Hesed in Judea - December 30

After a good night’s sleep, Joyce was feeling much better this morning. At breakfast this morning she discovered a wonderful array of cheese, among them goat cheese, fresh mozzarella and Brie. After breakfast we got on the bus for a 20 minute ride to the Herzl Museum. David, our guide, told us that Israel is moving to a two day week-end of Friday and Saturday when schools and government offices are closed. We drove by a relatively new bridge, designed to remind us of David's harp, and the Knesset, the Israeli parliament building, with very little traffic.We headed out of the city into the Judean hills. The weather was cool, but the sun was shining and the sky was a clear blue, which made for great viewing of the hills. We saw natural limestone terraces and many pine trees.

Herzl Museum

Herzl Museum – Theodor Herzl is credited with starting zionism and beginning the movement for a Jewish homeland. In the late 1800s he was appalled at the anti-Semitic atmosphere he witnessed in Paris following the trial of Alfred Dreyfus, an assimilated Jewish office in the French army who was unjustly accused of treason.

Herzl convened the 1^st Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1897, in which he predicted there would be a Jewish state within 50 years. He traveled throughout Europe and even to Turkey at his own expense to appeal to various leaders to give the scattered Jewish people a safe place to live. The depiction of his life and ideas was creative with both a human guide and audio-visual productions in various rooms we traveled through.

It was interesting to us that there was no mention of God in the entire presentation. We talked afterward about the way our God uses secular events and people to accomplish his purposes.

 Herzl's most famous quote is "If you will it, it is no dream."  In addition to Herzl, also buried at this site are Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, former prime ministers.

Scroll of Fire



After the Herzl Museum we again traveled through the Judean countryside to the B’nai B’rith Martyrs Forest to see the Scroll of Fire monument. As we came to the road to enter the forest, we found the road closed to traffic. David, our guide, suggested we walk to the monument, as it “wasn’t far”. We were willing as it was a beautiful sunny day.

After walking about ¾ of a mile we stopped and David said it was further than he thought. Ron, one of the tour organizers, used his phone and determined we were about half way to the monument. We voted to continue and were glad we did.

The monument is 26 foot high twin scrolls depicting the history of the Jewish people from the Holocaust to the independence of the State of Israel. The bottom of the scrolls show events with people with the top showing heavenly beings.


On the inside is inscribed Ezekiel 37:12-14:   Therefore prophesy, and tell them, 'This is what the sovereign LORD says: Look, I am about to open your graves and will raise you from your graves, my people. I will bring you to the land of Israel.  Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. I will place my breath in you and you will live; I will give you rest in your own land. Then you will know that I am the LORD - I have spoken and I will act, declares the LORD.'"

It was very moving to see, well worth the 3 mile round trip walk to see it.

On the way back to the bus, we were able to stop and look out toward the southwest and see a power plant in the Gaza strip where reportedly shells were launched into Israel a couple of years ago.  It was chilling reminder that we were in a land that has been in turmoil for centuries, and that continues to today.




Abu Ghosh

From the B’nai B’rith Martyrs Forest we headed into Abu Ghosh, an Arab town, for lunch. David and
Kamal, our driver, recommended a small independently owned Shawarma shop. Shawarma is an Arabic meat preparation where lamb, chicken, turkey, beef or mixed meats are placed on a spit and grilled for as long as a day. Shaving are cut off the block of meat for serving and the remainder of the block is kept heated on the rotating spit. The meat on the spit resembles gyros. It is served in a pita with a variety of vegetables, hummus and sauce. We had eaten a shawarma in Jerusalem yesterday that was good, but the one today was outstanding. It was loaded with meat and very flavorful. 

David explained a little of Abu Ghosh’s history. Village people are descendants of the Gibeonites. They are located on the main route from the coast to Jerusalem. The Ark of the Covenant was placed here for about 20 years before taking it's place in the Temple in Jerusalem. It was known as Kiryat Ye'arim at that time. 

When Israel was fighting for independence, the surrounding Arab countries promised Arab villages their villages and the Jewish villages if they would leave their villages and fight with the Arab countries against Israel. The local Muslim leaders decided not to fight the Israelis, along with a few other area villages. Because of that, the Israeli government has left these villages alone. There is an interesting tie to the promise of peace Joshua made with the Gibeonites in Joshua 9 as well as the avenging of the Gibeonites when Saul tried to annihilate them causing 3 years of famine talked about in 2 Samuel 21.

Moshav

Yad Hashmona Moshav - We visited Yad Hashmona moshav, a communal living village near and dear to David, our guide’s heart. He and his family lived in the village. Yad Hashmona was started by 8 Finnish families. During World War II, Finland gave 8 Jews living in Finland, who weren’t Finnish citizens, over to the Nazis. This didn’t sit well with the Finnish people and they decided to refuse to hand over Jewish Finnish citizens.

