Day 1

Today was awesome and amazing and hot! We made our way through what is called the Shephelah, which means low hills. It is also a place where a ton of battles took place, battles that include David and Goliath, and Senacherub. Our theme for the day was confronting evil. We though bible as we went through the land to see examples of this theme, in the places that they happened. We began our journey with a long hike up to Zorah, where Samson lived and was buried. We discussed Samson’s life and the decisions that he made. We talked about his Nazarite Vow, how he broke it, and the consequences of that.

From there we traveled to Bet Shemesh, which means House of the Sun. Here we got to go to an active archeological site that was being uncovered. We also got to go down into a cistern and see where water would have been stored for the city of Bet Shemesh. In the cistern we saw chameleons which was cool but other than that we didn’t see much of anything because it was super dark down there. This is the place where in the Bible the Philistines returned the Ark of the Covenant to the Israelites. When we left Bet Shemesh we went to go eat a super yummy lunch that was provided by our amazing bus drivers! We had fresh pita bread, humus, salami, turkey, and fresh cut tomatoes and cucumbers.

After our lunch we went to Shaariem. Shaariem is in between Azekah and Sokoh, above the Valley of Elah. This is where the battle of David and Goliath took place. Standing in that place and being able to imagine the opposing armies standing there, being able to go to the wadie where David would have picked up the 5 smooth stones that represented the Torah, imagining him running fearlessly towards Goliath swinging his sling shot, picturing him putting that smooth stone, the representation of the Torah, right in the middle of Goliath’s forehead where God says it belongs, and then imagining Goliath falling face first, as bowing to the one true God, was literally breathtaking and humbling all at the same time.

In Samuel 17:1-3 it says,
“…They pitched camp at Ephes and Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.”

Moresha was the next place that we went. Everything here was completely underground which was fascinating. We saw an underground callumburiem (or as I like to call Pigeon Penthouses) where message carrier Pigeons and sacrifice Pigeons were kept. We also saw an underground olive press. Here we got to ask God for repentances and forgiveness for being apart of adding on to the sin that he bore for us, and that he was crushed for in the same way the olives in that place were crushed to produce the oil.

Our last hike of the day was up to the City of Lachish where Senacherub and the Assyrians took the City of Lachish in their path of conquest up to Jerusalem. Here we stood on the city wall of Lachish and looked on to the rampart that was built by Senacherub by the Assyrians to get into the city. Thinking about what was going through the minds of the city people as they came out every morning to see the Assyrians slowly building this rampart was intense and was the perfect example of confronting evil. It was hard to cope with the thought of Lachish falling even though they weren’t all corrupt. Why did the faithful have to fall with the corrupt? Why didn’t God exclude the ones who loved and followed HIm? These are some of the questions that we asked and worked out together as a community as we stood over the rampart. It was my favorite part of our whole day and the one that affected me the most emotionally. Though I left that place with a heavy heart as I tried to figure our how this applies to my own life back home, it was a great and incredible experience.

We ended our day by heading to our hotel that was located on the Dead Sea. We ate dinner and enjoyed each others company and stories. Finally we got to rest our tired bodies and feet and go to bed to prepare for our next day! I can’t wait to find out what God has in store for us tomorrow and the rest of our trip. Today was proof that we are just getting started on this amazing journey as we learn and discover and travel as community through these ancient paths.

Shalom!

-Arianna