A view of Shechem from Mt. Gerizim. This was the capital of Israel (the northern kingdom) for a while and has great agricultural opportunity. You can see the vast plain that does not exist near Jerusalem that is about 30 or so miles away. This plain is really the intersection of four great flat valleys that serve both as good farmland and natural routes between cities and the coast. Mt. Gerizim is also an important Biblical site. I will let you investigate biblical stories on your own for this one. Have fun!
Monday, February 26, 2007
A busy weekend
A view of Shechem from Mt. Gerizim. This was the capital of Israel (the northern kingdom) for a while and has great agricultural opportunity. You can see the vast plain that does not exist near Jerusalem that is about 30 or so miles away. This plain is really the intersection of four great flat valleys that serve both as good farmland and natural routes between cities and the coast. Mt. Gerizim is also an important Biblical site. I will let you investigate biblical stories on your own for this one. Have fun!
Friday, February 23, 2007
We call it the ethnographic present...
Last update - 06:54 23/02/2007
Abu-Ghanem women speak out against serial 'honor killings'
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/829440.html
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
wanderings
This is the same gorge directly below where the previous photo was taken. You can notice the much greener look of the wadi bottom. There was a decent amount of seasonal water flowing through the bottom of the canyon. In the back of the picture you see St. George's monastery rising out of the hillside. All through these hills you find remains of places where people have lived over the millennia. The desert is the home of many Biblical narratives and a favorite home of monastics starting around 300AD. This monastery memoralizes Elijah's flight to the desert where he was fed by ravens. Never mind that the Bible clearly states that he went east of the Jordan so this is absolutely not where he hid but it is a tradition that started 1700 years ago so what are you going to do?
Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." And the word of the LORD came to him, "Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." So he went and did according to the word of the LORD. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. I Kings 17:1-7
This is the Old Testament site of Jericho. It is a "Tel" or ancient city mound. For thousands of years people built their homes out of mud brick that was continually breaking down and being replaced. So the mounds became quite high and the layers can be dated with pottery remains that are left from each respective time period. Jericho is one of those difficult sites where not much has been found supporting the biblical narrative. At the turn of the century the mud brick wall shown here was discovered and claimed to be the walls that God destroyed before Joshua. However the wall was later determined to be 1,000 years older than Joshua and the archeologist who did the second excavation (Kathleen Kenyon) claimed that the site was uninhabited in the time of Joshua. It is known that Kenyon was biased against finding support for scripture at the site but regardless, evidence is sparce to nonexistent for a settlement that would coincide with the Biblical narrative. However, as the pun goes: "tels don't tell all." The geography of the Bible is very reliable and lines up with what we know about the land today. Just because pottery was not found in the excavations that were done does not mean the site was uninhabited. There is no reason to abandon the Biblical account just because no record exists. Jericho is an oasis town and personally I have a hard time believing that it was ever unoccupied. Where there is water in a desert there are people.
A gate built by Solomon at Tel Gezer. This is his standard "six chamber gate." Often in the bible it talks about business being done in the city gate. Here is an example of the rooms in the gate where such things would take place. The trench in the middle is the sewer that drained out underneath the now missing road surface. We were not told why the sewer flows out the main gate but I would guess that it is for security purposes.
Sunset at Tel Gezer. The western gateway to the cities of the hill country. Thanks again for reading and posting everyone!
Thursday, February 15, 2007
A Look Around Campus
A view of the campus from the garden.
Here is a view of the garden from near the front gate. On the right is a young palm tree, to the left the whiteish tree is an olive tree and the arched hedge is a huge Bay Laurel bush that is the source of Bay Leaves, a common spice.
I enjoyed taking this photo of some winter flowers in the garden. Also, as an update, the white flowers that I posted earlier are flowers of an almond tree. Before I come home in May there will be a harvest of fresh almonds that are eaten shell and all while they are still green.