When the Jewish state was established, 8 Finnish Christian families migrated to Israel and asked the Israel government for land for a community. The request was refused so the families lived in abandoned buildings until the request was finally approved. The name of the village means: In memory of the eight. The community has grown and has a Christian school, a
biblical garden, vineyard, olive grove and probably other things I don’t remember.

We had a time of teaching and worship in an area that has the look of an ancient synagogue.  At the
entrance to the garden was a reconstruction of a watchtower, fashioned after what the ancient Israelites would have built to guard their fields and vineyards.  

Biblical Garden – In the biblical garden we discussed biblical imagery in nature. Here are some ideas for thought:

• Grafting in to an olive tree is not something that can happen in nature, though Paul speaks of grafting Gentiles into God’s people. Isn’t that adoption? That shows the hesed of God.

• We also discussed the pruning of grape vines to produce fruit and well as the burning of dead vines to produce needed heat – when not used for primary purpose, can still be used.

• John 15:2 – In our translations Jesus says he will cut off branches that don’t produce fruit. David says a better translation of the Hebrew is to “lift up”.

• 

  Wheat & grape harvests are used as imagery for the end times.

• An olive tree cut of burned will look dead, but in time, often a long time will come back to life with a new shoot.

• There were 5 harvests: barley, wheat, grapes, olives, wood.

We returned to the hotel a little earlier this evening, so we had our evening teaching before dinner. Michael taught about hesed.

• God uses hesed as a defining characteristic when He defines himself.
  • The Lord is slow to anger and rich in hesed. Numbers 14:18
  • The Lord is good and His hesed endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34, 2 Chronicles 6:13, Ezra 3:11, 2 Chronicles 20:21. The above phrase in repeated in Psalms 34 times.
  • All that are in hell, choose it. Isaiah 54:10

We will leave Jerusalem and the Olive Tree Hotel in the morning for the Negev desert.

Hesed in Jerusalem - December 29

As always, the day started with a buffet breakfast with the group.  We actually isolated ourselves from the rest because Joyce had come down with a cold that had worsened overnight.  After talking it over and checking with Ron, Joyce decided that she wanted to do the touring, but we had some contingency plans just in case she couldn't make a go of it.

We boarded the bus and took off for a day of walking around Jerusalem.  We were told from the beginning that after we got off the bus, we wouldn't see it again until the end of the day, so we knew we had a lot of walking to do.

We got dropped off near the Jaffa Gate and hiked to an escarpment known as Ketef Hinnom, which overlooks the Hinnom Valley (Gehena) just opposite Mt. Zion.  This is near the St. Andrews Church, a Scottish Presbyterian church.

Here we could see the excavations of burial
tombs that might date back to the 8th century BCE.

In the excavation we could see the place between the stones were the head was placed.  In those days, the dead persons body was laid on a stone slab for one year, and at the end of that year, the bones were collected and put into another chamber with the rest of their deceased ancestors.  It was in that chamber that some silver amulets were found with the inscription of the Blessing of Aaron from Numbers 6:22-27.  By the time of Jesus, the person's remains were collected after a year and placed in a stone box, called an ossuary.  This is a demonstration of the distancing of a person from a family identity to a personal identity, largely a Hellenistic concept.




From there we walked around the north and entered the Old City through the historic Jaffa Gate. Our destination was the Tower of David Museum located in a medieval citadel.


Tower of David
This site is also known as "The Citadel".  The Tower of David is actually a misnomer.
 Most of what we see today dates back to the middle ages, though there are some recent excavations that date back to the 2nd century BCE.  There are several architectural finds there that date to Herodian times, including evidence that Herod had fortifications here, leading some to believe that this was the site of Jesus's trial.

We toured the museum located here, and learned about the first Temple period.


Christ Church
Across from the Citadel, we met in the courtyard of Christ Church, a part of the complex that includes the coffee house where we had lunch the day before.  Christ Church claims to be the oldest protestant church in the Middle East, the building having been finished in 1849.  It is an evangelical Anglican congregation, with Hebrew language, customs, and holidays being incorporated into daily life there.  Christ Church has a particular mission to Jews, and is proud of its property and beautiful church located inside the Old City walls.  We had a guide who was quite passionate about the mission, and pointed out several features of the church, in particular that it was really a synagogue with a number of Christian symbols embedded into the stained glass, the artwork, and the furniture.

We had lunch in the Old City, near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  It was chilly, but we ate outside and had shawarma (A stack of chicken or turkey is put on a spit, roasted as it spins, and then shaved off and placed in a pita, much like a Greek gyro.)  The shop owner brought over an outdoor heater near our table which helped.  We still hadn't gotten enough shekels to pay for smaller purchases, so when we finished eating, Alan went off in search of an ATM.  He was directed to one, but after setting off for it, it didn't appear to be in a real reputable area, so he turned back, but got to see the Church in the process, and was reminded by the ladder over the door of the squabbles among the various church bodies trying to control the place.

