This is where we went on Wednesday for our History of Modern Israel class field study.

Our first stop was at the campus and house that Cheim Weizmann built. Born in Russia, he became a brilliant man as he went on to Germany for school at a younger age and then England to teach. When he came to Eratz Israel and established the university of graduate and doctorate programs in science in the modern town of Rehavot, the modern town was not even established. The reason why he was able to build this campus with his own money was because of the patents he had in the science community. He was a man that knew the right people to be able to establish the Balfour Declaration. Even though many people helped establish this country I think Cheim does not get as much credit as he deserves. He was the one that knew the people in the British government who had the authority and power to be able to establish this state. It is true that many Jews did not like the British, but this was all their land so they were the ones that had the power to do with it as they pleased. Cheim was the one who was able to greatly influence this decision. He was in there at the right time, because Britain was not too particular to having a Jewish state before or after the Balfour Declaration. When Israel declared itself a state Britain did not recognize it until Winston Churchill became Prime Minister. I think that the people should have given him a more honorable position as Prime Minister.
We then went to David Ben Gurion’s house. He too was not born in Eratz Israel but in Poland. He was made to be a politician because he could not farm, fight, or be a doctor. It is disappointing that he was not able to finish law school, but he was able to do a much more prestige job of becoming the Prime Minister. Ben Gurion was also a brilliant man almost like Weizmann because of his ability to learn multiple languages.I am not sure if it is just that Ben Gurion knew the people more than Weizmann or if he knew politics better, but even without a major degree he became the first Prime Minister.
On our last stop we came to the tank museum and it was an experience that allowed us to be able to look in on the Israeli military and how they have functioned throughout the wars and how they have functioned in the losses they have had in personnel. I really enjoyed the Tower of Tears. It was sobering to see the holes where a projectile hit the tank and killed people and how those pieces were integrated into the piece of art as a whole. The rust that the water made seemed to me that it shows the effect of scarring that a death has and that war can have on people. It was a very unique piece of art that I think really represented that whole place.

In the Buffer Zone

Heading down to the Shephelah it was easy to see how the terrain changed from deep narrow valleys and tall hills to the wider valleys and descending hills as they pointed to the coastal plain. In this buffer zone between the hill country and the coastal plain there are five main valleys to use as passage between these two different types of terrain.
Our first stop was at Beth-shemesh, which is in the Sorek Valley. This was the land that Samson was born and grew up in—the tribe of Dan. Although the valley produces good wine Samson could not have any because he had taken the Nasserite vow. Samson took the road through the Sorek to go to Ashkelon to kill the one thousand Philistines to pay for the bet he had. Then when his fiancé is given to another man he goes and burns the Philistinian fields and vineyards. He also took the gates of the city from Gaza to Hebron, which is about a forty mile walk in a straight line. Therefore, we can easily see that it is the Spirit of the Lord that energizes Samson. It was in the Sorek Valley, when he was going to see his girlfriend, Timnah, where he killed a lion (Judges 14:1-9). The woman Delilah, who turned him over to the Philistines, was from the Sorek too. Another major thing that might have happened right after the time of Samson was the return of the Ark of the Covenant from the Philistines. The Israelites took the Ark to battle against the Philistines, thinking that they could manipulate God like other people did with their gods, but it was taken. After it had gone to Ashdod, Gath and Ekron the Philistines sent it back because of all the havoc it was causing in those cities. They put it on a cart and the two cows took it through the Sorek Valley over to Beth-shemesh.
The next stop was south from the Sorek Valley at Azekah, in the Valley of Elah. When the Amorites were escaping from Joshua it says in Joshua 10:11 that the hail stones that were shooting down on them fell “as far as Azekah”. In Sennacherib’s boasting about conquering cities in Judah, he stated that Azekah was an “eagle’s nest”. From the hilltop that the city is on, it is easy to see the coastal plain and the hill country, thus making it a vital defensive spot when holding against those coming from the coastal plain. 1 Samuel 17 describes one of the most told stories that is always the template of a comeback. The event between David and Goliath happened in the middle part of the Elah Valley between Azekah and Socoh.
From there we went to caves that were built in 135 AD during the second revolt. The entrance ways were tiny and would have to be crawled through to get to a bigger room. It was very small, the claustrophobic could probably not even look into the crawling space it was that small. They would get their enemy in there and kill them as they came in, not making it easy for them to escape. We then went over to a Roman period amphitheater in Bet-guvrim where plays were held and gladiators fought.

