Beth Shemesh - At this site on top a top too tall hill we overlooked the place of Samson's raising and later strange exploits. From the lookout we looked... out to Samson's birth town. And while reading of his story what struck me most was the story of the vision to his parents actually especially the section in Judges 13:15-23. I think the principle that - the story of the Old Testament is not one of precisely what God wants to have happen rather it is a story of what occurred applies to the rest of the story of Samson. The other wonder of mine is what the writer hopes us to understand or learn from his story. What also struck me is how close the Philistine city from which he gets his wife happens to be.
Azekah - we did not go to the Tel here but used it more as a vantage point to view out where the story of David and Goliath played out which was pretty cool in and of itself. Also from the opposite side we were able to in the distance see the some of the cities of the Philistines most notably Gath. Azekiah along with Lachish feature in scripture most notably Jeremiah 34:7 due to these cities along with Jerusalem being the only ones left from the attacks of the Babylonians.
Lachish - was under siege and overtaken by the Assyrians and the Bablyonians. Under the Babylonian siege marked in Jeremiah 34:7 an interesting archeological find gives us an additional snapshot of the moment there. Named the 4th letter of the Lachish Letters it went unsent as it was still in Lacish it reads "And may (my lord) be apprised that we are watching for the fire signals of Lachish according to all the signs which my lord has given, because we cannot see Azeqah." So this is after the Biblical account and shows a moment of despair when they cannot see the signal fires of Azekah. We went to the top of the Tel there and walked throughout the remains of the city - I pointed to where the Israelites would have been looking to the fire of Azekah and took a picture (unfortunetly here they won't let us upload pictures - bandwidth issues).
Lachish - Earlier in time is the Assyrian siege where they made the still visible siege ramps (ramps for siege war machines) and the Israelites made a counter siege ramp to make easier attacks against the Assyrians. When the Assyrians won they actually made a mosaic in walls of Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh. However shortly after their victory the Lord struck down their force making it impossible to go up against Jerusalem. However Jerusalem did pay great tribute to Assyria.
Mareshah - Another important Israelite fortress but the real jem is from the Roman period where there are intricate caves which go for quite a ways. I loved this site because it was interesting and the path down one of them particularly was long and you had a feeling like "are we really supposed to be going down this way"? But there really was only one way and it was just really cool - I can't wait to show you the pictures. Also we sang in one of the halls I loved it - Kaleb Valdez lead us in doing a perfect fifth trick which has you hear when in an enclosed cistern like we were an octave above that which you sing. Anyways there was an interesting tomb here where the art on the walls has been recreated - it had animals and was very colorful. After a short drive we were at the bell caves. ENORMOUS open caves we sang many hymns inside and it was very awesome.
So in these rolling hills contained the above fortresses each separated by a valley and each having an important israelite city behind them to protect. That was a fun trip!
Also we had a mock Seder dinner (it's the wrong season for it - it is actually Sukkot right now and it was just recently the Day of Atonement
The Passover Sacrifice: In Jewish additional scripture the Misnah (which are the words whispered to Moses atop mount Horeb) The Lord God is defined as himself executing the final plague of Exodus that is the killing of all the firstborns in the area without lambs blood on the doors. And in the Temple times this was symbolized by a Lamb being sacrificed during the same time as the Passover occurred.
The Matzah: Is both a symbol of Slavery and of Freedom - it is to be the last taste in your mouth at the end of the evening. Slavery because it is the bread they were given during their slavery and freedom because they were thrust so quickly out of Egypt they couldn't have even allowed time for their bread to rise.
The Bitter Herbs: A variety is eaten and this because they bring remembrance to the bitterness of slavery under the Egyptians (Leafs dipped in salt water, horse radish, an apple mix, a meat containing a bone and a combination of some of these sticks out to me)
Another practice of the nearly full Seder we performed which struck me was taking from our cup of grape juice 10 drops of liquid to show our regret that Egyptian suffering occurred from the 10 plagues.
Just today I had a lot of fun! We went to the Russian Orthodox Church of Maria Magdalene which had beautiful gardens around it and inside were beautiful paintings. Most Iconic of this site is the several golden roofing domes which are simply stunning. As we went further up the mount of Olives we encountered the Dominus Flevit Church (which commemorates Jesus overlooking Jerusalem and weeping - it is in the shape of a tear) one of the mosaics in there was of a hen gathering her chickens. We saw the Tomb of the Prophets which is said to have laid the last three Jewish prophets in them. We saw then the Chapel of the Ascention which holds a stone which both Traditional Christians and Muslims view as the last stone which Jesus touched before ascending to heaven.
PS Also check out this video as it shows you the center inside and out http://ce.byu.edu/jc/hosting-video.cfm
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