Thoughts on Finishing…

I haven’t posted in a very long time.  There have been various reasons for my silence of late, ranging from my being extremely busy to the fact that most of the time, I really don’t feel I have anything valuable to say.  I personally feel that if someone is going to blog and expect others to take time to read it, they should do their best to post something worthwhile.  Take Gunner, for example.  You can tell that even when he posts about personal things, he has an underlying intention to see his readers edified and God glorified.  Well, tonight, I think I may actually have something worthwhile to say.  Maybe. 

 

When I returned from Israel, I had meant to post a series of reflections on my time I spent there studying.  But for a number of reasons, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  Every time I attempted to sit down and write about my wonderful semester studying in IBEX, I couldn’t get the words out.  Sin and the consequences of sin were weighing heavy on my heart, and I desired to be back in Israel very much.  Christmas Break was a time of reflection and introspection, and the Lord was faithful to show me areas in my life that needed major attention.  But as Psalm 66 tells us, God “tries us as silver is tried.”  For silver to be refined, it needs to pass through the fire.  Christmas break was definitely a time such as that.

 

To be honest, college in many ways has been a refining time itself.  I was driving down to LAX in the middle of the night last night with Hugh Jackson, and we began discussing how the Lord has changed us since we arrived at TMC in the fall of 2004.  I told him that one of the things I’m most thankful for is that the person who I was in August 2004 and the person who I am in May 2008 are two drastically different people.  The Lord has been faithful to grow me and teach me many a valuable lesson in four years, and I am so incredibly thankful.

 

But now it’s coming to an end.  Today I had my last one-on-one lunch with Rob Ikegami, and it was one of the best times of fellowship I’ve ever had with him.  We had an IBEX reunion tonight at Stonefire/Starbucks/Bridgeport/Starbucks again, and I don’t know if/when we’ll all get together again.  In the past weeks, I’ve had my last Spring Party, last Year End Show, last chapel, last ASB meeting, last SLS meeting, last Executive Council meeting, last Political Studies Class, last college finals week, last Generations Bible Study, last hang-out with this person, last-hang out with that person, and so on and so on.

 

Yes, the “lasts” make things bittersweet.  It adds a stinging feeling to the end of the school year, knowing that this wonderful experience is drawing to a close for good.  But I was talking with the fiancée of a good friend about a week ago (at the last ASB meeting, incidentally), and she said something simple yet very comforting:

 

“It’s a good thing how sad this makes us feel because it lets us know that we’ve had a really good time.”

 

I think many of us fight a sinful tendency to look back on any given period in our lives and either focus on all the things that went wrong or to dwell on any regrets we may have.  I know I battle this often.  I think it is a human tendency to dwell on the bad; and I think the Lord encourages us to do the exact opposite.  When you look at the example of what Samuel did in 1 Samuel 4, when he established a stone memorial (an “ebenezer”) so that the people of Israel could look upon it and remember how the Lord gave them victory over the Philistines, you get the sense that God wants us to do this in our own lives.  It glorifies the Lord when we look back and instead of maximizing our regret over our past sins and mistakes, we praise Him for the way He has brought us through.

 

I cannot begin to praise the Lord enough for what He has done for me these past four years.  I have been blessed upon measure with wonderful professors, godly friends, and great experiences.  I got to live in two great dorms where I had a lot of fun.  I got to study in Israel.  I was able to serve on ASB for three years in a row, two of those years on Executive Council.  I was challenged and confronted by good friends who cared enough about me to not let sin fester in my life.  I was able to be a part of and serve in an incredible church and truly phenomenal Bible study.  I learned subjects and studied writers and concepts that have revolutionized my thinking.  And to think, that I never deserved even a minute, even a second, of this wonderful experience— and I got four years of it.

 

Absolutely no question, all praise and glory goes to the Lord.

 

Now, there have been rough times in college, too.  No doubt.  Sanctification is a rough road for all who go down it, and growth doesn’t happen when you’re sitting fat and happy on the couch, that’s for sure.  I’ve had to learn many a lesson the hard way.  But I’ve taken comfort in Hebrews 12, where the writer shows us that God disciplines those who are His own, so that they may develop characteristics of godliness.  On the morning of Spring Party, actually, I was reading in the Psalms, and I stumbled upon these verses, and they brought tears of thankfulness to my eyes:

 

“I shall not die, but I shall live,

And recount the deeds of the Lord.

The Lord has disciplined me severely,

But He has not given me over to death.”  (Psalm 118:17-18 )

 

The Lord indeed has brought me, like all who are His, through seasons of discipline.  College has unquestionably been one refining episode after another… but it’s been so much fun.  God has been faithful to provide great times of joy and happiness alongside hard times of stretching and growing.  I think this is true in the lives of all Christians.  God is not a sadist—He doesn’t sit in the heavens and keep thinking of ways to make our lives miserable.  No way.  His end goal is to see us become better worshippers of Him, and so He wisely takes us through experiences, both good and bad, to foster in us those traits of godliness that He desires to see in us.  It is our responsibility then to be open, teachable, and responsive to such correction.  I think of the chorus of the Caedmon’s Call song, “Let Me Be”:

 

So let me be open, let me be humble,
Let me find the joy of my salvation in your cross.
Let me be broken whenever I stumble;
Let me remember the great mercy of my God.

 

And that’s really all that matters, right?  That we look to the mercy of God, that we look to the wonderful and glorious Cross.  Isaac Watts once wrote that:

 

Without Thy sweet mercy, I could not live here;

Sin would reduce me to utter despair,

but through Thy free goodness my spirits revive,

and He that first made me still keeps me alive!

 

Sometimes I fear that as soon as I walk across that stage at graduation and cease being a TMC student, my world will lose all flavor.  All color will be drained out of life, everything will be a shade of grey.  There will be no more fun to be had; all fun will be reserved ever and only for those who are still students at TMC.  I thank the Lord that He has brought wise counselors into my life and has shown me Himself through His word that nothing could be further from the truth.

 

Now, granted, TMC is an awesome place to have fun.  Crazy stuff happens there all the time that happens nowhere else and I’m really going to miss it.  I think of my Uganda team this past semester, and how one night, we surprised Hugh Jackson by randomly taking him down to Diddy Riese, only to then spontaneously decide to go to the Santa Monica pier.  We hung out for six hours on the spur of the moment, and it was a blast.  My college experience has been replete with such occasions of fun and spontaneity, and I know that things just don’t happen that way outside of college.

 

Also, granted, I have absolutely no guarantee from the Lord that life is going to get any more fun after college.  Plenty of people whom I look up to and trust say that life is great after college.  They acknowledge that they had a great time at TMC as well, but that the years following graduation have been just as good, if not better.  However, I know that this may not be what the Lord has for me.  I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but it is a very real possibility that post-graduation life could be filled with it’s own complex set of problems.  Someone once said that college is not the beginning of one’s adult life, it’s the last playpen, and that your adult life really starts after graduation.  Maybe.

 

But in light of all that, I return to what the Lord desires to see in my life.  Is it God’s utmost and highest will for the believer that he or she lead the most fun-filled existence?  Does God earnestly desire for us to have lives that are filled with crazy and spontaneous excitement?  Though certainly all good things, including fun and crazy experiences, are the gifts of a good and kind God, we are not mandated to lead lives in which they are ever-present.  No.  There are two passages that I return to when I want to get down to basics:

 

“He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justice, and to love kindness,

And to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8 )

 

“But this is the one to whom I will look:

He who is humble and contrite in spirit

And trembles at My word.” (Isaiah 66:2b)

 

This is what God requires of you and me.  I think I get it now, as I leave school.  Fun experiences, crazy times, great things like Year End Show and serving on ASB and living in the dorms and going to Spring Party and studying in IBEX are all wonderful experiences that are to be treasured and looked upon as testimonies to the unmerited kindness of a loving Father.  However, they are not required to lead a life that pleases the Lord.   Therefore, they are not to be mourned in a way that resembles grief when they come to an end.  Yes, I think it is appropriate to feel a measure of sadness when we reach a point when these things come to a close.  I still miss high school football and my teammates, much like I think I will miss the camaraderie in the dorms and the craziness of college.  However, it would be sinful to dwell on the ending of these things to the point that it distracts us from pursuing the things that the Lord desires to see in our lives: justice, kindness, humility, contrition over sin, and a reverence for His Word.  These are the things you and I should be seeking for, agonizing over, and rejoicing when we obtain them.  These are the characteristics, the concepts, the traits that matter to God.

