הַלְלוּ אֶת-יְהוָה, כָּל-גּוֹיִם O, Praise the LORD all ye nations

In less than 12 hours I will be in an airplane taking off for the land of Israel once again. The day I land there it will have been 714 days since I was last in Israel, and much has happened in that time. Last time I was there I was ending my first year of college and now I'm done with my college career.

Being in Israel for that semester changed many things in my life. Being at the places did not necessarily change my life, because if you don't know what happened at a place it doesn't mean anything. What makes Israel special is because it is a physical place where we know God came to earth. What changed me was the teaching at the places where the Bible happened and the teaching in the classroom.

One of the main thing that changed me was that I was able to close the gap in space in time. Israel doesn't seem that far away anymore and the events that happened there 2000+ years ago don't seem as far away as it did before, making the theology of the Bible much more of a reality.

Another major thing I learned is that I have a selfish view of the Bible. As I read many times before I went and I can still do, I would read the Bible to see what I could get out of the reading for myself. "How does it apply to ME?" is the question that always seems to be asked, which is why people, at times, try to avoid the OT. What I learned from the teaching is that God is King, I am a slave, and the Bible is about Him. As a reader of the Bible I am an observer of the works and attributes of God proclaimed and how sinful my species is. These are just two of the ways being over there has impacted my life.

So, the question is, why am I going back again? It was something I might have done last summer, but it will be working out much better for this summer. My main mission is to be a part of an archeological dig at the city of Ai. The account of what happened at Ai can be found in Joshua 7-8. It was the second city conquered by Joshua, after Jericho. This link is the link that can show you more specifics about the dig-- http://www.biblearchaeology.org/outreach/event.aspx?id=134

The dig will last for two weeks and then I will be there for another two and a half weeks backpacking around Israel toting around art supplies, books, and cameras to make the most of my post-college Israel trip. I do not have any specific plans yet, but they will formulate once I will be able to talk to my professor from IBEX Bill Schlegel. We will be staying where I stayed for IBEX for those two weeks during the dig, so Bill will be close by, and it'll feel almost like home to me.

If you look on the website you can see that the days are filled with things from 4am-8pm, so my posting might be sparse. I'm starting this up so that people will be able to know where I'm at and what I'm doing. If you have any questions, you can ask me, and I will try to answer it. Next post will be in Israel.

שָׁלוֹם

I'm Still Alive

Sorry, its been a long time. I was pretty busy after travel study with projects and finals to write about travel study or to explain why I'm still here.

Real quick. Egypt was an adventure. Not the funnest at times but an adventure. The train tickets down to Luxor cost about twice as much as we were told, so that changed some things, like not going down to Aswan. We rode camels and horses around the pyramids and went to the Cairo Museum. We took a night train down to Luxor and saw the Temple of Karnak and the Valley of the Kings. After two days there we took another night train (on the second night in Luxor) back up to Cairo. When we got there we took a six hour crammed taxi ride back to the border. We got there at night and we walked five miles to where we were going to stay in Eilat (we didn't think it would be that long, we just kept going).

We were going to go to Amman, but we didn't have enough money. We also thought about going to Petra, but we didn't want to spend $100 and a whole day to see a sight for a couple hours. I had a great time spending a couple days in Eilat at the beach and with friends.

My IBEX friends left and my dad came on May 2. My dad and I are going on a Turkey/Greece Early Church tour put on the The Master's College. It starts May 17 and ends June 5, so my dad and I are just killing time over here until the tour starts, because it would be cheaper for me to stay here than go back home and then come back (even though I'm looking forward to going back).

The silence has broken, and I'll post when I can.

Galilee: Saturday 4/4

Our first stop was at the Jordan River on the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee. The place we were at is where people claim that Jesus was baptized. We know that He would have been baptized in Jericho area because after being baptized He went into the wilderness to be tempted, and then went north.

It was a short day and our last stop was at Bet Shan which is the best preserved New Testament period city even though it is only mentioned in the Old Testament. During the Roman period this was one of the ten decoplis cities, but it was the only one on the west side of the Jordan River. The Old Testament period city is the tel that is within the Roman period city. This was the city was mentioned in I Samuel 31 when Saul and his son’s bodies were taken and impaled on the city wall. Only royalty would endure such punishment, and it was as if they were suffering for the whole nation.

Galilee: Wednseday 4/1

Our first stop was at Chorazim, which was one of the places where Jesus spent a lot of time teaching. Even though Jesus spent a lot of time here there is not one event recorded from here. In the synagogue there is a chair called the Seat of Moses which was where the teacher would have taught from. Since Jesus taught here Jesus could have taught from the seat here. In Matthew 11 Jesus condemns Chorazim along with Bethsaida and Capernaum. Today, that condemnation can be seen because there is no city there that stands today.

We then went to Hazor, which is the largest tel in Israel—two hundred acres. From here we could see the steep drop down into the Sea of Galilee from the Hazor Valley. We could also see Mount Hermon which can have snow from October to May. Hazor was conquered by Joshua, which can be found in Joshua 11:1-16.The attack was a sudden and he burnt the city, but Deborah and Barak are accredited with the final destruction of the Canaanite city. Archeologists have found temples, standing stone pillars, and houses. They also say that there could have been one hundred people per acre, which means that there could have be around twenty thousand people in the city.