We then went to the prized possession of Sennacherib, Lacish. When the city was conquered by the Israelites they were told not to destroy any of the buildings, so there is no clear distinction, in the archeology, from the Canaanite and Israelite periods. This city was boasted about by Sennacherib because he could not take Jerusalem since God killed one hundred eighty-five thousand men in one night. It was taken again by Nebuchadnezzar in 501 BC. In some pieces of writing found in the city Azekah and Lacish were the last two cities standing.
While we were driving back to the Elah Valley, we were pointed to the area where Asa repelled an attack by an Ethiopian named Zerah (2 Chon 14:9-15). We then went to a brook where David would have taken the five stones and Bill showed us how the people would have slung the stones. Then we went up to an early excavation site that could be either Aphas Damim or Sharime (meaning ‘two gates’)(I'm not sure if that is how you spell them), in the Elah Valley. This town, dating back to the time of David (900 BC), had two gates and was strongly fortified. There are only a few areas where they have dug since they started excavating only a year ago. One of the guys, Josh, showed me and Jon a small cave in the ground where they had thrown all the pot shards and there were tons of pieces that had been discarded. I found a whole handle attached to the pot, but not the whole pot, pretty cool find. This is the only excavation that they have done.

Jerusalem Approaches: Mount of Olives, Bethelehem, Herodium

This was to be for yesterday.

Our first stop today was on the Mount of Olives. We were in the vicinity of where Jesus ascended to heaven because it says in Luke 24 that he ascended “out of the vicinity of Bethany”, which was where we were. We read the account of Him ascending acting like we were looking up into the sky and the angels asking what we are looking at. The Mount of Olives is also the place where Jesus will descend to on His second return, and as He comes down the Mount of Olives will split in two (Zech 14:1-5). From where we were, looking east, we could see Bethphage and Bethany. Bethpage was where Jesus told the disciples to get the donkey for His triumphal entry. An interesting note about His triumphal entry was that the people who were praising Him were not the people to be demanding Jesus’ crucifixion.
Just as people had differing views about things today there was a group that loved him and a group that wanted His arrest. That is why they did not arrest Him earlier, because they were afraid of the crowd. That is why they had to do it at night; when everyone was in bed. Bethany was they hometown of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. This was where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. The Mount of Olives was also where Jesus prayed and was betrayed in the area called Gethsemane.
We then went over to the Hinnom Valley, opposite Jerusalem and saw some Iron Age (around 600BC) burial tombs. Death is a prominent thing here; they don’t hide their graves, in fact, it is one way to claim land. Concerning the tombs surrounding Jerusalem, Jesus had said that the Pharisees were like those tombs that were white on the outside, but full of death on the inside. The ridge that the tombs were on, on the Hinnom Valley ridge, was the border between Judah and Benjamin. On the top of the ridge is the Road of the Patriarchs and we were in the area that the Levite decided to continue on to Gibeah, which was where the Benjaminite civil war started. This also could have been the area where Abraham met Melchizedeck to give him gifts. In one of the tombs we were at the oldest piece of scripture was found. It was a piece of silver that was rolled up in a necklace but the area that it was found was covered with dirt so grave robbers had no idea of its existence. It quotes Numbers 6:24-26, and this artifact dates back to 600 BC. We can be reminded of what Jesus says in John 5:21 and 24 where he says that he has the power over death. We are the only religion where Christ has the key to death and Hades.
We then went to Bethlehem, which was on the West Bank so we had to go through a checkpoint (we've been over there before). When we got there there were some murals/graffiti on the walls. Most of what they say are totally wrong. They only reason why there has to be a wall up is because it is to prohibit/defer/discourage suicide bombers. Now areas where suicide bombers are usually from doesn't allow them walk over to a bus and blow it up. Bethlehem was David’s hometown and Jesus was born here. In the wheat fields surrounding Bethlehem was where Boaz had his fields, and where the accounts of the book of Ruth took place. Bill pointed out that everyone has a wrong view of the Christmas story. First of all there was no inn; the word is supposed to be translated ‘upper room’ meaning that it was probably Joseph’s family’s house. There was no late night arrival; they were there for days maybe even weeks before Jesus was born. The account never mentions any animals in the manger. The shepherds didn’t see the star; the magi did, the shepherds would have gone around asking people where the new born was. Also, Jesus could have been born during the day. Bethlehem is the place where God became man.
We then went to the Herodium, which was a fortress built by Herod. It is also the burial place of Herod, which was just found in 2007. The Jews took the fortress over in the two revolts in 70 AD and 135 AD. One of the features were a couple of cisterns that had water brought in by bucket from the aqueducts below, yet the Jews used the tunnels as ways to get to different areas when fighting.
We then went to Nahal Arugot, which was the valley that Jehoshaphat went through, on the Ascent of Ziz, to defeat the Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites. On this route Jehoshaphat had the singers go out in front and sing ‘Hodu’ (2 Chron 20:1-4, 15-27). From where we were we could see the town Tekoa, which was the hometown of the prophet of Amos. Amos had to prophesy against the Northern kingdom that even though they were well off economically they were far away from God. He says in Amos 5:4, 6 “seek Me/the Lord and live”.
Our last stop was in the Valley of Rephaim. This is the way that David probably went to go to the Israelite camp and defeat Goliath. David took this route to Jebus to conquer the city and set up his palace there. After the kingdom was set up no one ever was able to successfully attack from the south in any routes.

