SUNRDAY, JANUARY 10, 2010
i. Group Itinerary
Day 15: Sunday, January 10, 2010
1. View of Aijalon Valley from the Kiriath Jearim Ridge route
2. View of Beth Horon Ridge route
3. Modiʼin was discussed as we passed through (Home of the Macabees)
4. Neot Kedumim (Biblical Nature Reserve)
5. Stephen Wu goes to Urgent Care (Jenn Gold assists)--taxi from Neot Kedumim
6. Tel El Tzafit (Gath of the Philistines) --A Talbot first
7. Beit Guvrin (Tel Maresha) Excavation and Cave Spelunking
8. Dinner at Yad HaShmonah
9. Northern Preview Lecture
II. Commentary: My best day on the trip, so far. My back seemed to be less sore than usual, and I actually had feeling in the top of my right foot, for once. This was a “free day” with respect to the fact that we will not be tested on the activities or sites that we visited. Even Todd seemed more relaxed.
III. Sites Visited
Aijilon Valley Overlook
The two routes up from the Shelphelah to the Judean Hill Country are the Kireat Jarim and the Beth Horon Ridge Routes. We first stopped in the Aijalon Valley to look at the valley, itself, and then drove up to the City of Modíin from which the Maccabees originated. From there we went down the Beth Horon Ridge Route in hopes that we might find an overlook from which to view the ascent. This route is a nice, gradual, ascent and does not cross wadis. The modern highway is next to the ancient route. However, we were unable to transfer onto the old road, because it was blocked off, due to the Arab/Israeli conflict in that area. Instead, we had to take pictures of the route from the highway. It was easy to see the Israeli watchtower which provided control of the area.
In Joshua 10, the Israelites chased the Amorites down the ascent, after the Gibeonites, who had tricked Israel into signing a treaty, appealed to the Israelites after being attacked by coalition of Amorite kings. The Lord cause the defeat of the aggressors, causing the sun to stand still over Gibeon and the moon to stand still over Aijalon, and chasing them down to Azekah and Makkedah with large hailstones. Also, when Jonathon surprised the Philistines at Mitzpah (see 1 Samuel 14:31), they were struck down from Michmash to Aijulon, again along the Beth Horon Ridge Route. Finally, in 2 Samuel 5, David defeated the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer, and the enemy would have retreated down either the Beth Horon or the Kireat Jearim Ridge Route--- probably Beth Horon.
Neót Qedumim
Our next stop was Neót Qedumim, a 600 acre biblical landscape garden. Neót means “beautiful,” and Qedumim means either “return to the past”, “East”, or “to go forward.” It was founded in 1964 before the Six Day War and sat on the border between Israel and Jordan. Its purpose is to help people understand the context of the Bible from the aspect of the land so that things like shepherds, farmers, and parables make more sense.
One must realize that Israel is no longer the land that it once was in biblical times. Overgrazing and neglect has ruined the landscape, and although the Government has engaged in a massive reforestation project, often non-native plants, like pine trees, are being used and push out the native vegetation. Therefore, Neót Qedumim has attempted to recreate the forests of milk and honey that were promised in God’s covenant with Abraham.
There are seven species of primary food that is grown in Israel (See Deuteronomy 8:7). They are
a. Wheat
b. Barley
c. Grapes
d. Figs
e. Pomegranates
f. Olives
g. Dates (the “honey” as in the phrase “milk and honey” does not refer to bees; it refers to the honey from the fruit of the date palm)
The major agricultural products of Israel are as follows and were represented in the Temple:
a. Cereal – the Temple bread.
b. Wine – the libation offering, which is poured.
c. Olive oil– the menorah, which is fueled by olive oil.
There is a separate word and time which describes each harvest. And it normally only rains from December through February, usually a total of thirty days maximum.
House of the Guard
Our first stop was the House of the Guard, which is the place from which the vineyards are guarded and where one would bring the grapes for crushing. Vineyards were actually found there from the Byzantine period, and the wine was pressed with bare feet, to prevent crushing of the seeds, which are bitter. Once the juice is extracted, it flows into a separate basin. The Hebrew word “gat” means “press.” Wine was used not only as a beverage, but also as a disinfectant. It was added to water in cisterns as a sterilizing agent. Timothy is told to drink wine for stomach pain. Wine was also used to disinfect the blood and body parts of the sacrifices on the altar. Noah was the first person said to have planted a vine in the Holy Land.