 

So, as college comes to a close, I cannot help but rejoice in the kindness of the Lord for giving me four amazing years.  I have been blessed with good friends who challenge me to chase after the Lord.  I have learned so much, both in and outside the classroom.  I have had a ton of fun with some really incredible people.  But most of all, and all praise goes to the Lord for this, I have grown in my relationship with God immensely.  When I came to college, I viewed Christ as a part of my life.  Now I see that Paul really meant it when he said “to live is Christ…”  That’s what life is:  reflecting Christ and growing in one’s relationship with Him, deeper every day.  And one doesn’t need to be at TMC to do that, although the school is a wonderful place to help foster that ever-deepening relationship.

 

It is then my prayer that we would all never stop chasing after the Savior, no matter where He may lead us.  Truly we serve a faithful God.  Let us then live lives of love and gratitude to Him.

Tales from the Negev, pt. 2

Day#3—October 26, 2007

Our day started out with a bang—literally.  We blew a tire on the way to the biblical site of Timnah, where were found ancient copper mines.  These copper mines were controlled by the Egyptians but were worked by Canaanite/Midianite labor and may have most likely been the location from which Moses got the materials to craft the bronze serpent with which to cure the Israelites afflicted by Divine snake bites at Punon (Numbers 21:5-10).  Timnah, which is rich with copper, can be seen as a fulfillment of the promise of Deuteronomy 8:9 that God was leading His people into a land out of whose hills they could dig copper.  While we waited for our bus’ tire to be fixed, Bill decided to fill our time by taking us on another hike, this time one he had never done before.  Two hours later, we arrived on the other side of Mt. Timnah, and our bus was waiting for us with a new tire.

From here we drove to a stunning replica of the biblical Tabernacle, the tent which the Glory of the Lord resided while Israel was in the wilderness.  This replica, made by college students in Germany and maintained by Southern Baptists, is constructed according to the specifications of Exodus 28-29.  Our tour guide of the tabernacle had many interesting views on several types of symbolism found in the tabernacle itself, but overall, the experience was enjoyable.

After a late lunch of falafel balls, pita, and French fries, we traveled northward to the Hai Bar nature preserve, where we were able to see many cool animals.  My personal favorite was the Hyena—I had never seen one up close, and was fascinated by the fact that it has bat-like ears, a bear’s face, and a dog’s body.

From here, we took a 2-hour drive through the Aravah, which is the valley that stretches between the Southern end of the Dead Sea to Eilat.  At the end of this drive, we stopped at one of my favorite locations of the trip: Aroma Coffee, where Bill kindly bought us drinks.

From here, we journeyed northwards along the western side of the Dead Sea until we arrived at our destination at the Masada Hostel.  After moving into our rooms and eating some dinner, we made our way onto the Marl flats that lie in between Masada and the Dead Sea and had chapel on the spongy rock.  Here, Bill told us that two of the major secrets of life were to take pleasure in God (Psalm 16:11) and to endure to the end (Hebrews 12:1-2).  We had a time of singing and then it was off to bed. 

Day #4—October 27, 2007           

My last day of the Negev trip began at 4:30am, when my roommates and I awoke to climb Masada.  I decided to stay back a little and tackle the hike by myself, which was actually fun.  I got to the top just in time to watch the Sun rise over the hills of Jordan.  I met up with some fellow IBEXim and we read all of Psalm 18, the main theme of which is that God is our fortress, our “metsudah”, to use the Hebrew term for “rock” or “fortress” (from which we get the word “Masada”).  Some say that after David cut off a corner of Saul’s robe in the cave at En Gedi, the “Fortress” he went to was at Masada, but Bill is more inclined to think that that “fortress” was basically a fort at En Gedi (1 Samuel 22:4-5).  After exploring Masada and taking some time to sit and think and read the Scripture and pray, I took the cable car back down and had breakfast.           

From Masada, we journeyed to Qumran, the location where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  Though there is not complete agreement on this subject, many believe that the people who once lived in these modern-day ruins were the Essenes, a strict sect of Judaism of the 1^st Century A.D. who felt that the Hasmonean priesthood was not legitimate and that there was a coming war between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness.  Some have suggested John the Baptist was an Essene, but this is easily refuted because the Essenes kept to themselves and John’s message of repentance was to everyone.           

It is easy to believe that the inhabitants of Qumran were Essenes, and that this location was not some military fortress or rich person’s villa for a number of reasons.  It is unlikely that Qumran was a military outpost because there is only one tower, and it is not very tall.  It is unlikely that it was a rich man’s villa, either, because all of the plates and dining ware was very simplistic and not ornate at all.  And the pottery used to house the Dead Sea Scrolls tucked away in the surrounding caves is the exact same type of pottery found on the actual site of Qumran.  Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that the pots and scrolls in all these caves surrounding the site of Qumran would lie unmolested for years upon years unless those who lived at Qumran knew exactly what was in them and wished to preserve them.           

After a brief movie and tourist exhibit, we drove down the road to the location of Cave 1, where the first Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  Although the presence of barbed wire seemed to indicate that we probably weren’t supposed to do this particular hike, that did not deter us, and we made our way up the steep rocky slopes to Cave 1, which we found smelled like bat.           

After this and a late lunch, our goal was to spend the afternoon swimming at Nahal Parat, which is where the Lord told the Prophet Jeremiah to go and bury his loincloth, but we were turned away by the guard because we arrived too late in the day.  We were all really tired, anyway, so things worked out all in the end.           

From here we journeyed back to Yad HashMonah, and while I had a great time in the Negev, I had never been more excited to see the Moshav once more.

Tales from the Negev, pt. 1

            The following is the true account of one man’s experience in the Negev, the southern area of the country of Israel.  The stories are true.  The names have been unchanged so as to preserve the biblical. 

Day #1– October 24, 2007           

We left last Wednesday morning for our 4-day, 3-night trip to the Negev, the triangle-shaped area that makes up the South of the country of Israel.  Much of this land is desert or loose soil called “loess”, and weatherchannel.com predicted that we were in for a hot time.           

On the way south, Bill discussed with us the important sites of Hebron, Gerar, and Ziklag.  Abram/Abraham spent much time at Hebron, and David ruled here as King of Israel during the first 7 years of his reign (1 Samuel 30:26-31).  The significance of Gerar comes from the stories of the lives of Abraham and Isaac, for Gerar was the place at which both Abraham and Isaac (at different times) lied about their wives being their sisters to the King, Abimelech, and both negotiated the water rights of the city of Beersheba with Abimelech and his commander, Phicol.  Also, Gerar was potentially the birthplace of Isaac and was where Isaac settled later during a time of famine and gained much wealth (Genesis 26).  Ziklag is important because it was the city given to David by Achish King of Gath while David was functioning as a Philistine vassal (1 Samuel 27:1-12).

Our first stop was the site of Beersheba, a very important location throughout much of the Old Testament.  Beersheba’s importance can be seen in the fact that it is often mentioned as symbolic of the Southern border of the Biblical Promised Land (Judges 20:1, 1 Samuel 3:20).  After donning hard hats, the first thing we saw was the replica of a reconstructed horned altar.  Bill told us how this altar, made of hewn stones, was a violation of Exodus 20:25.  He explained how at Beersheba, especially throughout the period of the Divided Kingdom, corrupted forms of YHWH worship and even outright idolatry was practiced.  However, there is archaeological evidence to show destruction of these evil places of worship, which is supported by the Scripture’s statements of Josiah purging the pagan High Places “from Geba to Beersheba” (2 Kings 23:8) and possibly also supported by the record of Hezekiah’s purges of idol worship (2 Kings 18:13-22).  Beersheba gained its name from Abram’s dealings with Abimelech the king of Gerar and the commander of the Philistine Army, phicol.  Later, Isaac would encounter the same issue, which was essentially the debate over water rights.  The place was named “Beer-Sheba”, literally meaning “well of the oath” or “well of the seven”, because Abraham “sealed the deal” with Abimelech over ownership of the well of Beersheba with seven ewe lambs (Genesis 21:22-34).  We also see Beersheba later in scripture, in the account of Elijah, as a stopping place where Elijah was refreshed by “angel food cake” before journeying to Mt. Horeb in the Sinai Peninsula (1 Kings 19:1-3).

