going to be quite a trip.

Tonight I got to see the conjunction of the moon, Venus, and Jupiter. Over Jerusalem. Someone said that they last time they were in this formation was around 2 BC, but I haven't been able to find confirmation of that. At any rate, it's a beautiful sight.

PieceOfThePie2(SQ1TV)

So this is part of the show that I grew up on. Oh the memories! Gotta love math. :) As a plus, it mentions my home town - how cool is that?!

Humor and Life

First Joke:This is pretty much what I feel like at camp all the time...except more so. And I'm also probably not usually as calm and organized as she is. I usually forget the first question after the third or fourth. :)

Second Joke:
An engineer, a psychologist, and a theologian were hunting in the wilderness of northern Canada. Suddenly, the temperature dropped and a furious snowstorm was upon them. They came across an isolated cabin, far removed from any town. The hunters had heard that the locals in the area were quite hospitable, so they knocked on the door to ask permission to rest. No one answered their knocks, but they discovered the cabin was unlocked and they entered.

It was a simple place -- two rooms with a minimum of furniture and household equipment. Nothing was unusual about the cabin except the stove. It was large, pot-bellied, and made of cast-iron. What was strange about it was its location: it was suspended in midair by wires attached to the ceiling beams.

"Fascinating," said the psychologist. "It is obvious that this lonely trapper, isolated from humanity, has elevated this stove so that he can curl up under it and vicariously experience a return to the womb."

"Nonsense!" replied the engineer. "The man is practicing the laws of thermodynamics. By elevating his stove, he has discovered a way to distribute heat more evenly throughout the cabin."

"With all due respect," interrupted the theologian, "I'm sure that hanging his stove from the ceiling has religious meaning. Fire LIFTED UP has been a religious symbol for centuries."

The three debated the point for several hours without resolving the issue.

When the trapper finally returned, they immediately asked him why he had hung his heavy pot-bellied stove from the ceiling.

His answer was succinct. "Had plenty of wire, not much stove pipe."

I can't tell you how often I have seen this sort of scenario played out here. Scholars argue over the smallest things, often reading enormous ammounts of information into the tiniest statement but ignoring the simplest and (to me at least) most logical answers. It kind of drives me crazy. Let me explain a bit.

The stove basically represents the facts on the ground, whether it be text from the Bible, archaeological or geographical evidence, or text from some other ancient source. The engineer, psychologist, and theologial all represent possible different interpretations of the facts on the ground. The trapper actually knows the truth about the stove, but unfortunately, all the "trappers" in this land died years ago and can't tell us why they built or wrote in such a way. So the different scholars argue about the proper interpretation. In all fairness, many times they probably do come quite close to the actual reasons. Sometimes, though, their theories seem as ridiculous as the three theories about the stove.

One example that comes to mind is from my Matthew class. You are probably all aware of the passage in Matthew where Jesus pronounces woe upon the scribes and Pharisees. (Matthew 23) Apparently this is a big deal. Here are some of the views I've seen represented on what this passage "means:"

1. Maybe it means that Matthew (or whoever the author was) and the small group of believers around (aka "the Matthean Community") him were upset at the Pharisees and other Jews for some reason. Maybe the Jews were persecuting this small group of Christians so Matthew included this scathing rebuke in his gospel.

2. Maybe Matthew meant to imply that all of Israel was utterly rejected by God (which could open the door to some pretty sever anti-semetism).

3. Maybe Matthew only meant to imply that the leaders of Israel were utterly rejected by God (thus preserving the gospel from being anti-semetic).

4. Maybe it was part of the attempt by Matthew to distance his community from the Jewish community and to set themselves up at the "true" followers of God.

...and my thought is, "Maybe Matthew included it in his gospel because Jesus actually said it, and maybe Jesus said it because the Pharisees at the time that he spoke were actually hypocritical." Which is not to say that the book and its contents can be completely separated from the time and location in which it was written. On the other hand, I don't think it can be separated from the time and place which is being written about, either. I think it is going too far to imply that some of these passages were made up by the author of Matthew in response to circumstances facing his community. Doubtlessly the gospel applied, but good grief.

Back to the stove joke, while the trapper probably has some ideas in all the areas the experts discussed, when someone has to choose between freezing to death or setting up a stove that works, well, that person isn't likely going to be considering all the symbolic and scientific implications of his stove placement. He's going to be pretty pragmatic about it. I could be wrong, but I would think that the same would be true of the authors of the texts we have. Most of the time they were probably trying to get the story down. They may have put a spin on it to teach a lesson or included some symbolism or some such thing, but I find it hard to believe, as some scholars seems to imply, that they wrote with 24 and a half different layers of meaning and that by the simple statement "X" they really meant "Y", "Z", and "A" ... and "B" for good measure. The scholars have far more time to discuss the stove than the trapper had to make it in the first place. I want more scholars who put themselves in the shoes of the trapper!

