Sunday, October 28, 2012

Archaeological Digs and Historical Hikes!

 This is my goal: More frequent, shorter posts! I hope this works out!

This week has been quite a busy adventure, and totally wonderful! Having just gotten back from Galilee, we just jumped right back into a crazy, hectic, fun, exciting schedule! We had normal classes on Monday and Tuesday, but then Wednesday- Friday, we got to go on an archaeological dig! Some of the IBEX students are actually in the archaeology class offered here, and they had to go to all three days of excavating. I, however, am not in the class, so I only went to the excavation on Wednesday and Thursday. Having never excavated anything before, it was a completely new and exciting experience for me, and despite its challenges, I really enjoyed it!

The Western Wall
The site we excavated at was actually just in our backyard; it's one of the hilltops we can see through the window of our cafeteria as we're eating our meals! We took a bus from Yad HaShmonah and it only took us like 5 to 10 minutes to get there. The site is called Khirbet Eres, and the excavator is actually the author of the archaeology class's text book. His name is Ami Mazar. The site was very small compared to other archaeology sites we've been to. Mazar had already started excavations on the site and believed that it was some sort of Persian military fortress from the time period of Ezra and Nehemiah. There is no evidence of a massive destruction, so it probably just ended up being abandoned. The site had three main areas of excavation:
1.The Western Wall: Mazar had already uncovered much of the remains of a wall on the western side of the fortress. One team of students concentrated their work there, removing more dirt from around the wall, and collecting pottery as they went.
Sarah found a whole rim in one of the rooms!
2. The rooms: There were 2 rooms that were pretty well uncovered before we got there. The students working in that area got to dig deeper in order to find the floor of the rooms. They found some amazing things in their efforts, since they were so close to the floor. They found fully in tact pottery handles, and even a full rim of a pot, as well as some brass nails, a broken stone wash basin, and a warped sling stone. They had a lot of fun!
3. The ...... well we're not sure what it is: This is where I dug! We got to start completely from scratch! When we got to the site, Mazar said he believed that there was a wall in the southern corner of the site, and asked us to find it! So we started by hacking away some bushes, throwing some rocks over the edge of the site, and then digging and moving more rocks as we went! We found lots of pottery (as everyone else did too) and even found some huge stones that look like they could have been part of a wall. As we were trying to theorize about where the wall was or could be, Mazar joked with us, "In archaeology, 2 stones next to each other is almost a wall, and 3 stones next to each other is definitely a wall." Archaeology is a funny thing ... it was hard for me to see everything come together, because to me, it just looked like a bunch of rocks! But that being said, it was definitely exciting to try to figure things out. Plus, we found dozens of scorpions along the way! That certainly added an aspect of excitement and danger to our efforts!
Katie and I were particularly dirty after
excavating mystery site number 3!

I really did enjoy the archaeological excavations, but I have to say, I wouldn't want to make a career out of it. It was fun to get super filthy and dirty, and it was fun to try to recreate history with all the evidence we were finding, but it was hard work! But in all honesty ... who can say that they helped on an archaeological dig of a site dating back to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah in Israel? The opportunities we have here are so amazing!

Friday was a free day for me, which was a total blessing. I got a lot done and just got to relax!



Recognize this wall? :) 
Then on Saturday, it was back to the craziness! Five IBEXers and I actually decided to go on a hike on Saturday morning before going to church in Jerusalem. We are all taking a class called Regional Studies, which is basically a hiking class that studies the intricacies of the geography of the Bible, and one of the requirements for the class is to plan and go on a hike of your own. So, we planned a hike right in the hills behind Yad HaShmonah, and decided to do it early in the morning before leaving for church. We left at 6 am, hiked down into the Nahal Yitlah behind our campus, and up the ridge of the next mountain. Those paths were not very well marked, so we definitely had to do some bush whacking! But we had a map and knew the general direction we needed to go in, so it all worked out in the end! Once we got to the ridge, we went to Bet Tul, where there were some ruins. The excavation site has been well preserved, and even turned into a park! We walked along the ridge, around Khirbet Eres where we excavated with Ami Mazar, and we decided to hike up to the site just to see it again and take some pictures. Then we finished the hike by walking through Abu Ghosh, the Arab village near our campus. It was a really fun hike, and it was so nice to be out and around early in the morning! It was beautiful, and nice and cool outside. We had such a good time, and even got class credit for it! We showered real fast and got ready for the day, and then spent Shabbat in Jerusalem!



