The South Pt. 3: Masada, The Dead Sea, En Gedi, Qumran

Our final day in the south is an infamous one on the Holy Lands calendar. We had been warned since January. We were warned how it would be 115 degrees Fahrenheit, and how we would hike over 700 stairs at just one stop. And, how we would do it all before ten in the morning. We were instructed to buy electrolyte tablets and to drink water every five minutes. Thankfully, it wasn't as awful as I had prepared for it to be, but our day at Masada certainly proved to be a memorable one.

Masada (Hebrew for fortress), is situated atop an isolated rock plateau at the western end of the Judean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. In ancient Israel, Herod the Great chose the massive stretch of rock for another of his desert fortresses. Hated by his subjects, he furnished this fortress as (another) refuge for himself. It included a casemate wall around the plateau, storehouses, barracks, palaces and an armory. Most importantly, he constructed an absolutely massive cistern to catch the sparse rainfall to support the fortress (I think Dr. Wright said it was about an inch a year, but I may have that statistic wrong). Some 75 years after Herod's death, at the beginning of the Revolt of the Jews against the Romans in 66 CE, a group of Jewish rebels overcame the Roman garrison of Masada. After the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, they were joined by zealots and their families who had fled from Jerusalem. With Masada as their base, they raided and harassed the Romans for two years. Then, in 73 CE, the Roman general Silva marched against Masada with the Tenth Legion. The Romans established camps at the base of Masada, laid siege to it and built massive ramps to scale the heights. They then constructed a rampart of thousands of tons of stones and beaten earth, moved a battering ram up the ramp and breached the wall of the fortress. After they had finally rooted out the last of the Jews, Silva spat in response to the victory, "We have won a rock in the middle of the desert on the edge of a poison sea."

So, that's a lot of background, but I hope it helps communicate the scale of Masada's importance in the minds and hearts of modern Israelis. Today, modern Israelis view Masada as a symbol of Israeli endurance, fortitude, and ultimate independence. "Masada will never fall again," became a slogan of the Israeli War of Independence. When planes fly over, they dip their wings in salute. Commissioning ceremonies for elite military and bar mitzvahs of wealthy families are held within the ancient walls. It is a massive site in every sense of the word. When we got to Masada, we climbed steadily to the top. A few boys decided to race up, despite being warned that they would surely vomit if they managed to beat the record of 2:50. No one beat the record, or vomited, though JJ got close with a time of 3 minutes. Then, we spent about two hours exploring, steadily warmed by the desert sun. At the end, our team exited via their choice of either a cable car ride or the winding Snake Path down the other side. Not to be coddled, I chose the Snake Path, and all of its 700 plus stairs down the edge of the cliff. By the end, my fingers were swelling from dehydration, and my legs would tremble when I stopped, causing my camera lens to shake when I paused for a picture. Even so, it was strangely invigorating. Desert heat and emptiness evokes prayer, and dependence, and surrender. God feels especially near. After Masada, we drove to the Dead Sea for a 'swim.' By this point, it was about 105. I learned that it's true what they say about humidity/dry heat - despite the high temperatures, it was made bearable by the lack of moisture in the air. Even so, bare feet on the rocky shore of the Dead Sea is scorching. We bobbed in the slimy liquid, some of us yelping from the sting of salt on our scattered scrapes and cuts, laughing at our near inability to force our feet downwards. It was a good time, but the salt becomes uncomfortable after awhile, so we got out within a half hour and headed. We kept our bathing suits on, though, because up next was a hike to En Gedi. The spring used to flow into the Dead Sea, but has since receded. We climbed up the cliffs up to the waterfalls, where we submerged our exhausted bodies in the giggly mountain-cold water. A story maintains that this is one of the sites where David fled during his escape from Saul. Finally, we went to Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. By this point, I was often too busy marveling at every forward motion of my feet to absorb much of the lecture going on about the place. At long last, we drove back to Jerusalem, to the now well-loved campus of Jerusalem University College. And now I sit, sorting through all of my notes and scrawled impressions, trying to string them into an understandable flow. We have a test tomorrow on everything we've learned over the past week and the south. Then after that, it's off to Galilee!

The South Pt. 2: The Negev

That picture was taken on the edge of the Maktesh Ramon, the largest erosion crater in the world. It was our last stop on our second day in the South.

Our second day focused on the Negev Desert. Dr. Wright selected five sites to cover. Although the specific sites were unconnected in any sense of narrative, the separate stories each supplemented the character of the Negev.

