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!

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 3^rd century synagogue there. However, that synagogue is built on the foundation of a 1^st 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 1^st 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!

Safe, Sound, and Having a Blast!

Hey everyone! I know it's been quite a while since my last post, and many of you have probably seen the hundreds of pictures I've put up recently and been confused that there hasn't been a blog post to go with them yet! Well, a lot has happened in the last week! With classes going full speed ahead, and new field trips every week, things get pretty busy around here and I haven't had a lot of time to blog. So my goal for this post is to fill you in on some of the highlights from my past week, even if that means not including all the really neat stuff I've learned along the way.

Sunday, September 9: Judean Hills Regional Studies Hike

This picture is looking over the Chesalon Valley, with Mt.
Tsuba directly behind it. There is also another hill faintly
behind Tsuba, and between those two hills is the
deep Upper Sorek Valley.

I am in a class called Regional Studies, which is basically an intense hiking class in which I get to learn about the land and geography and experience it first hand. On this hike, we got to learn about part of the northern border of Judah as stipulated in Joshua 15:9-10 that separates it from Dan and Benjamin. We started on the Kiriat-Jearim ridge route, which is right next to the Moshav where I'm staying. This route was the main way to get from the Judean Hills (where the Moshav is) to Jerusalem, because it traveled on the ridges of the hills and entered Jerusalem from the north, rather than going directly east over and through two extremely steep valleys. Of course with modern technology, there is now a road that goes directly from Kiriat- Jearim to Jerusalem, through those valleys. On our hike, however, we deviated from the KJ route and hiked directly into the first valley, called the Chesalon Valley. We hiked  down into it, where there was a spring called Ein Limon (Lemon Spring) and got to eat our lunches and swim for a little bit. This was the first of 3 springs we would stop at. The springs here are absolutely amazing, and are a huge testimony of the Lord's faithfulness and kindness to His people! Deuteronomy 8:7 says, "For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills."The water that had collected from the heavy rain season in winter collects in the rocks, and slowly drips out so that the land has a constant supply of water, even in the dry, rainless summer. Ein Limon is just one example of such a spring, and there is now a little pool built there to collect the water so that tired hikers can take a quick dip before traversing the steep valleys once more!

We went from Ein Limon towards Mt. Tsuba, which is only mentioned once in Scripture, as the home of one of David's 30 mighty men (2 Samuel 23:36). Along the way, we stopped in a beautiful vineyard and Bill talked about the repeated imagery of grapes and vineyards in Scripture. Isaiah 5 talks about Israel as God’s vineyard that He cared for, yet it produced sour grapes. Then Christ used the same imagery in a parable as a metaphor for how Israel was rejecting the Lord’s ownership of them (Luke 20). He also told His disciples that He is the vine and those who abide in Him are the branches (John 15). If we don’t abide in Him, then we can’t do anything! We’re completely dependent on the vine in order to produce fruit. We snacked on some the grapes and contemplated the beauty of such imagery, and how significant it must have been to the Israelites, who were obviously very familiar with grapes and vineyards. After the stop in the vineyards, we moved on to Mt. Tsuba and climbed around on the Crusader ruins that are there today. We also got a beautiful view of many of the hilltops mentioned in Joshua 15:9-10 as the border cities of Judah. 

The view from the top of Mt. Tsuba. Many of these hilltops are the border descriptions for the north side of Judah.

After Mt. Tsuba, we basically just hiked to two more springs. We went to Ein Tsuba at the base of Mt. Tsuba, then hiked parallel to the Upper Sorek Valley (the second deep valley in between KJ and Jerusalem) to Ein Sataf. At the end of the hike, Bill bought us all ice cream as we waited for the bus to take us back. He said it was our tuition money paying for it. ;) (Thanks Mom and Dad!) 
 
