More old stuff and cooler hikes.

Our most recent field study saved the best for last. The day started with a climb up the Roman siege ramp to Masada - a three-tier palace Herod built overlooking the Dead Sea. Herod was big on escape routes and mostly built this palace as a refuge for himself in case of revolt. But he made sure that if he ever needed to use it, he would still be able to live the high-life: Masada is an ornate three-tier palace on a cliff face, it has access to a huge water source via aquaducts built into the sides of the mountain, it has multiple bath houses, columns, colorful frescos, mosaic floors, etc. He also filled it full of food - lots of food- but he never needed it for protection against Jewish rebels. Ironically, the rebels took it over after Rome destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD and holed up there for over a year, living off all the supplies Herod had stashed there.

 

Masada was the last stronghold of the rebellion against Rome in Israel and was home to over 960 people when Rome finished their siege ramp and burnt through the walls. According to the historian Josephus, when the Romans finally made it into Masada they found it lifeless - the rebels had made a suicide pact and killed themselves and their families in the night to prevent being taken as captives. It has become a symbol in modern Zionism (theme of refusing to live as slaves to any people, fighting till the end for a land of their own) and many people have their Bar Mitzvah celebrations here. While we were having class, there was a military fly over and one of the planes tipped its swings to us, thinking we were a celebration group. (at the bottom of the photo you can see the recreated siege weapons Rome might have used here).

 

View from the lowest tier looking up at the other two - notice the columns and frescos? Okay, now ignore the really colorful frescos - they are all new.

 Mosaics

 

Herod liked fancy - this is a thermal bath house: hollow floors, clay pipes lining the walls, arched windows, colorful frescos, wow.

 

 Next stop was Ein Gedi - a shorter hike than the day before, also a cooler one.

There were at least three waterfalls for us to go swimming in. And across the street was the Dead Sea, umbrella showers, weird floating/inability to swim, and salty, mineraly mud. Ummmm.

I prefer the waterfalls.

 

Last stop: Qumran, home of the Dead Sea Scrolls for several centuries. There are a multitude of caves in the surrounding area where people not only hid things but also hid themselves. The area around the Dead Sea, including Masada, Ein Gedi, Qumran, etc. was a place mostly used for spiritual retreat and exiles, rebels hiding from authority - even David used this place to hide from Saul (1 Sam. 24). It's a wasteland, but a beautiful one.

 

Old stuff and cool hikes

Hey friends. I forgot I had a blog. So I forgot to post stuff to it. Oops. Life has picked up pace with midterms, more trips, and daily excursions. We have also (finally) begun an archaeological dig on campus which is taking up a lot of spare time.

 

The dig is happening right where our drive way used to be - early this summer they were putting in water pipes and discovered a what looked like a small wall and the top of what appeared to be a 1st century arch (being Jerusalam, and this being Mount Zion, every dig - even for water pipes - must be observed by a specialist in ancient remains). So everything was filled back in until a proper dig could be organized. All of the laborers on the dig are students at JUC - many from the archaeology class - and we are being overseen by an archaeologist from the Israeli antiquities department. Today was only the second day of the dig and we are about three feet deep. We found some interesting things - ask me later about it, I can't post findings online.

(View of the Mediterranean from Ashkelon - a big place for kite surfing, apparently)



Our last field study was to the South and we spent three days exploring sites near the Elah Valley (between Gath and Bethlehem where the fight between David and Goliath took place), the Philistine city of Ashkelon, the craters of Mahktesh Ramon, the Canaanite and Israelite ruins at Tel-Arad (including an Israelite temple - the only one ever excavated), and the amazing ruins of Lachish. We hiked through the Wadi Zin, swam in the Dead Sea, crossed lines and swam under waterfalls at Ein Gedi, etc. etc. etc.  

Ashkelon has the oldest arch in the world - which is really impressive because it was made of mudbricks around 1850 BC. The arch was next used by the Romans nearly 2000 years later.

 

Oh yeah. We went swimming in the Mediterranean at sunset. (Riane and Jacqueline with me)

 

My feet in the Mediterranean - felt warm, but in a refreshing way. Extremely salty water!

 

Markers at one of the sites (I think this was the city where Samson met Delilah) - they mark the layers for each level in the excavation.

