Day 1:
Greetings from Israel! After traveling for a little less than 24 hours we arrived safely in Israel. Our first stop was Tel Gezer! What is a tel? A “Tel” is actually a specific archaeological feature which is very common in Israel, a place that has been inhabited by people for thousands and thousands of years. Basically a “Tel” is a mound underneath which lay the ruins of previous settlements that once stood on the same spot (Hebrew Today). How do you tell a tel? There are three criteria for a tell. First it has to be able to get water where that was through a spring or collected in a cistern. Secondly, it had to be in a strategic spot such as nearby stream or near a road. Thirdly it had to be defendable. Tel Gezer is located on the south side of the Aijaion Valley. Here a branch of the Kings highway that ran through Israel and connected Egypt and Mesopotamia. This branch went to Jerusalem and Jerico.
Day 2:
Today we visted several tels. The first tel was Bet Shemesh which means house of the sun. It with in a couple of miles that Samson was born and lived. Next we visited Tel Azekah. Here we over looked the Elah valley where the story of David and Goliath took place. Our next stop was Maresha. Here we saw several caves and an olive press. While in the olive press we learned about the process of making olive oil and how Jesus might have prayed in an olive press when praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Finally we visited Tel Lakish, a military fort that was was conquered by the Assyrians and allowed them to siege Jerusalem.
Day 3:
Today our text of focus was on Psalm 23. We are exploring the wilderness. The biggest thing I did today was hike down a wadi. A wadi is place that water runs durning the rainy season. Hiking down the wadi was difficult because the the path was so rocky that one miss step could have terrible consequences. We descended 700 meters or roughly 2000ft and walked the wadi out to the Dead Sea. We ended our day by floating in the Dead Sea.
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