(Ok, I'll stop ranting now...that one has been building up for a while.)

Thanksgiving Reflections

A year ago, a week or two before Thanksgiving, my maternal grandmother was in a pretty bad car accident. For a time there we were afraid we might loose her, but she managed to pull through. We spend that Thanksgiving with her at a special physical therapy facility. It probably wasn't the most comfortable Thanksgiving ever (especially for her!) but we were thankful that she was still with us.

This year, a week or two before Thanksgiving my paternal grandmother began failing rapidly. She had a stroke about 8 or 9 years earlier and then another one a little more recently - two close calls where we were grateful that they were not the end. This time her liver was failing and there was no recovery. This time we cannot be thankful that she is still with us after a close call. This time we have something much larger to be thankful for: the fact that she is now home with Jesus. No more pain or disability lingering from her strokes. Now she is able to see her Savior face to face and rejoice in His presence. What a blessing!

I'd better change the subject a little, or I will start bawling here in the Library. Thoughts of heaven always seem to make me cry (in a happy way).

As I think back on the lives of both of my grandmothers (the short part of their lives that I knew them), I am so grateful for both of them. Neither were/are perfect, but both tried/try to walk with Jesus and set an example for their children and grandchildren. I think my grandmothers are one of the main reasons that my parents (and all their siblings) grew up to love and follow the Lord. I also blame them at least partially for the fact that I've grown to like crochet, sewing, and cooking. :)

As I think about my grandmother tonight, I mourn for my family who will miss her. I mourn a little for the great-grandchildren that she wanted so much but will never meet on earth. But more, I look forward to the day when all of us (hopefully including any great-grandchildren that she might someday have) will see each other again in the presence of God. Now that is something to be thankful for!

Churches and such

Yesterday I had the chance to actually go to two different churches for two different reasons.

In the morning I went to St. Andrew's Scottish Presbyterian Church, just across the Hinnom Valley from my school. (Maria, I thought of you!) It was a pretty good service. (I liked the windows too.)
The message was on Matthew (specifically 25:31-46). Of course. I seem to be unable to escape Matthew. My pastor at home has been going through Matthew for a couple years now. I'm taking a class on Matthew this semester. I don't claim to know much about the church calendar for readings and such, but apparently the book of Matthew has been part of the scheduled readings for this semester. Therefore, since of the 4 times I've been able to attend church this semester, I've gone twice to an Anglican church and once to a Presbyterian church, those three services have been on Matthew. It's kind of funny, but hey, it's a good book, so I won't complain. Anyway, I'm not sure that I would agree theologically with everything that was said, but for the most part it seemed pretty solid. The preacher started out with a story of how world renowned violinist Joshua Bell had once gone to the train station in Washington DC and started playing like a student trying to earn some extra cash. He played for nearly an hour and only a couple people stopped to listen. He earned something like $32, when just nights ago hundreds of people had payed hundreds of dollars to hear him play in a large concert hall. How often are we so busy with our life that we miss things like that? In the context of Matthew 25:31-46, how often are we so busy that we miss opportunities to do good? Jesus here doesn't judge people based on the bad that they did but on the good they failed to do. Hmm...

After the service we stayed around for a bit and talked to people. I gather that it's normally a pretty small congregation. There were probably about 10 of us from JUC and then there was a group of about 20 visiting from Edinburgh. All together, we must have made up over half the congregation. The only people I ended up talking to were the visitors, but they were very pleasant people. It makes me sad, though. There are so many huge church buildings over here representing so many different denomonations, and they have such tiny memberships. I kind of get the feeling that they are just surviving, not thriving. I do hear, though, that the palestinian church is growing quite a bit, which is encouraging.

As we were heading out Vernon showed us the sight of "Ketef Hinnom" (meaning "the shoulder of Hinnom"). This site was excavated by my own archaeology professor, Gabby Barkay. In fact, it was kind of the sight that made him famous. It also provides numerous problems for the minimalists, which is always a good thing. :) I don't know much about it, but maybe I'll ask in my next archaeology class.

