Jericho, Yom Kipper, and Seder Meal

Jericho, Yom Kipper, and the Seder Meal.

So we got back from Turkey on Sunday, and I uploaded a ton of pictures. We had one recuperation day, (That would have normally been Sunday, a free day anyway, but we had it as the Sabbath because we weren’t here on Saturday).

On Monday we went to Jericho for a field trip. It was pretty cool, we were back by 1, so it wasn’t to long. We started at the tel. At the bottom, there is a fountain for Elisha’s Spring. It is a really pretty fountain, and the Spring is the life-line of the city. Because Jericho is on the edge of the inhabitable part of the Judean Wilderness (because of the lack of water) the spring is what keeps the city alive, and has been flowing 1000 gal/hour for thousands of years.

Inside the Tel, there is a few famous things that are still there. Jericho is the oldest known city in the world, and the oldest structure is the tower that dated back to 8 or 9 thousand BC. It is a watchtower, and because of the sun, we didn’t really get any good pictures, but we did get some shadow pics J I don’t have the big one where we spelled out “JERICHO,” but I will later.

Kathleen Kenyon was an Archeologist in 1952 that dug at this site. She dug a big trench out of the side, and although she found a lot of other stuff, she is famous for Stratigraphy. She found 23 Strata, or occupation layers. I took some pictures, but I can’t even see it, so I won’t put them on here. The other thing that she found was the remains of a melted mud-brick wall that dates to the Middle Bronze Age (about 2200 BC, close to Abraham’s time), and that Jericho was barley inhabited at the time of Joshua’s conquest. However, there seems to be an ongoing discussion of the timing.

There was a group of Italians that dug there in the last 15 years, and uncovered part of a old city wall from the Early Bronze Age. Because they dug there more recently, it is easier to see outlines of structures and what not.

We went to the springhouse next, where the underground spring comes to the surface, it was pretty cool, and there was waterfalls and fountains that made the place even more pretty. We talked about it for a while, as it was one of Elisha’s first miracles after becoming the next prophet.

After The Spring house we stopped for just a moment at Zacceasus' tree for pictures. This man was a wealthy promiant man, but he had a good heart, and the Lord knew it. 

Next we stopped at Herod’s winter palace, which was the place he died. We talked about the legacy of Cruelty and death that he left, and what our legacy was going to be. The quote “What you are to be, you are now becoming” comes to mind. What is your legacy going to be?

Our last stop was the Wadi Qlit. This is the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, and the setting for the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We got to sit, and talk about the story, and the fact to remember is that everyone is our neighbor, and we should look out for them all. Then we walked along the top for a little while, back to the bus. It was cool to be able to walk that road and think about “What can I do to be the god Samaritan today?”

The rest of Monday, I just did homework, getting ready for Tuesday’s classes. We had a response paper and double reading for Old Testament, and Israel, and Palestine. It was good though.

Tuesday was Yom Kipper Eve, so we talked a lot about it in Israel, and in Palestine, we also talked about it a little, but more about the Muslim version, where that night was the night that the Skies opened to take all our sins. It was a really cool day, although I didn’t really recognize it until that night when I watched the sunset over the city while I read my scriptures and thought about/prayed to God. I know that My Redeemer Lives, and that He loves me. Because He loves me, He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane for my sins. Then He died, so that I could be resurrected, and return to my Father in Heaven someday. It was amazing that even though the Jews and Muslims don’t believe that Jesus was the Christ, they see Him as a great prophet, or a great example, but they do believe in an Atonement, the don’t let the goat go out of the city with the people’s sins on it anymore, but the do still celebrate that day, as a day of repentance and repenting of their sins.

So Wednesday was the actual day of Yom Kipper. We had Old Testament and ANES, and then I went out to the city with a few people. All the Muslim and Jewish shops, and sights were closed. We had started out seeing if we could go to the Dome of the Rock/Temple Mount, but it was closed, so we wondered around the Christian quarter of the Old City because it was open. It was fun. We ended up at Domitian Abby, the traditional place of Mary’s death/burial. I am always amazed that every traditional place, or church, it may not be the right place all the time, but not matter what, the Spirit is there as the people reverence a sacred event that happened.

Thursday, our only class was a midterm for Old Testament. After that, I got to help make Charoset and set up for the Seder Meal that night. Passover is really in the Spring, but because we are here in the Holy Land, they do a Seder Meal every semester. It was so cool, our Israel teacher, who is a Jew came and lead the Passover, and did some of the Hebrew passages, as well as explaining everything along the way. He also helped a few groups learn the songs that are sung before hand so that they could perform it to us during the dinner. The program itself wasn’t that much different than the ones that I have done with my family, except for they don’t really set an extra seat for Elijah, but instead pour him one glass of grape juice/wine towards the end of the program. It was a special night.

Friday I got up and went on a run – the first way to long. It is very hilly here, as we headed out, I kept thinking that since it was uphill on the way out, it had to be downhill on the way back. Not so, there was a stretch of relative flat as we ran down part of the Kidron Valley, and one short downhill, but other than that it was mostly up. It was good to get out though.  After that we had 6 hours of class, and then a group of us went out to find the grocery store. It was kind of funny, as we were trying to get directions from security, they didn’t really know what we were talking about, Mr. Hayett could see that we were confused (after we were just trying to decided where to go, and that is when he saw us), and gave us a ride there. He made sure to tell us that it wasn’t going to happen again though:) After we got back, there was a group playing Basketball, so I went and played that until dinner, then we watched part of Sampson and Deliah because we are going to be talking about them on our field trip on Monday, then we went and rented Finding Nemo from the library and had a roommate party. Sadly, I didn’t make it to far into the movie…

All in all, it has been a great week, and I can’t wait to see what next week will bring!

(Bonus pic of the Camel at the Gas station!)