We are here!

Maybe not the height of fashion - but comfy

After 2 plane changes and 16 hours of travelling I have arrived!  I met up with the rest of the group at the airport here and we immediately changed into hiking clothes and headed out of Tel Aviv










We traveled to the site of the city Gezer about 1/2 way between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.  Like most ancient areas cities were built and then later destroyed by conquerors only to be rebuild on top of the old city later.  They have excavated this site down to the city that existed at the time of King Solomon.

The gate area is near the front close to where John is standing in the left side of the picture.











This view is from what would have been inside the city looking out the gate.  The trench area running up the middle would have been the sewer line (not covered then either).

This is the gate entrance to the city and it is almost certain Solomon passed through this gate if not sat at the gate to conduct business.  Most business was conducted at the gate so that foreigners or other strangers did not need to be let into the city itself in case they were enemies 





And this is from the outside looking in the gate.  Notice how well the large stones all fit together.  This dates from the Iron Age about 1000 BC.

 The gates had a series of sections so that if someone broke down the first gate they ended up in a small area with another door to breach.  But while they would try to break in there, the defenders could attack from above that room.

This shows one of the next sections.  Solomon was the one to develop this style of gate which is one of the ways they date and attribute this to him.

This is a manger.  Not exactly what Christians have come to think of in terms of a manger.

These are referred to as 'standing stones'.  They were erected to commemorate a great act of God for His people or sometimes to note a treaty between nations.  It is not certain why these might have been erected.

Dianna and I

John used them as an example of how stones cannot tell a story, but we should be standing stones in our lives and tell others through word and action on the great things that God does for us.

A flower on the hike

I am not certain if I'll upload as many pictures each day.  They are taking about 5 minutes each and we are supposed to visit 4 sites tomorrow instead of just the one from today.

Keep us in your thoughts and I'll let you know what we do day by day.