Galilee Field Study Day 4 - Oct. 29 – Wrapping up the conversations

Wrapping up the Galilee Field study today is a lot. I have really enjoyed the conversations that were talked about and to some degree I think that the conversations and discussions that stem from the locations and contexts might be even more important than the specific sites. With this field study there have been quite a few discussions and often we have been adding onto them throughout the trip. So I’m going to attempt to wrap up some of the things that we have talked about and some of the things that have stood out to me. There is a lot that I could talk about, and these are just a couple things that have stood out to me. 

One of the conversations that I found interesting was the conversation about what do we do with the things that are found that seem to be from other cultures and religions. We stopped at Sepphoris where there are mosaics on the floor of the synagogue that are from the 5^th c. A.D. These intricate mosaics have amazing pictures of the stories of the Bible and in the center there is a calendar/Zodiac symbol type thing. It raises the questions, why are there images of people in a synagogue and why is there a Zodiac.  Sepphoris isn’t the only place where things like this are found. Other synagogues have things that seem to be against what they are suppose to have.

I appreciate that it was pointed out that just because there are symbols that are often connected to other religions and cultures that it doesn’t automatically guarantee that there is synchronism going on here. Maybe it is a motif that is common during this time... maybe this is an attempt at being ‘current’. Maybe this is similar to the church that are trying their hardest to be ‘culturally relevant’ even if it mean adopting things that are not traditional. How do balance being in this world and being able to relate to it, yet to be distinct and not to be caught up in it? I don’t have all the answers to it, but maybe this is an older issue that it is often made out to be.

At the beginning of this field study we started out at the Jordan River talking about the imagery of water. This powerful image is present in creation and all the way throughout the Bible. It is not surprising that this imagery shows up at the very end of the Bible as well.  Throughout the Bible and in the Middle Eastern cultures the sea is a symbol of chaos, death, unpredictable storms and evil. Throughout the scriptures references to large bodies of water are often in a negative connotation. Water in the form of rain and dew are good for growing things and is a blessing, but when it is in the sea, it is restless, unrelenting and chaotic.  This is evident in many of the other religions as well.

walking onto of the aqueducts

Roman aqueducts - over 2000 years old

 At the end of Revelation John is telling us about what the New Jerusalem will look like. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.” Revelation 21:1. It was suggested that the ocean may still be there, that there still will be bodies of water to enjoy, but it will no longer be restless and chaotic.  Our God is a God of order and peace, and in the kingdom where he reigns there will be such.

First thing this morning we hiked down mount Arbel. This mountain, though not specifically mentioned in the Bible seems to be a prominent mountain in the geography of the land of Galilee. There is a possibility that it may be been reference when Jesus talks of a high mount. It is fairly close to the area and it pretty obvious, (and a lot of fun to climb down). At the end of Jesus’ ministry his gather’s his disciples on a mountain and tells them that they are to take his message to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the World.  From on the top of this mountain it is possible to see many different areas including the Roman. This is an area where the roads crossed, where the disciples were a microcosm of the people of Israel and the nations are walking the road at the foot of the mountain. 

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hiked up to the crusader remains

 Maybe the promise of Isaiah is something that we still have to look forward to. It still seems like it isn’t fulfilled fully yet. When the nations will worship together in complete peace.

Isaiah 19:23-25

 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.  In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth.  The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”

Galilee Field Study Day 3, Oct 28 – Wrestling with Scripture and Justice.

Today we travelled north. From the shores of the Sea of Galilee we travelled north all of the way to Hazor, Dan and Caesarea Philippi. In my opinion this is one of the most beautiful areas of Israel. Again like the other days we have talked about a lot of stuff, but I cannot include all of that here today so I am just going to focus on a couple things. 

We started going across the Sea of Galilee on a boat!

Hazor was a very important city. Located along the road headed north it controlled a good portion of the traffic that went from Damascus the land between. There have been found writings that mention Hazor and in writings from Egypt it referred to the ‘King of Hazor’. King was not as common as a title in that particular age and other cities and area officials were referred to as rulers.  This suggests that Hazor was in a place of prominence over the other cities and might even have a city-state like status as is seem with larger cities in Syria.

Hazor is a very large Tel compared to others in the area. 200 acres is the approximate size of the Tel. It also has 20 destruction and settlement layers that are added evidence to the importance of the site.

In the mid 13^th century BCE there is a significant destruction by fire layer. The severity of the destruction layer seems like it could coincide well with the description of the conquest of Hazor in Joshua 11 and following. But there are many deep issues that are tied into this story and understanding it well. 

Over the past couple months we have been wrestling a lot with the question of how do we appropriately and accurately relate the Bible to the evidence on the ground and what do we do when the two don’t seem to go together.  This is a deep question and I have found that for some whose faith relies completely on the Bible alone it can be quite startling and upsetting.

