Israel, Day 9 Part 1

We had another full day yesterday. We departed from Jerusalem, headed south for a bit, then stayed the night up near Nazareth. The first spot we saw was Beit Shemesh which means "House of the Sun," and it was where Samson was born. Much of his time took place in the nearby areas. It was also the place the ark was returned to when the Philistines had so many problems upon it's capture.

From there we had a roadside stop on the Valley of Elah. You can't  tell a whole lot from the pic, but this was where the Philistine, Goliath, taunted the Israelite armies and David heard about it. Lee, our guide, painted a great picture for us of that hot day with the very capable, slingshot carrying, young shepherd boy and the Shaq-sized, champion fighter, Goliath.

The last couple pics are from Mount Carmel...the place where Elijah contested with the prophets of Baal. The statue depicts the prophet slaying all the false prophets following the clear response of God to the contest. As you can see, it is quite a look out spot. On a clear day, you can see the Mediterranean Sea and quite a long way inland. That all fits the story from Kings. You can also see Nazareth as well as Megiddo. Our guide pointed out that where Jesus grew up, he could see each day the place where the final battle would take place...interesting to see those dots connected.

Israel, Day 8

We finished up our last day in Jerusalem with a visit to a couple of museums and the Western (Wailing) Wall. The Wall is segregated into a mens and womens section, and that is where the religious Jews will go to pray and chant scripture. As you can see, Dave is wearing a Kippa (Yarmulke) as it is a holy place and, therefore, you should cover your head to show humility. You feel the sacredness of that place to the Jews as people are silent and many are crying as they pray. Many will write out prayers and place them between the stones of the Temple.

One of my favorite places to go is the area below the temple...you are able to walk where Christ and His disciples walked and see how they came up into the temple area of Jerusalem. The one pic is showing the street level under Robinson's Arch where people would buy and sell things and it is where the money changers should have been. When I was here last, it was an area that was being excavated. The pic where we are sitting, is the Southern Steps area where all people would come up to the temple. They are created in a non-traditional staircase way so that you must be attentive and, perhaps, that you could chant the Ascent Psalms (120+) according to the meter of the steps.

We also went to the Israel museum which was just amazing. Sadly, we only had time for a quick walk through...it was a place you could spend a whole day at. They have a replica of Jerusalem with the Temple mount and the surrounding walls. Inside they have the piece of bone with a nail through it...evidence of crucifiction.

The last place we went to was Yad Vashem (Name and Memorial from Is 56:5). It is an amazing, yet tragic, place as it commemorates the Holocaust. Our guide is Jewish and he brought in so many pieces of Jewish history and stories from that time. Even though I have always been saddened by the Holocaust, I never quite grasped the gravity of that time and the measure of the horrors done to the Jewish people. The picture that has makes the star of David is actually 6 caskets to depict the 6 million Jews who died and the spear piercing them through. The final pic is of a memorial for the many areas whose Jews were killed.

Israel, Day 7

On Saturday, Sabbath, we took a quick detour before church to the Garden Tomb area. It is an alternate site of where Christ was buried...the likelihood is that He was buried at the spot of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but this area is far more beautiful. They have actually made it a lovely garden with lots of scripture around. People come from all over the world to give tours for 4-8 weeks. We had a delightful lady from England who seemed to genuinely love the Lord and delight in helping others come to see a bit of Him as well.

From there, we attended a worship service taught by the same man, Menno, who was the pastor back when I was here 18 years ago. He leads a service of many different people types and lots of translations are going on around you. The message is given in Hebrew, then immediately translated into English. We also had the pleasure of hearing The Master's Chorale sing while we were there. The room was quite small, so they basically made a circle around us...amazing to hear them.

The rest of the afternoon we spent in the Old City shopping around and taking in the atmosphere. Today had us hopping again from place to place so it was nice to have a quieter day yesterday. The other pic is of the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives area as we were driving by.

