Every week we do a field trip as a part of our studies. Since we are studying the books of Judges, Ruth, and Samuel right now, this week's trip was to the borderlands between ancient Israel and Philistine. There are 5 valleys that dig into the Judean Highlands and each valley is directly across from one of the 5 Philistine cities (Gath, Gaza, Ekkron, Ashkelon, and Ashdod). Up the valleys from these cities are 5 Israeli fortresses that guarded the passes and even further up from there are the 5 Israeli cities of Beit Shemesh, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, and Arad. If you know these 15 cities and their corresponding valleys, then you can understand the geography of about 90% of the Old Testament. We spent the whole day visiting all 5 valleys and their fortresses. As we went, we stood next to the birthplace of Samson and read his story, we went to the site where David slew Goliath and slung stones at our own Goliath, learned a lot about the history of the Old Testament. It was cool to go to the actual sites of these major events and I was surprised by how small an area it all covers. The land of ancient Israel is very small! To finish the day, we visited an awesome set of Israeli ruins that had been made underground, cut into solid rock. We talked a lot about David and Goliath and how it applies to our situations today. We all have our spiritual "Goliaths" and can take courage from the example of David in choosing 5 "stones" to use to combat that Goliath. I thought long and hard about this and decided that my big Goliath right now is my fear of the future. I have spent too much time and effort on worrying about what my occupation will be, what I need to do to prepare for marriage, what I need to study, etc. I have focused so much on it that I got the impression that it was time for me to focus on the present and simply trust in the Lord that all will be well. That is going to be my goal for the rest of my experience here in the Holy Land. Focus on the present and trust the Lord that all will be OK in the end.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Philistine Field Trip
Every week we do a field trip as a part of our studies. Since we are studying the books of Judges, Ruth, and Samuel right now, this week's trip was to the borderlands between ancient Israel and Philistine. There are 5 valleys that dig into the Judean Highlands and each valley is directly across from one of the 5 Philistine cities (Gath, Gaza, Ekkron, Ashkelon, and Ashdod). Up the valleys from these cities are 5 Israeli fortresses that guarded the passes and even further up from there are the 5 Israeli cities of Beit Shemesh, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, and Arad. If you know these 15 cities and their corresponding valleys, then you can understand the geography of about 90% of the Old Testament. We spent the whole day visiting all 5 valleys and their fortresses. As we went, we stood next to the birthplace of Samson and read his story, we went to the site where David slew Goliath and slung stones at our own Goliath, learned a lot about the history of the Old Testament. It was cool to go to the actual sites of these major events and I was surprised by how small an area it all covers. The land of ancient Israel is very small! To finish the day, we visited an awesome set of Israeli ruins that had been made underground, cut into solid rock. We talked a lot about David and Goliath and how it applies to our situations today. We all have our spiritual "Goliaths" and can take courage from the example of David in choosing 5 "stones" to use to combat that Goliath. I thought long and hard about this and decided that my big Goliath right now is my fear of the future. I have spent too much time and effort on worrying about what my occupation will be, what I need to do to prepare for marriage, what I need to study, etc. I have focused so much on it that I got the impression that it was time for me to focus on the present and simply trust in the Lord that all will be well. That is going to be my goal for the rest of my experience here in the Holy Land. Focus on the present and trust the Lord that all will be OK in the end.
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It's amazing how such a small land can have so much history and significance. What an awesome field trip! Is that Goliath made of toilet paper?
ReplyDeleteNo, it was made of paper, wooden sticks, water bottles, and vacuum tubes.
ReplyDeleteOh, and we taped a picture of Chuck Norris to its face.
ReplyDeleteAh, the good old "round house kick to the face"...
ReplyDelete