The picture is the ascent leading to Wadi David, David's hiding place in En Gedi on the Dead Sea.
It felt like coming home. After all the hurry and concern over the trip and making sure all the details were covered, I found myself driving over the Galilean hills and down into the bowl that holds the Sea of Galilee. And it was the strangest sensation of having been there before. The brown boulder-strewn hills looked for all the world like the region in Eastern Washington where I grew up. It was the same desert heat, the same startling blue of water in an arid region, echoing the cloudless blue sky. It could have been a slice of America: the boats and jet skis on the lake, the crowds of people on the rocky beaches, the restaurants and the tourist shops were all familiar. There were differences, of course. The pungent odor of sage brush was missing and there were palm trees in the place of scrub willows. Instead of wheat fields, there were acres of bananas and citrus fruit – each field laboriously cleared of the rocks that walled its perimeter. The signs were all in Hebrew (with English subtitles) and the prices in sheqels (about 3.5 to the dollar). But the similarities were astounding.
It also felt like home because I’ve spent my entire life hearing these names and many years studying about events that occurred in these locations. The opportunity to see the land first hand will be an invaluable aid to my Bible teaching.
Some other impressions from these first days in Israel:
1. It’s SMALL. From the surrounding hills, you can easily see from one side to the other of the Sea of Galilee. Tiberias, Magdala, Chorazin, Capernaum and Bethsaida are all within an 8 mile radius. Galilee to Jerusalem is a 2 ½ hour drive. And virtually everything Biblical in Jerusalem is in walking distance. But that leads me to my second point…
2. It’s HILLY. Although the Mediterranean coastline is flat and there are some valleys scattered about, a lot of the country is mountainous. I simply wasn’t prepared for the amount of walking up and down and then up again that you encounter in Jerusalem. It makes for stunning views but can be quite tiring. This is also the reason why, no matter where you are traveling from, you “go up” to Jerusalem.
3. It’s OLD. Of course, every place of religious significance has some kind of structure built on it. And the structure you see is probably the third or fourth such structure on that site. The archeological sites are fascinating and in a place like Meggido or Hazor, you can literally see thousands of years of layered construction.
4. It’s REAL. This is where it all happened – the Bible stories, that is. Although it can be difficult to see past the 2,000 years of religious overlay, these are the actual sites where Abraham, David and Christ lived and died (and, in the case of Jesus Christ, rose again). And with a little imagination, you can visualize the events that are so familiar from your Bible reading.
5. It’s NOISY. My first hotel in Jerusalem was on Jaffa St. near the Old City. The traffic and noise from the street continued virtually all night long. So many people in such a small area. And the parking costs were high. The Lord provided much quieter (and less expensive) accommodations last Tuesday – a hostel run by the Seventh Day Adventists that is just across the street from the famous King David Hotel. It’s still within walking distance of the Old City, and I can park for free!
But, although I’m thankful for the time I’ve had to see some of the sights, I’m actually here to teach a seminary class: a survey of Hebrews through Revelation. I began that task on 28 May, after I met my translator, Yulia. We drove down from Jerusalem to Petah Tikvah, near Tel Aviv (a little over an hour from Jerusalem). There we met with a group of Russian Jews who are believers in Christ. I was there to teach the seminary students, but the congregation used the class as a substitute for their mid-week meeting. So, I taught through the first 4 chapters of Hebrews to a group of about 40 people. (By the way, the translation is not into Hebrew but into Russian!) The class met again on Thursday evening as we continued our study in Hebrews.
Today is Shabbat (the Sabbath, or Saturday) and I drove into Tel Aviv to preach to another Messianic congregation – again, mostly Russian. It was a good time of fellowship and a blessing to be able to preach the gospel in Israel, the place where the gospel was first preached. It is also a blessing to be involved in equipping men to pastor Jewish churches in Israel. I believe that Romans 11 teaches that a day is coming when God will send revival among the Jewish people. Some of these young men may be the instruments of that movement of the Spirit. After a wonderful lunch of swarma (like a gyro but much better), the class resumed this afternoon and ran for over 5 hours. In the next update, I’ll tell you a bit about the situation in Israel.
Grace and peace,
Dan.
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