The Wilderness, Benjamin, Gezer, & the Jerichos.

It would make me really happy if a band was named (Somebody) and the Jerichos. Just throwing it out there.

Exploring the territory of Benjamin was fairly relaxed, even though we visited so many sites - mostly because we spent long stretches of time on the bus. It was one of my favorite days, mostly because of the first place we visited.

We began the morning in the Wilderness of Judah - a beautiful, desolate space. (Yes, theater readers, I said it.) We climbed to a crest overlooking the sharp folds and creases in the limestone, settling down to listen to stories about Abraham, Jesus, John the Baptist, and David. It is the land of the shepherds, the land of temptation, and the land of 'forty.' The mountains echo with footsteps from several miles away. Israel had most of its formative times in the wilderness. It's treacherous, yet somehow, alluring.

I was reminded of some of my favorite verses from Hosea 2.

¹⁴Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
¹⁵And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

Some Bedouins had spotted us earlier, and offered their camels for entertainment (for a small fee, of course.) But somehow, I managed to get a free ride. I think it was because they had already extorted way too much money from everyone else, and I was last, so they didn't care and decided to be nice. I rode a camel! I couldn't help but post the picture at the beginning. I'm all about the subtle bragging rights.

We also headed to both Jerichos: New Testament and Old Testament Sites. Herod the Great built a summer palace here, along with a massive aqueduct that brought water to his pool and bathhouse. Old Testament Jericho is an oasis fed by the Wadi Qelt, a spring which dumps a thousand gallons a minute into the valley. It is the lowest city on earth, at 853 feet below sea level. Its earliest remains have been dated 5000 years earlier than the rest of cities humans have excavated, also making it the oldest city on earth. We climbed to the top of the Tel (the word for the mounds formed by collected layers of city building) to discuss the history and archaeology of the place. Contrary to popular belief, they have not actually found evidence of the walls that Joshua brought down.

Finally, we went to Gezer, an embattled city during Biblical times. Coveted for the access it provided to Jerusalem and the Coastal Plain, it was fortified by Solomon, and then destroyed by Egypt after his death.

We have defined the land as being 'between.' It is meant literally; the land is a convocation of routes, both trade and otherwise, through which all of the major empires had to pass in order to relate to each other. But the theme of 'between' is present in so many other ways. The Wilderness is a land between lands, simultaneously empty and full. Jerusalem hovers between abundance and famine, given just enough to survive. Jericho and Gezer are gateways between Jerusalem and the outer world. Old Testament Jericho is suspended between Biblical knowledge and archaeological evidence, forcing believers to live in the tension of not knowing for sure.

Living in the between, in the tension, in the question, is something we're afraid of; yet it's also something we are subjected to in our existence between past perfection and the promised future perfection. We long for certainty. We simplify and codify, making things 'sure' in order to hang on. As I have been learning over the past two years, there is something in asking the questions that have no answers which forms and flexes us beyond the rigid mold of certainty. As Dr. K says, you have to be willing to question everything, because otherwise, you know nothing.