On My Birthday

I decided that I would let you all know how my birthday went. Today was like every Shabbat (Saturday). We have church at 11am, lunch at 1230pm, go into the Old City at 145pm, come back for dinner at 530pm, and then have Saturday Night Live at 8pm.
Today was the most interesting day in the Old City. I first went to Shabban's, the person who exchanges our money (we got 3.95 shekels per dollar today, which is the best in the past 12 months or something like that). Shabban is really cool, every time we come by he always gives us really good tea or any other cold drink. Jason Clark and I then went and looked at a trusted antiquity shop looking at their coins and other things that might be affordable (I didn't buy anything).
I had been wanting a camel leather bag with an imprint of Jerusalem on it, so we went to a shop and the guy said that he wanted 250 shekels for a certain bag and I started kind of low at 100 shekels and the guy said he would deal with me, so I offered 150. I said I wouldn't go any higher and after holding onto my arm to keep me from leaving the store he went down to 150 shekels ($35).
We then went into a store with wood figures in it. The guy, a true believer, and his family, from Bethlehem, hand carve the figures from olive wood. He gave us a good deal for a shepherd figure I was looking at and I might engrave or write a verse or something on it.
The real interesting experience came when I met up with one of the girls from our group who wanted to go look at stuff and we went to this one shop where these two guys were just being idiots and we just walked out. When we met up with the others a number of other people had problems with them too. They are kind of the first anybody has really had a problem with. I know I'm being vague, but I could tell people later. It wasn't like real bad, it was they were just being stupid.
We then got back and had dinner and then went to Saturday Night Live where we had Battle of the Sexes. This is one of the first groups where there are a majority of guys, so we finally had somewhat of an advantage. All the guys got IDF (Israeli Defense Force) t-shirts to match. We first played the game to see how well you know your room mate. The room mate goes out, then Abner asked the other room mates questions and then they had to come back and answer them like their room mate. After a couple of rounds they had two cakes and they sang happy birthday to me, and we had the cakes. One was chocolate peanut butter and the other was a strawberry one. Afterward we kept playing different things and the guys dominated, making it the first time in the past couple of semesters. So SP '09 guys won Battle of the Sexes.
The cake wasn't the only thing for my birthday, everyone, throughout the day came up and wished me a happy birthday, plus many more on facebook too. So it wasn't a lonely day. It wasn't anything real big either, and I'm fine with that because I don't care being the center of attention. So that was my first birthday away from home. Everyone over here was really good to make sure I didn't forget about it.

I Stood on the Most Contriversal Spot on Earth

This is for yesterday.

On Wednesday we first went to the Temple Mount, a place of memories. God has strategically used that area from the life of Abraham until now, and will in the future. Where the temple stood, or at least in the general area of the mount, in 2066BC, Abraham acted in faith by almost sacrificing his son, believing God would raise him from the dead. When David sinned by arrogantly taking a census God judged the people by sending a plague among them. When the angel stopped slaying the people he was at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, and David bought that piece of land, which was the future resting place of the Temple. When the temple was built God’s presence resided in the temple. When the people went into exile the presence of the Lord left the temple. Jesus, on the mount said that they could destroy the temple (the presence of God)—Him, and it would be rebuilt in three days.



















The same God that dwelt in the temple dwells in believers. Believers are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Through my classes I have learned that it was impossible for Israel to get into this land, it was only through the work of God that allowed them to enter.

Even though we could not go into the Dome of the Rock Abner told us that the rock could have been the place where Abraham was going to sacrifice his son, where the threshing floor was, and the place where the Ark of the Covenant was placed. The area not including the temple, during the time of Jesus was one million square feet, and Jesus cleansed that whole area twice. Today we see that Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of the temple is true. We don’t even know where one stone of it is today.
We then went to a catholic church where they think Peter denied Christ three times and where Jesus was kept. In 457 AD the Byzantines commemorated the dungeon as the place that Christ was imprisoned. We then went to the ruins of a house of a very wealthy person. The common size of a house had two to three rooms, this house had two to three levels. The people found pottery from Egypt, meaning that they were antique collectors, and stone pots; also the floors were made of mosaics. This shows that the person that owned this house was very wealthy, which could point to the fact that the person could have been a Sadducee. Sadducees got large amounts of money through corruption and through the Romans. This house was burnt down in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem.