Wednesday, September 12: New Testament Walk in Jerusalem
The archaeology professor here at IBEX, Chris, took all of us to Old City Jerusalem to focus on the New Testament events and historical sites. We went to the Temple Mount, which is now completely controlled and utilized by Muslims, the excavation site of a street that ran along the western wall of the temple mount in the time of Christ, the stairs at the southern entrance of the temple mount, the excavation site of the Herodian quarter where the priests lived during the time of Christ, and the Garden Tomb, which is the other suggested place for where Christ was crucified and buried.

The Temple Mount was crazy. As everyone probably knows, this is where the Muslim chapel, The Dome of the Rock, is located, which is built on the spot where Muhammad ascended into heaven. However, what most people don't realize is that the Dome of the Rock is not the most important building up there. The Al-Aqsa Mosque is the 3rd holiest site in Islam, and is located on the south eastern corner of the Temple Mount. We stood in line to go on the Mount for at least an hour, but only got to be up there for about 20 minutes, because there are very limited times that tourists are allowed up there. It was really neat to be up there and think about the fact that on that very spot was where Solomon built the temple. In fact, since the exact location of the temple is not known, and more importantly since the location of the Holy of Holies where God's presence dwelled is not known, Jews are forbidden to even go up on the Temple Mount. We saw a Rabbinic edict posted outside the entrance.

The next few stops all had to do with the Temple Mount, and were actually focused on the life of Christ. We got to go to an excavation site of a street that ran right along the western wall of the Temple Mount. The stones there today are at the exact same level that there were when Christ lived and walked there, but the stones have been since replaced. Then we also ate lunch on the southern side of the temple mount, and most of the stairs leading up to it are actually the original stones placed there, and were therefore the very steps Jesus walked on to enter the Temple or teach near the entrance! So cool! This southern entrance was probably where Christ did a lot of teaching. It was the entrance used by those who had to travel to Jerusalem, so it was the perfect spot for Him to teach. This entrance is the most likely place for where Jesus gave his address in Matthew 23 as He chastised the Pharisees and others for their hypocrisy. Due to His location, He was probably using his surroundings to make examples and metaphors to illustrate his points. If He was standing on those stairs, the Temple would be right behind him, and the Kidron Valley, which had many graves and burial sites, would be directly east of Him. In His address He used metaphors and examples involving the gold of the temple, the altar, tithing, and the image of "white washed tombs." All of these examples would be obvious and natural inclusions in His address if they were right around Him as He stood at the very entrance where we ate our sack lunches that day. How amazing is that?!

This is the street running along the wall of the Temple
Mount. There is an upperstreet (where the remains of
stairs are) and a lower street (that I'm standing on) that
would be lined with shops. 

I'm standing on the stairs at the Southern entrance,
looking at the Mt. of Olives and Kidron Valley.

The courtyard in the Herodian Quarter

We also went to the Jewish quarter where there was a couple excavation sites in the Royal District, also known as the Herodian Quarter, where the wealthy families lived, including the priests and High Priest. Seeing this area gave us a bit of a picture of what the house of Annas and Caiaphas could have looked like, where Jesus was taken and tried before He was crucified. This might not have been the actual house, but gives us an idea of what it could have looked like. There was a courtyard outside the houses as well, which would be much like the one where Peter stood with the servants and denied Christ 3 times. 

Me at the suggested tomb
of Christ.

The last stop was the Garden Tomb, also known as Gordon's Calvary. Charles Gordon was a British scholar who believed this location to be the site of the death and burial of Christ because it literally resembled a skull (since Matthew, Mark and John all call the place “Golgotha,” which means “place of a skull”). For several reasons (described in my first post about Jerusalem) we don't believe this is the true site, but that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is. However, it was a beautiful place to visit, and the tour guide was super sweet! She was English, and volunteered at the Garden Tomb giving tours and such, and she genuinely believes that this is the site where Christ was crucified and buried. But she ended her presentation in the best way possible. She said that at the end of the day, it doesn't matter where Jesus was buried, because He's not there anymore. We worship a living Savior! One who is not bound by the grave, but one who has conquered death and sin so that we can live and have hope in Him! Hallelujah! Amen! Praise God that our Savior lives, and that He has made it possible for us to live forever through Him! 