Our next stop was Arad the Great, a city in the eastern part of the Negev basin (an area which is characterized by a layer of dusty, semi-arid, somewhat fertile soil called “loess”).  We find extra-biblca mention of this particular location in the personal testimony of Pharaoh Shishak who claimed to have conquered both Arad the Great and another city called Arad of Yerahameel. Here at Arad are evident two different archaeological time periods, the Early Bronze Canaanite period, which can be seen in the common dwellings and other such mundane buildings; and the Iron Age Israelite period, which can be seen in the temple (which copied the layout of the temple in Jerusalem) and military fortress (which shows much evidence of having been consistently destroyed and rebuilt) on the site.  The Scriptures mention the failures of several kings (Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Jehoram) to tear down the “High places at Arad.”  Incidentally, it was from this site that a Canaanite attack was mounted on the Israelites as they made their way from Kadesh-Barnea to Edom (Numbers 21:1-3).

From here, we visited the Kibbutz of Sde Boker, where David Ben-Gurion, the modern State of Israel’s first and third Prime Minister, lived out his final days.  We were able to see Ben-Gurion’s desk and home here, among other interesting things.

After Sde Boker, we journeyed southwards to Nahal Zin, which we proceeded to hike.  The Wilderness of Zin, in which the Nahal Zin lies, was the actual Southern boundary of the Promised Land of Canaan that the Israelites were to inherit (Numbers 34:1-4).  This was a pretty easy hike, until the end, when we basically climbed a seemingly never-ending series of ladders to get out of the Canyon.

The next stop was the site of Avdat, a Nabatean city on the Southern side of the Nahal Zin.  The Nabateans were an Arab people who displaced the Edomites from their territory in Transjordan and the Eastern part of the Negev.  This is most likely a fulfillment of the book of Obadiah, which predicted the doom of Edom.  The Nabateans took over the Edomites’ spice trade and carefully crafted routes through the barren desert to reach the awaiting Roman ships at ports such as Gaza.  Later, history tells us, some Nabateans became followers of Jesus Christ and built churches in their cities, churches like the ones we saw here.

Our resting stop was a hostel at Mizpeh Ramon, a modern city that sits on the edge of a large crater known as Mactesh Ramon.  Here we found a cave overlooking the crater and had a sort of group devotional time which was actually very refreshing and encouraging.  

Day #2—October 25, 2007           

Leaving, Mizpeh Ramon, we stopped for a while in the wilderness of Paran, by Nahal Paran, the area in which Ishmael grew up after Abraham sent him and his mother Hagar away (Genesis 21:21), and also the area in which Kadesh Barnea is located and where the first generation of Israelites in the Exodus died off because of their unbelief over the course of approximately 38 years.  This is the “great and terrifying wilderness” of Deuteronomy 8- a place that God brought His people through “to humble them and test them.”  We were able to spend time in quiet meditation on the passage of Deuteronomy 8, and it was a great occasion for me to think about the “wildernesses” God has brought me through, only to prove Himself faithful to break me down and grow me into a stronger believer.           

From here, we journeyed further south to the Red Canyon, where we proceeded to hike yet another trail.  Like all our hikes, it was challenging but fun, and provided for opportunities to get to know each other better.           

After this hike, we were ready for a cool-down.  So, after a relaxing lunch in the southern-most city of Eilat (which Bill aptly described as qualifying for Divine Judgment), we went snorkeling in the Gulf of Aqaba, which holds the World’s most northern coral belt reef.  It was amazing to see the various types of fishes and coral.           

The modern day city of Eilat, on the southern tip of the State of Israel, was called Ezion-Geber in biblical times, and the modern day city of Aqaba, Eilat’s Jordanian neighbor, was actually itself called Eilat in biblical times.  These ports were the objects of many a King’s desire, for holding them meant holding access to important countries with which to trade and engage in business.  The Bible tells us of Solomon holding the port of Eilat and having an impressive trading fleet (1 Kings 22:47), while Jehoshaphat attempted this same feet, but his ships were destroyed (2 Chronicles 26:1-15), and 2 Kings 16:6 tells us that the Syrians and Edomites drove Judeans during King Uzziah’s time out of Eilat (history would later tell us that the Edomites held Eilat for some time afterwards).           

After snorkeling, we visited the Eilat diamonds mines, at which none of us could afford anything of real worth, but it was still cool to look at.  Then we were off to our very nice hotel, where we grabbed a shower and dinner and hit the town.  All in all, I think hanging out in Eilat was probably one of the most fun parts of the trip.

Viva La Tel Aviv!

Last Wednesday our History of the Modern State of Israel class visited several significant sites in the city of Tel Aviv and the memorial site of Latrun.

           

After a fairly long bus ride westwards toward the coastal city of Tel Aviv, our first stop of the day was the home of David Ben-Gurion, now a museum preserved and maintained by the State of Israel.  Ben-Gurion was predeceased by his wife Paula, and upon his own death in 1973, his home was dedicated to the State (Ben-Gurion and his wife had already come to this arrangement with the knowledge of their son and two daughters).  The overall layout of the house has been preserved, with the exception of the addition of display cases that now house documents, medals, awards, citations, and an assortment of objects that carried significance or represented something of importance in Ben-Gurion’s life, things like gifts from fellow world leaders.  One such object that particularly caught my attention was a goose egg that Ben-Gurion had been given; on the goose egg had been written the entire Passover Haggadah (the story of the Exodus and the first Passover).

           

Ben-Gurion, who had been originally born in Poland under Czarist Russia but had lived in Israel for a while, then eventually had to leave for America but returned to Israel, was a master of eleven different languages and a voracious reader, although he never finished his law degree.  He was, however, awarded an honorary degree in architecture.  His house, described as a “humble home” by some, was where he and Paula had once hosted President Truman’s personal envoy to the State of Israel, James MacDonald, where they huddled next to a portable heater in the cold, drafty house, and worked on solutions to solve problems facing the young country of Israel.

           

The second-floor of Ben-Gurion’s home was quite possibly the most interesting thing I saw all day: the entire story was Ben-Gurion’s personal library- four rooms holding over 20,000 volumes of books.  He had books on almost every subject in here, ranging from Greek philosophy to military tactics to German history to Spanish poetry.  Here also was his desk, which we were able to see in the way he had left it before his death.  It was inspiring, to be in the room where so much reading, studying, and thinking had been carried out by a man who had done so much.

           

Following a quick video on Ben-Gurion, we made our way to Independence Hall, which was actually one of the first houses built in Tel Aviv, ca. 1906.  When some of the early Jewish settlers arrived around the turn of the 20^th century in the vicinity of the ancient site of Joppa, later known as Jaffa, to build a community, they drew lots to see who would get which building plots.  The building now known as Independence Hall was the house that had been built on the plot assigned to Meir Dizengoff, the first Mayor of Tel Aviv.  Dizengoff had added on large rooms to his home throughout his life, and upon his death, willed his house to the city of Tel Aviv to be used as an art museum; but the building’s major significance stemmed from the fact that it was the location at which David Ben-Gurion, along with over 200 key Jewish figures and leaders, proclaimed the Independence of the State of Israel at 4:00pm on Friday, May 14^th, 1948.  The site had been chosen because it was large enough to host the members of the Israeli parliament and the other noteworthy individuals and it was relatively safe and protected from hostile enemies.

           

Independence Hall, much like Ben-Gurion’s home, possessed its fair share of important documents and significant paraphanelia, as well as several pieces of artwork, relics from the day when the building was used as an art museum.

           

It was also interesting to note that the site of Independence Hall was not that far from the Hertzlyia Gymnasium, one of the first Jewish high schools in Eretz Israel, named after Theodore Herzl.  Finally, a memorable fact concerning Independence Hall was that I scraped the skin of my big toe on my right foot off onto the second step leading up into this famous building.

           

After lunch and a cappuccino, we made our way across the street to the Haganah Museum, where we learned the history of Israel’s fighting forces, beginning with the early days of the Haganah, and ending with the modern day Israel Defense Force (IDF).  The museum has built upon and incorporated part of the home of one Eliahu Golomb, who helped found the Haganah and was considered as “the defense minister of the unborn state” of Israel.  Our tour guides told us of the house’s original history, how two of the Haganah’s founders spent much time here, mostly because one of them was interested in the other’s sister.  Our tour guides also took us to an apparently non-descript multi-purpose room from which several key commands and significant decisions regarding the fighting forces in Israel were made, including the establishment of the Palmach, the “special forces” of the Israeli army, led by Yitzhak Sadeh.

           

From here, we went upstairs and learned about the many Jewish individuals who traveled from all around the world to Israel just to join the Haganah and participate in bringing about the birth of the new nation in the midst of hostility from its Arab enemies.  It was not an easy journey for many, and several of these Jews were stopped by the British (who were acting under the anti-Jewish-immigration policy of the 1939 White Paper) and interned at camps on the island of Cypress.  We also learned about the “slicks” which were caches (often in very creative and secretive spots) in which the Jewish soldiers hid their firearms from the British, who had outlawed possession of such weapons.

