Israel March 21

City/Places

Photos

 Scripture Reference/Comments
The Road to Emmaus

Emmaus stream bed with small seats Emmaus Stream bed with small seats, pehaps for washing clothes or tired feet Center Island in the Emmaus stream bed Steps in and around the emmaus stream bed Winding sidewalk of the road to emmaus Winding sidewalk of the road to emmaus Almond tree...many peoples here eat the almond in this form. Its soft and furry like. Looking in a tomb along the road to emmaus A tomb on the road used to burry the dead for a few years, then they remove the bones. Tomb from farther back. Emmaus drainage ditch Jesus could have rested here as he expalined the Old testement prophecies being fulfilled In His footsteps More aqueducts to move the water through this area A 100-200 year old olive tree growing in the middle of the street  Aqueducts to channel water It took lots of work to build this trail - something the Romans were good at getting done

Luke 24:13-15 "Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them"

The location of Emmaus isn't clear anymore. The name Emmaus may be derived from the Hebrew word hammat, "hot spring." Luke places it about 60 stadia from Jerusalem...the distance about seven miles.

Either way, this was a definite road way with Roman technology and people of Jesus day would have used it when all of this water flowed freely. Most archaeologist believe this road took you to Emmaus.

Beit Shemesh

Beit Shemesh valley and hills - also believed to be Gamaliel's (Pauls teacher) resting place Beit Shemesh, where the Philistines left the ark and where many Jews died for looking in it. Our guide reading the story of how the ark was returned Samuel 6 Ruins of beit Shemesh

The Philistines captured the Ark and took it back to their capital city Ashdod. They placed it in the temple of their god Dagon. The next day, however, they found the dagon idol fallen on its face. After replacing the statue, they found it the next day decapitated, with only its trunk remaining, and soon afterward, the entire city of Ashdod was struck with a plague. The Philistines moved the Ark to the city of Gath, and from there to Ekron, but whatever city the Ark was in, the inhabitants were struck with plague. After seven months, the Philistines decided to send the Ark back to the Israelites, and accompanied it with expensive gifts. The Ark was taken back to Beit Shemesh, and, according to midrash, the oxen pulling the Ark burst into song (lowing) as soon as it was once again in Israel's possession. Later, the men of Beit Shemesh were punished for staring disrespectfully at the Ark, and many were killed with a plague. (I Samuel 6:12-13). Also, the picture to the far left is the home of Saul/Paul's teacher, Gamaliel.
Valley of Elah  David and Goliath fought here View from the Philistine hill toward where the Israelites stood in young David's day The David Goliath battle ground is in this valley - it's called the valley of Elah View from the stream where David gathered smooth stones for battle The very stream where David gathered 5 stones - its been a dry winter, but there are pictures on the internet where this brook of Elah has water in it. Gathering stones in the brook of Elah This is the actual site that David retrieved the stones that he would slay Goliath with. We were able to collect a few stones for ourselves.

1 Sam 17:2  "Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines."

1 Sam 17:40 "Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. "
Mall of Jerusalem

Israel's number 1 sport - Football (soccer) At the mall theatre  A mall bookstore - most written in hebrew Translation - The cat in the hat - written in hebrew Ooooohhhh- no sneeze guard! A sports shop Escalator Burger King with Soldiers in line (they do have guns) Burger King menu - we din't know what we were ordering but they understood the word whopper and it tasted fine. Just no cheese. Typical Public Phone in the mall Going up? A lot of the Jews dress very modern, the stores look very modern. the US and the UK have had an influence here. Some art work from Italy around the ceiling Our taxi driver said he knew englich....Im not so sure. He charged us 8 bucks - we gave him 10 because he didnt take the long way around. Last night as we loaded the bus at about 1AM - this is going to be a long night!

 

 The picture to the far top left is of a soccer "football" stadium, which is basically the only sport in Israel - at least on television. Kenya loves soccer so this was fine with her.

The bus driver dropped a few of us off at the Mall. Most people who have a little knowledge of Jerusalem tell you not to go into the public places like this, but we were stir crazy and maybe just plain crazy. As it turns out, we did learn later of a bomb threat in the area and were advised not to venture out any further.

The first thing we did in the mall was to eat. We had heard there were some American restaurant chains in the mall and we were tired of Israel cuisine. Jewish law says to put no meat on the burgers and basically olive pizza was the safest route to go with at the pizza place. Our Whopper value meal was about $15 American dollars - but well worth it.

Everything is written in Hebrew, the store owners look at us with great suspicion, and I'm sure Americans must look pretty stupid to them.

We left the hotel after a quick nap at about 1:45AM. Everyone was well past tired when we got back to the states but the trip was an experience of a lifetime.

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