 

The ruins of ancient Lachish (destroyed by both Assyria and Babylon). We had class on the fortress walls.

 

Overlooking Mahktesh Ramon: there are 3 mahkteshes (craters) in the Negev, Ramon is the largest.

 

Tel-Arad is both the location of an ancient Canaanite city (foreground) and a later Israelite fortress (background). It's out in the Negev with little resources so archaeologists believe that this location had a different climate during the Canaanite period. The Israelite fortress was basically part of an early-warning system in case of attack from Egypt. It was destroyed and rebuilt multiple times.

 



Think your kitchen is small? Try cooking in a Canaanite one!

 

Hiking in the Wadi Zin. We went from the bottom of the canyon...

...to about half way up...

...to the very top.

 

 



Shaped by the Land

Last Saturday we had a fun hike through Galilee, near where we had hiked before but on a completely different trail. Supposedly, this would be a leisurely two hour hike which many Israeli's take their children on. Sounds easy, right? Yeah, you should beware Israeli children. They kick butt on trails. I don't.

It was a beautiful trail - waterfalls, green hills, lots of trees, great view, gorgeous. In all honesty, it was the best hike I've ever gone on. Not because it was beautiful, not because I was having a blast, not because it was easy. It wasn't. But I've never learned so much as I did on this hike. A lot of things "went wrong". Meaning: they didn't go according to my expectations. And when things don't meet my expectations, I complain. A lot. And when I complain, God usually points out something obvious.

 

When I found myself hiking alone at one point I began to pray and list to God all the things that were going wrong and why I was unhappy: I'd run out of water, my fingers were swollen like little sausages and I could no longer bend them, I had no idea how much longer I'd be out there, it was hot, I had rocks in my shoes, I was hugging a mountain for dear life, and it was so late that there was no way I would make it to the bus in time to go swimming. I don't like hiking - I like swimming. The entire point of me coming on this hike was the condition that we would go swimming after it. Blah. blah. blah...

 

Cool thing about being alone: once you've run out of things to say, you have to listen to what God has to say. There is no way to drown him out or distract yourself. So then he says, "So you're thirsty, huh? And who calls himself Living Water?" Yeah, you do, God. But I'm still thirsty. "And who said that they wanted to be shaped by the land? To gain a better understanding of what is written in the Bible and the meaning it had to its authors?" Yeah, okay, that was me. Before I was thirsty. And before I had rocks in my shoes. When I was sitting in air-conditioning and drinking coffee. "So take the rocks out of your shoes. Isn't this what you wanted? This used to be a highway - this is the same road people traveled on for thousands of years. This is what it feels like to travel by foot. Alone. On a nice day when the sun is out. You are being shaped by the land." But I can't see the end. I don't know if I can make it. "You'll make it. Stop whining - it's not like no one knows where you are. Just keep going." But I can't see the end! I've been walking for four hours, twice as long as I thought. Where is the end?...silence.

 

Funny guy, God is. After about three minutes I came around a bend in the trail and could see the highway and the bus waiting for me. Still forty-five minute's walk, but I could see the end. Five munites later the trail ended and dumped me onto a dirt road. I laughed. Okay. I'm clearly going to make it. So I was thirsty for an hour or two. So reality didn't conform to my expectations (does it, ever?). What great pictures: I was hugging a rock for dear life. I was dry and was thirsty for water that wouldn't run out. I was on a journey and didn't know where the end would be, what it would be like, or what shape I would be in when I got there. I was hiking alone and had no idea when I would run across other hikers. It was nice to see other hikers, there were about 40 of us out there, but we all traveled at our own pace and didn't stay together for long.

 

 Hmm. Sounds a little like life. Sometimes we enjoy where we are, sometimes we focus on everything that isn't as we expect it or want it to be. But it's still beautiful. And God is still listening. And he is still wanting to shape us into a people who he can better use. We can talk to him whenever we want. But be aware that instead of changing our circumstances, he may just tell us to change our attitudes. He may be asking us to refocus and take our eyes off of ourselves and our own problems and recognize the journey we are on. He constantly gives us opportunities to be transformed out of the whiny people we feel like being and become a new people. It's not all about us, and once we realize that we can see that the journey itself is really beautiful.