           

Following this, we viewed a map of several key sites at which the Haganah fought in 1947 and 1948 during the war of Independence.  We also watched a movie, a dramatic re-enactment of the important battle of Castel, where the Jews were able to wrest a key village from the Arabs that would help open the way to Jerusalem.

           

Our final stop of the day was in the Aijalon Valley at the site of Latrun, the location of several significant skirmishes during the War of Independence.  Like Joshua during the conquest of the Promised Land, the Israelis of the past century engaged their enemies in military conflict in this very area.  Today, the site is a museum of several types of tanks and other elements of combat, as well as a memorial to all of Israel’s fallen soldiers, beginning with the War of Independence and continuing up to the second Lebanese War of 2006.  Here we were introduced to the Merkava Battle Tank, an Israeli creation which is “the leading tank of the Armored Corps, regarded by many as the world’s best MBT.”

           

This location was the site of such conflict in 1948 because it lay at a crucial spot on the important road to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.  However, it appears that the site’s significance was known only to the Jews, for when they attempted to retake the location in 1967 from the Arabs, they found, much to their surprise, that the Arabs had abandoned the site.

           

One thing I found very moving at Latrun was the wall of names of fallen Jewish soldiers from every war Israel has fought.  The names, written in Hebrew, are on a wall painted silver, symbolizing that the “silver platter” that the nation of Israel was presented to its citizens was comprised of the very lives of these brave fighters.

           

After a brief movie and a chance to explore and look at the tanks on our own, we left Latrun and headed home, just in time to beat the first thunderstorm of the winter season.  All in all, it had been a very interesting day.

The Galilean Chronicles- Part 4

Day #7—October 12, 2007

This was a “free day”, which I chose to spend in Tiberius.  Basically, I did a lot of homework at a coffee shop on the boardwalk, and then Heather and I walked a half-hour in the wrong direction in search of supposedly one of the best Chinese food restaurants in the area, a place called Pagoda.  She was certain that it was south of the boardwalk, and I was pretty sure that it was north, but I deferred to her… yeah, from now on, we listen to me when it comes to directions.  We wound up taking a taxi back to the boardwalk and got over-priced kosher McDonald’s hamburgers.  I ended the day with a relaxing swim in the Sea of Galilee, something I had done for most of these nights. 

Day#8—October 13, 2007           

We awoke early on Shabbat morning to pack up our belongings for our return journey south to our IBEX campus.  After loading our things onto the bus and grabbing breakfast, we made our way to a scenic spot on the Jordan River that is apparently used a site for baptisms.  Though the place seemed very touristy, Bill used the time to go over the events of Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist (Mark 1:9-11).  Bill pointed out that though the very heavens were split open in sight of all the people, God’s justice didn’t reign down in wrathful retribution, but rather the Holy Spirit descended in the peaceful form of a dove.           

From here we journeyed further south along the Arabah (Jordan Rift Valley) to the site of Beth-Shan, a city that had a decidedly Roman influence in New Testament times.  However, this site’s most significant biblical event is found in 1 Samuel 31, where the victorious Philistines fastened the decapitated body of Saul and the bodies of his sons to the walls of the city.  Later, the men of Jabesh-Gilead will remove the bodies.  Also, Beth-Shan is not far from Abel-Meholah, the hometown of the prophet Elisha (1 Kings 19:16), and it is at the entrance of the Harod Valley as one makes one’s way towards the Jezreel Valley, so undoubtedly Jehu would have ridden through here on his mad chariot ride towards the city of Jezreel (2 Kings 9).  One last point of interest regarding Beth-Shan is that it is the site of not only Canaanite temple ruins, but also the tree from which Judas hung himself in the movie “Jesus Christ Superstar.”           

Our last stop of biblical significance was at a narrow pass within the Wadi Far’a, the first leg of the Trans-Samarian Highway, the major East-West zig-zag route that takes one from the Arabah into the heart of Samaria.  Here we discussed how the patriarch Jacob would have most probably passed through this very spot, for it is the only way for one to travel from Penuel (which was Jeroboam I’s Transjordan administrative center, according to 1 Kings 12:25) and Mahanaim and Succoth over in Transjordan to Shechem on the other side of the Jordan.  Jacob would have passed this way following his reunion with his brother Esau (Genesis 33).  East of this spot where we stopped, on the Jordan River, was the site of Adam, at which the waters of the Jordan were backed up when Israel crossed to enter the Promised Land under Joshua’s command (Joshua 3:16).

After a quick pit stop in Jericho, we gladly returned to the Moshav, only to be met by our parents a short two hours later, who had just arrived for Friends and Family Week.  It was so good to see my parents again!  More on that topic later, however.  And thus concludes the Galilean Chronicles of Stephen J. Crawford, Holy Land Adventurer Extraordinaire.

The Galilean Chronicles- Part 3

Day #5—October 10, 2007           

In the morning, we did the fun yet rigorous Yehudiyah Hike, after which I came back to Ein Gev and took a four hour nap, woke up, had dinner, and did homework for the rest of the evening. 

Day#6—October 11, 2007

On Thursday, our History of the Modern State of Israel class took a field trip to three of the most significant settlements of the period of the First and Second Aliyah, the large movements of Jewish immigration to the Holy Land during the late 19^th and early 20^th Centuries, stemming from the idea of Zionism.  These settlements included the sites of Rosh Pina, Kinneret Yard, and Degania.  We discussed how these communities and their brave and pioneering residents paved the way for the first Jewish people to immigrate to the land of their ancestry and thus ultimately begin the process that would culminate in the establishment of the State of Israel.           

Our first stop was on the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Kinneret, at the site of Rosh Pina, whose name means “corner stone”, and is taken from the Biblical passage of Psalm 118:22, which says “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”  This was an appropriate title in the minds of some of the earlier residents, for the farming settlement had been all but abandoned by most of the first settlers who established Rosh Pina in 1878.  Later, more settlers, including many who hailed from Romania, arrived in 1882 and attempted to give it another try; yet they too would have ultimately failed had it not been for the benevolent intervention of one Edmund Rothschild, a wealthy European Jewish banker who desired to help the floundering establishment in the Holy Land.  To illustrate just how bad-off the settlers of Rosh Pina really were, we were told the story of how they planted potatoes but were met with discouragement when they saw only leafy plants emanating from the ground; so they decided to uproot all the plants and try anew, only to find that when they pulled the plants out of the ground that potatoes grow under the soil.           

A far less humorous illustration of the desperate plight of the settlers was evidenced by the number of children’s graves in the settlement’s cemetery.  As time went by, the pioneers of Rosh Pina began to feel the ramifications of the marshy environs surrounding their community as more and more of their young ones began to succumb to deadly Malaria.  However, this prompted a Jewish doctor named Meir, a resident of Rosh Pina, to develop a cure for the disease, a cure that has actually been used by many around the world today.  It was interesting to hear that Meir was so confident of his cure that he infected himself, his donkey, and his pregnant wife with a strand of the Malaria disease only to cure all three of them with his invented antidote.           

From Rosh Pina, we journeyed to Kinneret Yard on the western shores of the Kinneret, south of Tiberias.  Here we discussed the cornucopia of personalities that contributed to the creation of this early farming community, including Dr. Arthur Ruppin, a Zionist who originally bought the land of Kinneret Yard; Aaron David Gordon, the 48-year old settler who functioned as sort of a patriarch over the settlement; and Rachel Blauwstein, the beautiful young poet who had smitten so many of the young men and yet sadly died alone with tuberculosis.  It was at Kinneret Yard that so many young people, after a hard day’s work, would gather at night and discuss their socialistic ideas, ideas that would contribute to the establishment of the Kibbutz system, including the first Kibbutz, Degania.  These revolutionary thinkers of Kinneret Yard desired to construct a community that was a “‘large family’ carrying on its affairs by mutual agreement and without referring to any formal rules or constitution.”  History would later show just what an incredible impact these forefathers of the Kibbutz system would have on the course of events in the formation of Israel.           

