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Israel In Depth - Crossings Community Church
May 23 - June 4, 2015
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Standing Stones
Our journey began Saturday, May 23, as we departed from Oklahoma City in a bus headed to the Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport. From there, we flew to Philadelphia. Even after long security lines and nearly an hour delay, our group maintained good morale as we eventually departed on our 11 hour flight to Tel-Aviv, Israel. Upon our arrival, we boarded the GTI Tour Bus for the first time and met our local guide for the trip. His name is Yehudah, a native Israeli of the tribe of Judah. He began to share his knowledge with us as we headed to our first site-- tel-Gezer. Here, we hiked to the top of the tell (a hill containing historical layers of city ruins) to observe the location of the ancient city of Gezer. Among the ruins of the city were massive stone monuments standing vertically together in a line. At this site, we had a lesson from our pastor about raising "standing stones" in our lives by taking time to remember and reflect together upon the things God has done for us, so that future generations may have knowledge of them. Lastly, we saw the ruins of Solomon's Gate to the city. The scenery and weather were both phenomenal, providing a perfect setting for our first evening in Israel.
—Carson Feix
Gezer
Situated near the International Coastal Highway and guarding the primary route into the Israelite hill country, Gezer was one of the most strategic cities in the Canaanite and Israelite periods. Gezer is a prominent 33-acre site that overlooked the Aijalon Valley and the road leading through it to Jerusalem. The tel was identified as biblical Gezer in 1871 by C. Clermont-Ganneau who two years later found the first of many boundary stones inscribed with the city’s name.
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