When he returned, he found that Dave had been put into a tribal headscarf by one of the local vendors, in an attempt to get him to buy it. Alan was the next mark when he got back, presumably because of his mustache, which was like Dave's and the vendors.  Of course, he wanted to sell this one, too.  The vendor started with a price way beyond what we were interested (or capable; remember, no ATM!), so Alan said no.  The vendor kept coming back with "how much do you have?"  Alan answered truthfully, and amazingly, he came down to that amount, a fraction of the original price.  Hey, it was a bargain and it was Alan....so he bought it!

Ariel Center
We made our way to the Ariel Center for our next stop.  Ariel The Center for Jerusalem in the First Temple Period presents a multimedia presentation incorporating archaeological replicas and miniature models that bring to life this exciting period in Jerusalem’s history; from the Kings to the Assyrian siege on the city and its dynamic end.  In a small theater, we saw a dramatic presentation of the building of the First Temple during Solomon's reign and were presented with a history of how the original city of Jerusalem developed through time.

City of David

Hezekiah's Tunnel
When we had been here 4 years ago, we toured in the City of David excavation area, and were near the entrance to Hezekiah's Tunnel, but did not go in.  This time, it was a part of the tour, and the reviews we read ahead of time said that it was a 'must do' experience in Jerusalem.  But first a little background [History of Hezekiah and the Tunnel purpose]

It was a topic of discussion all day about what to wear, who would go, and what would it be like.  It was clear that we were going to get wet, and the excursion was planned as the last item on the agenda.  Joyce had considered going, and was a little disappointed that the cold was getting the better of her at the time, and decided that the best plan would be to skip.

Alan had prepared by wearing swim trunks under his jeans, and wearing an older pair of tennis shoes that should dry faster than others.  We descended even more stairs to get to the staging area for the tunnel.  The tunnel starts just before the Gihon Spring (Gihon meaning 'to gush', referring to this spring's tendency to be gushing at times and nearly dry at others.)  Remarkably, there is little change in elevation from one end of the tunnel to the other, and it was also remarkable that the tunnel was begun from both ends of the completed tunnel and that they men in the middle with very little maneuvering to make them meet.  The tunnel itself is about a 1/3 of a mile long, is generally straight, though there are a few gentle curves, and varied in height from about 10 feet to as little as 5 feet tall.  I would guess that most of the tunnel averaged about 6 feet tall; I felt like was ducking to avoid hitting my head about a 1/3 of the time.  It was generally a little more than a shoulder's width wide, and there were several places where I had to turn sideways to get through.  Water in the tunnel was about 55 degrees and was about mid-calf deep through most of the tunnel, though it rose above my knees in a few places.


At about the half-way point where the tunnels from each end joined, there was a group of about 4 of us who got a little separated from the lead group.  When I went to tell the next person behind me about the joining information, I didn't see anyone.  I went back a ways and still didn't see or hear them.  Did I mention that the only lights in the tunnel were the flashlights we were carrying?  We waited for about 5 minutes with no sign nor sound from them.  While we were a little worried, we decided that there really wasn't a choice but to continue one....this was a one-way tunnel!  We continued on, commenting that the crew that was chiseling out the tunnel coming from the other end, the Pools of Siloam, must have put all of their energy into the first part of their end, where the ceilings were quite high, and been tired or running out of time by the time they got to the middle, which were low.  There were some turns at the midpoint, apparently as the two groups were trying to meet up, but still remarkably close, having gone through so much rock with hand tools to meet up.

We are reminded (and thankful for the brief period to rest!) that evening falls fairly early here and it is nearly dark by 5 pm.  So that means that we are usually finishing up our touring by that time or earlier.  Tonight that was time for Joyce to nap, Alan to blog, and to try and recreate the very full day.

Our evening ended with another wonderful meal with delightful company, reminiscing about the days activities, learning about each other's backgrounds, and marveling at God's work through the centuries, even up to today.  After some of that sharing at our evening debrief session, We joined with Mike on his "Jubilee", another hesed song, and Mike shared some of this thoughts, especially centered on Exodus 34:6 and following.

Pictures from Day 1

Alan reconnecting with Susan, Jeff & Brian

1879 painting of Jerusalem in the Christ Church Coffee Shop

Return to Israel - December 28

Our return to Israel was much less eventful than our trip 4 years ago. There was no scrambling from Indianapolis to Chicago to avoid a massive snow storm. No long hours in the Newark airport hoping that we would be avoiding being snowed in there, having escaped the snow in the Midwest.