To the South of the main establishment of Kinneret Yard lay the cemetery at which many of these notable figures are buried.  Here we visited the grave of Rachel, the young poetess who had studied agronomy in Europe so as to improve the farming techniques of her beloved Kinneret Yard, yet sadly came down with tuberculosis while she was caring for orphans following WWI.  According to one of the sources at Kinneret Yard, close to Rachel’s grave is the grave of Noah Naftulsky, the man she loved.  Rachel’s significance can be attributed to the fact that her poetry represents the emotions felt by these settlers trying to tame a strange world: with “her language simple and clear, her descriptions deep and emotional”, Rachel’s poetry continuest to touch the hearts of many today.  We also saw the grave of Moses Hess, a Jewish leader of this time period who was greatly influenced by the socialistic ideas of Marx and Engels.  As mentioned before, it was this socialism espoused by Hess and others, as well as the idea of Zionism that “changed a passive, quietistic, and pious hope of the Return to Zion into an effective social force, moving millions of psople to Israel.”  Other noteworthy individuals buried in this graveyard included Burl Karmelson, a man greatly admired by David Ben-Gurion due to his involvement in starting almost every major project or organization in Israel, and Naomi Shemer, a famous Israeli songwriter.  However, the most interesting thing in the cemetery was not a grave, but rather, a tree.  The “kissing tree”, also known as the “suicide tree”, was on the outskirts of the graveyard.  For a long time, this was the only tree on the shores of the Kinneret, and many a young couple stole a quick kiss here while sadly many a young person in despair took his or her own life.           

Our last stop of historical significance was the site of Degania, the first Kibbutz.  Degania roughly held to the socialistic principle of “from each according to his ability, to each as to his neighbor.”  This kibbutz was the offspring of many of the ideas and individuals of Kinneret Yard, including A.D. Gordon, who spent the final years of his life here.  Also, Israel’s fourth Prime Minister, Levy Eschatol, was a member at Degania.  Also of interest was that one of the first babies to be born at Kibbutz was Moshe Dayan, who grew up to be the leader of Israel during one of its darkest hours, the 6-Day War.           

Degania, very socialistic in nature, practiced the effective communization of children.  All children slept together in the children’s dormitories and only were able to see their parents during the afternoon and early evening.  It was due to philosophical differences over issues like this as well as population growth that Degania eventually split into an “A” campus and a “B” campus.           

After visiting Degania, our professor Randy Cook surprised our class by taking us to what turned out to be my favorite site of the day, Aroma Coffee.  All in all, it had been a very interesting day, touring the significant sites of the northern Jewish settlers and learning how they courageously braved a plethora of hardships and blazed the trail for so many to follow.           

After dinner, at which I tried St. Peter’s fish (eyeballs, fins, tail and all) and was pleasantly surprised, Bill took us out on a boat into the middle of the Sea of Galilee, whereat we discussed two of Christ’s most amazing miracles.  The first was the account of Him calming the waves and storm after the Disciples had woken Him up, for He was sleeping through the whole thing (Mark 4:35-41).  One could understand the Disicple’s terror—Jesus had just spent the whole day teaching about the new Kingdom of God, and would it be just a bunch of talk that would end in a freak sailing accident that would sink them all to the bottom of the lake?  No.  Christ demonstrated His power over nature in this incident.           

On the Sea of Galilee we also talked about the well-known miracle of Christ walking on the water, the account of which is found in Mark 6:45-52.  What isn’t as well-known is what this miracle represents, namely, that Christ has power over death; and thus this miracle serves as a foreshadowing of His resurrection.           

One thing that Bill pointed out that made me stop and think was how evident Christ’s humility is in these miracles.  During the day, Christ had huge crowds hanging on His every word, and yet He chose to perform these amazing miracles at night.  Christ could have made the water completely still in front of the multitudes, and He certainly could have had them all watch Him step out on to the water, but He chose to keep it a secret.  He truly was the ultimate combination of power and humility.

 

This is a picture of me and my friend Heather at dinner, where we ate St. Peter’s fish.  Sorry the pic is so small, I can’t seem to make it any bigger.

The Galilean Chronicles- Part 2

Day#3—October 8, 2007

Our first stop of our third day was literally on the side of the road, at a spot entitled “The Cove of the Sower”, where apparently the acoustics are such that one man speaking plainly can project his voice so that a crowd could hear him for a long distance.  Here we read the parable of the sower and the seeds upon the various soils taken from Luke 8:4-8.

Next we visited the site of Capernaum, the Apostle Peter’s hometown.  Built above what is allegedly the location of Peter’s house is an octagonal-shaped Byzantine church.  Here we discussed many of the works Jesus performed in Capernaum, including the healing of a paralytic man who was lowered through the roof, the account of which is found in Luke 5:17-26.  Close to this church was a basilica-styled synagogue, also dating to the Byzantine era, despite previous misconceptions that it was from the Roman period.  It was to Capernaum that Jesus was walking upon the water, according to John 6, and it was at Capernaum that Jesus proclaimed that He was the bread of life, as well as healed Peter’s mother-in-law.  Also in Capernaum, we viewed a Roman milestone dating to Hadrian’s rule, which conveyed to us that this city was a major stopping point in the Galilee region, which would explain one of the reasons why Christ chose to move His base of operations here.  This was also a fulfillment of the prophecy made in Isaiah 9:1-2, that those in the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali would see a great light–  Nazareth is in the tribal allotment of Zebulun, Capernaum in Naphtali.

After Capernaum we ventured along the western side of the Sea of Galilee, heading South, to the site of Tabga and the Mt. of Beatitudes, where Jesus might have possibly delivered the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7; Luke 6).  Jesus, in this well-known sermon, is speaking to his Jewish listeners not in Greek, but most likely in a Semitic language such as Aramaic or Hebrew, and is interpreting the Torah with his newly picked 12 disciples, a parallel of Moses who came down from Mount Sinai with the original Torah to the 12 tribes of Israel.  Jesus, the true interpreter of the Torah, predicts a change of circumstances for those who are the true adherents to the Torah (Matthew 5:1-11).  The crowd responds with appropriate amazement at the authority with which Christ spoke.

It was also the site of Tabga that the events of one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, John 21, most likely unfolded.  Following the death and resurrection of Jesus, the disciples returned to Galilee, as per the Savior’s instructions.  It was here that Peter and some others decided to return, at least temporarily, to the fishing industry out of which Christ had called them earlier (Mark 1:16-20) to be “fishers of men”.  It was while they were out on the waves that Christ appeared to them on the shore.  They came in to where He was and had breakfast, and it was here that Christ asked Peter three times if he loved Him, and replied to his affirmations by commanding him to “feed my lambs”.  The commission is significant—Peter has now progressed from a “fisher of men” to a tender of men’s souls, as a shepherd tends sheep.

After a lunch of incredible shwarma in Tiberius, we visited the site of Ginosar, which in and of itself holds relatively little biblical significance, but happens to be the location where in the 1980s archaeologists recovered a fishing boat dating to the time of the 1^st Century AD, most likely sunk during a naval battle upon the Sea of Galilee between the Jews and the Romans at the time of the first Jewish Revolt (66 AD to 70 AD).Our next stop was what is known in archaeological circles as “Tel-Bethsaida”, but is most likely not the site of the town of Bethsaida where Christ ministered.  In fact, the two main structures uncovered here date to the Iron Age (roughly the time of David), as opposed to being from New Testament times.  However, we did discuss here one of the miracles that Christ performed here in Bethsaida, the two-staged healing of a blind man (Mark 8:22-26).  This occurred during Christ’s private Galilean ministry, and Bill suggested the point that the healing was done in stages so as to encourage the blind man to essentially keep his mouth shut regarding Christ’s ministry at the time, for He much wanted to spend time with just His disciples to train them before He was to go to Jerusalem to die.  Another interesting note about this particular site, “Tel-Bethsaida”, is that it is in the Old Testament region of the Geshurites, the most famous Geshurite being Absalom, son of King David and Grandson of the King of Geshur in David’s day.  This was where Absalom fled for three years following his murdering of his brother Amnon (2 Samuel 13:34-39).

We then ended the day with an incredibly relaxing 45-minute float down the Jordan River to where our bus picked us up and brought us back to Ein Gev. 

Day #4—October 9, 2007           

We began our day by heading North-East towards the Syrian border.  Though today this land is termed “The Golan Heights”, in Biblical times, this whole area was called Bashan.  Perfect for ranching, we saw first-hand many of the “cows of Bashan” that helped compose the poetic imagery of the prophet Amos (Amos 4:1).           

We then stopped overlooking the Syrian village of Quneitra, to the North-East of Mt. Avital in the North, where lay an abandoned tank.  This relatively peaceful piece of ground has been at many times the war-torn border between Syria and Israel.  Its biblical significance stems from the fact that it is as about as close to the city of Damascus, the place of the Apostle Paul’s conversion, that any of us will be able to get due to political hostilities.  It was also from here that we obtained our first sight of Mt. Hermon, which is the forerunner candidate for the site of the Transfiguration.           