 Today (Sunday) our regional studies class went on a hike in the Sorek Valley! This is the valley where Samson was born, and where many events in his life took place. We started out at Zorah, where Samson was born, and where the Spirit of the Lord first moved upon him, and we ended at Timnah, where he met his first Philistine wife. The hike was a pretty easy walk once we got down into the valley. It still blows me away that I get to hike in these places where such ancient history took place! I remember reading these stories as a child, and now I get to experience them more! I get to understand how long it would have taken for Samson to travel between his home in Zorah, to Timnah where his wife was. I get to experience the deep valleys and canyons of the land, and understand why cities were generally built on hills and ridges, rather than in the valleys (except for Timnah, which was built in the depths of the Sorek Valley because of the rich agriculture). This is such a wonderful experience! I'm loving every bit of it!









Thursday, October 25, 2012

Galilee! -- walking where He walked!

Ok so first and foremost ... I know an apology is in order. I cannot believe how long it's been since I've blogged, and I am so sorry! I really wanted to do this consistently, but have totally failed. This semester has been absolutely crazy, so I've been putting it off ... even more so that I thought I was! I really am sorry, and wish more than anything that I could recap everything I've learned and experienced since the Joppa/ Tel Aviv trip ... but that would be so difficult! If you're not my friend on Facebook, add me! Just send me a message and tell me you read my blog and want to see photos from my Israel trip, and I will accept your friend request! I have lots of pictures posted with some general descriptions of where we went.


With that out of the way ... I am so excited to tell you all about Galilee! Last week, we spent the entire week up in Galilee! There are so many things I'd love to tell you about, but sadly, I am limited by time and space. So, I want to highlight my favorite sites, memories and reflections from the entire week! Since we were in Galilee, you would probably assume that we spent all of our time studying the life and ministry of Christ, but there actually was still quite a bit of Old Testament history that we learned about too! Being able to study both was so exciting, and I particularly enjoyed focusing on the life, miracles and promises of Jesus during His Galilean ministry. 

Favorite Sites: 

1. Megiddo and Hazor
6 chamber Solomonic gate at Hazor! 
     These are two different sites that we visited on different days, but they have one very interesting thing in common: both were fortified by Solomon, and have well preserved Solomonic gates! 1 Kings 9:15 says, "Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon levied to build the house of the LORD, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer." Solomon had many important building projects, including the fortification of these important cities. They guarded the international highway, and monitored different areas of access to the Hill Country, and therefore to Jerusalem. Megiddo guarded the Jezreel Valley, and Hazor in the Huleh Valley controlled the northern access to the Hill Country. The gates at these sites were absolutely amazing! It is just so cool to look at the remains of those walls and think that they were built under the direction of king Solomon himself! 
     Another cool thing about Hazor ... Joshua conquered it! It was the main city in the northern campaign of the Promise Land conquest, and was one of three cities that Joshua actually burned to the ground (the other two being Jericho and Ai). 

2. Nazareth
     At the end of our first day, we got to spend a lot of time in Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus! Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but he grew up in Nazareth. However, as He says in Luke 4:24, "no prophet is welcome in his hometown." He was rejected by the people who knew him best, so for the duration of his ministry, he moved to Capernaum. Sadly, the same rejection of Christ is still rampant today in his hometown. There were banners hung up at the main intersection, proclaiming Allah and Islam, and rejecting anything different. Walking around seeing the dirty streets, the busy traffic and the lost people absolutely broke my heart. I know this is the world we live in, but seeing the blatant rejection of Christ in the place He once lived makes this reality so abundantly clear.
            There was a church in Nazareth on the traditional location for where Gabriel told Mary she’d give birth to the Messiah. But the banner pictured here was hung right outside of it. There may be a memory, or even a tradition of Jesus Christ here … but the people have turned from Him in their hearts.