We have learned that destruction leaves behind the best evidence of what a culture was like, because it comes suddenly. If people find out what is going to come they are likely to take their stuff and run, but if a fire comes and destroys the house we can see the artifacts that were left behind. This allows us to learn about the culture and people of that day.

I'm not the only person here

I thought it would be good to point out the different blogs that other students have that are previewed on the right side of this blog. Its good to get other people's perspective while we are here. Plus I don't have all the time to write everything I feel and see.

'Lovejoy in Israel' is my roommate's blog Brian Lovejoy.
'Walking in the Footprints of the King' is done by Jason Clark. He is just two doors down from me and shares a passion for photography. He is lending me his 18-35mm lens so I can get some wider angle shots.
'Tyler Salvey's Blog' is done by Tyler Salvey, not too hard to figure out. He is on the soccer team at TMC. We have a good number of soccer players here at IBEX. I'm not too much of a soccer player, but I do my best to keep up with the soccer players when we play.
'IBEX Spring 2009' is done by Cody Jenison.
'IBEX Sp. 09' is done by Chris Williams.
'M. Walker Wells' Photo Blog (Includes Israel!)' is done by Walker Wells. He also has some good camera equipment and does a good job at taking good pictures.

Each is unique in their own ways. Check them out if you want to see other people's perspectives.

NT Model of Jerusalem

Today we went to a model of Jerusalem as described by Josephus, we were first pointed out that there was a third wall, which wasn’t originally there during the time of Christ, so must have been added on afterward. On the North side of the Temple Mount there were the Antonia watch towers which served as a place to guard and also for the Romans to keep an eye on the people down on the mount. Herod built the temple, which was built to rival other pagan temples. On the outer edge of the Temple Mount there are the porticos of Solomon where Jesus would have taught His disciples. Gentiles were only allowed on the outer area of the Temple Mount, but not in the temple. In this outer area there would have been people selling animals and other things. In the Bible Jesus cleans out this area twice. Within the outer area of the temple the Jews could only go a few steps before handing the sacrifice to a priest who did the sacrifice outside the temple. One interesting thing is that the Ark of the Covenant was not in put in the second temple because it could have been taken by the Babylonians, or Jeremiah might have taken it to Mount Nebo. Thus, during the time of Hezekiah and Herod there was no Ark of the Covenant in the temple. In Hebrews 6:19-20 we are reminded that we need to come into the presence of God with reverence. We have access to God. The priest could only go into the Holy of Holies once a year but, because of what Christ did on the cross we always have access into the Holy of Holies. The book of Acts gives an account of Paul accused of bringing Gentiles into the temple, which started a riot. Paul was taken up into the Antonio fortress where the rest of the account can be found in Acts 21-22.
Inside the museum there were parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls dating between 250BC-70AD. These scrolls were probably hidden intentionally by the Jews from the Romans. Every book of the Old Testament, but most of Esther, is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Josephus tells us that it was probably a group of Ascenes who hid these scrolls. A copy of the scroll of Isaiah was in a round glass display. The oldest copies of the Scriptures before the Qumran Scrolls date to only 1000AD.

Jerusalem- Old Testament Walk

This is suppose to be for yesterday.

