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| Driving through the Region of Samaria |
Today is our last day in the field. It is hard to
believe just how fast these five weeks have passed. We left this morning from
Jerusalem, heading through Samaria to the New Testament site of Sychar. We
began by stopping at Jacob's Well to review the story of Jesus and the
Samaritan women at the well. The church is relatively new. Although construction
had begun prior to World War I, it was left incomplete. Even in the 70's and
80's the church was open sky with only portions of pillars. In the late 1990's
during the intifada, the church was completed in the Byzantine style. Once
again, we peaked through the church and headed down to draw water from the 110
foot well. I brought my flashlight with me this time, so I had a chance look
down into the well – and yes, it is very deep with very smooth sides. After a
quick walk around the church, we headed up to the summit of Mount Gerazim. As
it is the first Friday of Ramadan, security is extra tight. We were stopped on
the way up for questioning before being allowed up on the mountain. He even
called the bus driver out, and "reinforcements" came to check us out.
After a quick walk through the bus, we were ushered on way. Apparently, they
were under orders to check any bus coming in from Shechem.
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This is where the Samaritan community continues to celebrate Passover
on Mount Gerazim |
Once at the Mount Gerazim National Park, we headed
up to the Byzantine Chapel Fortress and lookout for a historical lecture on the
Samaritans. It has given me a completely new perspective on Northern Israel and
the Samaritan's claim to "authentic worship." We tend to look at the
Israel through Judah's eyes, but from the eyes of the North, Judah does seem a
bit "illegitimate." It was here near Shechem at the Oaks of Moreh
that Abraham first settled in the land and built an alter to El. It was here
that Jacob purchased land and dug a well. Joseph was Jacob's favorite son of
his favorite wife. Out of the twelve sons, Joseph's bones were brought back to
this region to be buried. Out of the twelve tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh were
the strong ones. According to archeology, this area first began to develop
cities. It was Ephraim and Mjanasseh who obeyed the command, subdued their
land, and asked for more. They were the
leaders – even though the era of the Judges. Who is Judah? He is the youngest
of the un-favored mother. When Samuel appointed a King, he appointed Saul of
the tribe of Benjamin, the only full brother of Joseph. If anyone tribe could
help bring unity between the tribes, Benjamin would be a good candidate. They
were in a central location and close kin of the strong brother. However, Samuel
anointed David as the next king from the youngest son of the un-favored mother
who himself was the youngest in his family from the little backwater town of Bethlehem.
Who is this imposter to infringe on the older brother? And the audacity to
build a temple in Jerusalem and move the ark there!? It is here at Shechem and
Mount Gerazim that the roots of the Patriarchs are laid. Jerusalem is nowhere
mentioned in the Pentateuch. As soon as Solomon's reign had ended and Reheboam
came to the throne, Ephraim rebelled with the northern tribes. After all, who
is this Davidic line? They are the cultic separation from the true worship of
the Lord. Even from the very beginning there have been hard feelings between
the brothers with Benjamin caught in the middle. Jews later accused the
Samaritans (named such as their capital later became Samaria) as being a
"half-breed." Judah has done just as much intermarriage, but with
Ezra and Nehemiah, a pure bloodline became important. The Samaritans tried to
stop the Jews from building the second temple. In their mind, Judah was trying
to reinstate their "cult." With Judah's exile, God had restored the
land to them. … It is with this perspective that helps us to understand the
Samaritan mindset. A good lesson to be taken from this is that if one fails,
God will find another to accomplish his purpose – often someone weaker who has
to really on Him.