Inside of the building there is an inner courtyard that you have to go through to get throughout the building. My room is in what I call "the crow's nest" at the top of the brown wooden stairs.
This is a view of the dining room. My expert photography skills ;) make it look a bit nicer than it really is in real life.
This is our student lounge. The building is an all stone construction that was built sometime around two hundred years ago by the British as a boys school. Since they did not use steel or other beams all of the ceilings on the first floor are comprised of these arches. In this room the plaster has been removed for a nice casual effect. The campus is currently on longterm lease to JUC from the Anglican Church.
Here is another view of the student lounge. This is what a typical hallway/stairwell looks like.This is my room. My bed is to the right. Some of the rooms are more like the lounge with nicer stone floors and high domed ceilings but this does just fine and keeps me in shape climbing all of the stairs!
This is a detail of a "relieving arch" over a window. Since there was no steel available to support the window as is used in today's masonry projects every window is either a strong natural arch or an arch such as the one above. This type of arch allows for a rectangular window.
Monday, February 12, 2007
So Much To Say - so little time
The place where the Garden of Gethsemane is remembered. These ancient Olive trees are well over 1000 years old but are not the same trees Jesus sat under when he prayed before the crucifixion. When the temple was destroyed in 70AD the Romans cut every tree to use as wood to burn the Temple. The limestone temple was destroyed with heat from the burning wood that disintegrated the rock.
This is the view East from the top of the Mount of Olives away from Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives is an important dividing line between generally inhabitable land and generally uninhabitable land. The rock type changes suddenly from a solid limestone bedrock to a near useless chalk hundreds of feet thick. On just the other side of this hill every piece of ground is used where here shepherds are the only ones who find a home. Modern technology has somewhat bridged the gap as you can see a highway and a tunnel to the right and a small community as well but soon settlement becomes even more sparse. The land is somewhat green in the winter but turns completely brown and unable to support any crops in the summer. Without solid rock layers there are few natural aquifers below the surface and therefore little opportunity for wells or springs.
One of several side by side ancient threshing floors at Bethlehem. It is believed that the surface of the rock would not be much smoother than you see it here. Farmers would bring their harvested grain, stalk and all up to the threshing floor of exposed bedrock and use animals to drag boards with sharp rocks in them (known as a threshing sledge) over the grain, cutting it apart and separating the wheat from the stalk. The grain would then be swept up and the kernels of wheat separated from the chaff by throwing it into the air. This might be the place where Ruth met Boaz in the night as the men would always sleep with their grain to protect it from thieves during the harvest.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
A Look at David's City
We now move to the First Temple Period after the City of David had been expanded to the highlands above by Solomon. This is a section of wall in the north of the city that is particularly important for defense as attacks would come from the downward slopes to the north. This section is a small curving section that provides extra support in a ravine and is known as the Broad Wall. Nehemiah mentions this section of the wall in chapter 3 where he lists everyone who helps to repair the wall. Many of the archeological finds in the Old City were discovered after the 1967 war. Many parts of the city were reduced to rubble and time was taken for excavations. Now some of the most important sites are exposed in the new city plan.
Here I am at the Southwestern corner of the temple mount. In an earlier post I mistakenly said that the Western Wall is the only remaining section of the Temple however that is not true. There are many stones surrounding temple mount that are in their original positions from the time of Herod. The Western Wall happens to be the most important section because it is the closest section to where the Holy of Holies would have been. This section is very important archeologically though because the remains are very complete for a massive arch and stair case that led up to the top of the Temple mount and you can see the fallen stones for that arch behind me(artists rendition below). The street I am standing on was a very highly traveled street that Jesus surely would have walked on however not these very stones because we have records of the street being repaved in 69AD just before the Temple was destroyed in 70AD. Notice the size of the stone just over my head. These weigh hundreds of tons and are constructed without any mortar but rely on their sheer weight for stability. Excuse me for rambling on but one more thing. Notice also the cut margin around the edge of the stone. All stones cut in Herod's time had this margin. They can be seen all over the city as stones were often reused over and over again. As new kings commissioned building projects constrution crews grabbed whatever good stone was still available. By knowing styles of stone you can trace the history of many walls in Jerusalem.
