WOW! Whatta Weekend.

lol - remember that saying from LIVE Weekend?
So, Its been one week since my "quick update" and a ton has happened since then.  Most of it comes from this weekend.  We had a 3 day field study for the Physical Settings class.  We traveled southward to the Biblical Negev and then moved West to East seeing different ancients sites and big tourists spots.  The first day was awesome, it was refreshing getting out of Jerusalem and seeing different landscape.  Most of our field studies have been in the hill country or the wilderness up until now.  The first day we went to the shephelah, which simply means "the lowland"  It is the land between the hill country of Judah and the coastal plain.  The hills and valleys are broad and open creating fertile flatlands that are filled with rich green produce.  It was nice seeing green.  It is also in this area that the state of Israel is trying to preserve forests and create national parks, so there are a lot of green trees here too.

Here is us starting our hike down into the Shiloh Wadi System.  I don't think I ever really described what a wadi is. I probably should. They are very important to the land of the bible and to my field studies. lol.  In short - they are valleys that are usually dry except during the rainy season.  So here in the picture above we are at the top of a ridge and going down.  Here was our first stop...

Here we are a ways down into a valley on the side of the hill there is a natural cave in the shade of these ever-green trees...looks like a perfect place for a house!  This would have been a nice home for a family during the time of Solomon, when everyone lived in safety, each man under his own vine and fig tree, and everyone ate, drank, and were happy. (1 Kings 4:20-25).  I thought about what life would be like here in a cave, under my own vine and fig tree.  Just hanging, taking care of a few of my crops, vines and trees and whatnot. I wonder what I would do for fun, or if I would get bored with life.  I suppose there were some back then who preferred city life - life in Jerusalem that is.  I guess its not that different than life in America now...where everyone lives in safety under grocery stores and malls, everyone ate (too much), drank (too much) and were miserable. - a few differences. Anyway, moving on.
Our next stop was Beth Shemesh - Samson's "stomping grounds"  So we read his story and imagined him setting the wheat field on fire with foxes as we looked over the shephelah into the Sorek valley.

Here ya go. See the flat land in the middle of the picture right under those green hills?  There, once upon a time, that was probably a burning wheat field.  We saw other ancient cities in this area, we saw where David knocked down Goliath. Here is a reenactment

Goliath on the left, David on the right, and look closely...you can see the smooth stone about to hit Goliath

We also saw some cities that Sennacherib attacked.  We eventually ended the day at the Mediterranean Sea.  So we got to swim and the waves were treacherous.  Several of us almost perished.  I've never seen such big powerful waves before, and the undertow was just insane!  If you went out too far it wasn't enjoyable, only life-threatening.  You would see this massive wave rising over you, which you could probably handle, but it was recovering and trying to get your head above water for another breath before the next wave, that was the difficult part.  Josie - I should have taken your advice.  Afterward we went back to the new city of Beersheba and slept in a Youth Hostel. It was pretty nice, ate dinner there, went to a very westernized mall.  Had a good time being Hellenists, it was great.
So the next morning we started our day at the ancient site of Beersheba.  It was pretty neat. Saw some cool things there.  I climbed the Tamarisk tree that Abraham planted (Gen 21:33).  What else...

We saw a 4 horned altar and talked all about that.  Then we moved on to Arad and did some stuff out there in the desert.  Honestly the second day of the trip (sunday) was pretty boring and i was tired and sleepy so i can't even remember all what we did.  I need my notes but i don't have them with me right now.  (its tuesday right now). But here are a few pictures of the day.

Me in the Tamarisk Tree at Beersheba

the desert...

This picture above is me in the holy of holies!...not THEE holy of holies.  But this is the holy of holies in a Israelite temple which was in Arad, a city way out in the desert....Jerusalem is supposed to be the religious center....There must have been some bad Israelites worshiping idols out here in this waste land.

Alright - That was Saturday and Sunday.  Next was Monday.  Monday was the coolest day of the trip. We began the day at Masada.  Another desert fortress built by Herod the Great, but more it is more popularly known as the place the Jews were massacred by the Romans.  Well here is a picture.

Yes, there it is, with the Dead Sea behind it.  A fortress 1200ft up on a limestone chunk.  That ramp you see is the siege ramp the Romans built to overtake the fortress.  Our professor challenged us with a race to the top. He didn't run, lol, but encouraged us to race the JUC record.  The record wasn't broken, but me and some others did try.  The record is 2:50.  I ran to the top in 3:12, so I was kinda far from the record, but I beat everyone that was racing. lol. that was good enough i guess.  So we did a bunch of awesome stuff up there, and saw cool things.  I'll have to explain it all some other time.  Here are some more pictures.

This was Herods Palace

Looking off Masada into vast desert

Chillen in Herods Palace

wow. thats a long way down.

After Masada, we went to the Dead Sea for lunch.  It was so craaaazy!!!  Swimming in the Dead Sea...it was like you could tell the water was thicker, thick with salt that is.  The oceans are about 3% or something salt, and the Dead Sea is 35% salt.  It was so insane.  You just bobbed up and down. It was a lot of fun.  Burned though, we do a ton of hiking and what not, so we are all scratched up so it didnt feel very good. lol.  And i got some in my eye. that was awful.  Then we had a nice lunch, cooked some hot dogs.  We usually just get tuna salad packed into pita bread.  So this lunch was like amazing. lol.  Then later we went into "David's Wadi"  Just another Wadi that tradition puts David.  Really its just for the sake of tourism.  It was cool though, and there we read Psalm 42, which makes better sense to me.  My professor is amazing, just as the bible was divinely written, i think my prof is a qualified divine reader. lol.
Well...This is definitely long enough and plenty here for you to enjoy.  So i'll be done for now.  Oh and remember in my quick update i said i am trying to finish my Egypt Midterm paper, well i'm still trying to finish that. lol.  So.  I hope all is well back in Indiana and up in Estonia.  I don't think i have any other readers anywhere else. lol.
Well, if you're reading this - I love you and I miss you A LOT!
Bye