Benjamin Territory...and the Walls of Jericho. :)

Today we took a trip beyond Jerusalem and explored the territory of Benjamin and the Northern West Bank. The group of us bussed from Yad HaShmona to Emmaus to Nebi Samwil around to Gibeah, then through the Zeboim Route to Jericho and back up through the Ascent of Adummin towards Jerusalem and back to Yad HaShmona.

Before we even left our campus, we walked to the end of the parking lot and looked over at our neighbor, Kiriat-Jearim that we visited on our first week.  Kiriat-Jearim lies on the border of the tribe of Benjamin and Judah (Josh. 15:60; 18:28) and is where the Ark of the Covenant rested for a short time. This was our first glimpse into Benjamin, we then piled into the bus and drove about 15 minutes away and found ourselves in a field at Emmaus Nicopolis.

This is one of the nine possible locations for the site mentioned in Luke 24:13-35 where Jesus walked with two of His disciples after His resurrection.  Emmaus is described as being 60 stadia (7 miles) away from Jerusalem, but where we were at was 160 stadia (17 miles). So most likely our location was not the same as the Biblical site. Other possibilities are Abu Gosh from the Crusader Period, Motza that is 3.5 miles away from Jerusalem, and Chubebe.  We don’t really know where Emmaus is, but we can learn from the words spoken on the road leading to it.  Christ’s sacrifice was not a mistake, or a plan B, it was always the intention and plan from the beginning. Luke 24:25 “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

Next we drove to Nebi Samwil the traditional Crusader location for the tomb of the Prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 25:1) There was not much to see other than the ruins of a crusader castle, Jerusalem in the distance, as well as Gibeon and Mizpah, and some really neat old looking trees. This site is also identified as the “high place at Gibeon” (2 Chron. 1:2) and overlooking the place where the Battle of Gibeon from 2 Samuel 2 took place. (While we were there the boys in our group actually re-enacted the battle!) Leaving the tomb we drove over to Gibeah and climbed the abandoned fortress of King Hussein’s palace from 1967.  We had a clear look out of the Judean Wilderness.  Gibeah was the site of Saul’s capital (1 Sam. 15:34) and the site of the story of Benjamin and the Levite’s concubine (Judges 19-20). The whole morning up to this point had been clear weather but crazy winds.  When we were on top of the palace foundation the winds were so intense it felt like we would blow off! 

     

Once back in the bus we drove through some more of the central Benjamin Plateau. We pulled off the main road and jumped over the guardrail and walked up a mountain looking at “The Pass” mentioned in 1 Samuel 13-14 with Jonathan’s attack of the Philistines.  The Pass connects Geba and Mickmash. Geba was built and fortified by King Asa of Judah when he bribed Ben-Hadad to fight Israel, giving him the green light to expand his borders.  While Israel was occupied in the North, Asa took down Ramah and built up Geba and Mizpah. While he was good to protect his people, he also stumbled in that he used the Temple goods to achieve these goals relying on man rather than on God.  In his earlier years when there was no hope, Asa had fully relied on God.  Our professor noted that sometimes it is easy to rely on God when all hope seems to be lost, but like Asa when things tend to be easy it is easier to rely on man and our selves.  Benj reminded us that we can learn from Asa’s life of the importance to trust in God at all times.

Descending down from the mountain and back onto our bus we made our way into the Judean Wilderness.  Rolling desert hills!  We saw some Bedouin camps here and there as well as a few shepherds and their flocks!  I have been waiting to see them as I love the imagery of God as our shepherd.  We drove by them, so we did not get to observe them for very long, but it was still amazing to see how they walked with their sheep and looked after their needs. Once we made it through the Zebuim Route we came to the Jericho Tel.  The oldest and lowest city on earth.  This Tel has been the second most excavated city besides Jerusalem.  It was actually relatively small only about 10-9 acres and the excavations over the years have kind of left it in a tumble of rocks.

Over the years there had been several excavations starting from the 1860’s.  It seemed most people agreed that this Jericho was the site of the city whose walls came tumbling down in Joshua 6.  But when Kathleen Kenyon excavated the site in the 1900’s she argued that the date of the Tel was older than Joshua’s conquest for its lack of a specific imported pottery. Bryant Wood, a specialist in Canaanite Pottery, argued that the pottery found at the excavations reveal that the city is from the time of Joshua’s conquest.  So there seem to be some differing opinions on date, but both archaeologists do agree that the walls did collapse!

The Wall itself was built of red mud brick and stood atop a retaining wall. In a documentary we watched, they explained that when the mud brick wall collapsed it would have made a ramp leading up into the city enabling the soldiers to go in and take it.  We read the account of the Battle of Jericho and again were reminded of trusting in the Lord.  When the Israelites crossed the land they were circumcised, then they celebrated Passover, then they walked around seven times, then they had to fight, also they were told to burn everything, including perfectly good food.  According to human logic, these actions do not make sense, but we are still called to trust in the Lord even when His wisdom and our “wisdom” do not line up.

Across the street from Jericho is the Ein Sultan Spring, the water purified by Elisha the Prophet in 2 Kings 1:15-22.  Just as verse 25 says, “the water has been healed to this day” and it tasted fine to me when I drank from it!

When our bus came to pick us up we drove to a ministry called Seeds of Hope and learned about their work and the miracle of salvation in the founder’s life.  He wrote a book about his story, “Once an Arafat Man” all about how he went from being a PLO sniper, and chauffer for Yasser Arafat to living in America and becoming a Christian.  

After leaving Seeds of Hope, we headed towards Jerusalem, it seemed fitting to stop and share the story of Jesus leaving (or entering) Jericho (Matt 20:29 and Luke 18:35) where he healed a blind man between Jericho and the road to Jerusalem, and the story of Jesus and Zaccheaus (Luke 19:1-10) and so we stopped for a few minutes at a ruin of Herod’s Palace in Jericho.  While we were there a boy with his donkey met us and was offering people the chance to sit on it. But by this time, the sun had set, so we filtered onto the bus and traveled towards Jerusalem through the Ascent of Adummim (the path of the Good Samaritain) back to our little campus.