Hey Everyone! This past weekend we spent three days in Southern Israel hiking around what is called the Shephelah, the Negev, and on to En-gedi and the Dead sea. It was a fantastic weekend and some of my favorite traveling that we have done so far. I usually post after each day in the field all at one time....however, because this field study was three days long, I'll have to post three different times....for my sake and yours! :) So, this is the first of three!
Last Saturday morning we boarded the bus with all our gear and headed out to the land of Shephelah and Philistia. I don't have as much to say about stories you may recognize from the Bible that took place in this land but many kings and judges went through the six valleys of the Shephelah and pushed each other in and out. This part of the land is a bit of a gateway to the different sections of the country and the valleys serve the people with great agriculture and easy access to the coast. That's why so many people wanted to own this land. It had great routes in and out of Judah and Israel and to the coast. The mountains surrounding the valleys also served the people greatly with summer crops. Anyways.....some of the big stories to take place here are the story of Samson and his taking of the land as well as his indiscretions as a leader. Even though he was a bit of a soundrel as a judge, God seemed to be faithful to him in order to care for His people. The account of David and Goliath also took place here along with other battles with the Philistians that are found in Judges, Chronicles, and Kings. Looking out over this land as we talked about each of these stories, stories I have grown up with in Sunday School, helped me to understanding the depth and magnitude of them. I think one of the themes of the weekend was God's sovereignty, how big He really is, and how much He cares for His people. Hopefully you'll catch a glimpse of that in the next few posts as well! Enjoy some pictures from the weekend!
Last Saturday morning we boarded the bus with all our gear and headed out to the land of Shephelah and Philistia. I don't have as much to say about stories you may recognize from the Bible that took place in this land but many kings and judges went through the six valleys of the Shephelah and pushed each other in and out. This part of the land is a bit of a gateway to the different sections of the country and the valleys serve the people with great agriculture and easy access to the coast. That's why so many people wanted to own this land. It had great routes in and out of Judah and Israel and to the coast. The mountains surrounding the valleys also served the people greatly with summer crops. Anyways.....some of the big stories to take place here are the story of Samson and his taking of the land as well as his indiscretions as a leader. Even though he was a bit of a soundrel as a judge, God seemed to be faithful to him in order to care for His people. The account of David and Goliath also took place here along with other battles with the Philistians that are found in Judges, Chronicles, and Kings. Looking out over this land as we talked about each of these stories, stories I have grown up with in Sunday School, helped me to understanding the depth and magnitude of them. I think one of the themes of the weekend was God's sovereignty, how big He really is, and how much He cares for His people. Hopefully you'll catch a glimpse of that in the next few posts as well! Enjoy some pictures from the weekend!
The Sorek Valley...looks more like a canyon but it's hard to see how deep it really goes in this pictures. We hiked most of the way down it and back up....I'm definitely getting my exercise! You'll also notice the constrast of this valley versus the other valleys as we go further south. Also, this is quite different from the desert/wilderness that we hiked the last two days of the trip. A lot of terrace farming takes place here and we were able to get a good picture of what Jesus meant in making a metaphor about being a vinekeeper. When the grapes begin to spoil on the vine and are fermenting in a bad way, the vinekeeper can no longer use them. So, the vinekeeper waits until just the right time and lifts the grapes up off the ground and lays them over a wall or some kind of support for the them to bear more fruit and to live. We then get the picture of Jesus does for us. As long as we are connected to Him, the vine, He will help us to grow, lift us up out of spoil, and produce fruit in us. What a reminder that I have nothing to do with my sanctification except for staying connected to Him. Even then, He picks me up off the ground, lays me in His support, and bears His fruit in me. This is amazing. Particularly because I am often capable of allowing my soul to spoil and so incapable of bearing fruit on my own. He is always for our good.
This is the Elah Valley - Samson's home town is south east of this picture and could be seen from this lookout. He would have traveled across this valley in his journeys. This was taken at Beth-Shemesh. The story of David and Goliath also takes place here.
We went to a place called Arad where we walked around this archeological site. It's called Tel Arad. It's a Solomonic temple and has what seems to be a Holy of Holies in the temple section of the remains. Very cool to see.
We finished the day going to the city of Ashkelon and going in the Mediterranean Sea. It was so nice after being really hot all day!
Me and Danielle were ready to head in for the night at the Hostel. We're looking pretty fantastic after a long day.....I wonder how many backpacks we really need
No comments:
Post a Comment