Friday, September 14: Beach Day!
On Friday, we headed to the coast! We went to the modern city of Jaffa, which was Joppa both in the Old Testament and the New Testament times. This site just proclaims the importance of the gospel through it's history! Jonah fled to Joppa before sailing to Tarshish as he was deliberately disobeying God's command to go to Nineveh and pronounce His judgment. Then in Acts 10, Peter was staying with a man named Simon in Joppa near the sea when the Lord gave him a vision, revealing to him that the message of Christ needed to be proclaimed to the Gentiles too. So just as in the story of Jonah and the Ninevites when God showed mercy to a Gentile nation, so also does God continue to show mercy to Gentiles around the world by allowing them to come to the saving knowledge and faith in His Son, Jesus Christ! There are so many other connections between Jonah and Peter too! Peter, according to Matthew 16:16 was a descendant of Jonah! Anyways, the city of Joppa (now Jaffa) is right on the Mediterranean Sea. We walked all around Old Joppa, and probably walked somewhere near where Peter was staying at Simon's house. So cool! 

Then we hung out at the beach. You guys... I swam in the MEDITERRANEAN SEA!!! So cool! It was absolutely beautiful. We were there all afternoon until well after sunset. The water was about 85 degrees so it was easy to just swim around for hours. Oh my goodness it was absolutely incredible! It was definitely one of my favorite days so far. I love the beach, and this was far better than any beach day I've had at the Pacific! The weather was warm, and so was the water! We ended the day by having a time of worship and a little devotional on the beach right after sunset. It was an absolutely beautiful time. 

Psalm 95:5

The sea is His, for it was He who made it,

And His hands formed the dry land. 

There's one last note I want to make real quick, and it's pretty important. I want everyone to know that I feel completely and entirely safe here. Yes, the day that we went to the Mediterranean Sea there was a riot in Old City Jerusalem, and I can see how that can be exceptionally concerning for people back home. But keep in mind, that the revolt was on Friday, which is the Muslim day of prayer. We will never go to the city on a friday, because if the Muslims are going to stir up trouble, it will usually be on a friday after they've had their morning prayers. But to be cautious, we didn't go into the City for church the following day as we had planned to do. 

I know crazy things are happening in the world. I've been reading the news about the violence and the riots happening around us, as well as the greater potential threats out there too. My professors are well aware of the situation going on as well, and they assure us that they take our safety very seriously. I trust them and their judgment entirely. Bill has lived through wars in this country and is very in tune with what is happening in the Middle East. He sent me a really helpful e-mail about how he's thinking through the world situation and how he would handle the situation if for some reason we needed to evacuate. If you want me to send you that e-mail, I will, because I think it's very reassuring. 

I just wanted to make a quick note to let you know that I am safe, I feel very safe, I trust my professors, and above all, I trust the Lord. If you want to talk to me further about these things, please don't hesitate to! 

Thank you all for reading! I'm missing home a lot, but am feeling so blessed to be here, and it's actually really fun for me to take this time to reflect on it too. 

Tomorrow I'm going to Benjamin! I get to see Jericho, among many other exciting things! Hopefully there'll be a blog about it soon ;) haha ok ... my computer is going to die in 18 minutes and it's 11:00 pm so I'd better go. Hope there's no spelling or grammar errors because I don't have time to check! haha  Goodnight everyone!! 

This Week in Jerusalem ...

So I know what some of you might be thinking right now... "Wow, another post about Jerusalem? That was last week's post! Doesn't she have anything new to tell us about?"  Well the answer to both those questions is YES! Yes, this is another post about Jerusalem, and yes I have lots of new things to tell you about!! This week, our group took two trips into Jerusalem. On Monday the 3rd, we went into the Old City again and focused on the Old Testament events, especially the 1st Temple Period, and then on Wednesday the 5th we went into the New City for the first time. Once again I learned so much, and enjoyed my time there more than I can even say!

