Negev Field Study (and our new apartment!)

Shalom friends and family!

Since we last updated you, a number of exciting things have happened. We left you hanging on our last entry when we noted that we had found a new apartment. Well, we moved in to our new place last week on Thursday! We mentioned that our new landlord was a really nice "grandpa" kind of guy, and he has continued to be very nice and helpful. With a little help from some of the people at school, we got moved in on Thursday, unpacked on Friday and have spent the week getting settled in.

The apartment is so “us” - much more than our last apartment. This one is a bit smaller, but it is much more quaint and it just feels like home. We mentioned in our last entry that the apartment is also a bomb-shelter, which accounts for its really thick walls and two small windows. It is also set low in the ground though it is not by any means, a garden-style apartment. The thick walls and small windows make for a nice place, despite the fact that it might sound strange. The temperature in the apartment is a very consistent low to mid-seventies regardless of how hot it is outside. And, since the place is nestled in the ground a bit and is surrounded by a garden and lots of trees (which, we might add, attracts thousands of birds singing at our window every afternoon about 4:30), it feels like a fall day outside every time we wake up, which to some might seem gloomy, but it really contributes to the cozy feel of the apartment. The apartment is also the only one on the first floor and so the only person we live near is our landlord; all the other tenants are above us, which isn't a problem at all, one because our ceiling is as thick as the walls and second because the people who live in this building are all very quiet. The other tenants of the building include a Finnish diplomat, a professor from the Hebrew University, a couple of people who are currently filming a nature documentary here in Israel, a few others - there are only ten flats in the building and our landlord owns them all.

The apartment is extremely clean, which is surprising because apartments are typically not very clean here and also simply because the apartment is on the ground level. Our landlord also does things very professionally in order to ensure that things are being handled in a secure manner for his tenants. All this adds up to God's amazing and humbling provision to a couple of people who don't deserve it. I'll pause here a minute to thank those of you that have entreated God on our behalf for an apartment and provision. It is amazing to think that God has moved and provided us with much more than we expected. We live in a safe (in more ways than one) area, in a quaint, very clean apartment with a wonderful landlord, who really does seem to want to make sure that we are taken care of and have what we need - and all this for less money than we were paying prior to this. (I promise we will try to post pics of our new apartment soon! Maybe next week, after our next field study :0)

Another important thing to note is that, just before moving into our new place, we had our first longer field study. We spent three days and two nights in the southern part of the land. Beginning on Saturday the 10th at 7am we headed to the Shephelah, the rolling foothills in the southwestern coast of the country. Here we focused on the major valleys in the Shephelah that acted as a kind of buffer zone between the Iron Age inhabitants, in this case the hill-dwelling Israelites and the coastal dwelling Philistines (the biblical stories of the judges, Saul, and David and their conflicts with these coastal people will come to mind). Why did the Israelites and the Philistines fight all the time? Were the Philistines just bullies who simply enjoyed giving God's people a hard time? The issues, like most of the situations are much more complex when the historical and geographical data is considered. The Philistine territory, just to the west of the rolling hills of the Shephelah has a kind of soil called alluvium, which is water carried soil. This fertile stuff is carried from the six major wadis that run through the hills out to the coast. Thus the area between the coast and the hills is very desirable because you can sustain good crops there - the land is basically set up for it naturally. This is in contrast to Israel's primary territory, the central hill country where the people also had good land for crops, but they had to create it by terracing the hillsides (see some of our first pics from this field study for examples). Thus it makes total sense that the Israelites would want to hold at least some of that territory where the Philistines lived and they pushed their way out to it at various intervals. The Philistines of course who were technologically better equipped than the Israelites (remember that according to the biblical story, the Philistines had iron-working skills that the Israelites didn't have) would push back to defend their territory and also to push inward to the Israelite hills in order to contain the hill-dwelling people. It wasn't until David's reign that the Israelites managed to push the Philistines back into their own territory to the point that there weren't anymore major conflicts. Archaeologically speaking, it is evident that the Philistines were gradually assimilated into the surrounding culture, losing their distinct ethnic identity, and fading from existence.

We ended the day at Ashkelon, at the coast. Similar to the Pacific Ocean, the Mediterranean’s beach at Ashkelon is a bit quieter and a bit more natural than the beaches in California. Justin and I enjoyed sitting on the beach, watching the sunset. This is how the ancients saw it… missing, of course, the freight ships in the distance. They could see, though, the imposing waters and the sun descending upon them, filling them with a burst of color. For all they knew, the waters never ended. And the movement of the water, unhindered or controlled by people, resembled that of gods. As we sat watching the water and thinking about it through the eyes of the ancients, we waved to our loved ones over the ocean, watching the sun as it set on us and rose on everyone back at home.

