Wilderness of Zin

 We had again a wonderful lunch

pita bread with fresh vegetables, cheese, hummus etc.

In a shaded place

close to another wadi

We had our picture taken (by Coleen)

filled up our water bladders in our camel packs and went down into this wadi

We walked on sand

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

 This desert was beautiful
but it is the floods that leave the sand

This water looks like still water, water that is not dangerous

but when there is a flood it is very dangerous to be here

he leads me beside quiet waters,

 we walked deeper into the canyon

behind our rabbi Todd

I was adjusting my picture of desert

this is the kind of place the Israelite nation stayed for 40 years

  In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

I am so glad I took the time to take these pictures

We came to a grove of trees

 We sat down

and here we shared our own desert stories

times of loss and times of loneliness

times when we needed community and it wasn't there

times of testing

I shared the year of loss, when in 7 weeks time we had

4 funerals, 3 unexpected.

But also seeing community as a help in those times.

and knowing that we can go with all our questions to our Lord.

 sitting under the trees a deer (Ibex) came by

we were reminded of the many places deer are mentioned in the Psalms

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
    he causes me to stand on the heights.

 Psalm 42: As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.

It was good to share and to trust each other with our hurts

 time to leave the desert on Zin

we walked to the walls and it seemed we were going straight up

just like the deer :)

See the grove down there

This was a fun part of the hike

Made it to the top

Wadi Zohar

On top of the wadi the modern city of Arad

a zigzag path going up

Jeanet & Brent going up

Jeanet has fallen on her face, we called out Hazak!

Talking about desert is...

thinking about Jeanet we get more images

in desert we need each other

we need community

if live is like a desert one of our primary needs is community 

with God and each other

You can almost see the soft green glow on the hill, 

made by the tufts of grass

we walked on the sheep paths, the straight paths

Teach me your way, Lord;
    lead me in a straight path

Back in the bus, drive to the next hike

 we saw a lot of Bedouin dwellings

 

Desert Shade

 This was the biggest shade from trees, in the morning

we still had shade from the rocks at few places, 

one of those we sat down, opposite this broom tree

The broom tree is the shade tree of the desert

just enough to get a bit of shade, mostly your head

 The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

When water runs through this wadi it is in the form of a flood

It takes out the pavement by the hotel on the dead sea

every year shepherds get lost in a flood

some they never find back

These are the tufts of grass the sheep eat

we saw droppings but were to late to see the flock

These are the green pastures of Psalm 23:

 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.      

He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,      

he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake. Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.  

Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Some of my thoughts:

Desert is....

hot

intense

relentless

beauty

surprising

rocks

flowers

dry

Live is a desert ands

the desert is God's land

Pray for feet for the path

follow the shepherd, he knows where there is enough feed 

You shall love the LORD your God with all your 

heart (that's what makes decisions), 

soul (desire to live) and 

mind (strength, power)

It's not easy hiking in the desert, lots of rocks

 But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
    with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

The bible is filled with desert images 
as you see, honey comes from the rock

Desert is ....

Todd, our rabbi had tried to expose us to enough sun 

to go into the desert. Today was the day.

The bus dropped us off at a wadi, a dry river bed. 

often translated in the bible as river

As you can see, this river is pretty dry

although at some places with smooth stones 

you could see that water does run through it at times

Our rabbi set a fast pace intentional and we tried to keep up

usually I had people in view, but there was precious little time 

to take pictures

While hiking we were asked to finish this sentence:

Desert is .......

Daniel hotel

 The Daniel is a hotel on the edge of the dead sea

^{Marc, Moria and I went for a float in the sea}

^{Sarah actually dipped under water, not recommended} 

^{She ran to the showers to get the salt our of her eyes}

Lachish

On our way to Lachish we walked through a vineyard

made me think of Jesus words:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

Lachish is a very large tell, lots of excavation can be done yet

We could not go in, so we had our lesson at the foot of the tell

The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field
 

Hezekiah was like David:

 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.  “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands.  They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.  Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”

We sang: "Open the eyes of my heart Lord

Learning with our Feet

 we walked through the ripening grain

harvest has begun

this is Pentecost time (Feast of in-gathering)

 Going around the long way

(to avoid looking at the sign)

we went down

There Todd asked us:

What is it???

I didn't say anything for fear of looking foolish

looked like bird's nests to me

It is a Columbarium - a place where they raised pigeons

we also saw an olive press but it fits better later in the story

We saw a lot of sheep

 and a shepherd, throwing stones to sheep that ventured

to far from the flock

So nice to walk the road less traveled

 a locust tree = the food of John the Baptist

I remember drawing these winged insects as his food

I guess we have to get new pictures once in a while

It was the seed of the locust (carob) tree that was his food

John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

Azekah

 Looking out at Azekah where the Israelite were

Azekah is the hill above our heads

Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah

sliding down to the bus

we rarely went back on the bus at the same place we left 

Elah Valley

Washroom break

Many varieties of thistles, and quite large

Our next stop was at the Elah valley, a very fertile area

we walked up and around, looking down on this valley

We practice: 

Aijlon - Gezer

Sorek - Beth Shemesh

Elah - Azekah

Arriving at Shaarayim (2 gates)

Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron

Our faith lesson is David & Goliath

We learned about numbers

40 - time of testing

For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

Saul was the tallest Israeliste

 Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else

He is the shepherd, that is his job but:

But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep

Looking at first use in the bible

Saul is introduced not being able to take care of donkeys

David is introduced  as taking care of sheep

Now the donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.”

David heard Goliath

to hear = She'ma

5 stones, one for Goliath and each of his brothers

David uses a sling to throw a stone

God will use you in the way He prepared you

but it is why he threw the stone:

 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel

We have all been given stones (talents)

throw them so the world will know...

...that there is a God