Today started with a trip down into the first of 3 desert
areas as you head south. Out in the
middle of what looks like a barren area we found shepherds moving their small
flocks of sheep and goats from one small patch of area to another.
John used this opportunity to describe how
people of Jesus’ time would have understood the symbolism of shepherding.
Shortly after that we found a very clear indication we were
entering a desert area when a herd of camels crossed the road in front of
us. In this area they might cross the
road just like deer will.
I imagine
hitting a camel would put a serious dent in whatever hit it! They don’t have fenced areas and shepherds
and wildlife wander freely from one area to another.
Our first destination was Tel Arad which has a couple of
unique items of biblical significance.
It was near here that Abraham lived at the time God promised to make a
great nation of his descendents. Arad itself was a meeting
place where shepherds from the south would meet with merchants from the north
to trade and do business.
There was a
large old well there which predates Abraham by 1000 years and would have been
used during his time so it is likely that he used this well at some time.
The site also contains a 1/5th model
of the original temple in Jerusalem
The large stone square in the center was the altar of sacrifice and the area on the left side would have been the Holy of Holies where the ark of the covenant would have been located. They think they may have had stone tablets at this site as replicas of the 10 commandments since the ark itself would have been at the temple in Jerusalem.
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| Tel Adar with irrigated part of desert in the background |
The other main site we visited was Herodium. This is one of seven palace fortresses
built by Herod. He had the hill it is
built upon made taller than any other hill in the area by workers who also
build a series of caves for bringing water into the fortress.
Herod built his palace on the top of this
including a 12 story tower for his own living quarters. At the base of the hill is a large swimming
pool. To supply water for the palace and pool he had one of the aqueducts to
You can see the base of the tower on the left side toward the back of the open courtyard.
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| Pool at Herod's Palace (upper left) |
This shows some of the caverns inside the hill. These would have been filled with water in the time of Herod.
These past days have been spent building up the history of
what was going on in the land at the time Jesus was born as a way to better
understand his teachings as well as how He used old testament passages in
teaching.
Our last stop was at one of the many terraced gardens in the
area. People in the area have gardened
this way for thousands of years and when the bible makes references to gardens
this is the type of place the people would have understood.
One unique feature of this garden is it is right up against
the wall that marks the border between Israel and the West Bank Palestinian
region. Bethlehem is on the Palestinian side of the
wall.
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| Wall (and barbed wire) separating Israel from the West Bank |
This is a small village about the size they think Bethlehem was at the time of Jesus.
When we returned to the hotel, some of the group that did
not go up to the church of the Nativity yesterday planned to visit there. I could not see being right in Bethlehem and not go back
again so I joined them. I had the good opportunity to get there just before 6 PM mass.
So after touring the other parts of the church and the cave of the
nativity I joined in a mass in the Catholic portion of the church. It was in Armenian but the form is the same
as back home so while I did not know exactly the words they were saying, I
could pray along using the English version.
Kind of reminded me of when I was very little and the mass was still
said mostly in Latin.
Tomorrow we have been told will be one of the more strenuous
days of hiking so I’m off to bed soon to get a good rest before that.
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