This is the Broad Wall, which Hezekiah built to protect
Jerusalem. You'll see on the right an indicator of how tall
the wall was originally built: 8 meters!

Let's start with Monday! We left the Moshav at 8 am and went straight to the Jewish quarter of the Old City to a Museum about the 1st Temple Period. The 1st Temple Period is 1,000-586 BC, or basically the time of King David until the Babylonian captivity. Among the many things we learned at this museum, the most interesting was the history of the city of Jerusalem and its walls. When David conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites, he established his city on the Eastern Hill, which has since been known as the city of David. Until recently, scholars believed that Jerusalem during the 1st Temple Period only consisted of the City of David and part of the Temple Mount. Then in 1970, they discovered a wall around the Western Hill and dated it back to Hezekiah, which radically changed the view of Jerusalem's size. This wall became known as "the Broad Wall" and still remains today. Hezekiah built a wall around Jerusalem in 700 BC in order to protect the city from Sennacherib and the Assyrians. Since part of that wall was found on the western hill, it only makes sense that there would have been people living there that would need its protection.  2 Chronicles 32:5 says, "And he [Hezekiah] took courage and rebuilt all the wall that had been broken down and erected towers on it, and built another outside wall and strengthened the Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in great number." So Hezekiah fortified the existing walls around the city of David, and then built another wall around the rest of Jerusalem. This second wall is the Broad Wall, and we were able to see it on Monday! Isaiah also alludes to the construction of this wall in Isaiah 22, and said that Hezekiah "tore down houses to fortify the wall" (verse 10), and when this wall was excavated, there were remains of several houses from the same time period there too. More about Hezekiah to come soon ...

This entire room is the supposed tomb of David.
Behind us is the women's prayer room for meditation.

Some of the guys imitating Christ and John at the
Last Supper in its traditional location.

Next, we went to the supposed tomb of King David. If you remember from my last post, the Byzantines termed a spot on the Western Hill, "Mount Zion" because they thought it was the city of David. Then when they found a tomb there as well, they of course believed it to be David's tomb, since 1 Kings 2:10 says that David was buried in the City of David. However, that area is not the City of David, so this tomb does not belong to him. David's tomb has not yet been found, and probably won't be. We know that its location was known during the time of the apostles because Paul says in Acts 2:29, "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day." His tomb could have, however been destroyed since then either by an earthquake that would cause it to collapse, or by rock quarrying in the area. The tomb that we went in to was really cool, though! It was absolutely massive! Right above the tomb site (literally right upstairs) is the traditional spot for where the Upper Room was. The tradition started with the Crusaders, and the room built on that site today was built by the Crusaders. Their guess is as good as anyone's. We really don't know where it is. It was a really neat place to stop for a while and talk about what Jesus said to His disciples during His last supper with them. Benj read John 13 for us, and we talked about Christ's incredible example of humility, and how that same demonstration of humble service is required of us today as well. I'm continually amazed by who Christ is! He humbled himself and became a lowly human being in order to save us from the penalty that our sin justly deserves. And on top of that, He spent his entire time on the earth serving others! He lived humbly, and demanded no special treatment from the people He was with. His abundant kindness and unconditional love is absolutely astounding, and is the example that we get to follow! 

I'm going to breeze through some of the other things we did on Monday, for the sake of time. We visited a couple different cemeteries in order to see a few specific graves, and to get a good view of the Hinom and Kidron Valleys. In the Protestant Cemetery at the Jerusalem University College, we visited the grave of Sir Matthew Williams Flinders Petrie, who was a very significant figure in the archaeology world. Most relevant to us, he actually discovered the Merneptah Stele, which was written by Pharaoh Merneptah in 1207 BC, and mentions the nation of Israel! This is important because it's the first extra-biblical text that mentions Israel, and its date fits right in with the early date theory of when Israel left Egypt and started the conquests. We also saw Horatio Spaford's grave. He wrote the beautiful song, "It is Well with my Soul" as he was sailing over the portion of the ocean where his four daughters drowned. His life was filled with sorrow, but his heart was filled with the joy and contentment of the Lord! We sang the first and last verses of his song together, right where he and his wife were buried. It was very powerful! After the Protestant Cemetery, we visited Oskar Schindler's grave in the Catholic Cemetary. Schindler saved the lives of countless Jews during the Holocaust, and is considered a major hero in Jerusalem today. Notice in the picture how his grave is covered with tons of rocks: This is how the Jews show reverence and honor to someone who has died. 

