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Israel Study Tour - Friends of Hume
May 18-28, 2014
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Adventures of Day 1
Hey y’all! The first day of adventures couldn’t have started off any better. We started off at Beth Shemesh where we learned about our Bible friend Samson and how he actually was breaking his commitment to being a Nazarite for his entire life. It was so cool to see that despite our failures, God can still use us for his Kingdom. After Rich’s teaching we had the opportunity to walk down some (decently sketchy) steps into a cistern. There we were able to look back at some scriptures (Gen. 37: 20-24, Jerm. 38: 6-10 and 2:13) and see the significance of the cistern to these passages.
Beth Shemesh
A border city between Judah and Dan, Beth Shemesh was given to the Levites. Beth Shemesh was the most important Israelite city in the Sorek Valley as it watched both east-west traffic through the Sorek Valley and north-south traffic along the “Diagonal Route.” Recent excavations have shown a thriving city here from the Middle Bronze Age through the Iron II period.
Our next stop was Azekah. Ever heard of David and Goliath? Standing on top of Azekah gave us the perfect view of the battle field (Valley of Elah) where it all went down (literally). We then headed down to the Valley of Elah and stopped at the stream where David got his stones to kill Goliath and we were able to take five stones (shhh) ;). Interestingly enough David took five stones which represented the five gate cities, kings and gods of the Philistines. However, David only used one stone to kill Goliath which represents that there is only one true God, the God of the Israelites.
Tel Azekah and Elah Valley
The Brook Elah is famous for the five stones it contributed to the young slinger, David. Some surmise that David chose five stones instead of the one needed in case he needed to face Goliath’s four brothers.
We then headed off to Bet Guvrin/Maresha. Here we got to go underground to explore basements of an ancient city and also aqueducts called bell caves. I must say, singing the doxology and hearing it echo throughout the bell caves was pretty epic. Our last stop for the day was seeing the city that Abram (Abraham) built. There we got to climb down this massive well that led into an even bigger cistern than what we saw earlier.
Beth Guvrin (Maresha)
Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park is a national park in central Israel, 13 kilometers from Kiryat Gat, encompassing the ruins of Maresha, one of the important towns of Judah during the time of the First Temple,[1] and Beit Guvrin, an important town in the Roman era, when it was known as Eleutheropolis.
Archaeological artifacts unearthed at the site include a large Jewish cemetery, a Roman-Byzantine amphitheater, a Byzantine church, public baths, mosaics and burial caves.
We then packed up and headed down, down, down (1,200 ft below sea level to be exact) to our hotel at the Dead Sea. We are now hanging out and getting ready for another adventurous day tomorrow! Until next time!
Kayla Plouffe
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