We then stopped at the Fortress of Nimrod, a large castle-like structure that dates to the time of the Crusaders, in an area at which their was fierce fighting between the “Christian” westerners and the Islamic Easterners throughout the Dark Ages.  The name of the palatial fortress, incidentally, had nothing to do with the actual biblical Nimrod of Genesis 10:8-11.  Sitting up at the Fortress of Nimrod, we looked down upon the lowlands of Caesarea Philippi and discussed Peter’s confession in Matthew 16:13-28 that Christ was the son of the living God, as well as Christ’s reaction, that “upon this rock I will build my church.”  Bill pointed out that, yes, we protestants are correct in that this is absolutely not the institution of the Papacy, but we Protestants are wrong when we swing to the other side of the pendulum and say that the “rock” in question is Peter’s confession of faith.  I personally have no problem (and neither does the Bible) with referring to the first generation of Disciples/Apostles as the “rock”—however, just because Christ calls them the rock upon which He is founding the church doesn’t mean that they are automatically super-saints to which we should pray to for intercession or that Peter was the first Pope.  No.  They are children of God, just like us; except for the fact that God utilized them to help start His new called-out community.           

Caesarea Philippi, originally named Panias after the Greek God Pan (and now is called Banias by the Arabs), was the site of a significant battle in 199 B.C. between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies.  The battle’s importance can be seen in the fact that from the victorious Seleucids, who now controlled the Holy Land, came Antiochus Epiphanies, who terrorized the Jews.           

Another point Bill brought up while we were in Caesarea Philippi was that it was very interesting that amongst a town that was full of rampant paganism and emperor-worship, Peter correctly identifies Jesus Christ as the Messiah.           

Caesarea Philippi sits on the southern foothills of Mt. Hermon, which today is shared by Israel and Lebanon to the North.  It was here that Christ was most likely transfigured before Peter, James, and John.  Here Jesus’ Messiahship was testified to by Moses (who represented the Law), Elijah (who represented the Prophets), and by God Himself (who actually quoted the Writings).           

From here we ventured West to Tel Dan, the location where the tribe of Dan emigrated after they were unsuccessful in conquering their original Divinely-allocated tribal allotment.  The site had formerly been a Canaanite city named Laish, a place where the inhabitants dwelt in plenty and in isolation, and apparently in a false sense of security, for the Danites utterly routed them (Judges 18).  It was also in this spot that Jeroboam I, first king of the 10 Northern Tribes, set up a Gold Calf and called it “the God that brought Israel out of Egypt” so that the citizens of his newly-established country wouldn’t flee to Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:25-33).  Also at Tel-Dan were very significant archaeological discoveries, including an Israelite Gate, the type of which would have been used in David’s day, and the Tel-Dan Stele, a boast of an Assyrian king who supposedly killed Jehoram King of Israel and Amaziah King of Judah and which dated to 840 AD and was largely significant because it was one of the oldest mentions of “the House of David”, thus lending historicity to the person of David.           

Our next stop was on the other side, the South side, of the Hulah Basin and is one of the largest Tels in all of Israel, Hazor.  Hazor was one of the three cities that God had proclaimed as “herem” when Joshua led the conquest throughout Israel (Joshua 11:10-12).  The Lord granted the Israelites a great victory in the North against a fierce coalition of Canaanite peoples at the Waters of Merom.  This was significant because in destroying Hazor, the Israelites cut off Canaanite access to the city known as the gateway to the Sea of Galilee (then called the Sea of Chinnereth) in the North.  However, Hazor was latter rebuilt by Canaanites and we see in Judges 4:2 that it again is being ruled by a Canaanite King.  Later, though, during the time of Solomon, Hazor returns to Israelite control and becomes one of the three main sites fortified by Solomon (outside of Jerusalem), in addition to Megiddo and Gezer (1 Kings 9:15). Hazor, also like Megiddo, possessed an ancient water system built by King Ahab.  Because of its location far in the North, it was often overrun by foreign kings, including King Hazael of Syria in 815 BC and Tiglath-Pileasar of Assyria in 734 BC, mentioned in 2 Kings 15:29.            

Our final stop of this long day were the ruins of Chorazim, which along with Capernaum and Bethsaida make up Christ’s “evangelical triangle”, the three cities at which many of His teachings were said and miracles were performed.  However, because of the town’s overall unbelief, Christ condemned it, along with Capernaum, in Matthew 11.  It was here that we got in a slight bit of trouble with those who were in charge of the site, but it all worked out in the end.

The Galilean Chronicles- Part 1

The following is the true account of one man’s experience in the Galilee, the northern area of the country of Israel.  The stories are true.  The names have been unchanged so as to preserve the biblical. 

Day #1– October 6, 2007           

We arose early Shabbat morning, scrambling relatively quickly to board the bus as usual; except this particular Shabbat our destination was not, in fact, Jerusalem Assembly, but rather, the Jezreel Valley and ultimately the town of Nazareth.  This was the first day of four successive field trip days that would kick off our Galilee “vacation”.           

Our first stop was the end of the world.  Not really, but it was the site of Megiddo, also known as Har-Megiddo (meaning “hill of Megiddo”), or as we sometimes know it, Armageddon.  The pass out of the Samaria Area through the long Mt. Carmel range towards the site of Megiddo is the middle of three such passes.  The pass to the Megiddo pass’ west is known as the Jokneam pass, because it deposits one out near the town of Jokneam; this pass, like the Megiddo pass, is through a valley that cuts through the Mountain.  The pass to the east of the Megiddo pass is known as the Dothan pass, because it originates close to the site of Dothan.  It is interesting to note that while Moses was leading the Israelites through the Kadesh-Barnean wilderness for forty years, his “adopted” brother Thutmose III was leading a military campaign through Canaan, and he utilized the city of Megiddo, which he described as “capturing a thousand cities”.  On an interesting note, what Pharaoh Thutmose did in the time of Moses, which was also what Pharaoh Shishak did during the time of Rehoboam, namely, conquer Megiddo, was something that the Israelites themselves were unable to do until the time of Solomon.           

At Megiddo, which is the most-excavated tel in Israel (over 20 layers discovered!), we discussed Solomon’s fortifications to Megiddo, as evidenced by the tell-tale Solomonic chambered gates.  This city was crucial to reinforce, for it lay along a strategic trade route, as well as Gezer to the south and Hazor to the north.  The account of these fortifications is found in 1 Kings 9:15.  Megiddo also covers one of the main entrances to the Jezreel Valley, which is the breadbasket of the land of Israel as well as one of the main east-west travel routes of the northern half of Israel.  It was also at Megiddo that King Josiah met his fate when he chose to battle Pharaoh Neco II (2 Kings 23:29).           

At Megiddo we also found various structures, including “stables” that some attribute to Solomon while some attribute to Ahab.  In fact, this very stable issue was so divisive as to create a rift between the Archaelogical departments at Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University in Jerusalem.  Other structures we found at Megiddo included a Water shaft potentially dating to the Assyrian period, which would not be surprising seeing as how Megiddo was an Assyrian regional capitol, following Assyria’s sacking of the ten Northern tribes in 722 BC.           

Finally, at Megiddo, we discussed the site’s future use.  In Revelation 16:12, we find that the kings of the earth, under the deceptive rule of the Antichrist, will assemble (not fight) at the site of Megiddo, most likely to march to Jerusalem to try to challenge God.  Looking out from the spot of Megiddo onto the Jezreel Valley, bordered on the North by the Nazareth Ridge and Mount Tabor and Mount Gilboa on the East, it is easy to picture massive armies gathering in this region.  Good thing we already know the ending—Jesus wins.           

After stopping by an authentic rolling-stone tomb on the side of the road, where Bill helped put the potentially-complicating sequence of events of the four different accounts of Christ’s resurrection from the four different gospels in order, our next location was at the site of Muhraka (Hebrew for “flame”), a lookout point on the heights of Mt. Carmel.  From here, we were able to see many of the major passes into the Jezreel Valley, including the Kishon pass, which flows NW to SE along the Nahal Kishon, and the Jokneam pass, one of the main passes through Mt. Carmel itself.  According to Bill, Mt. Carmel itself is associated with beauty; this is evidenced by its mentioning in Song of Solomon 7:5.  When we reached the point of Muhraka, we read the account of Elijah challenging the 450 prophets of Baal to prove who really was the God of Israel- YHWH or Baal (1 Kings 18).  The main purpose of this passage is to show that indeed God is superior to all other gods; and He is gracious to give his people an opportunity to “turn their hearts back to the Lord.”  Following his defeat of the prophets of Baal, Elijah predicted the end of the three-year drought that had plagued Israel.  It was on this point that he sent his servant up seven times to look for a cloud, until finally the servant saw one no bigger than a man’s hand.  This was the beginning of a huge storm that would drench the land.           

