City Gates and Lowlands

Today started with breakfast at our hotel just outside of Jerusalem. There was a wide variety of food, from pesto covered pasta to waffles.

Our first stop was at Tel Gezer. We walked among ancient ruins and learned about city gates. In ancient cities, the gate was where the poor and needy went to get the things they needed (since they lived outside of the city). We were challenged to be a gate to the world and people around us.

We landed near Bet Shemesh for our second stop. Looking up on the hills where the tribe of Dan lived and where Samson was probably born, we talked about his life and his calling as a Nazirite. Marty challenged us to come off of the mountains and enter into chaos and live in the Sh'phelah. We then descended into an enormous underground cistern for a little while (and the temperature difference was a welcome change).

We worked up quite an appetite from so much hiking and stopped for lunch at the Tsidonim Cave area (think park or orchard; if there were actually caves, we didn't stay long enough to find out). Fresh pitas, delicious veggies, Israeli juice and, wait for it, Coca Cola was provided for us.

After our bellies were full, we were dropped off on the side of the highway next to a large field. Marty walked us back a ways and told us that we were standing in the place where David killed Goliath. We walked a little farther and talked about the parable of the sower. We hiked still farther (and up a large hill), and found ourselves at an archaeological site that was uncovered very recently (13–15 yrs old). The city is called Shaharym (meaning two gates).

As this is being written, we are on the bus heading to our next hotel for the night (about a two-hour ride). Dinner will be waiting, and boy are we hungry!