Tour of Israel, Feb. 21st

Today was our last full day in Israel! We got a lot accomplished and ended it with a bang. Before we get into the pictures, we wanted to let everyone know that commenting is now opened up to anyone; you don't have to be a registered user to post a comment on the blog.

Mektesh Ramon

We were fortunate enough to get rain last night to blow away the sand storm haze, so we stopped back at Mektesh Ramon to see the view on a clear morning. What a difference!

All of America was fast asleep when we took this picture.

Another great view from Miktesh Ramon.

A common side-of-the-road goat spotting.

Be'er Sheva

Our next stop was to the ancient city of Be'er Sheva, which was an important city in the Old Testament (mentioned 34 times). First referenced in Genesis 20, it was significant in the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and ended up within the tribal allotment of Judah.

A well just outside the city gates, which had to be dug quite deep to reach the water line since Be'er Sheva was built on top of a high hill.

A very large cistern was dug by one of the kings for a backup water supply. This was the shaft to get into the cistern.

Walking into the cistern... hard hats required – low ceilings!

All of the cave-like area once was filled with water to supply the city in times of siege or distress. Chisel marks were still visible on all the walls from when the (most likely) slave labor dug it out.

Arad

Arad dates back to 3000 BC and was first mentioned in Numbers 21:1 when Moses and the Israelites were wandering in the desert. The Israelites ended up destroying the city because its inhabitants fought against them. There was an “ancient” and “modern” city of Arad discovered – this picture shows the ancient version ruled by the Caananites.

Up the hill a couple hundred yards away was the “modern” city of Arad, ruled later by the Israelites. It contains the oldest known temple; aside from in Jerusalem it's the only one to have been discovered.

This picture shows the altar that was found in the temple. It matches the Biblical description of the tabernacle's altar – the dimensions match, and also none of the stones used have been cut or fashioned with metal (as prescribed). A “holy of holies” was also found.

Remains of the city walls.

Today the surrounding areas of Arad contain some beautiful orchard fields.

Bedouins at Nokdim

Our next stop was to visit the Bedouins at Nokdim. They are an ancient nomadic people, Arab Muslims, who raise sheep and camels and “live off the land” without integrating into modern day society (similar to the Amish of Lancaster).

They gave us a nice presentation about their culture and customs for hospitality complete with shepherd-looking outfits, fire-roasted coffee and hot tea, all in a goat-hair tent.

After the presentation we were served a great lunch, contained in this giant pita.

Gezer

While we don't have a good picture because we couldn't get close, the ancient city of “Gezer” has been discovered in Israel. It is on the hill in the distance where you see the path next to the bush. This city was important in its strategic location to Jerusalem, was conquered by Joshua during his conquests, and later was one of the 3 cities rebuilt by King Solomon in 1 Kings 9:15.

Biblical Gardens

Our final stop of the day, and of the trip, was to the 650-acre Biblical Gardens near Tel Aviv. This beautiful area, while not of any particular historical significance, was reconstructed to contain plant life only from Biblical times.

Patrick was our guide, and he did a great job explaining the significance of each plant and tree. Take this sycamore tree for example. If you know the story of Zacchaeus, it was a story of Christ rehabilitating and changing his heart. The Bible mentions how Zacchaeus was short, and standing in a sycamore tree in order to see Christ. The sycamore tree itself has some neat properties; it is called the “construction tree”, because you can cut off the entire main trunk (for building/construction) and it will regrow. Also, the fruit that grows on the tree is similar to a fig, but smaller and not edible. However, if you drill a hole through it and soak it in olive oil, it will expand and grow into a delicious, fig-like edible fruit! The tree itself "rehabilities" in multiple ways, just like Christ did with Zacchaeus' heart who climbed into one.

Patrick showed us how trenches were plowed for planting back in those times – much harder work than today.

This is an almond tree, which we learned is the first thing to blossom in the Spring, and is the way they tracked their fiscal new year.

That's about it! Overall our trip was such a wonderful experience. We learned so much, and it will take a long time to digest everything we saw. Our apologies in advance for the fairly uninteresting nature of the captions and lack of funny stories; we were typically so tired at the end of each day that after downloading and sorting all our pictures and videos, this was all we could muster. Hopefully you enjoyed trekking through Israel with us. It's probably time to sign off - our bus to the airport leaves in just over 2 hours!

- Steve & Joanna