Beersheba
At first, I got really excited when I thought we might be traveling to the actual site of Abraham's well in Beersheba, but I should have known better. In Hebrew, Beersheba means well of seven or well of the oath. The site where the well is remembered has only Iron Age remains. Nothing from Abraham's time remains, and Dr. Wright speculates that Abraham's Beersheba is probably elsewhere. We walked around a city with casemate walls, storage rooms, four-room peasant houses, a four-roomed governor’s house, and walked through the town's water system. This would hardly be the first time where water come up in our discussion of the Negev. In a desert that the Bible calls "the wasteland," water is the most precious substance possible.

Arad
Our next stop was the ancient city of Arad, which has two sites. One is Early Bronze, and most likely Egyptian-based. The second is a settlement of the Israelites which dates to the time of Solomon. The most interesting aspect of Arad is the Israelite temple, modelled after the one in Jerusalem, and outfitted with some extra accoutrements. There a lot of problems with its existence: first, the Israelites were forbidden to build more than one temple. The only true temple was to be the temple in Jerusalem. However, it is likely that Solomon knew about the existence of this temple. Furthermore, the holy of holies was found to have two standing stones. Text found nearby speaks about "Yahweh, together with his Asherah." Asherah is the Canaanite fertility goddess. Most likely, the Israelites in Arad added Asherah to their worship of Yahweh. Far from from the temple in Jerusalem, they most likely felt they had to bring God to them. Being in the middle of the desert, fertility was a big deal. Fearing the absence of water and abundance, they most likely fel it necessary to add a goddess of fertility to their list of deities to worship.

Avdat
Next was the Nabotean city of Avdat, a world heritage site located on the Incense Trade Route from Arabia. The Naboteans spent months along this route, driving their hundreds of camels laden with expensive spices through the cracked, dry land. The cresting pallid mountains look the same, one after another, yet a few inches off in one direction eventually becomes 300 feet off the wrong path. The prophets used this metaphor to compare the Israelites' decision to follow their own way with leaving the path in the desert. Rainfall is less than one inch a year. In order to protect the routes and towns from outsiders, the Naboteans had only to hide their water sources from others. After Avdat, we travelled to the geographical Sinai, where we hiked another wadi. Comparing God to living water becomes fiercely and desperately beautiful when you have thirsted in the desert long days (even despite handy metal water bottles hanging from carbines just a hand's reach away...)

We finished our day by traveling to the largest Erosion Crater in the world, 25 miles by 8 miles. Jurassic soil was at the bottom! We read, next to it, Psalm 90: Before the mountains were born … from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

It was a beautiful, thirsty day.

The South Pt. 1: The Shephelah, Ashqelon, The Mediterranean Sea

After our first test had finally been finished, we had class to introduce us to the upcoming areas of study: Judah, the Shephelah (the foothills), and Philistia (the coastal plain). Then, we scattered to pack and prepare for our three day trip to the south.

We boarded the bus early in the morning, and began our stops right away. Our first stop was for a wadi hike. Wadis are the names of the water systems which cut through the land, causing deep grooves and valleys, and defining each region with their influence. We unloaded in a park, to venture downwards to the remains of Judean country life in the terraced hills. The limestone type in the hill country is called cenomanian, and is known as a life-giving rock. We explored the settlement of Saraf, which is maintained by the park service, complete with rows of rich green seedlings and vineyards.

However, the most beautiful thing about Saraf were the springs. In Egypt, where the Israelites came from, all of the crops are easily watered by irrigation from the Nile River. But when Moses took his people into the land of Canaan, he warned them in Deuteronomy 11 that the new land was a land which would require God's provision. Instead of a river, water bubbled up from the ground in springs. The Hebrews called this kind of water, "living water."

After finishing our exploration of life in the hills, we continued our journey south and into the Shephelah. The Shephelah are a different and softer limestone, eocene, which form relaxed hills and valleys. Our first stop in the Shephelah was at Beth - Shemesh, a useful vantage point from which the sites of Zorah and Timnah can be viewed. Here, Dr. Wright told the story of Samson, and we stood and swept our eyes across the hills, imagining Samson storming across the hills from his hometown in Zorah to claim his first Philistine bride in Timnah. The towns along the edge between the Shephelah and the cenomanian high hill country of Judah were hot spots for activity between Philistia and Israel. Israel needed the land for farming which could not be done in the hill country, and for access to the abundant coastal plain. Meanwhile, the Philistines fought to keep their land from the Israelites and to push into their land as well; not for economic benefit, but for the benefit of having what someone else wants.