Here is a wall inside of our Campus that is built directly on top of a portion of old city wall. This is bedrock that at one time was the foundation for the city wall. The stair step design allowed the wall to be placed on top of this notched pattern which provided added strength from exterior attack.
This is a very exciting new discovery in Jerusalem. In just the last two years this pool, which is quite confidently believed to be the Pool of Siloam (John 9:1-12) has been uncovered for the first time in almost two thousand years. It is a Roman era pool that is fed by the water coming out of Hezekiah's tunnel. Until just recently another pit nearby was fabeled to be this pool however it is not very convincing. Recently when a new utility project was cutting through this area the pavement was discovered and the project halted. Archeologists were brought in and excavations revealed this exceptionally well preserved pool. We can say with some confidence that these are stones Jesus walked on. The rest of the pool will be excavated when land rights are cleared for the area.
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”6 Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. 8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” 10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they demanded. 11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” 12 “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said. John 9:1-12
These are stairs that were in place in Herod's day that led up to the temple from the Southern side. This was also a favorite place for Rabbis to sit and teach. It is likely that Jesus and the apostles, especially Saul, taught on these stairs that overlook the Mount of Olives.
This is the pool of Bethesda. Jesus also healed a man here. Originally this pit was divided into two sections that served as a Roman era reservoir for the city. Later a church was built that extended over the pit. The Chruch has since been destroyed. The story below may have even more sting when Jesus says: "Do you want to get well?" because a wading pool beside this deep pool was committed to the Roman gods. This could have been the pool he was laying beside, thereby seeking healing in the wrong place.
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” John 5:1-8
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Today I Hiked to the Mount of Olives
The Kidron Valley below the Mount of Olives. Here are the Olive trees!
An excavated tomb site on the Mount of Olives. In ancient times many people did not have a plot of ground that they were buried in as we do today or even as is now present on the Mount of Olives. The body was laid on a cement slab in the tomb and allowed to decompose for about a year. Then the tomb was reopened and the bones moved either into a box as show here, known as an ossuary or into an open pit in the tomb where bones were collected for many years. This gives the Old Testament phrase "and he was gathered to his fathers" new meaning as in the age of the patriarchs they definitely used the later method and collected the bones all together in a loose chamber. So when you died you literally were "gathered with your fathers" in the family tomb.
An example of an excavated stone slab with burial chambers below. The blocks to the right are the stone building that has been built above the tomb site.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
This is a military assembly that was taking place at the Western Wall when we arrived. There were three or four times as many soldiers as is shown in this photo. I believe that it was a graduation ceremony for basic training. From what I understand the final week of basic training is spent inside the Old City, learning how to defend it and fostering national pride. Of course Police and Military are everywhere in both the New City and the Old City. Most major streets have at least one soldier present.
A Jewish man offering prayers just outside the inner gate of the Western Wall.
Prayers being offered at the Western Wall. Many orthodox Jews pray here as well as other Jewish believers who normally cover their head such as the boy with the backpack on the left. No pictures are allowed to be taken in the inner area and everyone must wear a head covering as illustrated by the paper caps seen here. Also if you look closely written prayers are visible as paper tucked into the cracks of the rocks. My friend and I went up to the wall and prayed and also went into some of the underground chambers that have been excavated. There are a number of impressive chambers that now house prayer rooms and arks for Torah scrolls. While we where there a barmitzva was being held and a Torah scroll in a large impressive silver case was brought out from one of the inner chambers for the boy to read. There is a court of women and a court of men and the inner chambers are only open for men to enter so the men brought the scroll out of the chamber and then took it over to the wall between the two courts and the women were standing on tables looking over the wall and throwing candy while the Rabbis and the other men were carrying out the ceremony.