Benjamin Fieldstudy....Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho........

This is to be for yesterday.

As we left Yad Hashmonah and were on our way to the Valley of Aijalon we passed by Emmaus, which is not the Emmaus that Jesus walked on with two disciples. The Emmaus that Jesus walked to was only seven miles from Jerusalem and this one is about twenty. During the time of the Jewish rebellion the fifth Roman legion was placed there. On our fist stop looking at the Valley of Aijalon we were at the fork where the Beth-Horon ridge route comes into the valley.
We drove up to a hill overlooking Upper and Lower Beth-Horon and the ridge route. It was crazy we took the bus up this one lane road with a deep valley on one side and the hill on the other. It was pretty steep going up too. The Beth-Horon route was used a number of times throughout history. When Joshua was fighting the Amorites they fled down the route and God threw down large hailstones only killing the Amorites, and when Joshua needed more daylight to finish them off God held the moon over the Valley of Aijalon and the sun over Gibeon (found in Joshua 10). Among the many times people used/fled down this route, the Philistines fled from Samuel, Saul, and David on all three separate occasions.
From there we went to a former mosque on a place called Nebi Samwil where Solomon might have asked God for wisdom in the “High Place of Gibeon” found in 1 Kings 3:3-15. From there we could see Gibeon where the Canaanite people tricked Joshua into making a peace treaty with them and Israel has to protect them at times. At the mosque they have what they think is the tomb of Samuel, but it is not it because we are told that he was buried in Ramah, his home town. Ramah was also where the Baasha and Asa of Israel and Judah would battle. Ramah was an important city because of its strategic location on the Road of the Patriarchs going to Jerusalem.
We then went to Gibeah of Saul where Saul made his capital during his reign. This is a strategic place in protect Jerusalem from the East. King Hussein of Jordan began to build a palace for himself, which could be on top of Saul’s palace, but only was able to finish a portion before the 1967 war. The people of Gibeah before the time of Saul were responsible for sparking the civil war with Benjamin that led to only six hundred men surviving from Benjamin who fled to Rimmon (found in Judges 19:10-16).
On the way to the pass between Geba and Mickmash we passed the area where Rachel was probably buried. When we came to a spot looking over the pass there was a cistern that Bill showed us. They can be twenty to thirty feet deep and they gourd shaped. In the Bible we see that Jeremiah and Joseph were thrown into cisterns; also Proverbs gives the symbolism of dinking from your own cistern. The pass is a sloped area that is just after a steep canyon making it possible for people to cross. This is a strategic piece of terrain that was used for military campaigns, such as Jonathan. He crossed the pass and battled the Philistines and killed all twenty men in the deployment force, which is followed by the panic of the entire Philistine army who flee from Mickmash all the way through the Aijalon Valley (found in 1 Samuel 13:16-14:23).