The dawn of day two turned our group even further south, towards the Negev and Beer-sheba, Arad, the Nahal (River) Zin, and Makhtesh Ramon. Of these, Beer-sheba and Arad focused more on the settlements and history of the land, and the Nahal Zin and Makhtesh Ramon focused more on the geography.

Both Beer-sheba and Arad showed evidence of a larger government’s interest in the area. Both were created and survived for so long due to an outside government bringing in resources. Why was this? They were along the trade routes, primarily. Beer-sheba was the southern border of Judah and bordered the Shephelah, which acted as Judah’s “moat” of protection. In order to funnel trade north and to sufficiently guard the land of the Shephelah, Judah had to control this city. In Arad, the Early Bronze city speaks primarily of Egypt’s interaction with the land and provision of supplies. Arad served as a launch pad for gathering resources such as tar and salt from the Dead Sea, and in turn exporting it to Egypt. In Israel’s day, it guarded the southern end of the kingdom.

At both Beer-sheba and Arad, we spoke about Israel’s religion and the possible remnants of it, found at these two locations. The horned altar at Beer-sheba was a remarkable find, and the synagogue found at Arad spoke of the realistic syncretism of the people. Even the horned altar gave similarities of Baal worship, who was represented as a bull.

My (Mandy’s) favorite part of the day was spent at Nahal Zin. Similar to Zion National Park in Utah, the imposing cliffs toward above us as we made our way through the wadi on foot (Charlotte, you would love this area!! :0). The Israelites wandered through the Wilderness of Zin after their exodus from Egypt, which may or may not have been this region. The modern state of Israel named this area in light of the biblical story. Whether or not it is directly connected with the exodus-wandering story, the trip through the wadi was breathtaking. Surprisingly not as hot as I had expected, with the shade of the cliffs to lower the temperatures, we strolled through the wadi admiring the beauty of nature and the ibex’s we saw scattered throughout (see the pics). The climb at the end of the hike was difficult for those of us who don’t prefer heights with little protection, but by the time we reached the top, I was proud of myself for mastering my fear! And…I was glad for whoever put up the plastered walls on the cliff-side of the trail.

We ended the day watching the sunset at the Makhtesh Ramon. There are three Makhteshim in the country, the “small bowl,” the “giant bowl,” and, as one scholar has termed it, the “super bowl,” or Makhtesh Ramon. These Makhtesh are formed in a very interesting fashion. Evidenced by the Jordan Rift, there is quite a bit of tectonic activity in this country, and the shifting of the earth’s plates has caused the layers of rock to fold, or warp. The up-warps of this rock, mostly of hard limestone, are pushed up so hard and steep that they crumble in the middle, caving in and forming a bowl and exposing the softer sandstone underneath. This sandstone is then washed away over time, forming a gigantic bowl and exposing very old layers of rock inside. Today, there are a huge variety of geological rocks, flora, and fauna that are found within it. Seeing something like this makes one feel very small, and humankind in general very young. As we watched the sun set over the horizon, and the colors fade from the Makhtesh, we turned our sights back to the bus, and to day number three…

Our final day in the desert was spent covering several sites on the edge of the Dead Sea: Masada, the Dead Sea itself, En Gedi, and Qumran. I was surprised to find these all located relatively close together! As with many locations in Israel, they seemed further apart on a map.

As we wound our way towards Masada, I grew a new appreciation for walking (despite the hot weather), as my breakfast churned inside me with the swaying and turning of the bus. A very tangible way to learn about the geography of the land, though perhaps not quite so enjoyable. Masada was imposing and beautifully constructed. Archaeologists who excavate popular sites such as Masada put in what they call a “reconstruction line” to show the dividing area between the original remains that are excavated, and the newly built sections that help give visitors an idea of what the site would have looked like originally. In most places, this reconstruction line is only a foot or two off of the ground. Here, though, the reconstruction lines were very high, showing a good deal of preserved original remains! The majority of the remains are from the time of King Herod, who built the fortress as one to both impress and intimidate. His aqueduct system to collect the water from the desert and channel it into his fortress to fill his pools, the walls, the palaces with intricate mosaics that rival some found in Rome, are incredible works of architecture that far surpass the usual structures of his day.