From here we headed East across the Jezreel Valley towards the site of the ancient city of Jezreel, which sits right on the bottom slopes of Mt. Gilboa.  It was here that Saul made his last camp against the Philistines, who were encamped at Shunem (1 Samuel 28).  It was also here that Jehu, following his unorthodox anointing by Elisha’s servant in Ramoth-Gilead across the Jordan, drove his chariot like a bat out of Sheol and assassinated both Jehoram the King of Israel and Ahaziah the King of Judah, and later had Jezebel thrown from an upper window (2 Kings 9).           

Our next stop was further East into the Harod Valley, which is attached to the much larger Jezreel Valley, to the spring of En Harod, where Gideon separated the three-hundred men who lapped the water from the other men (Judges 7).  Bill made the point that there really was nothing significant about how these men drank that set them apart—God only identified this arbitrary characteristic because He wanted to show that Israel’s salvation came not through large numbers but through the provision of the Lord.           

Moving back towards the West and North, we climbed out of the Jezreel Valley and onto the Nazareth Ridge, where we arrived at the site of Nazareth.  Here, sitting on the cliffs outside Nazareth and overlooking the Jezreel Valley to the South-East, we discussed events that happened in Nazareth, such as the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary and telling her that she would bear the Christ-child (Luke 1:26) and Jesus’ rejection by his hometown to the point that they wanted to throw him off cliffs like these (Luke 4:19-30).  Also, looking out into the Valley at Mount Tabor, which according to Bill “sticks out like a pimple in the Jezreel Valley”, we talked about the major event that happened at the foot of Tabor—the battle between Deborah and Barak and the Israelites versus Sisera and the Canaanites (Judges 4 & 5).

            After this long day, we returned to where we were staying, at the Sisters of Nazareth Convent for supper and a good night’s sleep. 

Addendum- Upon arriving in Nazareth, I realized that I had forgotten to pack deodorant, so after a quick stop at an Arab convenient store, I paid 7 dollars for a stick of Israeli deodorant.  Excellent.  The nuns actually cooked up a good dinner for us, Heaven bless them.  Me and a couple friends decided to explore the Nazareth night-life– it’s about as exciting as it sounds.

Day #2—October 7, 2007           

Leaving Nazareth, we drove the next morning past the site of Gath-Hepher, which was the hometown of the prophet Jonah.  We discussed the similarities between Jesus and Jonah, namely that both had incredible success among Gentiles and that both were buried for three days before coming forth.           

Our first real stop was most likely not the real site of what we discussed there—the location of Cana of Galilee where Jesus turned the water into wine.  The book of John is our main (and largely only) source of the first year of Jesus’ earthly ministry; following His baptism by John, the temptation in the wilderness, and then a reunion with John at Bethany beyond the Jordan, Jesus is found at a wedding at Cana, which sits in the Neftoa Valley north of the Jezreel Valley.  This miracle, recorded in John 2:1-11, is a wonderful example of the perfect mixture of power and humility that made up Jesus Christ.  Though this was an incredible feat, Jesus didn’t parade it around—only a select few who were intended to witness it did so.  It was following this miracle that Jesus journeyed south to Jerusalem, cleansed the temple for the first time in His ministry (He will do it a second time during His passion week), talks with Nicodemus, heads back North, meets with the Samaritan woman at the well, and then heals the Centurion’s son in Galilee, which was his second miracle to be performed in this area.           

Following this, we visited the non-biblical but definitely significant site of Sepphoris, which also sits in the Neftoa Valley.  This location was the Roman capitol of Galilee and continued to be a major center well into the Byzantine period.  Here we saw ruins of an ancient theatre, and discussed the possibility that Joseph, Jesus’ father, and Jesus himself might have worked on the construction of Sephoris, since the term used for their occupation doesn’t exclusively mean “carpenter”, but can encompass the terms “handy-man” and even “stone mason” as well.  We also saw here a recovered mosaic that had several depictions of Dionysius (aka Bacchus), the god of wine and merry-making, as well as a synagogue from the Byzantine era that strangely had the signs of the Zodiac incorporated into its architecture.  It was also here, following the Diaspora and destruction of the Second Temple, that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi (“Judah the Prince”) codified the Mishna, the Oral Law of Judaism, in 200 AD.           

From here we drove through the Turan Valley, an east-long offshoot of the Neftoa Valley, and after a glorious lunch at McDonald’s, we drove up to the Arbela Cliffs, from which we got our first full gaze at the Sea of Galilee.  It was on these cliffs that we discussed the latter half of Jesus’ ministry, how after His second rejection at Nazareth, His feeding of the 5000, and His learning of John the Baptist’s arrest, Jesus headed west towards the coast to minister to Tyre and Sidon, and then returned North, where He was transfigured on Mount Hermon overlooking Caesarea Philippi.  At this point, Christ is engaging in his private Galilean ministry, which take up the first six months of His last year of Ministry.  After this, His ministry will be more public, culminating with His death and resurrection in Jerusalem.  From here, we hiked down the Arbela cliffs and began our drive towards the Eastern shores of Galilee, where we were to be staying at Kibbutz Ein Gev.           

On our way, we passed by the site of Magdala (where Mary Magdalene hailed from), Capernaum (meaning “house of Nahum”, Jesus’ base of operations during his Galilean ministry), and stopped at the site of Kursi, which is wrongly believed as the site of Gadara where Jesus cast the “legion” of demons out of the two men and into the herd of swine (Mark 5:1-20).  There is a discrepancy over the name location, mostly because “Gadara” and “Gerasa” refer to more of a region in the Decapolis, rather than specific cities, and Origin came along later and practically invented the term “Gergesa”.   Whatever, the discrepancy, the site of Kursi is most likely not where the miracle happened, but was easier for us to access than the actual site, so here is where we stopped and read the account.  From here we journeyed to Ein Gev and, following a refreshing swim in the Sea of Galilee, we called it a night.

Rockin’ the Samaria Area…

Complying with the great Willie Nelson’s desires, Wednesday saw us “on the road again,” this time headed North along the Road of the Patriarchs (somewhat) for what I like to call the “Samaria Area.”  Our first stop, for me the most introspective spot of the day, was the site of Shiloh, where God had originally established as the place of the Tabernacle after the Conquest.  Here Bill discussed with us how and why Shiloh had been abandoned by the Lord as the place for which His glory dwelt on earth.  We read in Jeremiah 7:12 where the Lord tells Jeremiah to “go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.”  We also read in Psalm 76:60 that God “forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind.”  The point that the Psalmist was making and the point that Jeremiah was articulating to the Jews in the days leading up to the exile is clear—practice evil, take lightly the things of the Lord, and you can expect that God will forsake you.  All that is left now of Shiloh is ruins.  Truly this place is Ichabod, for the glory of the Lord has departed.

Also at Shiloh, we discussed the story of Hannah, who went every year to the site of the tabernacle to pray for a son.  This example of a righteous woman who did not spite God because of her barrenness, but rather turned to Him in praise and supplication amidst her trials and fervently begged Him for a son, was very encouraging.  Hannah did not give up in her prayers, but fully trusted the Lord to provide, and He heard her.  May we be just as persistent in our prayers, fully entrusting the outcome to the “God of knowledge” (1 Sam. 2:3).

From Shiloh we journeyed to Shechem, modern day Nablus (which is itself the Arabic derivation of the name “Neapolis”).  Like Shiloh, ancient Shechem, known archaeologically as Tel-Balata, is a site rich in biblical history and significance.  In the words of Abner Chou, one can always associate two things with Shechem: Covenants and treachery.  It was here in Genesis 12 that the Lord first promised the land of Canaan to Abram, it was here that Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi pull the most painful “prank” ever (Genesis 34)., and here, on the Mountains Gerizim and Ebal, which overlook Shechem, that Joshua had the people of Israel recite the blessings and curses of the Mosaic law (Joshua 8:30-35).  It was here that Abimelech, son of Gideon, attempted to make himself king (Judges 9),  and it was here where Jeroboam established the first capitol of the ten Northern tribes in the early days of the Divided Kingdom (1 Kings 12:25).  It was also in a little town adjacent to Shechem, a place known as Sychar, that Jesus met with a Samaritan woman and told her that “the true worshipers [of God] will worship the Father in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23).

