Field Trip number two was to the Negev. Otherwise known as the desert. We had quite a long bus ride. We left the hills of Jerusalem
and went down to the desert. As we were on the bus, the landscape totally
changed. It became way more flat. Dr. Chadwick compared it to the south with
the fields of cotton, fruit trees, and corn. It’s always fun to be reminded of
the South! “You paid $11,000 to come and see the land and majority of that will
be seen from a bus window so pay attention”
Thanks for being a model Trace.
The replica of the altar that was found here was cool. I can’t wait to see the real one that was found!
It’s in the Israel museum.
First stop was Beersheva. I loved it! This is where Abraham lived!
Dr. Allred talked to us about the faith of Abraham and Isaac in Hebrews 11.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
I absolutely loved this because Abraham had already been told that Isaac would be the means of bringing posterity into this world. And he was still willing to sacrifice him knowing that God would keep that promise. I love that immense amount of faith! And ACTING on that faith. It just spoke volumes to me about trusting in the Lord and really doing anything He asks.
At home, we see fields with cows. In Israel, we see fields with camels!
We then made our way over to the tel. It was a military/government base. We started with the well. They are built 70 meters deep and you can only take up 3 gallons at a time and we use about 20 gallons a day. So crazy the amount of work that went into it! And all of it by women! So many of the things I’m learning remind me of the CD Women at the Well.
I love learning from Dr. Chadwick. He just has so much enthusiasm and excitement for everything! And he’s just so smart, I just feel like I’m getting the full experience. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine real people, living real lives, and the things they had to go through and what they did even though the remains of their life are sitting right in front of you!
This is where the temple is thought to have been here!
hard hats required for the underground water system!
Gotta do what ya gotta do when ya live in the desert...
When we left there we went to Arad. We also spend a lot of time just looking at the land. Ya know, this direction is this city, down in this valley is where they got their water, this way is where these people came from. We also learned a lot about the walls to the fortresses and how they protected themselves. Also a lot about how they discover these places and how they extract them. Seriously learning so much about archaeology.
the temple
The coolest part about Arad was the temple. You can fully see it. The altar, the holy of holies, the courtyard. It was so cool! As I sat there I suddenly had the thought that I needed to stop thinking about the heat and really focus on where I was and what happened here. Dr. Chadwick asked Dr. Allred to share his testimony and the first thing he said was I hope we can all take a moment and forget about the heat and think about the importance of this place. It was so cool! I felt like I just had a gentle nudge from the spirit to put myself in a position to feel the spirit and prepare to listen to what he had to say. He talked about an experience he had with the temple and how the Lord asked him to go more than he thought was possible.
The Holy of Holies
I thought about how sometimes even going once a week seems like too much. But when you really think about the service you’re doing and the answers you’re receiving, it really isn’t that much. Especially when the temple is just right up the street. And when the temple isn’t relatively available like it is for us now, you really just contemplate on the importance of it and the role it plays in your life. It was such a cool moment.
see the kind of squiggly line on that wall? it's called a restoration line.
everything below it is the original wall!
We then walked through the lower city and the quote of the day was, “I just love walking through stuff like this. It’s a mystery!”
We found ourselves sitting in a little house. We thought of the people that lived there, how they made their food outside their houses, how they had benches around the outside and rolled out mats to sleep, what they might’ve done to keep out robbers and wild animals, how they just talked all night. Such simple lives. But when you think about their lives, you become really grateful for the things you do have and also maybe long a little bit for the simpleness of their lives.
Our last stop, the bonus stop was to Gath. The place where Goliath is from!
Like david and Goliath ya know?
And more importantly, the place where Dr. Chadwick directs the excavating. Man, he just got so excited as soon as we got off the bus. And then we took a little hike up the hill. They keep telling us and showing pictures about the green and the grasses and it’s a little hard to believe because it’s just so brown right now. It was a fun little hike. At the top, the breeze was glorious. And then we oriented ourselves. More land looking ya know. And it was so cool to see so far out because the land was flat! And then we saw the excavations. And in just one little section you could see like 4 different time periods because it was on a hill!
I LOVE this!! It looks like you are having an incredible experience!!! But I miss you :/
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