The tomb with the triangular top is
named Zechariah's Tomb.

After we ate lunch (I had my first felafel and it was DELICIOUS), we walked outside of the city and overlooked the Kidron Valley. There are many tombs established there, and several bear the names of Old Testament characters, although none of them are actually for those specific people. Examples are of Absalom’s Pillar and Zechariah’s Tomb, both of which date back to the 1^st century BC, which was way after their lives. However, these tombs, and the others around them, were all around during the time of Christ, and could have influenced Christ’s words when He said that the Pharisees were like white washed tombs (Matthew 23:25).

The last (and most exciting thing) we did was visit The City of David! While being able to see the excavations of what some believe to be David's palace, the thing we were all most excited about was our opportunity to actually walk through Hezekiah's Tunnel! Remember that wall that Hezekiah built in 700 BC? Well this tunnel is related to it, and is mentioned earlier in 2 Chronicles 32. Verses 2-3 say, "Now when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to make war on Jerusalem,  he decided with his officers and his warriors to cut off the supply of water from the springs which were outside the city, and they helped him." Knowing that Sennacherib was coming, Hezekiah made a very smart move with the city's water source. To make sure that Jerusalem would still have water, he channelled the water from the Gihon Springs into the city by digging a tunnel. His men helped him dig it, and they actually started digging from both sides. The miraculous thing is that despite the snake-like path the tunnel took, the diggers met in the middle! I've attached a map of the tunnel so you can see just how amazing it was! Towards the center, you can just see how windy it gets as they try to find each other, and as the map says, there are several "false tunnels" where they started digging, but then had to dig in another direction because they were headed the wrong way. All in all, this is an amazing feat, and it contributed greatly to rescuing Jerusalem from the Assyrians. As you can see in the picture of me in the tunnel, it is teeny tiny! There were many times where we had to be completely bent over as we walked through it, and at some points it was narrower than the width of our shoulders! We were also walking through water the whole time, and the deepest it got was to right above my knees. I really enjoyed learning about Hezekiah during this part of the trip. It was really cool to learn about his absolute trust in the Lord and confidence that He would protect His people, yet how he balanced that with his own responsibility to act and defend the people he was responsible for. This is a beautiful blend of God's sovereignty with man's responsibility. Yes, we can be fully assured of God's plan, but that doesn't mean we get to sit idly on our hands and expect everything to be done for us.

After Hezekiah's Tunnel, we saw a few other things, such as the Pool of Siloam from Jesus' day, where Christ sent the blind man to wash himself and therefore receive his sight (John 9). This is a recently excavated site as well, which was really exciting! We also walked through some ancient sewers, through which the Jews actually fled from the Romans during the Roman conquest in 70 AD. And those are the main points from Monday's trip! Ready for some more exciting information? Maybe take a quick 5 minute break to stretch, get a cup of coffee and crack your back.

Ok, ready? Great! Let's get to it again!