On the Old Testament we first stopped off at the Broad Wall which was built in the days of Hezekiah (700 BC). Jerusalem was threatened by Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, who was used by God to punish the Southern kingdom of Judah by taking over all the fortified cities of Judah, except the last one, Jerusalem. We see in the different descriptions of Hezekiah in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles that Hezekiah was a righteous man; therefore, God withheld Judah’s total judgment for another time. The account of Sennacherib and Hezekiah can be found in Isaiah 37, 2 Kings 18-19, and 2 Chronicles 32. Because of Sennacherib’s threat God told Hezekiah, through Isaiah, that there would not be an arrow shot, and because of this confidence in God Hezekiah fortified the walls and everything else. When Sennacherib and his army came and during the night the angel of the Lord killed 185,000 men. Because of that enormous loss Sennacherib had to return in defeat without firing a single arrow. This great intervention of God might have inspired the writing of Psalm 48.
From there we went into a small museum where they had a presentation of the city during David’s and Hezekiah’s time, some displays of events surrounding Hezekiah’s time, and some things about the ancient Hebrew culture. They had a copy of the inscription found in Hezekiah’s tunnel, the original one being in Turkey, which gave an account of the workers as they were about to meet. The woman who was presenting everything to us talked to us about graves that the people were buried in. She told us that to find out where the city walls you have to find graves, because no one was buried inside the city. One artifact that was found in a tomb on a necklace of a body was a tiny silver scroll that had scripture on it. This silver piece dates back to 600 years before the Dead Sea Scrolls. Afterward we went on a street, called a ‘cardo’, which dates back to the Roman and Byzantine time that went from the Damascus Gate all the way to the southern side of the city. As we passed through the shops that date back to the time of the Crusaders we then came upon the Zion Gate where we could see the physical evidence of war (i.e. bullet holes) on the gate.
We then headed up to a traditional place of the upper room that Jesus ate His last Passover in. It is not the actual one, because the room dates back to the Crusader time, but Jesus did have this meal in the area we were in (the Western hill). This account of the last Passover takes place in Luke 22:7-23. In the events leading up to the last supper Jesus waited to tell the disciples where it would take place because Judas was going to betray Him and He didn’t want the meal being interrupted. God is the center of the celebration of the Passover, which celebrates the exodus from Egypt, the salvation of the children of Israel. Jesus, God, is the center of that Passover because He gave salvation to all that following day by dying on the cross. An interesting thing that I learned is that the disciples would not have been the only ones present at this meal.
We left this place and came to the traditional grave of King David, which is not it; the real one is on the Eastern hill. We then went to Schinler’s grave.
Schindler saved 1,200 Jews during WWII by buying them so that they could work in his factory, which didn’t produce any real artillery rounds, so that they would not be terminated. By the grave we could overlook the Hinnom Valley, which, in Jeremiah 7:30-34, describes the valley being a “valley of slaughter”. This is referring to when the Babylonians came and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC. This image can also depict a picture of Hell, in that it depicts the consequence of false worship and the rejection of God being judged. Some people think that there was a trash heap that continually burnt, but there has been no evidence of any large trash heap being there and also it would not have been continually burning because, like in California it could have caused larger fires and a fire could not be sustained in the winter during the rains.
We then went to the Southern end of the Western wall of the Temple Mount where we could see the debris of the destruction of part of the Temple Mount by the Romans. We then went to the Southern part of the Temple Mount. On this side there were the Halda gates, which were two sets of two gates that were the main entrances to the Temple Mount, but were covered up later on.
As we were going to Hezekiah’s tunnel we saw ruins of the actual City of David, which some date back to the Canaanite period. Bill showed us a room that was called the burnt room and in 2 Kings 25:8-12 it describes to us the burning of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Another thing we saw was Warren’s Shaft which is a Canaanite tunnel that might have been used by Joab to conquer Jebus (the Canaanite city of Jerusalem), which is described in 2 Samuel 5:6-10. Going down to the tunnel we saw ruins of a tower that is from the Canaanite period, which might date back to the time of Melchizedeck. Hezekiah’s tunnel is mentioned as one of the great accomplishments of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:20, which was done in response to Sennacherib’s threat to Jerusalem. The water, in the highest parts were mid-thigh height, but most of the way the water was right above the ankle. The tunnel in one part zigzags because the inscription, which is mentioned above, that we saw in the museum, says that they could hear each other, therefore they zigzagged because they were trying to find each other. It was also pretty low, for a good portion of it and, which would fluctuate, so one moment I would be standing up and another moment I would bump my head and crouch down. The water wasn't cold at all, and it took us about 23 minutes to get through.
After we came from the tunnel we went over to the pool of Siloam. The waters that come from Hezekiah’s tunnel would have emptied into the pool of Siloam, which is now mostly covered with dirt. This pool is significant because Jesus healed a blind man by putting mud on his eyes and telling him to go wash at the pool of Siloam (account found in John 9:1-12).
Finally we went over to what might be the tomb of King David. We don’t know exactly where he is buried but 1 Kings 2 mentions that King David was buried within the walls of the City of David. We don’t find a lot of Jewish remnants, such as the tombs of the kings, because conquerors and people following wanted to erase anything Jewish. This place was made into a quarry by the Romans.