3. Capernaum
This is actually a perfect transition: Going from Jesus’ hometown as He grew up, to his hometown during His ministry! As stated earlier, Jesus moved to Capernaum because He was rejected at Nazareth. However, He also moved there because it was a larger city, located near the International Highway, so it would allow His message and the news of His works to spread quicker and further. Most of the miracles recorded in the New Testament occurred at Capernaum, and Jesus spent a lot of time there, and in the area. We spent an entire day in the area around Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee, and it was probably my favorite day! In fact … here’s a brief itinerary of where we went on this day:
·     Plains of Bethsaida, where Jesus fed the 5,000
·     Capernaum
·     Chorazin
·     Mt. of Beatitudes – Sermon on the Mount
·     Tiberius – major city! Jesus isn’t recorded going there, though it is likely He did.
·     Ginnosar (which I’ll mention later)
Notice the basalt foundation of the synagogue.
That's from the time of Jesus!
There’s so much I’d love to talk about, but I definitely want to tell you about Capernaum! The most impressive thing about the site, was that there is a very well preserved 3rd century synagogue there. However, that synagogue is built on the foundation of a 1st century synagogue, dating to the time of Christ! The synagogue we stood in was not the same one Christ stood in, but it is on the exact same location as the synagogue that Jesus was in. In that synagogue, He spoke the difficult words of John 6, and called Himself the Bread of Life. In that synagogue, Jesus taught and then healed a demon-possessed man on the Sabbath. It was an incredible feeling to be so close and connected to the very sites where Jesus stood and performed many miracles. Even though Jesus dwelt in Capernaum and performed many miracles there, the people still did not believe in Him or repent. Matthew 11:20-24 records,

“Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent.  ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.’”

Jesus performed most of His miracles in Capernaum, Chorazin and Bethsaida. The New Testament mentions many in Capernaum, none in Chorazin, and only one in Bethsaida. However, no matter how many Jesus did in each city, they still rejected Him. Christ even said that it would be better to go to the Gentile cities because they would repent! This indicates that the message given to the Jews was meant for the whole world! Israel was meant to be a kingdom of priests that received special and personal insight into the person and character of God, and was therefore given the task of telling the rest of the world about Him.

4. Caesarea Philippi
This site was honestly revolutionary for me. The district of Caesarea Philippi is where Jesus went with His disciples, and Peter proclaimed Him to be the Messiah. Matthew 16:13- 17 gives the account:

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

The cultural context of this passage gave me such a deeper understanding for the profundity of these words! Caesarea Philippi was an area that was totally dominated by pagan worship. There was a temple for the pagan god, Pan, who was a sort of Greco-Roman nature god, and there was even a temple for the worship of Caesar. In that same area where pagan worship was so blatant and even encouraged, the Son of God entered the scene and was proclaimed to be the One true God! How wonderful is this?! I don’t know how close Jesus and His disciples were to these temples, but they certainly knew that they existed. They knew the pagan inclinations of these people, and yet Peter was able to confidently proclaim that Jesus was the Christ. The Messiah. The Son of God. The One true God!
            In the next chapter of Matthew, Jesus affirmed His deity to Peter, James and John during the Transfiguration. Elijah and Moses even showed up as witnesses to who Christ truly was. And as if that wasn’t enough, God the Father spoke from heaven, proclaiming Jesus to be His Son. After we visited Caesarea Philippi, we went up to Mt. Hermon (which is a mountain range, not a single mountain), which is the most likely location for where the Transfiguration took place. It was such a wonderful time to focus on the deity of Christ! How wonderful it is that God became FLESH and dwelt among us! We who are so lowly and sinful and undeserving … yet He humbled Himself and lived as a man to die as a sinner, and then be raised victorious over sin and death. We serve such an amazing Savior!

Fun Memories!
1. Camping on the beach!
            On our second night, we actually got to spend the night on Ahkziv beach, which is on the Mediterranean Sea! The first night we were in a hotel in Nazareth, and then every night after the camp on the beach, we were in a hotel right on the Sea of Galilee. This night on the beach was so memorable, and I will seriously never forget it. Most of the group stayed up on the grass near where our stuff was all set up, but some people went down and actually slept under the stars, and only about 10 meters from the water! I slept on the sandy shore with four other girls, and we had just the most wonderful time. We sat on our sleeping bags and just sang worship songs for at least an hour. One I particularly remember singing was “God of Wonders,” and one of the lines goes, “Lord of all creation, of water, earth and sky.” Just that line astounded me! We were so close to all three! We could hear the waves crashing, as we were laying on the earth, looking up at the millions of stars in the sky! It was a beautiful night, and surprisingly enough, I slept really well! That was probably one of my favorite IBEX memories so far!