Oil Press:
Olives are harvested in December. Green and black olives come from the same species. Green olives are picked early, and olives for oil are picked when the olives turn completely black. A cloth is placed beneath each tree, and the tree is shaken. Both the olive and the seed are pressed, and the first pressing yields what is called “extra virgin” olive oil. Subsequent pressings yield a less desirable product. After the olive and seeds are crushed, the resulting material is put through a press, and the olive oil is extracted. The major use for olive oil was to provide light. A wick is lighted and will burn more steadily and with a more pleasant smell that other oils. Olive oil was used for light five thousand years ago. Another use for olive oil is for anointing. The Messiah, from the Hebrew word meaning “anointed one” corresponds with the Greek word with the same meaning, “Cristo.”
The olive tree never dies. Its trunk may look withered and old, but you will often find new shoots that come out. The Bible talks about the new shoot that will come out of the house of Jesse. The olive tree is the symbol of new life, and the emblem of Israel is a menorah with an olive branch on each side.
Zechariah 4 talks about his vision of the Golden Lampstand and the rebuilding of the Temple, the word of the Lord: “not by mind, not by force, but by spirit.”
Israel recently minted a coin which shows a woman holding a baby in her arms and a man kneeling down on the ground planting. This picture signifies new hope.
The Threshing Floor:
The God of Israel provided His people with water from heaven, or rain. Israel prays that rain will come in time for each crop, and the rain is supplied by God’s providence. The Bible tells us that by the sweat of our brow we shall eat bread. This is demonstrated on the threshing floor, in which the women ground their daily bread, taking one hour of labor. The portrait of the virtuous woman is somebody with strong arms.
Terracing is a necessity, and the stones which hold up the terraces must be held in tact. The parable of the sower refers to the seed that land on the rocks. This is actually seed that falls around the stones which hold the terraces. And, there is no adhesive binding the stones together. If one stone fails, the others follow: no terrace, no food. Interesting enough, the word “garden” contains a compound word meaning: “gar” and “eden.”
Torah Scribe Demonstration:
Torah scribes only use kosher animal skins: cows, gazelles, sheep, or goats. Scribes do scrolls for mezuzahs, phylacteries, as well.
The mezuzah scroll contains two verses: “Here oh Israel, the Lord is one (Deuteronomy 6:4)…………….you will drink rain from heaven” (Deuteronomy 11). They go on the lintel or doorpost of each house.
The word “fila” refers to prayers. Thus phylacteries contain prayers, and the one worn on the head has four compartments, one for each sense, while the one worn on the arms has only one compartment for the sense of feeling.
Torah scrolls are written with a reed. For ink, the scribe uses a mixture of pomegranate skins, the gall (or cancerous growths) on the oak tree, and sap from the almond tree (to give the ink shine). All materials are natural, including the dies. Various color pigments are added and the mixture is boiled. Finally, honey is also added.
Before writing text, the scribe will always take a ritual bath. For mezuzahs or phylacteries, if a mistake is made, the whole scroll has to be disposed of in a ganizah, and the text is eventually buried. A Torah scroll must have at least forty-two lines. The first five books of the Bible have 600,000 letters, the number of Israelites who came out of Egypt. The Torah is always decorated. If a mistake in the scroll is made, it can be scraped off, but if God’s name has been written as part of the mistake, it must be cut out and put in the ganizah and the cut piece is then replaced.
Tel Tsafit
We briefly visited Tel Tsafit (Light) which may have been the Gath of the Philistines. There may have been a Philistine temple here, and they also found an inscription which may have been a reference to “Goliath.” David spent time here during his flight from Saul. To avoid possible retribution, he acted crazy, pretending to be insane. In 2 Samuel, Chapter 1, David laments Saul’s death and urges the Israelites to tell it not in Gath where Saul died, since the Philistines would be encouraged by that news. The Ark of the Covenant was also brought down to Gath from Ashkelon and then sent to Ekron. On a second trip to Gath, King Achish gave David the city of Ziglag as his own, where he lived for a year and four months.
Gath was a great place for asylum: in 1 Kings 2, Shimei had given David problems and was told that as soon as he crossed the Kidron, Solomon would kill him. Verse 39 relates the fact that two of his slaves ran off to seek asylum in Gath. Shimei left the Kidron Valley to bring the slaves back, and Solomon found out about it and had his general, Benaiah, strike him down. After that act, the kingdom was solidly in Solomon’s hands, at least for the rest of his lifetime.
Tel Maresha
Our last visit gave us the chance to become amateur archeologists. The Maresha site is a bit different from the other sites, because, instead of being a mound of layers of human occupation or strata, it was a series of caves which were used for storage and eventually used for dumping. Therefore, there is no strata, and the archeologists don’t need to worry about the usual precautions that must be observed when digging in strata segmented sites. At this site, the largest Heliodorus inscription in Israel’s archeological history was found. Of course, in our diggings, all that we found were bones and pottery (I dug up two pieces). However, one of our group actually found a ring and, another, a decorated bead. We quickly found out that Indiana Jones had it all wrong.
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