On Wednesday, like I said earlier, we actually went to the new City! Once again, we started in a museum. This museum contains much more than what we went to see, and Benj assured us that we would return to see the rest of the cool stuff there. On Wednesday we saw two specific things at the Israel Museum: a model of Jerusalem as it would have looked immediately before the Jerusalem Revolt in 66 AD, and part of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Solomon's Temple (well, a model of it)

The model was absolutely incredible! It was built in the late 60's/ early 70's by a guy named Avi Yona. It started as his own personal model, but then he donated it to Israel at the end of his life. The main source of information that he based his model off of was Josephus's description of the city. While Josephus is generally a very trustworthy source, there are some things that he potentially could have exaggerated about because he was trying to please both the Jews and the Romans as he was recounting the full history of the Jews. The model shows the three main walls that were around Jerusalem at that time, one of which was Hezekiah's Broad Wall. There are a few main things that I really enjoyed visibly seeing in this model, the foremost of which was the Temple and Temple Mount. The temple at that time was the temple that Solomon built, and was absolutely beautiful! In the model, you could see all the different courts (i.e. the court of the Gentiles, the court of the women, the court of the Israelites, and the court of the priests) and you could see the doors into the Holy Place, where the Holy of Holies was. During Solomon's time, the Ark of the Covenant was in the Holy of Holies, but in Christ's time, nothing was there. Other interesting parts of the model included Herod's Palace, a Roman theatre, the rock quarry where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is now built (which is the spot where Christ was most likely crucified and buried), and a series of military buildings established by the Romans in order to monitor the city and control any riots that might occur. There's so much more that I'd love to say about this model! I put some pictures on Facebook and will add in the descriptions. Check out the album that correlates to this blog post to see the rest of the descriptions.

This is where the museum is located. It is shaped like the
lid to the jars in which the scrolls were found.

We also went to the museum's "Shrine of the Holy Book," which is all about the Dead Sea Scrolls. For those of you who don't know, the Dead Sea Scrolls is one of the most important collection of documents ever discovered! Some of the scrolls, along with fragments of 800 other ancient documents, were found in a cave at Khirbet Qumran, while most of the actual scrolls were found in an antiquities shop! Of the documents found, 200 of the were Biblical manuscripts, while the other 600 were all important Jewish writings that revealed Jewish thought and approaches to Scripture at that time. The oldest of the documents found dated back to 250 BC, and the youngest were from 68 AD, right before the Romans destroyed the city. These documents were probably hid in the cave in order to save them from the Romans, and because of the cold and dry conditions of that cave, the documents have been beautifully produces for 2,000 years! Probably the most amazing of these documents is the Isaiah scroll. Parts of the original were actually in this museum, and we got to take a look at it! Sadly, pictures were not allowed. Scholars were amazed by this scroll because when compared to the Masoretic copies of Isaiah, there were hardly any differences. This Isaiah scroll pre-dated the Masoretic texts by nearly 1,000 years, yet God's Word was still preserved. What an amazing story! Our faithful God has kept His Word preserved throughout the centuries, so that the copy we hold in our hands is reliable, and still the inspired Word of the Creator of the Universe! Anyways, the museum about the Dead Sea Scrolls was so incredible! Since I've been learning a little bit of biblical Hebrew (basically just the alphabet, as well as some vowels) I was able to actually make out what some of the words on the original Isaiah scroll said! Benj pointed to a word and said, "Hey Catie! You can read this word." He was right. The word was Israel.  Biblical Hebrew looks like this, although the ancient Hebrew was a bit different:  The letters are (from right to left) yod - sin - resh- aleph- lamed. For some reason, that moment of actually being able to read that word was so powerful for me! I guess all the emotion of being in Israel, looking at the Isaiah Scroll, and actually reading even just a word of it overwhelmed me a little bit. Benj then showed us another part of the Isaiah scroll. He pointed out that chapter 40 started on the bottom line of one of the pages. Why is that significant? Well, contemporary liberal scholars have proposed that Isaiah was written by several different authors, rather than just one, and they usually break up the book of Isaiah at chapter 40. But if that were true and the scribe who wrote the Isaiah scroll was aware of that, why would he write the scroll in a continuous fashion? If he believed they were different texts, he would have at least put chapter 40 on the next page. Basically, I loved this museum, and would love to go back!!