2. Boat ride on the Sea of Galilee
            We ate lunch in Tiberius one day, and then took a boat ride up the shore of the Sea of Galilee a little ways to a city called Ginnosar. The boat ride was so fun! The guys who owned and drove the boat mounted an American flag off one side of the boat (an Israeli flag was on the other side) and played the National Anthem for us. It was kind of weird … but very sweet. I’m sure they do that for all the dorky tourists who come their way! We just cruised along for a bit, and then we stopped in the middle of the water, and meditated on the miracle of Jesus calming the storm! This is one miracle that would be absolutely impossible to fake. Jesus reached into creation and changed it. No one can do that. Only God! Christ is creator, and has complete control over creation, and He made that abundantly clear on the very Sea we were sailing on.
            Speaking of Jesus and boats … in Ginnosar, we saw the “Jesus boat!” This boat that has been termed, the “Jesus boat,” is an ancient boat that was discovered in the mud of the Sea of Galilee during a severe draught when the water level was exceptionally low. The boat dates to the 1st century, so many have speculated that Jesus actually sailed on it. There is no way of knowing, but it is amazing that a wooden boat from 2,000 years ago is now sitting in a museum!

3. Jordan River Tubing!
            (I now realize that all of my memories so far revolve around the major water sources of Israel! So cool!) On Day 6 of our stay in Galilee, we did a little hike, but then actually got to inflate some inner tubes and float down the Jordan River! For obvious reasons, I did not take pictures with my camera, but I did have a disposable waterproof camera with me, so I took pictures with that. It was such a blast! I don’t even know how to describe it! There were a few times where people got sucked under trees by the quicker currents, but for the most part it was smooth sailing. There was one mini-waterfall that a bunch of us went on multiple times. It was really fun! The Jordan River is not as wide as you’d expect it to be. I think I’ve always had the image of a massive, gushing Colorado-type river ripping through the nation of Israel, but that is hardly the case! Nevertheless, I loved floating down the River. That is a rare, and very treasured experience.

My dramatic, conquering face!
(Even though Arbel conquered me!)
4. Sliding down the cliffs of Arbel
            One day, we hiked down the cliffs of Arbel, where Jewish rebels hid when they revolted against Herod the Great as their king. The caves at Arbel are really awesome, and as I was walking down from some of them, I kind of lost control. I jogged down the steep, loose-dirt hill, but my momentum wouldn’t let me stop! I got faster and faster, until I got to the path, and then tripped over the stone outline of the path! I got pretty scraped up and bruised, but it just adds to the experience. ;) Now I can say that I fully empathize with the Jews of Arbel, because I’m sure they fell, tripped, slid and stumbled all over this mountain as they were running from Herod and the Romans. I’m just really hoping these scrapes don’t scar. I’ve got too many scars!

Some Reflections:
            My favorite thing about being in Galilee was the timeliness of everything I was learning. The week happened to be a particularly difficult one for me for reasons outside of school. As I was overwhelmed with lots of things that were outside of my control, I knew that I was being pushed towards Christ, and my dependency on Him was being highlighted and my desire for Him was being heightened. Then, as we went to all the different sites, we learned about Christ, and I again felt as if I was being pushed towards Christ. As we studied His life and ministry so carefully, I realized something entirely elementary, yet completely profound. When Jesus walked on this earth, He promised rest, comfort, love and care for those who would trust in Him. Those promises are still applicable today! Just as Jesus wanted to provide healing and care for the people He was with then, He also wants to extend His care for me 2,000 years later. His promises still apply! His power still applies! His grace is still effective! This was the most fitting and encouraging message, and it was exactly what I needed to hear. I can fully trust Christ to handle the burdens of my heart, and the burdens of other peoples’ hearts because He has proven to be so faithful with them. My love for Jesus has been deepened in more ways that I could imagine! I am so thankful that He came to this earth and lived such a humble life, though He deserved unceasing splendor, glory and praise. I am so glad He offers grace and peace for those who love and trust in Him. I am so glad He came specifically to this land and proclaimed His supremacy over the rampant paganism, and even in light of the unrepentant around Him. I am in love with His Word and am continually amazed by its richness and beauty. My experience in Galilee is one I will never forget, and I pray it will continue to impact me for the rest of my life!