Next, we went to Azekah, a site overlooking the Elah Valley, where David and Goliath battled. We discussed the story under a few sparse trees, comparing the virtues of David and Saul and wondering about the difference between four cubits and six cubits in height. Afterwards, we trekked to Ashqelon, a city right on the edge of the Mediterranean. Wheaton College has a dig there, so we met up with Dr. Masters and listened to the curious layers of stories. We saw the world’s oldest arched gate and looked around at ruins where 24 different cities from the Cannanite to Roman periods were settled. Interestingly, there were two theaters in the city - one large, and one smaller, about the size of Arena Theater. They've even found archaelogical evidence of the actual theater tickets which they had in the ancient days.

I have to admit, this was strangely one of the hardest days for me so far. It was blisteringly hot, and we spent almost our time hiking and standing in the sun, from seven in the morning until we arrived at our hostel in Beersheva at seven at night.

We got to sleep in some the next morning, but then it was off to the desert!

Samaria: Hills of Ephraim, Mt. Gerazim. Shiloh.

The photograph above depicts Mt. Gerazim and Mt. Ebal, the mountains where Israel ratified the covenant with Yahweh in Joshua 8:30. As Moses commanded in Deuteronomy 28, the blessings were to be shouted from Mt. Gerazim and the curses were to be shouted from Mt. Ebal. The tribes were divided between the two, to stand at the base of the mountains and listen.

Earlier in the week, Dr. Wright asked if someone would offer to memorize Deuteronomy 28:1-14 and shout the blessings from Mt. Gerazim, where we were going. I raised my hand before my brain fully realized what I was volunteering to do - my body recognized before the rest of me the incredible opportunity to proclaim the blessings from their birthplace. It felt close to the action of remembering and honoring that we practice in the theatre. And so, when we travelled to Mt. Gerazim, I stood behind our group and shouted them out (Bible in hand, since my nerves tend to erase words from my mind). I was trembling so badly I was sure I was about to lose my footing and tumble down the rocks below. It was simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating and holy, and I was so thankful for that opportunity - I'll never forget it.

Then, after I was finished, a deaf student named Noah stood and signed all of the blessings in ASL. For any of you have been to his shows, you know the power and beauty in such an embodied language. The two together brought so much more than just the one. What splendor when languages come together to praise the Lord and remember His goodness!

After, we traveled up to the Samaritan community, a Jewish sect which believes the Bible stops at Deuteronomy. They believe in the sanctification of Mt. Gerazim rather than Jerusalem. Conversation with the priest was fascinating. Sometimes listening to all the different beliefs of all the different groups grows overwhelming and confusing, but this time wasn't that bad. The Samaritans' numbers have dwindled significantly - if I remember correctly, I think that there are only 300 people who live in this community on top of Mt. Gerazim! We toured around the community, traveling to an orthodox church where the site of the Samaritan temple used to be, looking out over the land. Below us was Nabilis, a formerly embattled site of Hamas which has since turned its weapons in. We drove down there to go to the church that remembers the well where Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman -- and this time, the church is built over an actual well which might actually be the well Jesus sat at! The abundance of springs in the area mean that most people don't bother digging wells, so there are very few. Furthermore this well is actually from the first century. We got to draw water from it and drink from it!

After Samaria, we went to Shiloh, the site Joshua chose for the location of the tabernacle. It's also the location where Hannah came to pray for a child and received a blessing from Eli, and where Samuel grew up. It's also where the Israelites lost the ark of the covenant to the Philistines. It's a golden, light-aired kind of place, also located in the Hills of Ephraim.

Well, our first exam is soon, and it's over all of the hours and hours of information we've been slammed with over the past week. I'm a little worried, so I'm off to study :) Have a wonderful day!

Oh, P.S.: the photo below is of Sarah Dulin, one of my teammates, at Shiloh. Isn't it - and she! - lovely??

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.