After the museum, we ate pizza in the park, and then headed to a modern supermarket called The Shuk (I have no idea how to spell it, but it's pronounced shuke). It was a really neat market where they sold, produce, clothing, candy, flowers, jewelry, gifts, and all sorts of other stuff! In that general area there was tons of shopping too, so it was a really neat place to hang out. The girls definitely have plans of returning there in the near future. Here's just one picture of what they had there, but believe me when I say that there was a ton more!

I'm really falling in love with Jerusalem! It's an incredible city filled with tons of history, culture and excitement. It's such a blessing to be living here and studying here. I am so thankful that the Lord has given me this opportunity, and I sincerely hope to use it for His glory. My prayer is that my eyes may be enlightened, my heart may be softened and my life be changed. 

Again, there is so much more I'd love to tell you about. Check out the Facebook album that corresponds to this post, and hopefully within the next couple days I'll add in all the descriptions so you can get a more complete picture of what I've been learning. 

Thank you so much for reading, and thank you also for your prayers! 

2 Chronicles 32: 7-8 

“Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria nor because of all the horde that is with him; for the one with us is greater than the one with him. With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

The Old City

On Tuesday, August 28, we had the wonderful opportunity to spend the entire day in Old City Jerusalem! Benj, our Land and Bible professor, took the entire group, and we walked all over the city, seeing the major sites, learning a lot of the history, and taking as many pictures as our time would allow. It was an absolutely incredible experience, unmatched by anything I’ve ever done before. While being a much smaller city than I anticipated, it is jam-packed with historical, cultural and religious significance for many different people. Even getting a small taste of that was enough to bring me to tears. In this blog, I'm hoping to give you an overview of the sites we saw, as well as fill you in on some of the things I learned while I was there. I'm going to try really hard to be concise, but it's going to be difficult! Everything was so new and exciting, and naturally, I want to tell you all about it! 

The View of the city from the top of Petra Youth Hostile:
The hill in the background is the Mount of Olives,
and the golden dome is the Dome of the Rock
atop the Temple Mount.

We started the day be entering the Old City through the Jaffa Gate, which is on the western side of the city, and then going on the roof of a youth hostile in order to overlook the city and get a feel for where we’d be going. From the roof we could easily see the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Temple Mount, Dome of the Rock, and the Mount of Olives. We learned about the general layout of the Old City. It is surrounded by walls built in 1537 by the Turks, and is divided into 4 quarters with a designated section for the Christians, Armenians, Muslims and Jews.  There are 7 gates leading into the Old City; 1 on the western side, 3 on the northern side, 1 on the eastern side, and 2 on the southern side. By the end of the day, we had passed by all of them. At this point, I was already on the brink of tears. To be in this place is such a blessing. To look out and see for myself this magnificent place that the Lord chose to make His name great and to establish His people really touched my heart that day, and still continues to.

After our outlook over the city, we walked over to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is the spot where tradition holds that Christ was both crucified and buried. It was built during the Byzantine period in 325 AD, during which time the Byzantines built many churches atop other historic religious sites. There are two sites in Jerusalem that claim to be the true place where Jesus died and was buried, but the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the most probable for many reasons. First of all, it has the oldest tradition of being the true site, and since Christians have been in Jerusalem ever since Christ’s life, there is no reason to believe that the tradition could have been lost. Also, there are legitimate 1^st century tombs located on that site. Inside the Church, there is a tomb that tradition holds is the very tomb in which Christ laid. There is also a large room constructed around the spot in the ground where people believe the cross Christ died on was placed. There is a long line of people waiting to go into that room to look into that hole that held His cross, and there is a huge crowd of people kneeling down to pray beside or on top of His tomb (pictured right). Although I was incredibly amazed to be on the site where Christ most likely died and was buried, I didn't go to see where the cross supposedly stood nor did I touch His tomb. I am so thankful for and humbled by Christ's sacrifice for me, and simply meditating on His love and grace at the place of Calvary was extremely powerful. That being said, my affection for and thankfulness to the Lord for what He's done for me is by no means tied to these attractions, because I know the love and power of my Savior is omnipresent, and I can be just as touched and amazed by Him while I'm sitting on my couch at home as I can in Jerusalem, especially when I'm in His Word. 