Also, I've noticed the blog isn't quite posting the way I've expected it to while I've been writing it, but can't figure out from this interface (on a tablet) how to make it work like normal...so, hopefully, you can figure out what pictures I am meaning when. :)

Israel, Day 6

We have been doing and learning so much, I'm having a hard time remembering what we did yesterday. :) We had our first tour day in Jerusalem and saw a wide variety of sites. The first pic is of a tomb similar to what Christ would have been buried in...Dave is sitting on the stone that would have been rolled back and forth to either seal or open the tomb. You'll notice it's kind of like a pocket door and would be very heavy. This was from the tomb of Herod's wife that he killed upon false accusations by his sister.

The second pic is my favorite mosaic so far and it is from the Wohl museum that shows 1st century? houses/areas that were uncovered in the bombing in the 70s, I think. Previous to that time, there were regular homes on that site, but the bombings showed all these very early historic structures.

We also went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (sp?) where Jesus' body was likely entombed. A handful of different churches/groups own sections of this church so there are tons and tons of people who come here to worship and say prayers in that place. There is even the stone that Jesus was said to be prepared for burial upon and people are sometimes lined up to kiss it and place candles on it. The next two pictures show the amazing ceiling in one section and an incredible wall mosaic in another.

A bit after that we headed over to Hezekiah's tunnel which brought the water supply outside of Jerusalem inside the wall during Hezekiah's reign. It's about a third mile long and you walk through water that begins a little below waist high and generally is about mid calf high the rest of the time. The amazing thing is that different work groups began at opposite sides and met in the middle...there were a couple of mistakes made, but where I'm pointing is the spot that they came together. That area is also accessible by a shaft that goes from the water table into the city which Jehu likely climbed up to begin the defeat of the Jebusites for David. And, lastly, the tunnel ends in the pool of Siloam near where Christ healed the blind man's eyes.

Today we had another day in Jerusalem, but I'll try and write about that tomorrow...

Israel, Day 5 Part 2

From the Dead Sea, we went on to Qumran where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. One of the pics is of the caves on the mountainside where many scrolls were found...I think there were 11 caves in all with a huge number of scroll pieces covering many parts of the Bible and daily life. The pic where Dave is standing in the long room is the place where the scribes would have sat and copied out the scrolls letter by perfect letter.

The next pics are from the city of Jericho which, by some is called the oldest city in the world. The one pic is depicting the water that was bitter and Elisha healed. It is, of course, the city where the spies came to seek out the power of the promised land prior to entering it. The pic of the hill that is flat on top is also taken from Jericho and is the possible site of Jesus' temptation when Satan promised Him all the rule of the world. That next picture is looking across the Dead Sea toward Jordan in the area that Moses would have seen the promised land...Mount Pisgah.

The last pic is from Wadi Qelt where there is a monastery etched into the hillside. This area was a route between Jericho and Jerusalem if I remember correctly.

Israel, Day 5 Part 1

Well, now that Blogger is working for the moment, I'll try and catch up a bit...

Yesterday we had another full day traveling in the South and East regions of Israel. We started the day with a lovely hike at Ein Gedi (Spring of the Goat). This is the place where David and Saul had many confrontations...one of which was when David cut Saul's robe. There are many springs there and Ibex (goats) and Hyrax (rock coneys). Most of the area surrounding it is quite dry without much vegetation. Also the beautiful mosiac is from the town of Ein Gedi.

The other pics are from the Dead Sea...it is such a fascinating place. As you can see, Dave is floating with no problem at all. The water feels like baby oil from all the minerals and you immediately float up...it's almost a challenge to be upright if there is no ground below you. We also all mudded up (because it is supposed to be so good for your skin). Before going there we visited the Ahava factory which sells Dead Sea products at very extreme prices. I thought about getting some facial lotion, but it was around $40! Yikes! I did pick up some of the salt at the sea and a small bit of the black mud.