City of David (Right) Kidron Valley (Lower Left)

First Trip to Jerusalem

This is suppose to be for yesterday, but the internet in my room wasn't working so I couldn't publish it until today.

Today I learned, as I have with many old places, that not everything you think is original is. For example, I had thought the walls were the real walls from thousands of years ago but they are not. The walls around the Old City don’t even include the true City of David. The citadel at the Jaffa Gate was impressive because we could see all Jerusalem and the citadel was probably the place where Jesus was condemned to die. From the citadel we could see the three towers which were the Tower of Ascension, built by Catholics which is right across from the Temple Mount; the Augusta Victoria, built by the Germans; and the Hebrew University, built by the Jews. We could also see the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which was where Jesus was probably crucified and buried. The other main sight we could see, and one of the most prominent in Jerusalem was the Dome of the Rock, which was built in 70 AD. Buildings on a religious sight mean that it is always a holy place to that religion and in doing that the idea is conveyed that the god represented in the building is greater than the other ones that aren’t. Thus, the Muslims say that Mohammed and Allah are greater than the God of the Jews. Also for the Muslims, Jerusalem is a more important declaration than Mecca or Medina.

We then walked through the stores along the narrow streets and I was surprised that the shop keepers weren’t like yelling at us or something like that. When I was told of how they acted I thought they would be all over us trying to get us inside their stores. As we walked through the streets we came to Christ Church. Christ Church is the oldest Protestant church in the Middle East. They couldn’t get one in because of the Muslim millet system which controlled the society at the time missionaries from England wanted to build. The millet system controlled who could build what, who could marry who, and so on. They were finally to build it in 1849 through a different approach. They then had a Jewish bishop come in and he was the first Jewish bishop since 135 AD. The unique thing about their church is that there are no crosses in the church because that associates them with Catholics. They also do not call themselves Christians, because that associates with Catholics, instead they call themselves believers. In the front of their church they have a class pane of olive trees which represent what is talked about in Romans 9-11 where it says that there are Jews cut off and Gentiles grafted in. We do not ask the Jews to join us in our religion but we want to join them because our faith originated from them.

We then walked over the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where Jesus was crucified and buried. We do not want to be so confident in saying that this is the actual place, because it probably couldn’t, but Bill gave us a sober reminder that “This could be the place where God broke the curse of sin and death.” As we went into the church the first thing I noticed was the aroma of the incense and the grandeur of it all. As I sat up on Golgotha I read the crucifix account from Luke and John and remembered how my sins were paid in full because of the work of Christ on the cross. As I walked down the steps I was sang in my head the chorus “Oh praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead”. I was also reminded that my faith is not built in a building or a piece of land but in Christ.

At the Damascus Gate we went up on the wall that was built by the Ottoman Turks and walked over to where we could see the second plausible site of Golgotha, which was claimed by Charles Gordon in the 1880’s. It is probably not the site because the tomb is dated back to 600 BC and the tomb Jesus was laid in was newly hewn and the tradition is really late. We then overlooked the Mount of Olives and Zechariah 14:1-5 was read which talked about the Lord coming and standing on the Mount of Olives, splitting it in half, which is talking about the Second coming of the Messiah.

As we came off the wall we went down to the Lion Gate where tradition says Stephen was stoned, but it is unlikely. Afterward we walked to the Pools of Bethesda, which were right next to the gate. The pools were used to store water and for healing, which was probably some superstition, during the time of Jesus. They were 50-60 feet deep, so they were not for swimming. The incident where the lame man was healed is found in John 5:1-5. The miracle could have been during the Feast of Weeks. It was the first time the religious leaders wanted Jesus dead, and it was the first time Jesus claimed to have power over death. We went inside the church they have there and gloriously sang “It is Well with My Soul”, “Kadosh”, and “Hodu”.