To make it clear, I am at a point where I can say that God is very real and active in my life. The Bible is still very important, but I have seen and experienced how God has been and is faithful in my life and in the lives of the people around me. God stands existentially above the world and just because there are questions and issues that are raised with the text and the way we relate to it and to history cannot change God. I think that it is important to wrestle with these questions in a way that draws us deeper into understanding of who God is and who we are called to be. It is often in the wrestling that we learn and grow.

The destruction by fire was hot enough to shatter the basalt foundation stones

The first issue that we talked about was the issue of the evidence on the group not lining up with the text in the Bible. In this case it goes back to the dating of Jericho and the evidence that is found there.  One of the archaeologists there, Kathleen Kenyon, has concluded that there wasn’t a city at the site of Jericho at that time if we line the dates up with the destruction layer at Hazor.  I wish there was a clear answer and a clear way to explain the tension between dating the two sites. Both cities have destruction layers that seem to fit well with the Joshua story and yet the dating of those layers is the issue.

There are a couple ideas of how this works out. First of all, maybe we are reading the texts out of their genre. It is extremely common for kings to return to their countries after battle and write their epics about battle and the amazing thing that they had done. That they had wiped out ______, and that they fought with great valour, even if the evidence on the ground is clearly that they just escaped with their lives and maybe even lost a large portion of their army! If that was common in other nations at that time, including in Egypt, then should we be surprised to see that the Israelites, who had just come from Egypt, maybe recorded their conquest stories in a similar way? Secondly, maybe the reading and dating of the Tels are slightly off. Maybe there are finds and things that haven’t been found yet

mud bricks from the walls

 The first issue that we talked about was the issue of the evidence on the group not lining up with the text in the Bible. In this case it goes back to the dating of Jericho and the evidence that is found there.  One of the archaeologists there, Kathleen Kenyon, has concluded that there wasn’t a city at the site of Jericho at that time if we line the dates up with the destruction layer at Hazor.  I wish there was a clear answer and a clear way to explain the tension between dating the two sites. Both cities have destruction layers that seem to fit well with the Joshua story and yet the dating of those layers is the issue.

There are a couple ideas of how this works out. First of all, maybe we are reading the texts out of their genre. It is extremely common for kings to return to their countries after battle and write their epics about battle and the amazing thing that they had done. That they had wiped out ______, and that they fought with great valour, even if the evidence on the ground is clearly that they just escaped with their lives and maybe even lost a large portion of their army! If that was common in other nations at that time, including in Egypt, then should we be surprised to see that the Israelites, who had just come from Egypt, maybe recorded their conquest stories in a similar way? Secondly, maybe the reading and dating of the Tels are slightly off. Maybe there are finds and things that haven’t been found yet.

The second issue that is often brought up with these stories is a larger one to swallow. I have been struggling to figure out what is going on when God commands the people of Israel to wipe out entire groups of people. In the conquest it happens a couple times, all the way up to and possibly a little behind the time when Elijah wipes out the 450 prophets of Baal. How do we settle with these? I don’t want to just skip over them, because they were recorded for a reason, and maybe there is a more important reason for this that we understand.

In the story of Hazor, all the people of the city are killed, including the women and the children. They killed everything that moved and burnt it to the ground.

Why?

I don’t know.

Part of it doesn’t seem right that God would approve of the killing of so many people, but maybe in God’s sovereignty there was a deeper reason for it. Maybe someone did something or the city was inclined to believe or act in such a way that was not helpful to the Israelites. I don’t know. Is this just? By our standards, no.  But is this Justice, I don’t know but maybe. God used the Assyrians to come in and take Israel to exile, God uses other nations to teach the Israelites, maybe this is a reverse of that?....  Or maybe our definition of justice is different that of theirs.

Oldest Arch gate still intact. From about the time of Abraham

In Tell Dan we talked about city gates. There is the oldest intact arch gate in the world found here. It is made out of mud brick and was filled in by the people who lived there because it was deteriorating due to the moisture, but because it was buried, it still exists today.

The city gates were an important people. The elders of the city were to judge in the city gates. Kings and officials sat in gates. Guests were welcomed and taking in. Decisions were made and disputes were settled, but justice instead of lining up with the idea of individual rights and responsibilities that is common in the West today, justice was lined up with caring for the poor, the widow, the orphan and the stranger in the camp and ultimately took the entire community into consideration.

First of all the judging was kept as local as possible, and with small communities it was more than likely that the people who were to judge, the older men, in the city gates would know everyone and everything about the community.  This made me think of heaven being compared to a city and that there are city gates where judging takes place. Maybe John is drawing a parallel as in these judges were suppose to know the people that God judges us and knows everything about us and Jesus is the one there interceding on our behalf.  The other interesting thing that was pointed out was that the judging took place in the open-air. Other than being a public affair and limited to day-light, it was more importantly done before God, before the heavens. God is watching, and God is a God of justice.

