Day 01 - The Shephelah

Day 1 – Yad Hashmona, Beth-Shemesh, Azekah, Lachish

After a welcome night’s rest, we started the morning at Yad Hashmona, a re-creation of a village from the history of Israel. Here, we were able to get familiar with the land, lifestyle, and rhythms of life in Israel during the time of the judges and the kings. We take for granted how little we know about the land. Even in our own neighborhoods, the terrain, plant life, and water supply only rarely enter our consciousness. In ancient villages, this knowledge was the difference between life and death. They knew the land, sowed and reaped, collected, water, and made a life from the produce of the earth.

In this context, the metaphors and analogies laced through the Scriptures come alive. As we were looking at a wine press, we read Isaiah 5:1-2: “My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.”

Often in Scripture, Israel is portrayed as a vine and God is the vinedresser. God chose Abraham and promised he would give a family, a land, and that he would bless the nations through his descendants. In choosing Abraham’s family, bringing them out of Egypt, and making the way for them to move into the promised land, God did everything necessary to ensure good fruit. But when he returned, he found wild grapes; inedible and incapable of being make into wine. Like the people of Israel, we too have been planted, watered, and provided for. What will God find in our lives? Will it be the fruit of the Spirit or the fruit of the flesh?

In Beth-Shemesh and Azekah, we contrasted two valleys. In the first, the Sorek Valley, Samson went back and forth between his family, his vow, and his faith crossing over into the land of the Philistines. Before he knew it, his strength had run out. Crossing this physical boundary revealed a deeper spiritual boundary he had crossed. In Beth-Shemesh, you can look out and see just what kind of journey he made.

In another valley, just outside of Azekah, the Philistines and the Israelites stood at a stalemate. Fearful of the Philistine champion Goliath, Saul and his army were paralyzed – until a little shepherd boy arrived. David was insignificant in the sight of the army, but he had been prepared for that moment. When he hears that Goliath had been taunting the God of Israel, he decided something had to be done. He went into battle, not in the armor of Saul, but with confidence in the living God. When he struck Goliath with a stone from his sling all the Philistines turned into the valley and ran back to their towns.

We may not be facing literal giants, but we’ve all been in David’s situation. Will we use what God has given us to accomplish what God has called us to do? God takes us where we are with what we have and used us for his glory.

After a full day, we’re eager to get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow, we head out into the desert.