We drove through the wilderness down to get to Jericho. As a side note, Israel, I think, has the most diverse terrain in the world. I would say that in the area surround Santa Clarita there is a pretty diversity of terrain too. Within an hour or two we can be in the mountains, desert, farm fields, or beach. In Israel, you have all that (except they really don't have mountain ranges, its the hill country...real hills, rocky hills). I haven't been to the beach yet, but from where we are we could get there within at the very most, an hour. Within a few miles apart you can be out in the warm farmlands and then be in the hill country where it is usually windy and cool, and then within a few miles you can be in the desert like Lancaster. Its weird. We go to the barren hot desert and then you look at the map and only ten miles west is Jerusalem in the green windy hills. Jericho is the oldest city found. The biblical city is only 200 x 300 yards. Jericho was conquered by Joshua in 1406 BC (found in Joshua 6). The city wall had a foundation of rock with mud bricks on the top of that. When they conquered the city the text says that “wall fell underneath itself” meaning that the brick fell down enabling them to get in. Since we were on the Palestinian side of Israel they weren't too strict about getting artifacts. I got a number of pieces of clay pots and shells, one guy in the group got a small rock in the shape of a ball that Bill said could have been either a projectile or a weight. There is a spring right outside the city that Elisha made drinkable. After Elisha saw Elijah go up to heaven on the other side of the Jordan he came back and made the spring drinkable with a bowl of salt (found in 2 Kings 2 and yes I did drink from it). We then went to the outskirts of the modern city where there were Roman ruins of government buildings were. We can then understand that Jesus healed Bartimaeus between the two areas of Jericho. One area is the municipal area of Jericho and the other is the residental area of Jericho. That is why it may seem like there is a contradiction in the accounts found in Matthew 20:29 and Luke 18:35.

Rocket attacks, this is from CNN....there is no problem here, don't worry

Israeli PM vows 'sharp response' if Gaza attacks continue

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday promised a "sharp Israeli response" if rocket attacks from Gaza continue. Palestinian militants fired four rockets into southern Israel on Sunday, police said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Israel's response will be "disproportionate" if rocket attacks continue.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Israel's response will be "disproportionate" if rocket attacks continue.

Israel was holding to its position that "if firing continues against residents of the south, there would be a sharp Israeli response that would be disproportionate," Olmert vowed at the beginning of the weekly Cabinet meeting. "We will not go back to the rules of the game that the terrorist organizations tried to dictate in the past. ... We will act according to new rules that will ensure that we are not dragged into an unending shooting war on the southern border."

One of the mortars landed near a kindergarten in the western Negev, but there were no injuries in that attack or the others, police said.

The attacks were another breach in a tentative cease-fire which Israel and Hamas militants each declared unilaterally after a three-week Israeli military operation in Gaza which has left the territory still tense.

Israel launched the attack on Hamas in Gaza on December 27 with the stated aim of ending rocket attacks on southern Israel.


More than 1,300 Palestinians died and about 5,400 others were wounded. Thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers, were also killed in the fighting.

On January 21, Israel and Gaza's Hamas leadership each declared a temporary cease-fire which took effect after Israeli forces withdrew from the Palestinian territory.

Since the cease-fire began, militants have sporadically fired rockets into Israel. Israel has responded with air strikes.