Last night, after finishing my Matthew paper, I headed out with some people to the Dormition Abbey for a free brass ensemble concert! I hadn't been inside the Dormition Abbey before, and it was pretty impressive. As Cameron said, one wonders where they get the money for that sort of a building. (I guess in this case, Kaiser Wilhelm probably provided most of it.) And I wonder if the money could be better spent elsewhere? I mean, how important is it for a church building to be beautiful? I don't think that it's entirely unimportant, but it seems like there are so many other things that should take precidence. Anyway, the concert was a lot of fun. The group was, I believe, from Germany, which means that most of the explanations were done in German. Unfortunately, I understand very little German. Oh well. I enjoyed the music anyway, and recognized some of the songs. And yes, they definitely played Mary Bennet's song ("Slumber dear maid....") It made me smile and wish for someone who would get the joke. They may have not been the best ensemble ever, but since pretty much the only concerts I've been to in recent years have been High School bands, well, I thought they were pretty decent. :) It was fun hearing the resonance in the church too. It made me think fondly of all my brass playing relatives and friends. Miss y'all!

Oh, and while we were there, Peter noticed something about the floor of the church. You may remember a while ago from our Galilee trip I mentioned that a lot of Synagogues in that region had the Zodiac in mosaics on their floor? Well this church did too. Which I find very odd. Why would they do such a thing? It makes even less sense than it did in Jewish Synagogues. Odd.

Jordan, Day 4

This was the last day of our Jordan trip, and also the last day of field study for this class. It was a little bittersweet. More so for others, though. I get to come back for more!

November 16, 2008

The morning started bright and early in a Medieval castle with a view down to the Dead Sea and Masada.
We were at Kerak, location of a crusader castle, formerly the capital (or one of the capitals) of Moab. What a place to defend! Perhaps not quite as impenetrable as Bozrah would have been in its day, but still pretty hard to get into if the inhabitants didn’t want you to.
Our guide, Zaffer, also told a couple good stories about the interaction between the crusaders and Suliman.

We drove through the Wadi Arnon to get to our next sight. Boy, was it impressive! That's quite a valley to cross if you want to conquer land on the other side.

Our next stop was Dibon, Mesha’s Moabite capital on the Medeba plateau and the place where his stele was found. Again, a little less defensible than even Kerak, but still probably better than Jerusalem. We talked about Mesha’s battles and how they related to events and people in the Biblical account. The Medeba plateau was indeed a contested place, both politically and (in a related way) religiously.

At Dibon, I think that Dr. Wright managed to infuse into us a little of his longing to have these places excavated and displayed properly, both for the benefit of Jordan and for the furtherance of our knowledge.
(This is Dibon. See, a little excavation has been done, but what you see is about the extent of it.)
We visited the locations of 4 different ancient capitals (Rabbah, Bozrah, Kir, and Dibon). Most of them have been excavated very little. We were “lucky” with the finding of the Moabite stone – it gives us a bit of insight into Moab. We still know so little of that, though, and next to nothing about the other capitals and their inhabitants, except what we can learn from the Bible, which is limited and written from the perspective of their enemies. And for Jordan’s sake…one would think that they could increase tourism a lot and bring in more money if they would take the trouble to fix up these sites and charge an entrance fee. These were all fairly major cities for centuries. It’s seems likely that at least some ostraca or something would have survived. There is so much we could learn.

After Dibon we skipped Heshbon due to time constraints and headed straight to St. George’s church, the location of the famous mosaic map of the Levant from around the 6th century AD. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a whole lot of time to take it in as we were off running again, this time to grab a lunch to eat on the buses. Still, it was fun to see.
(This is me pointing to where our school would be on the Jerusalem portion of the map.)

As we drove I observed the passing country-side. They have some really good soil in the region of Moab and the Medeba plateau, where we were today. There are also houses scattered here and there, more or less densely. Most houses are colored grey, tan, or whitish (unpainted or white-washed concrete bricks mostly, I think.) Occasionally you’ll see one that is green or blue or orange. And sometimes, far more often than you might suspect, you’ll see one that is pink. All different shades of pink: bubblegum, salmon, Pepto-Bismol, even fuchsia. I entertained myself by trying to take pictures of pink houses and of the trucks with colorful railings.

Our final stop of the day, trip, and semester, was on top of the traditional location of Mt. Nebo. Like Moses, we looked into the “promised land.”
It was a clear day and we could see clear across to the Mount of Olives with its three towers. It was a very poignant moment as we considered Moses’ last words to the Israelites. From where the Israelites were stationed near Jericho, the future could have looked pretty bleak. Most of the land that they could see looked just like more of the wilderness they had been wandering in. This was the promised land? But Moses had surely seen farther up, even before his sight on Mt. Nebo. He knew the promises of God and he reminded the people of those promises. And as the people were preparing for a change of life style (from wandering to a settled life) he reminded them of God’s law and told them how to apply it in this new lifestyle. Moses’ last words…He must have loved these people, some of them especially. This was good-bye. What must have he felt? I think I can relate to some extent. When I decided not to return to Petra (the school, not the Nabatean city) the hardest part was saying good-bye to my students, and I also tried to leave them with some last words. Nothing as lengthy as Deuteronomy, but, I think, reflecting the same desires. Over the 5 (or so) years I spent with them, I came to love them so dearly. I learned with them, played with them, laughed with them, and tried to encourage them in their faith. I want so much for them to follow God with all their heart, and I am so afraid for some of them, especially, who seem to be flirting with the world. (Some of them are doing very well, and will probably read this, so really, I don't think y'all are heathens. :) Moses must have had the same fear for his people.

