Day 01 - The Shephelah

After a long day of traveling and a welcome night’s rest, we began our first day in Israel bright and early! Today we toured the Shephelah: the region of hills and valleys found between the mountains to the east and the coastal plain to the west.

Yad Hashmonah

Our first stop was only a few miles outside of Jerusalem. Yad Hasmonah is home to a hillside garden that features a biblical village. We gathered in an outdoor sanctuary, where Terry outlined three main themes that will be focal points throughout our time in Israel: the People, the Place, and the Promises.  

Yad Hasmonah was the perfect setting to immerse ourselves in these themes. As we walked through reconstructions of ancient agricultural practices such as a wine press, grape vine, and an olive press, our trip guide, Yehudah, explained how the people of Israel had cultivated the land, and Terry revealed how everything connected to God’s relationship with–and promises to– his people. 

Scripture uses many metaphors to connect with God’s people, and as we sat around a reconstructed threshing floor overlooking the Judean foothills, Terry taught on Isaiah 5 and Matthew 21. Jesus’ parable of the Vineyard recalls God’s prophetic call from generations earlier: God planted his chosen people like a choice vine, and He expected them to bear the fruit of His righteousness and justice! 

As believers in Jesus, we are God’s people, too– and we have been chosen for a purpose: to bear the fruit of God’s character. We are also His place–His holy place, indwelled by his Holy Spirit– and we carry the truth of His promises: redemption and wholeness through Christ.  

Beth Shemesh  

At our next stop, Beth Shemesh, we hiked to the top of the tel (an archeological term for a mound or hill that includes layers of civilizations built on top of one another).  From the hilltop, we could see the region of Dan where the judge Samson was born, as well as the valley of Soreq, where he travelled back and forth into Philistine territory, which stretched toward the coastal plain. It was in the valley of Soreq that Samson met Delilah.

Then we climbed down into an underground cistern. In a dry climate like Israel, the people depended upon the water that would be collected from these cisterns when there was no spring nearby. But the water would get dirty– the drinking quality was much poorer than fresh flowing water–plus, cisterns leaked. Terry led us in a lesson of when God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah:

"For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water."

Tying together the story of Samson with Jeremiah’s prophecy, Terry reminded us that the allure of culture is ever-present. Samson continually compromised with the Philistines and didn’t even notice when God’s spirit left him. Trying to find life through the world’s ways is like drinking slimy cistern water instead of a refreshing spring.  Why would we settle for what can never satisfy? God is the only source of real life and living water– mayim chaim!

Azekah 

After a picnic lunch of sandwiches, we trekked the hill of Azekah.  This high peak overlooks the valley of elah, where the Philistine army camped and Goliath was slain by David!  Terry reminded us that God has always used unlikely people to accomplish His purposes.  David beat Goliath, not because of superior technology, strength, or skill– but because of his faith.  This story is a tribute to what God can do when we are willing to trust Him.

“Don’t be discouraged by the size of your enemy,” Terry reminded us, “Be encouraged by the size of your God!”

Beth Gurvin (Maresha)

For our last stop of the day, we headed underground! The first man-made cavern we entered looked like a huge storeroom– the walls were dotted with holes that looked like small individual shelves for wine or dry goods. Imagine our surprise when Yahudah told us it was a Columbarium– an underground birdhouse!  The ancient people of Maresha raised pigeons as a source of food and fertilizer.

After that, we entered a series of underground, interconnected chambers that had been dug under Idumean homes. (The Idumeans settled in this area after the exile– the ancestors of King Herod the Great were among them.) The caves originally served as cisterns, olive presses, and more columbaria, but were eventually used as hideouts during the Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire. They’d carved footholds into a cistern’s ‘chimney’ as an escape hatch– and Easton tested them out for us!

We finished our day with a bus drive to our hotel on the Dead Sea. We passed real-life scenes from pages of our Bibles: vineyards, almond trees, and even a few flocks of sheep!  The terrain changed dramatically, from lush green of the Shephalah to the rocky desert of eastern Israel.  We made a pit stop at Aroma (which Laura says is the Starbucks of Israel) and arrived at our accommodations right on the water.

What an adventure! And Day 2 promises even more!  

Quote of the Day:

As Yahudah (whose English pronunciation is occasionally hard to understand) explained how grapes were crushed underfoot in an ancient winepress, Laura clarified: “We’re talking about juice, not Jews.”