We then went to tel Dan which had things mainly built by Jereboam I, Ahab and Jereboam II. There is a remnant of a high place here, which was sacked by the Arameans. I Kings 12 talks about Jereboam I setting up a high place to worship YHWH. Even though it wasn’t to worship Baal it was still a perverted form of worship. The Assyrians finally destroyed the city as they conquered the northern tribes. In the front of the city the gate area is well preserved that was built by Jereboam II. In the book of Amos, we have Amos prophesying against the northern kingdom and he could have likely been in the gate area preaching. The most important find here was a stele (called the Tel Dan Stele), which is one out of two that exist, that mentions the “house of David”. It was written by an Aramean king boasting about the death of the king of Israel and Judah. Even though the names of the kings’ names are not clear we know that it was Jehoram and Ahaziah, who were killed by Jehu, because he killed them both in one day.

From tel Dan we went to Caesarea Philippi which was built by Herod the Great, and it has remnants of temples to Caesar, the god Pan, and Zeus. It was in this area that Peter makes his confession to Christ that He is the Messiah, which is found in Matthew 16. Herod thought that Jesus was John the Baptist and others thought he was Jeremiah because Jesus and Jeremiah predicted the destruction of the temple and a lot of people did not like them.

From there we went to Mount Hermon which is a series of peaks, and on one of these peaks Jesus was transfigured, which is found in Matthew 17. Elijah and Moses appeared to them, which was a testimony to the disciples to who Jesus was.

Our last stop on the Golan Heights was looking over into Syria in the direction of Damascus which is the capital. This city was where Paul was going to, to persecute Christians, but on the way Jesus appeared to him and Paul’s life was forever changed.

Galilee: Tuesday 3/31

Our first stop today was at Capernaum, which was the place Jesus had moved into from Nazareth. Here, they had built all the buildings out of basalt, which is a black volcanic rock. They think they know where Peter’s house is, but if it was then Peter would have been a very wealthy fisherman, which was not likely at all. There was also a synagogue that was built during the Byzantine period, but the foundation of it is a basalt foundation, which is not the same as the synagogue standing there today, which means that the synagogue there today might be built on top of the one that was there during the time of Jesus. Jesus cast a demon out of a man in the synagogue here, and Jesus, in the gospels is said to have taught with authority here. We also read in Capernaum the account of Jesus walking on the water and feeding the five thousand. When Jesus fed the five thousand it was symbolic of His death because He was giving life to them all through the bread He gave them. When He walked on the water the disciples think He is a ghost, and the only other time they think He is a ghost is when He appears to them after the resurrection, which means that this incident is a foreshadowing of His resurrection. This was also the city where the centurion’s servant was and Jesus was amazed at the centurion’s faith.

We then went to the Hill of the Beatitudes where Jesus could have given the Sermon on the Mount. We see that in the first twelve verses of Matthew 5 that we might be looked down upon for associating with Jesus, which goes to show that being a follower of Him is not easy but it will be rewarded. The Sermon on the Mount proves that Jesus is the new Moses because He interprets the Torah. This is the new Mount Sinai, and the crowd recognized His authority.

From there we walked down to Tabgha which could have been where Jesus called His disciples. In Matthew 4 when He calls them we have to keep in mind that Jesus had known them previous to this encounter. Then before Jesus ascends to heaven seven of the disciples are in this area fishing and Jesus fills their nets with fish, and as they get to shore Jesus asks Peter if he love Him. This question is to remind Peter of his denial of Jesus on the eve of His crucifixion. Peter is a lot more humble in his answer; he has changed a lot since then. Peter knows that he cannot love Jesus on his own that is why he says it is Jesus who knows what is in the heart.

We then drove to Nof Ginosar, or in biblical terms Gennesaret. This is where the ‘Jesus boat’ is. It is a first century boat that was discovered in the mud. They can determine the date of the ship by its design and also some pottery that was found next to it.

Our last sightseeing stop was at what people claim to be Bethsaida. The reason why it could not be is because they have only found Iron Age buildings here. During the Old Testament times this would have been in the land of Gesher. The Gesherites were not pushed out of the land when Israel came in from the wilderness. Later on David married a Gesherite princess who was the mother of Absalom, and after Absalom murdered Amnon. Anyway, the New Testament town of Bethsaida would be nearby because it is said to be along the Jordan River as this city is. This was made a city by the Roman government which would mean that archeologists would have found capitals from pillars or other things that Roman cities would have. This is also a reason why the city we went to could not be the New Testament Bethsaida. The only miracle performed here is a blind man being healed, which is found in Mark 8:22-26.

Galilee: Monday 3/30

The first stop we had today was at Sephorius. There was a theatre from the Roman period, which would have been around during the time of Jesus. Jesus mentions in the gospels people that are hypocrites. Hypocrite was the same word as an actor; a person with a mask on, being someone who they are not. There were also some large mosaics, one of which was a Roman dining room that depicted the Roman god of wine Dionysus. There was another large mosaic that was Byzantine depicting the Nile River and Alexandria

We then went to Cana, where Jesus performed His first miracle. As we saw that Dionysus was the Roman god of wine which was a big thing in the area because it is fertile ground and there would have been vineyards in the surrounding area. Jesus shows in His first miracle by turning the water into wine and in doing that He was condemning Dionysus by proving that the Lord is the One who gives true joy. We can see here that the Divine is working among the mundane as Jesus is in this small city of Cana.

From Cana we went to the Arbel Cliff where we were overlooking the Sea of Galilee. From here we read the Great Commission, and as we looked across the Galilee region we could see, even if unknowingly, where Jesus spoke these great words. Or we could have been standing on the same cliff He was when He spoke to the disciples.

Our last stop was in the Upper Jordan area. We were standing on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee on a hill where the pigs ran into the sea and drowned. The place where this happened could also be all the way down on the southern end of the sea. When Jesus casts out the demon from the man in this area it is the first time Jesus goes into Gentile territory, and those who greet him are the outcasts. Jesus releases the man from the power that Satan had over him, and this should remind us that Jesus has released from the power of Satan too.