I think Dr. Wright also has some of the same feelings and thoughts toward us. He’s spent a semester pouring his life into us, and that was pretty much our last class. As we looked across the Jordan to what was Israel’s future, he reminded us that, although our future after this semester is more or less unknown, we know the God we serve. Even if the immediate future looks bleak, like the wilderness of Judah, there is hope – the hill country of Judah is behind it, just out of sight. May we trust and obey God as we move into it, whatever it is!

And to finish it off, a quote from the trip home (across the Israeli border):
Dr. Wright: Good thing we’re not tourist, huh?
Matt: Yeah. We’re home.

I have been blessed, indeed, to have been able to call Israel “home” for the past semester. I’m looking forward to next semester!

(Sunset by Jericho)

Jordan, Day 3

November 15, 2008
Morning came early! But that was ok, because we were going to Petra! Have I mentioned that I have wanted to go to Petra for the longest time? And now I can say, having been there, “Petra Rocks!” I just wish all my students from Petra Academy could have been there with me.

Oh, and it was just amazing. I’m afraid I rather abandoned the guide. I’m sure he would have been very informative, but with the limited time, I really wanted to sort of experience it on my own. So some of us broke off and walked ahead – together, yet alone with our thoughts. It was so beautiful and awe-inspiring and the fulfillment of so many dreams, I almost even cried a couple times. It was hard to believe that I was actually there. And when finally the treasury came into sight and I was able to see in real life the image that is portrayed in so many pictures and movies…it was amazing.

There’s too much to recount, so I’ll try to summarize my favorite parts. After the treasury, Claire and I ended up together, looking for a bathroom. Once we found that we looked at the theatre and then headed off to the side to look at a tomb. On the way up there we saw Laura and Steven sitting with a couple Bedouin women and their beautiful children.
We went over and had tea with them. It was really delicious (I wish I know how they made it) and the wood smoke from their small fire reminded me of camp. (As a side note, it’s been chilly enough on this trip that I’ve been comfortable in long sleeves almost the whole time).
Next, we headed in the direction of the monastery. Of course, all along the way there were people offering us postcards, jewelry, and donkey rides, all for rather outrageous prices. Claire asked one man how much for a donkey ride, and ended up talking him down to 5 dinar (about $7.50, I think) for the two of us, which I think was a fairly decent price. It sure saved our legs a lot. He took us almost all the way up to the monastery, and it was really fun. Kind of like riding a short horse. With horses, my legs never hang past their belly, so kicking them isn’t a problem; with donkeys, I couldn't quite figure out where or how to kick. Not that I really needed to - a couple guys were following on foot keeping them going and making sure they behaved (we also didn’t have reigns). I’ve ridden horses in some pretty sketchy places, but it was still pretty intense to ride donkeys up stairs along cliffs (especially when the tried to race each other). It was really fun. (And my inner thighs -Sorry, Kimberlee, I mean, um, inner upper leg muscles - are going to be sore tomorrow!)
Once at the top we looked around in the monastery, Claire sang, and then we headed up to find a view. We didn't go to the highest point, but a guy who had apparently been all over pointed a different way that he said had the best view (and that Claire thought looked safer) so we went there. It was an amazing view. It kind of made me feel like I was on top of Monument again. We celebrated by eating apples and reading some scripture before heading back down.
We took our time on the downward journey, making a few stops along the way, continually admiring the geology and the architecture, and how well they worked together.

Eventually we said good-bye to Petra (*sigh*), ate a yummy lunch in town (they had salsa with jalapenos!), and then headed up into the heartland of Edom. Our first stop was at the Wadi Dana. It was quite a view, and not something I would like to have to climb up in decked out for battle.
It was really quite impressive. Next we went to the capital of Edom: Bozrah. It was interesting to read about Edom in the Bible. When you're there, its easy to see why the Edomites thought they were so safe. With the deep valleys surrounding thier fortress it would have been virtually impregnable.

Finally we headed to Karak (of Karak Castle fame, formerly Kir of Moab) for the night. We are in a small “rest house” on top of a cliff, right next to the castle. Oh, and we had bananas at dinner tonight, along with some amazing fried fish. Wow.