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| Looking out over the Sea from Caesarea |
From Mount Gerazim in Samaria, we began to make our
way to the "uttermost parts of the earth" – all the way to the
Caesarea on the coast. On our way, we were stopped at one of the West Bank
checkpoints and had a dog brought out to sniff for bombs. All clear. :) Upon
arriving at Caesarea, we headed over to the Roman theatre for a short lecture
before watching a short video on the history of Caesarea. We were reminded
afterward that all the national park videos have an anti-Arab, pro-Israeli
twist and the reverse is true for those in the Palestinian region. We then headed
over to the Herod's Palace for the last lecture at our last sight on this last
day of this five-week study program. Here at Caesarea, Herod took a no name
village and built a port with the modern Roman invention of underwater
concrete. This moved a lot of traffic here rather than all the way to Tyre and
Sidon. This was Herod's favorite place, and certainly the most
"Roman" in the region. He named it Caesarea after Emperor Caesar
Augustus. We prepared for our departure by launching from the book of Acts. It
was here that Peter was called to first bring the Gospel to the Gentiles. It
was here that Paul was imprisoned, waiting to catch his "free ride"
to Rome. In less than forty-eight hours, I will be in the air for Roman
Capitol.
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| Driving up through Samaria |
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| Terraced Farming |
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Example of a tower to keep a watch over fields or vineyards
- particularly at harvest time. |
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| Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal |
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| Nablus (Ancient Shechem) |
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| Church over Jacob's Well |
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| Jacob's Well, Here Jesus met with the Samaritan Women |
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| Flowers on the grounds of the church |
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The man dressed in white with the red cap is a Samaritan! The Samaritans
are divided into two communities - one south of Tel-Aviv
and the other one here on Mount Gerizim, each with 300 to 400 people. |
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| Overlooking the ruins on Mount Gerizim |
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Looking down toward Mount Ebal on the left. Shechem
sits right between the mountains, just our of sight. |
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| This is what you call a fallen arch :) |
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Mansion on the far side - constructed to look like a Roman Temple.
Apparently the locals don't like him ... |
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| Standing on Mount Gerizim, the mountain of blessings |
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By the way ... we don't have a blue bus today ... it's white. Caught me off guard
for a second ... "Where is our bus?!" |
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| Getting close to the sea shore! |
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| Aqueducts built by Herod the Great and expanded by Hadrian |
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| This is the Herodian side |
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| Looking toward the palace at Caesarea |
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| Approaching the Theatre |
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| The amphitheater - still in use today! |
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| The Amphitheater |
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Dr. Wright standing in the vicinity where Paul was likely
kept and argued before King Agrippa |
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| Waves crashing against the walkway ... |
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| The Hippodrome |
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| Mosaic Floors at Caesarea |
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| Southern Cardo before reaching the Crusader Walls |
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| The Crusader Moat |
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Looking out toward the direction where Herod's port would have branched
out into the sea |
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| Anchors found in the sea |
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| The many, many sea shells on sea shore |
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| Looking back over Caesarea |
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| The remains of the Byzantine Church - built over Herod's temple to Augustus |
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| Looking over mostly crusader remains - a few from the Roman period |
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Looking out to the sea - Herod's port would have stretched beyond what
is currently visible |
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| Face on a sarcophagus |
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| The Crusader Gate |
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| Back in Jerusalem passing the "Gate of Jerusalem" |
Wow! I have never gone through such a thorough checks before getting on an airplane. Three times I was questioned as to where I had been, what I had done, etc. All checked in luggage had to be scanned and anything remotely of interest was cause to have one's bags searched through. I was one of the lucky majority to have my bags thoroughly checked and gone through. Apparently, it was my books and pottery pieces. It didn't help I had a large black object sticking out of my carry on – I had picked up a shofar in the old city, but found it would not fit in my checked piece, so I had to carry it with me for the day. Every checkpoint, the question was "what is that in your bag?" "A shofar," I would respond. The second gentleman to interrogate me asked, "And what is the connection between you and the shofar?" … what kind of question is that!? "umm … I love Israel!" … He grinned and changed the line of questioning to my work, why in the world I have a layover in Ukraine and not taking a direct flight, and why I wanted to visit Rome and not return home. Although I long process through security, I arrived at the gate with time to spare. … So I've been in Israel for five weeks now. When greeting someone, you say "Shalom." This worked great in Israel, but when I arrived in Kiev, Ukraine and greet the lady getting ready to stamp my passport with "Shalom" she does not have the same reaction as those who speak Hebrew in Israel. She just gives me an awkward look and decides not to say one word. I guess that is one way to get through security. Since then I have caught myself several times getting ready to use a Hebrew phrase – does not help I have not had much sleep in the last thirty six hours.