Our next stop was towards the West, on the site of Aphek (also known as Antipatris, renamed such by Herod the Great after his father), where we literally ran off the bus to the ruins of a Roman establishment.  However, our interest in Aphek dates over one thousand years prior to the Romans, to around 1104 BC, where the Israelites engaged the Philistines in combat, foolishly bringing along the Ark of the Covenant as a sort of good luck charm (1 Samuel 4:1-11).  As a result, the Philistines took the Ark and most likely sacked the city of Shiloh as well (see Jeremiah 7:12 and Psalm 76:60).  Aphek is also a key city in that it guards the headwaters of the Yarkon River, a major source of freshwater for Samaria and Northern Israel in general (in fact, today, one-third of Israel’s freshwater derives from the Yarkon).  In the distance, we viewed the ancient site of Ebenezer (meaning “stone of help”), where Israel had encamped opposite the Philistines, who were encamped at Aphek.  I found it ironic that it was at this place, where the Israelites had lost the Ark of the Covenant, that I myself almost lost my Bible (no worries, though, I found it— I had accidentally left it on the bus).

Our last major stop of the day was further North, on the coast, at the site of Caesarea (Maritima), once a po-dunk town known as Strato’s Tower until the megalomaniac version of Bob the Builder, Herod the Great himself, decided to erect a magnificent port city to rival the Piraeus of Athens and named it after Augustus Caesar, the Roman Emperor who had declared Herod “King of the Jews”.  This city is not to be confused with Caesarea Philippi, which lies to the south of Mount Hermon in Northern Galilee.  Three major instances of biblical significance occurred in Caesarea Maritima, the first being the “Gentile Pentecost”, where Peter brings the Gospel to Cornelius the Roman centurion and other gentiles, and they received the Holy Spirit in a fashion similar to the Apostles and other disciples on the Day of Pentecost.  The account of this story can be found in Acts 10.  The next important event that occurred here is the death of Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great.  Both Acts 12:20-25 and Josephus tell us of the rather gruesome death of Agrippa I, how in the midst of a ceremony that was basically exalting himself (Josephus’ account basically makes the claim that Agrippa was encouraging the idea that he himself was a god), he was struck with a painful stomach ache (being eaten alive by worms) and died shortly thereafter.  The final event that occurred at Caesarea happened over a decade later, when the Apostle Paul was imprisoned following his arrest in Jerusalem.  It was here that he presented his case before Felix, the Roman Procurator, who was then succeeded by Porcius Festus, who also heard Paul’s defense, accompanied by Herod Agrippa II and his sister Bernice.  Ever the lawyer, Paul logically defended his claims of innocence and even clearly presented the Gospel to each of these rulers.   Here, in this pagan town built by a man who worshipped himself, and constructed temples to worship both Roman deities as well as the Emperor, Paul articulated the message of Jesus Christ.  We find the account of this episode of Paul’s life in Acts 23-26.

Then, after a very delicious Arabic dinner at our bus driver Nael’s house in the city of Jot (ancient Gath; not the Philistine Gath of the Shephelah, but Gath of Samaria), we returned back to Moshav sweet Moshav.

“Onomasticon” is quite possibly the coolest word ever…

Yesterday was another long day on the road with our fearless leader, Bill Shlegel.  This time, we journeyed to the Shephelah (“shvay-lah”), where a surprising amount of Biblical history occurred.  The Shephelah consists of low, rolling hills separated by a series of east-west running valleys.           

Our first stop was to the site of Beth-Shemesh (meaning “house of sun”—either an Israelite allusion to the Animal’s smash-hit of the 1960’s or a Canaanite place of worship, take your pick), in the Sorek Valley, the setting for much of the life of Samson.  Judges 13-16 is the record of Israel’s original anti-hero, and we discussed these chapters as we sat overlooking the valley.  Just to the north-east, we saw the sites of Zorah and Eshtaol, which in a way serve as the bookends of Samson’s life:  it was between these two towns that the Spirit of the Lord began to “stir” Samson (Judges 13:25), and it was here that his brothers laid him to rest after he literally brought the house down (Judges 16:31).  To the west of Beth-Shemesh was the village of Timnah, where Samson saw a woman, and then returned and told his parents to “go and get her for me!” (Judges 14:1-2).  I somehow don’t think that same approach will work with my parents.           

It was also in the Sorek Valley that the afflicted Philistines returned the Ark of the Covenant to Israel.  After witnessing the supernatural destruction of their god Dagon and having put up with rats and “tumors” (bubonic plague?) since they had captured the Ark of the Covenant, the Philistine Lords sent the Ark on a cart pulled by two milk-cows from the town of Ekron on the western entrance of the Sorek up the valley towards Beth-Shemesh, where the presumptuous Israelites who looked inside were struck dead, thus prompting the citizens of Beth-Shemesh to implore the men of Kiriath-Jearim to take the Ark from them (1 Samuel 6:1-7:2).           

Our next stop was the tell of Azekah, from with we overlooked the Elah Valley, the Valley that lies roughly parallel to the Sorek to the South.  Here we reviewed Joshua’s pursuit of the Amorite coalition down the Beth-Horon Ridge Route; Joshua 10:11 tells us that the Amorites were chased by Israelites and sniped by supernatural hailstones as far as Azekah.  It was also here that, in the days of the Divided Kingdom, Rehoboam fortified this city because he feared the Egyptian threat to the South (2 Chronicles 11:7), and eventually this was one of the last cities to hold out against the invading Babylonians (Jeremiah 34:6-7).           

One of my favorite experiences of the day occurred at Azekah: we read the account of 1 Samuel 17, where David fights Goliath, as we overlooked the Valley of Elah, where the battle occurred.  The Scriptures tell us that the Philistines had encamped between Azekah and the town of Socoh, about a quarter-mile to the East, while the Israelites under Saul’s command had based themselves opposite them, on the northern side of the valley.  As we read the famous story, looking out where it actually happened, the thing that stuck with me was that David’s indignation didn’t arise from the fact that Goliath was just a plain jerk, or even that the men of Israel were afraid: the chief reason David desired to challenge the giant was because the name of the Lord was being profaned.  I could not help but pray that the Lord would instill in me the same fervor to jealously guard His glory.           

From here, we were to visit the Cave of Adullam, where David hid from both Saul and the Philistines and most likely wrote Psalms 57 & 142, but due to a locked gate, our attempt to hide in the cave was foiled.           

Journeying further southward, we then came to the site of Maresheth-Gath, which lies on the northern side of the Guvrin Valley and was hometown of the prophet Micah, who was a contemporary of Isaiah.  Here we explored an extensive cave system that had been hewn from existing cisterns by Jews during the rebellion of Bar Kochva who wished to hide from Emperor Hadrian’s forces circa 132-135 A.D.  Exploring these caves was one of the most fun things I’ve done here at IBEX, despite the fact that I got absolutely filthy doing so.           

From here we jaunted to the southern side of the Guvrin Valley, where we visited the site of Beit Guvrin, a Roman city at which a small Gladiatorial arena was built.  When the Byzantines gained control of the Holy Land, they put an end to the gladiator games and re-named the city “Eleutheropolis.”  It was here around the 300’s A.D. that church father Eusebius wrote his Onomasticon.  It reminded me of an add for WWF Wrestling (imagine an echo): Ladies and Gentlemen, live from Eleutheropolis, one man, Eusebius, will write—THE ONOMASTICON!!!           

After a quick lunch on the curbside of a gas station, we ventured to the important site of Lachish, a major Judean stronghold in the Shephelah ever since Joshua conquered it, as recorded in Joshua 10:31-33.  It was also here that Sennacherib, King of Assyria and the self-proclaimed “King of the Universe” laid siege and captured the fortress.  Being ever so humble, Sennacherib decorated a wall in his palace in Nineveh with a depiction of his victory.  Interesting though that he didn’t decorate the wall with a picture of him conquering Jerusalem—this was because the Lord sovereignly intervened when King Hezekiah implored Him for aid and killed 180,000 of Sennacherib’s men in one night (Isaiah 36-37).  Lachish also comes into Israel’s history around 120 years later, during the time of the prophet Jeremiah, when it is listed as one of the remaining cities to hold out against Babylon, alongside Azekah and Jerusalem.           

Our final stop of the day was to the city of Gath, the hometown of Goliath and the place to which David fled when he was pursued by Saul.  It was here the David feigned madness so that he would escape imprisonment or death at the hands of the Philistines (1 Samuel 21:10-15), and it was most likely here that he penned Psalms 34 and 56.  David would later return here, this time under different circumstances, when he essentially forged an alliance with Achish, King of Gath, who then gave David the city of Ziklag (1 Samuel 27).  We ended the day with quiet meditation upon the hill of Gath as the sun set beyond the Coastal Plain into the nearby Mediterranean.