The recounted story of Masada has become a central point of history for Israelis. The story essentially takes place after the fall of Jerusalem to Rome in 70 AD. During this time, the General Silva, through orders of Rome, went about quelling the last of the rebels (Jewish Zealots). Masada was one of the last strongholds to put down, so Silva marched out to the desert to lay siege to the fortress. As the story is recounted by Josephus, the people watched as a siege wall was slowly built up the side of the mountain, to allow the battering rams to come up and begin to destroy the wall. To fortify the wall, the people took the wooden roofs off of their houses and stuffed the wood into the casemate system of the wall, to buffer the blows. When the Romans realized that they couldn’t beat down the wall, they threw torches into the wall to burn it down. For a moment, the flames turned back on the Romans, and the Zealots felt that God had saved them. Then, the flames turned the other direction, back into the wall, and those in the stronghold knew the battle was lost. The Romans, with the end in sight, descended the mountain with plans to end the battle the next morning. Meanwhile, the Zealots resolved that, instead of succumbing to death or slavery at the hands of the Romans, it was more honorable to take their own lives. So, each man killed his family, then ten men were selected by lots to kill the others, then one man was selected to kill the nine and then to fall on his own sword. When the Romans entered the city the next morning, they were surrounded by the bodies, and a great respect for the bravery and patriotism of the people came over the soldiers. Justin and I had heard this story before, and being on top of the mountain and hearing it again was an interesting moment. Unfortunately, we were also surprised to hear that Josephus’ traditional story about Masada was not backed up by archaeology, for inside the city wall was another siege ramp into the palace, showing that, most likely, the citizens walled themselves into the palace, deeper and deeper into the fortifications, until the Romans finally got through. Within the story itself, one must wonder why the Romans decided to wait until morning to finish the job? In addition, how were all of the details preserved so precisely (Josephus mentions a few women and children survivors, but some of the details of the story take place outside the hearing of women and children)? Josephus’ story is written from the perspective of the Greco-Roman world, not the Jewish world. Greeks and Romans considered suicide to be an honorable thing in desperate circumstances; Jews did not. The story was written to inspire admiration by the Romans for one of the last standing Jewish zealot groups, and their story, though flavored with a tinge of epic drama, still is admirable and has inspired people who have heard about Masada for many, many years.

Our next stop was the Dead Sea! Justin and I didn’t swim, as we didn’t want to be sticky for the remainder of the field study, but we did feel the water, which was incredibly oily and strange, and we took funny pictures of the other students, which you can see in the slideshow. After lunch, we headed to En Gedi, which rivaled the Nahal Zin in beauty and wildlife. Whether or not it was David’s hiding place when he was running from Saul we do not know, but it was amazing to see this beautiful water-filled hideaway in the middle of the barren desert.

We ended the day at Qumran. I guess I had expected more rigorous hiking up the cliffs and into a cave… I was a bit surprised to find it right off the road, located upon what looks like artificial mounds, but which are built up from silt from the Dead Sea. The remains are truly unique, and it is obvious, when comparing them to other sites, that they are unusual in the number of water channels and ritual baths they had spread throughout the complex. Whoever the Qumran community was (we don’t really know for sure), it is certain that they put much emphasis on ritual purity and cleansing.

As we ended the day on top of Qumran, our professor summarized the day with a passage from Ezekiel. Looking back, the day (indeed, most of this trip) was spent in the desert, and the focus of this particular day was spent upon water. At Masada, Herod created imposing aqueducts to fill his million-gallon cistern (and others). We traveled near the Dead Sea which, though it looks like an inviting body of water, is poisonous and salty, uninviting to the weary and thirsty traveler. At En Gedi we were surrounded by breathtaking springs with the words of the Psalmist in our recent memories, and at Qumran, we viewed the remains of a community that focused on the cleansing aspects of water. Ezekiel, in Chapters 40-47, tells of a vision which emphasizes both geography and water. In the first part of his vision, he sees a man who takes him around the city of Jerusalem, measuring its dimensions. In Chapter 43, they reach the gate, and they see the Spirit of the Lord leaving, abandoning, the temple and departing to the east (in the Bible, all rulers leave and return from the east of the city, the direction of the rising sun). When the glory returns at the end of the vision, water flows from the temple, getting deeper and deeper as Ezekiel heads to the Dead Sea, a land of barren wilderness and typically bereft of water. The water flows down to the sea, giving new life to the sea, making the water fresh again, and reviving the dry wilderness. As can be expected, the water in Ezekiel’s vision is symbolic. The water was seen as a physical and a spiritual element, giving life, cleansing, and nourishment to the people and the land. In the ancient near east, water was a very common analogy (and those of you who have accompanied us on our journey probably now can see why!). The biblical writers took the well-known theme and used it to express the affect of the presence of God in a dry and dead wasteland. The people who heard his vision, those who had traveled the winding roads of the east, experienced the thirst of the desert, and seen the wasteland of the south, must have understood his message very acutely. And after today, so can we.

We apologize for the lengthy blog! We hope you have enjoyed it and learned a bit along the way. :0) Tomorrow, we head to Galilee, and we are hoping for maybe a bit cooler temperatures and a whole lot more green! Yay!!! We might even get some rain while we are there, and who knows…maybe we’ll even get to see a storm on the Sea of Galilee! We look north and towards New Testament events. It’s a four-day trip, so expect a long blog when we return after next Tuesday!