Israel, Day 4 Part 2

Well, I have tried multiple times to get this entry posted, but keep running into problems...So, I cut out some pics and hopefully it will work. Anyways, I realized after I published the last blog post that I mistakenly attributed some Arad pics to Beer Sheva, so I pulled them into this post.

Arad is the last two pics on this post. You can see from one of them that the city gates are just monstrous. The fort had a couple of rebuilding times, but was originally build by Solomon in 10 century BC. This was also a place where there was a counterfeit Holy of Holies where Hezekiah destroyed in during his reign. It is high up on the southern side of the country with a magnificant view...very easy to see why it would be used as a fortification point.

The last place we went that day was Masada...the other four pics are from there. It was rebuilt by Herod the Great in 36 BC and has amazing archeological value. The side of the mountain pic shows Herod's three story fortress...the pic with the holes in the walls shows the pigeon roosting area which provided a mail system, fertilizer, meat and feathers...the other pic shows many of the buildings that have been found there. Following the 1st Jewish Revolt, the Zealots holed up there and were eventually found and died there (you should look up that story if it is not familiar to you). It's so amazing to see all these pieces of history...many of which still are quite clear to see. 

Israel, Day 4 Part 1

We had an awesome and busy first day. I broke this into two parts as there were too many pictures to include in one. We started the day with another amazing Israeli breakfast. Then off to Ashkelon where there is a really cool arch from about 1800 BC. Ashkelon is one of the 5 Philistine cities from the old testament. It was here that Samson killed 30 Philistines to fulfill the payment of the riddle from his wedding.

From there we went to Be'er Sheva. It is a well preserved tel (hill that has archeological significance). One of the pictures is showing a typical four bedroom house. It is the place of Abraham's well and where he lived for a time. Hagar and Ishmael actually left from Beer Sheva when they fled into the wilderness.

Lots of cool stuff...

Israel, Day 3

After another yummy breakfast in Jersusalem, we headed down to Ashkelon to spend the day before our tour group arrived. We were able to check into the hotel around noon and enjoyed the lovely seaside atmosphere. Ashkelon is on the Mediterranean Sea. From the hotel, we walked along the beach, picking up some shells and watching a handful of people surf. This is one beach where there are shells everywhere. They have a nice promende type walk along the cliffs that are above the sea. The group arrived around 7:30 and then we had an amazing dinner with tons and tons of food....more food than you could ever think of eating. Such an amazing variety and interesting things to try. It was great to see my old professor, Randy, again and meet many on the tour group. Everyone is really nice. Looking forward to our first day of real touring...

Israel, Day 2

We had  a good first day here yesterday. The day started with a super yummy breakfast, Israeli style...lots of food and many things Americans don't think of as breakfast...olives, corn, tomatoes, etc. I found a new yummy food...I thought it was actually liver, but figured I would try it. Low and behold, it was sweet and super yummy...tasted kind of like those Bit o' Honey candies. I asked about it and it was ground sesame seeds with honey...much better than liver! :) After breakfast, we took a long walk down to the Old City (about 20 min). We entered in the Jaffa gate and walked around a while. Suprisingly, many of the shops weren't open quite yet and the shop owners weren't too agressive. We eventually  made our way over to the Wailing Wall and watched a number of Bar Mitzahs in progress. Dave actually walked down into that area while I waited outside. It is amazing to be in a place where there is so much history and is so well known across the world. Then, we headed over to the Ramparts Walk and walked along the walls of the Old City. It wasn't quite as spectacular as I was hoping as much of the wall is actually lower than the city so you weren't able to see across the city quite as much as I had thought. But, it was still quite a good form of exercise and we did see some neat things you can't see otherwise. After spending most of the day in the Old City, we returned to our hotel via the tram and had falafel for dinner. We used to call it "feel awful" in college...but it isn't that bad...schawarma is much better though. :)

Today we're going to head on down to Ashkelon and spend some time on the Mediterranean Sea before the rest of the group arrives this evening...