The day began in the Judean wilderness. This is where John the Baptist lived, where Jesus wandered for 40 days and where David shepherded his sheep. It looks like sand dunes but actually these are hills of limestone. Rain water never makes it out this far. From our vantage point there were miles of unbroken, uninhabited wilderness. It gives context to, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death."


Bedouin farmers who live in shacks on the edge of the wilderness came up to our group trying to sell us beaded necklaces and camel rides.


A bedouin boy took special interest in my 10x50 binoculars. I had to stand there and hold them just to make sure he didn't run off with them. We played with each other for a while until it was time for me to go. I tried to get my binoculars back but he was insisting I not leave. Finally, as he was looking into the distance, I pulled 4 shekels out of my pocket. When he heard the sound of the change clanging together he froze and stared at me in the eyes. I bartered a trade of my binoculars for the shekels. He accepted the trade and gave me one of his beaded bracelets. He then skipped around smiling and chasing me.

Old Testament Jericho. This wall is the foundation for the brick walls "that came tumbling down" during Joshua's siege. Since I have had courses in archaeology, it has been exciting to approach sites like this already knowing a about what I'm looking at.

I came across this in tell-Jericho. From what I know, this could either be a grinding stone where a smaller smooth stone would be used to grind a substance placed in the hole of this rock, or it could be the socket into which a gatepost sad and swiveled open and shut.

An orthodox Jew sits near the cemetery beside Nabi Samuel and reads his Torah. Nabi Samuel ("prophet Samuel") is a tower built upon a high hill providing magnificent views for miles. Near the site is Rammah where Samuel was buried.


A view of Israel from Nabi Samuel.

The Old Testament city of Gezer. Several important things take place here.



A tablet found at Gezer contains an inscription in paleo-Hebrew that discusses the many agricultural seasons in Israel. It is presented in a sing-song fashion so scholars think it was possibly a poem memorized by school children who were learning to read and write. One of the words is mispelled and the writing is sloppy, which may indicate that a child inscribed this.

Archaeological remains at Gezer.

Masseboth, or standing stones, were sometimes set up as signs of political or religious covenants between people or between a people and their gods. Since I recently wrote a research paper on Israelite involvement in Canaanite cultic practices, the instructor let me explain the possible meaining of these stones at Gezer. There are 36 standing stone areas in the land that are from ancient Israel. They can also be found all over the ancient Near East and especially in teh desert wilderness the Israelites wandered through for 40 years. They are thought to be aniconic (not an image of a god but an object representing that god) presentations or memorials to the gods. In ancient Near Eastern art, a god stands to the right and his consort stands to his left. In this picture, you can see how the large stone on the far right is joined by the much smaller stone standing just to the left of it. All such masseboth are facing the East, but that is a feature common to basically all religious centers. Sometimes, inscriptions are found on these stones reading "the house of such and such a god". For an example, read what Jacob does in Genesis 28.

On this day we went to places that provided us with fantastic panoramic views of Jerusaelm. This was taken from the Hebrew University campus. You are looking at the Muslim Dome of the Rock, which sits where Solomon's Temple once sat.


This is the Russian orthodox church. It was magnificent. Its golden domes can be seen from far away. They glow very brightly when the sun hits them.