Mount of Olives, Hills of Judah, and Bethlehem

Here’s some places of note where we went today:

Mt. of Olives:
We looked over the city of Jerusalem, and visited a Jewish grave, a garden of Gethsemane (most likely not the one where Jesus wept), and the church which commemorates the agony of Jesus. We traced the two potential paths of Jesus down the Mt. of Olives into Jerusalem for his triumphal Entry
Threshing Floor
A threshing floor in the hills by Bethlehem, almost exactly like the one described in the Ruth when Ruth slept at Boaz’s feet.
Heights of Rachel
Another archaeological site of a former Israelite summer palace.
Herodium
The location of Herod’s temple, palace, and tomb, by the towns of Tekoa and overlooking the Wilderness. It was massive, and quite a hike to the top of the hill! There was even a theater tucked inside the hill
Bethlehem (Church of the Nativity)
Our visit here was very brief. Surprisingly, Bethlehem is Palestinian territory – we had to pass through a checkpoint to get in. We stopped at Bethlehem Bible College, and spoke with a Christian Palestinian professor. It was very interesting to hear about the wounds he has received from Zionist Christians.

When David wrote Psalm 23, he was heading into the wilderness – or, as it is also referenced, the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Today, I looked down from Herodium onto that very wilderness where David claimed that the Lord would restore his soul beside still waters. The Judean Wilderness is nothing but pale, skeletal hills for miles - utterly dry and empty. They are the color of death. Yet, it is into the wilderness that the Lord repeatedly led his people. It is out of the wilderness that Abraham, David, and Jesus came.

The paradoxes in this country repeatedly uproot my childhood pictures. Jerusalem the Gem, the high and lofty city? In actuality, it was located on a tiny hill, surrounded on all sides by looming mountains – incredibly vulnerable and resource scarce. Building, protecting, and maintaining Jerusalem could only be done in the power of the LORD, not by any resourceful king who may try and protect it from

Again, today, I looked out over the Wilderness over which David spoke this Psalm, and felt something unhinge deep inside of me. The promises that the ancients proclaimed were hardly ever visible to their eyes. The God that they followed led them into the shadow of death, with only the promise to provide enough. Enough. Not too much, and not too little. And sometimes, our ‘enoughs’ are certainly not his.


7 am to 7:30 pm. Round Two of our field studies tomorrow: to Jericho!

New Testament Walk Around the Old City

"">

Coming off of three hours of sleep from the beautiful but exhausting night before, the day felt longer than usual. We took another walk around Jerusalem. Today, instead of going site by site and explaining each specifically, I’ll do a quick run-through and then build out from there. Here’s where we went:

1. First, the archaeological museum and sites around the original site of the temple, which included: a museum, Robinson’s Arch (the arch that led into the temple, destroyed by the Romans and named for its discovered, William Robinson), and the remains of a Byzantine house, the shops outside the Temple, a Roman road, and the Temple steps (possibly where Saul of Tarsus was educated, and where Jesus may have taught.) We discussed Herod the Great extensively, assessing his stamp upon the land with the expansion of the temple and the many other building projects he accomplished.

2. The second main site we went to was St. Anne’s Church and the Pool of Bethesda. St. Anne’s church is a church built in commemoration of the home of Mary’s mother. As our group stood in reverence, hymns welled up from our throats and from our hands, echoing in the stone of the domes.

3. Finally, we climbed to the top of a German Hospice to see a view of the city. It was a hazy day, so it was difficult to see much.

Doing so much in one day can be incredibly overwhelming. Once, I jokingly claimed that I had discovered that I would never be an archaeologist, to which a teammate responded, “Why? When you look at things, don’t you wonder how it was made, what is was used for, and who used it?” I claim to love storytelling, and to believe in the importance of cross-cultural story sharing, yet I frequently found my eyes flickering closed whenever Dr. Wright waxed eloquent about the surrounding shapes of gray-white stone. A lot of what we’re doing here is called “historical geography,” a discipline which involves mapping the land according to a certain story line – reaching deep into the bedrock and seeking out the imprints of the peoples come before us. This bit of pottery, that edge of rock, that slope of the land, that rocky outcrop with its former temple, even down to the types of limestone that form the skeleton of The Land Between – these are the curves to which the cloth of the Biblical text is fitted.

For me, a notoriously geographically and directionally challenged person, my sense of orientation is not usually what I turn to when I think of the Bible. But north, south, east, west – here, it means the difference between water or wilderness, safety or attack.

There is nothing like reading Psalm 48 in the place it was actually written, and seeing the hills that the Psalmist raised his eyes to. Lord, may we fulfill the psalm, and count the towers of Zion that we may tell the next generations of your guidance.