First Journey

Thoughts from today:
-The Bible is real, it is not a virtual reality.
-Abner's advice:
1. Be flexible
2. Terrorism, car accidents, and international disasters are not the greatest threat to IBEX, the students are. They can be the greatest threat and asset to the program.
3. Believe it. You have to believe what you hear
--For many of us it will be our first and last time to go certain places
4. Engage
--for example, in the land

-First Hebrew song we sang:
Hodu l'Adonai ki tov => 'Because God is good
Ki le'olam chasdo => His mercy endures forever.'
(2x)

Hodu, hodu
Hodu, hodu
Hodu l'Adonai Ki tov
(2x)

--This is from Ps 136:1 "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever."
-Being in the land where the Bible took place makes us:
1. Motivated
2. Aids us

We walked to Qiryat Ye'arim (pronounced Kerat Yereem)
-Ark of the covenant was taken on cart but failed and then the people took it on their shoulders.
-Stayed at Qiryat Ye'arim for over 100 years
-Account is found in 2 Samuel 7

We then walked to Abu Gosh (pronounced Aboo Go-ash)
-Went in a Catholic church built by the Crusaders and is 900 yrs old
-Sang another Hebrew song (great acustics)

Kadaosh, Kadoash, Kadaosh => Holy, Holy, Holy
Adonai, Elohem => God, God
Tsa va ot => Host of heaven

--It is from Isaiah 6:3 "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!"

Tomorrow is the first trip to Jerusalem

1st post in Israel

The flights from LA to Newark, NJ to Tel Aviv went smoothly. The first plane ride only had two movies that popped down from the ceiling, but it was made up on our second flight when we each had our own screens, so that was good.

I did bring too much stuff....arrrrrrg. It has taken me a while to unpack. Hopefully (I really hope I can) I can send some stuff back when the parents come to visit. The rooms are pretty small. No drawers (for me, when I have drawers that I can put things in it feels like home) so I'll have to do my best. I think I'm pretty lucky right now to be able to get internet connection in my room right now, and hopefully it stays like that too. If I leave short posts, just putting small comments or names, it is because I want you to know what is happening but I have no time to keep writing. I got to get everything settled before I get to bed so I'm out for now.

Bon Voyage, Tchus, Hasta Luego, See You Later

Well, I haven't gone to sleep yet because I'm still getting ready. It kind of has, kind of hasn't settled in that I'm going to Israel quite yet. Everything is happening so quickly I just haven't had too much time to think about it. What I'm worried about now, and we'll just have to see later, is if I'll have enough space to bring back what I want to. I don't mind if I leave stuff there, I just hope I haven't been wasteful in maybe bringing too much. All I expect to do on the flight is to watch some movies (make time pass by a little quicker), do some unfinished map work, and maybe read the book Zvi. I take off at 1pm today and I will land at Tel Aviv on the 18th at 4:45pm (2:45am for the West Coast).

The winterm class went well and was very edifying, even though the assignment took a lot of time and concentration to get done before the Truth and Life conference that started on Wednesday. Anyway, I guess, on this blog, I say goodbye to the good ole states, and the next time I post I shall be in Israel.

MORE Israel, Hamas, and IBEX

This is the latest news and greeting from Israel.

Israel, Hamas, and IBEX

Happy 2009!

Lately there has been a lot of rocket attacks between Israel and Hamas, and I know that some of you are pretty worried about my safety/the safety of the other students. This is an email I was forwarded from one of the professors from over there talking about the current situation:

Just a quick note to say (if anybody is asking), in regards to the current Israeli attacks on Gaza, and Hamas Kassam rockets – we are not affected. There is only one day on our semester calendar that might be affected – a beach trip to Ashkelon toward the end of the semester (and there are lots of other safe places to go to the beach). Life in Israel for where we are and for where we want to visit is, for instance, as last semester would remember it.

Thanks,

Bill

So as you can see we won't be affected by it. The people will teach us where we can and can't go. One of the professors told us it's like here in LA in that we know where and when not to go somewhere. He said people from other countries think that LA is basically a war zone because of all the crime that goes on here, but we know it's not, at least for us.

Its almost two weeks until I leave. This next week it have a winterm class (New Testament Survey II). I'll be in class from 8-5 for a week, so we'll see how much sleep I can get for the week. After next week I'll be in the home stretch, and my concience will be clear of work that I have to do.