After visiting the Church, we exited the Old City through the New Gate, and ate lunch just outside the walls. We all had schwarma, and it was just as delicious as everyone told me it would be! Basically, it's pita bread stuffed with meat, vegetables, french fries (crazy right??) and a delicious sauce. It was SO good. Once we were done eating, we went to the Damascus Gate, and actually got to walk on top of the wall almost all the way around the exterior sides of the Muslim quarter. Benj pointed out a lot of interesting sites, such as the other supposed place for where Christ was crucified and buried, and the Rockefellar museum, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were first taken when discovered. My favorite part of this walk along the wall was when we stopped at one point on the Eastern side of the city in front of the Mount of Olives, and we read Zechariah 14. In this passage, it declares that when Christ returns, He will come on the Mount of Olives. Verse 4 says, “In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east...” The geography of this text is enough evidence to prove it’s legitimacy, and being able to actually see that geography right before my eyes was incredible! It was just exciting to think about the Lord reigning over all the earth when He returns (verse 9), while looking at the very place where He will return! Oh Lord, come quickly. After getting off the wall, we took a quick detour to get a closer look at the Mount of Olives, and more specifically, the Kidron Valley which is right in front of it. Fun fact: Even though the walls and boundaries of Jerusalem have changed many times over history, the eastern border has never changed because the steep Kidron Valley on that side of the city! Isn't that interesting? 

Remains at pools of Bethseda

After looking at the Kidron Valley, we made a few more stops in the Muslim quarter. We went to the pools of Bethesda (see John 5, and the miracle Jesus performed there) and were able to see the remains of the Byzantine church that was built there, as well as the remains of the Crusader’s church that was built on top of the Byzantines’ church. Everything that you see in the picture to the right is just remains of what's been built there, while the actual pools and structures are located beneath them. The original site had two main pools, and a divider between them. We were standing directly over the southern pool. We also went to the Strouthion Pool, which has a stone pavement above it that tradition claims is the site where Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified. However, this cannot be so because the stone actually dates back to Hadrian, who came roughly 100 years after Jesus lived, even though the pools date back to the time of Christ.  (Like I said... lots of history... I hope you're not too bored!) 

The last place of significance that we briefly visited was the Western Wall, commonly referred to as the Wailing Wall. This wall is the most western wall of the temple mount, and was constructed by Herod the Great. In fact, many of the wall's lower stones are the very stones that Herod used to build the wall originally, and the wall we see today has just been built on top of them. Those Herodian stones were so strong and heavy that they were too hard to destroy in order to move and build again, so they were just used as a foundation. This wall is an incredible architectural feat. 
Although I’ve heard a lot about this wall, I had never known that modern day Jews don’t go any further on the temple mount than the western wall because they don’t want to accidentally stumble upon the Holy of Holies. Their extra care to remain holy and not to “offend” God absolutely astounded me. As I watched the women praying, when they were finished they would back away from the wall, rather than turning around and walking away from it with their backs turned. They wanted to revere and honor God, rather than rudely turn their backs on Him. It really made me consider if I have the same awe and reverence for the Lord as these Jews do. I don't have any rituals to perform in order to communicate my reverence, but the same attitude should still be present in my heart, and in how I live my life moment to moment. 

All in all, this trip was an incredible and unbelievable experience for me! I was so encouraged and humbled to see the evidence and the history of God’s goodness to His people in this very city and His faithfulness to fulfill His promises by sending His Son to die for us, as well as His promise to return and establish His kingdom forever! What a wonderful God who has done such great things for His people. 

Congratulations! You made it through an exceptionally long blog with a lot of history you probably weren't too excited about. There is so much more I could have said, and would have loved to say, because everything I learned was so interesting and exciting to me! I'll be putting pictures on Facebook soon, and will hopefully include a few more of the sites and random historical facts to go along with them. Thank you for reading! I hope you're all doing well! 

Zechariah 14:9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.