Instead, we had a pleasant trip to Indianapolis, a reasonable layover in Newark with a nice lunch, and a pleasant overnight trip to Tel Aviv. There was some turbulence, but while it wasn't a great sleep, still there was some sleeping. We got to see a pretty sunrise as we flew over Greece. The flight seemed to be largely Christian pilgrims from Tennessee and a number of practicing Jews. We got to witness several of the men and some of the women doing their morning prayers, and it was a
reminder that we were not in Lafayette and that there are some traditions that have survived the centuries.

As we were approaching the gate at Newark, we ran into one of our fellow Israel travelers from 2012, Brian. It was good to spend several minutes chatting and catching up.

After landing in Tel Aviv and collecting our luggage, we waited with Brian before meeting up with tour organizer, Ron, and Ryan, one of the other travelers in this year's group.  Our bus driver from the first trip, Kamal, took us in a van the 50 minutes or so it takes to get from the airport to our hotel in Jerusalem.  We got our rooms and met up with 7 others who had already arrived for a 25-minute walk to the Jaffa Gate in the Old City and had lunch at the Christ Church Coffee Shop.  Joyce and I took our time coming back to the hotel, and met up again with Mike on the way back.

We took some free time in the afternoon to nap to fill in the gaps from the plane ride and to get organized and ready for our touring.

At 7, we gathered in the main dining room and got reacquainted with the fabulous Olive Tree dinner buffet.  There were lots of salads with a Mediterranean flair, at least 6 different meat choices, several appetizer type items, breads, and a colorful array of desserts.  We were glad to meet several of the new travelers who had arrived late in the day, including Sue, Dave, Grace and Tom from our first trip.  It was also good to be with folks who thought that the amount of dessert you take should fill the size of plate you take to the table.

As is the custom, we met at 8 to review the day together and to preview the next day.  Most of our group had arrived, so we did introductions, and found several had been on previous trips, and all were excited to be learning even more about how God is at work by seeing the places that his work is recorded in scripture.  Mike gave us an overview of the concept of hesed, and Dave, our tour guide, gave us the insight that while he is used to giving tours that have a daily concept to convey, doing a whole tour on a concept was a new ballgame, but one that he was excited to share.  Mike ended the evening by reading a prayer from Walter Brueggemann's book, "Awed to Heaven; Rooted on Earth', and closing by singing "Great is Thy Faithfulness.'

Itinerary

JOURNEY THROUGH ISRAEL WITH MICHAEL CARD

10 DAY – Hesed Throughout the Ages

BIBLICAL STUDY PROGRAM

December 29, 2016 – January 6, 2017 

*Schedules, housing and itinerary are subject to change without notice due to weather and political uncertainties. This itinerary is based on the best possible use of time management, keeping in mind the complexities of Jerusalem traffic, the current political climate, and opening hours as regards to Jewish, Christian and Muslim holidays.

DAY 1 Wed. Dec. 28 Arrive TLV Transfer to Jerusalem.

DAY 2 Thurs. Dec. 29 Tower of David, City of David/Hezekiah’s Tunnel, Christ Church Museum, First Temple Period Jerusalem Center [Hotel: Olive Tree]

DAY 3 Fri. Dec. 30 Nebi Samwill: Overlook of Hill Country, Yad HaShemona, Kibbutz and Biblical Nature Garden, Neot Kedumim, Biblical Nature Reserve, Beth Shemesh [Hotel: Olive Tree]

DAY 4 Sat. Dec. 31 Drive through Hill Country past Hebron, Short hosting in Bedouin tent, Tel Arad and overlook, Wilderness of Zin, Makhtesh Ramon [Hotel: Isrotel Ramon Inn]

DAY 5 Sun. Jan. 1 Lachisch and Gaza overlook, Tel Beer Sheva, Revadim Museum (Philistine culture, site of Ekron), Elah Valley (David and Goliath), Netanya [Hotel: Leonardo Plaza]

DAY 6 Mon. Jan. 2 Israel College of the Bible, Caesarea (Acts 10 – The conversion of Cornelius), Muhraqa (Elijah & prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel), Sea of Galilee [Hotel: Maagan Holiday Village]

DAY 7 Tues. Jan. 3 Arbel, Meggido, Nain, Beth Shean, Beth Alpha, Gideon’s spring, Sea of Galilee [Hotel: Maagan Holiday Village]

DAY 8 Wed. Jan. 4 Kibbutz tour, Magdala, Gamla, Capernaum, Hazor, Sea of Galilee  [Hotel: Maagan Holiday Village]

DAY 9 Thurs. Jan. 5 Visit Samaritan community, Sebastia, Shiloh, Jerusalem [Hotel: Olive Tree]

DAY 10 Fri. Jan. 6 Departure Day Transfer to Tel Aviv and flights home.

**Program itinerary and schedule are subject to change without notice.