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Israel Study Tour - Joshua Wilderness Institute
April 10-22, 2015
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Greetings from the Valley of Elah!
Today we went to a few different places on the Shephelah. We took a short bus ride over to Kiriath-Jearim. Once there, we broke up into bus groups to explore the area with our guides Ronen and Ronen. We saw a watch tower, an oil press (gat shemen in Hebrew), and a wine press along with a few more things needed or used in an ancient Jewish village. After that, we went to Bet Shemesh where Samson compromised on his Nazirite vow. Our group had a chance to escape the rain by entering into a cistern where Rich spoke. After coming out of the cistern, we went down to Azekah and hiked up this large hill which looked over the valley of Elah. Craig Hill taught on the battle where David fought Goliath. We had our own chance to go down to a river bed and pick up some small smooth stones. From there, we made our way over to the Bell Caves. As a group we sang “How Great Is Our God.” It was amazing to hear all of our voices together praising God. After the bell caves, we had lunch and then went into a burial cave and walked down and through a few underground basements which have steps carved out of stone, one room leading into another. Our last area of the day was Lachish where Craig and Rich taught on how God is our vinekeeper. I learned a lot about how God provided for his people, and how his people would wander away and return to Him.
– Cati Neely
My words can do nothing compared to what I see and feel. The soil sinks beneath our feet in compliment to the storms today, white doves fly over green fields, vineyards cover the valleys. We can feel the sunshine on our faces, and we can smell fresh rain. At our first stop, I was overwhelmed with the presence of God. When we learned that the Ark of the Covenant sat at the top of the hill across from where we stood, it became real to me that we were in God’s Holy Land. Picking up stones in Azekah where David chose his stones for his battle with Goliath, along with walking through the underground city of Bet Guvrin brought the Old Testament to life. Craig Hill taught us how to use what we’ve seen to put a scale to our imagination when reading the Scriptures. At Beth Shemesh, Joey Webb taught about how Samson made compromises all throughout his life even though he had taken the Nazirite vow. So often one compromise, or sin, leads to another and after a while we don’t notice God’s presence anymore because we were so caught up in the sin that felt so right. It is in our weaknesses that God strengthens us. At Lachish we learned to be like a “city on a hill” (Matthew 5:14). Lachish is at the top of a hill that you can see from miles away. People run to it because it holds goodness: protection, nourishment, defense, etc. We who believe in Christ Jesus are filled with the Holy Spirit. Therefore we should live a life through which people are drawn to our goodness that comes from God.
– Laura Fairbanks
Kiriath-Jearim
The biblical city of Kiriath Jearim is best known for the house of Abinadab which held the Ark of the Covenant from the time of Samuel until the time of David (about 120 years). Kiriath Jearim was originally a Gibeonite city that fell within the tribal territory of Judah near the borders of Benjamin and Dan. The prophet Uriah, a contemporary of Jeremiah, was from Kiriath Jearim.
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.
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.
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.
Lachish
Identified first as Lachish by Albright in 1929, the tell was excavated by James Leslie Starkey 1932-38 and by Tel Aviv University 1973-87.
Lachish is generally regarded as the second most important city in the southern kingdom of Judah. It enters the biblical narrative in the battle accounts of Joshua, Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar.
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