June 19th Travels and thoughts

Today was another full day field trip. Our first stop was the Wadi Kilt a deep valley that runs east toward Jericho and the Jordan Rift Valley. This was an incredible stop somewhere near where the Roman Road would have passed from Jericho to Jerusalem. This is just one of the three main routes in the Bible times that would have been traveled as people came up to Jerusalem. This Wadi is located in the Judean Wilderness, so it was dry and hot. Overlooking the deep and steep valley walls brought several biblical accounts to mind. This would have been the area in which the Holy Spirit led Jesus into for the 40 days of fasting and temptation in Mark 1 and Matthew 4. This would have been the setting of Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10). This puts quite a perspective on the places and events of the Bible. Looking out over the hot, arid wilderness made it very clear that the conditions of the wilderness would have made Jesus’ temptation that much more difficult.

Coming out of the Judean Wilderness brought us to the location of the NT Jericho which is on the southern outskirts of modern Jericho. We took some time to look the ruins of another of Herod the Great’s palaces. We then drove through modern Jericho and stopped at a Sycamore tree. The story of Zaccheaus was read just to put the tree and the story into context. We then proceed to the site of the OT or Joshua’s Jericho located to the north of modern Jericho. The city has been rebuilt over the many years and then destroyed again. Many excavations have taken place on the site over the years bringing to light the history of the city. As we stood on the site of the ancient city it was easy to look out over the plains of Moab where Moses and the Israelites would have camped. The Scriptures tell us that the “Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in (Joshua 6:1). The city was locked down because they feared the million Israelites camped out in Moab and figured out what was coming. From the plains of Moab the Israelites camped for a few days at Gilgal to the north. This is only a short walk from Jericho. The events of Joshua came alive as I was standing there. On a side note, it was extremely hot at 9AM and the temperature was rising quickly. I can only imagine what it would have been like to wander in the wilderness for 40 years as the Israelites had done.

From Jericho we returned to the hill country through the Michmash Geba or the OT route onto the Central Benjamin Plateau. The Benjamin Plateau was the allotted land of the tribe of Benjamin. This area controlled all of the east west trade routes. Anyone controlling this area would have great control over the land of the Bible. We visited a site that the Crusaders identified as the first place and resting place of Samuel the prophet which is today named Nebi Samwell (Arabic). Another church is located at this high point. From the roof one can easily see the plateau and the east west trade routes. From the roof top we were able to locate the ancient ruins of Gibeon, Geba and several other locations. This was another incredible view of the land where many events of the OT took place. Gibeon of the OT was a strategic plce in the high country and when they made a pact with Joshua it was strategic in Joshua’s conquest and gives reason why Joshua entered into the plateau early on.

Our final stop was at the ancient ruins of Gezer on the coastal plain in western Israel. The landscape here was much different than the sites to the east. The amount as well as the different types of vegetation is a result of the larger amount of rain fall that comes to the western side of Israel. Gezer was a Canaanite city that became one of the fortified cites of Solomon when he was building his kingdom. It was strategic in protecting the east west route through the Aijalon Valley that leads north east to Lower and Upper Beth-Horon in the Benjamin Plateau.

One of the most spectacular stops of the day was in the upper hill looking down on modern Michmash and Geba. This is the location where Jonathan and his armor bearer scaled ? and ? cliffs to attack the Philistines. These cliffs are treacherous today and makes their feat that much more amazing and speaks to Jonathan’s leadership ability.

Overall, the day was very insightful but I find myself looking forward to Sunday off. I find myself on information overload.