Monday 5/28

Quite the tiring day today.  We hiked a little over 3 miles which was not terribly long but it was in 95+ weather and mostly straight up for about 1/2 of it.  I'm quickly discovering that while I'm in shape for the distance, I'm not in shape for the heat.  Hopefully I'll acclimate soon!

I may not load to many pictures because they load so slowly here.

We started the day by visiting the hillside in Zorah, overlooking the areas where Samson grew up.  From there we visited the Elah Valley area where the battle between the Israelites and Philistines which culminated in David defeating Goliath.  We then visited Beth Shemeh which was the first city where the ark of the covenant resided once the Philistines returned it.  It is still hard for me to get my mind around the idea that these things took place here.  Part of it may be that there is very little standing to commemorate this history and it is through the descriptions in the Bible that they are able to put this all together.

We finished up our hiking day with a visit to a cave system where it is believed (King) David hid out from Saul.

The last place for the day was closed when we got there.  That may have been a mixed blessing since I needed a break from the heat and it allowed me to visit the church of the nativity back in Bethlehem.

These pillars (marble) were from the church in 330 but when it was destroyed in 529 and rebuilt in 565 they were able to reuse these.  They have pictures painted on them from the time of the crusades.





I'll try to post more pictures tomorrow but the battery is about to die.  This is some of the mosaic floor from the church in 330 AD.








And of course the marker where the believed location of Jesus' birth.  It is a small area about 3 ft wide and 3 ft deep.  The star in the middle marks the spot and has 14 points because Jesus was the 14th generation after King David.