Job 29:7-17 is a beautiful description of a guy who takes justice seriously.

sitting inside the city gate 

             This led to a discussion on some of the more difficult commands that we find in the Bible. Leviticus 18 was one passage that we looked at. It is the chapter about sexual misconduct. It was pointed out that what is forbidden is what wasn’t life giving and/or adds chaos to inheritance. It was for the better of the community that these things don’t happen.

We then looked at a more often confusing passage, Deuteronomy 18:18. This verse states that if a virgin is raped that that the man must pay the bride price, marry her and cannot divorce her. In our modern culture this sounds like the worst thing that could possibly happen! It sounds like it punishes the woman more than anything else. But in the ancient near east mindset, this was the best possible outcome. If she was not to marry him, she would likely not get married; she would be like a widow for the rest of her life. She would have no way to support herself and ultimately would become a drain on the resources that the town has. But to make the man marry her requires of the man to care for her by providing for all of her needs plus giving her sons so that they can support her after he dies. Is this a better picture of justice? The widow is cared for, the town can continue to function, grow and survive. I wonder how drastically our culture would change if we changed our idea about justice to being the good of the entire community than just our own individual rights and responsibility? What would it look like to be the voice for those who don’t have a voice, the widow, the poor, the discriminated, the outcast, the odd one out, the orphan, the stranger within our gates?

one of the 4 head springs that make up the head waters of the Jordan

Banais is another spring, it used to flow out of the cave in the rock and was connected with pagan worship

the last stop of the day was a look out point in Northern Israel

overlooking Syria

Mount Hermon in the north

it used to be a military outpost. some of the military bunkers and tunnels were still there and open

Galilee Day 2 - October 27 - Justice and Discipleship

Today we spend the day around (and ultimately in) the Sea of Galilee. I feel that there is a lot that can be discussed with the stories and things that happen around in this area and in a way, some way that most of them tie together. Yesterday I talked the water and creation imagery and also about the question of what do we do with the Romans. Today we continued our conversation about what do we do with the Romans, but I feel as if the themes that stood out to me were justice and discipleship.

We started out on a hill near Bethsaida where it is suggested that Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount.  Here the world, the major road passes right by. The Romans are stationed here. And Capernaum, the city just a stone’s throw away, is the city where Jesus retreats to after speaking in Nazareth. In Nazareth his reallocated the promise that the Jews thought was just for them for everybody, including the Romans who they considered their enemy.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The people that Jesus calls blessed do not seem to fit into the groups that already exist in Jewish world. The Sadducees, Pharisees Essenes or Zealots don’t hold all these attributes, rather these seem to stand out of all of them.  A Biblical definition of Justice can be taken from Zechariah 7:10. It commands the people of God to look out for the widow, the orphan, the poor and the stranger in the camp. These commands are spoken throughout the Bible.

            In the Sermon on the Mount it seems that the people that Jesus is calling blessed are not the powerful, the free, the ruling, the wealthy or any of the groups that the Jews have already set in place. He turns their expectations of blessed on its head. 

Peace-makers, it isn’t just compromising and letting things slide for the sake of peace. It isn’t the passive avoidance of conflict but rather the aggressive pursuit of true peace, turning the other cheek and in do so turning the shame to those who fight. Those who mourn cover all of the people that are found in this place. The Jew, the Roman, the poor, and the rich are all included.  Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: each of the groups claims to be chasing after righteous in the best way.

So Jesus presents this to everybody. Promises that now include the whole world and calling blessed those who relate to the world in such a way.  Justice working out in practical ways to care for those who can’t care for themselves, the Romans, and the despised included. We also looked at Isaiah 58 and Ephesians 2:14-22.

In connection with the creation imagery that we talked about yesterday, I found it interesting how God stands existentially apart above creation and in a similar way God is calling us to be existentially apart from humanity, to be in the world but not of the world. 

found a boat anchor, rocks with holes bored through them which could be strung together and used to as an anchor.

Just like the land of Israel was filled with many different opinions and perspectives both friendly and hostile towards each other, the guys that Jesus called to be his disciples seems to be a mix of those groups.  There are some zealots, and some religious Jews, there is a local tax collector and fishermen from nearby who didn’t like (or went to some length to skirt around) the local tax collector, there were some brothers who have a Greek and Jewish name....., and a couple more that we are not sure where their background is. Whatever the case, Jesus chose some interesting characters to have as his close disciples. 

olive press

building methods

inside a reconstructed house

I had heard before the Jesus was likely a stone mason or builder because the word for carpenter is ‘tacton’ and that is better translated to stone mason and fits better with the lack of abundance of trees in the area. I find it interesting the idea that Rabbis still had a day job, they were not only Rabbis. Jesus being the son of a tacton would also learn that trade and ultimately end up working that while he was being a Rabbi. It is interesting how a job like that would keep Jesus right in the middle of the day to day lives of the people to whom he is speaking. If Jesus was living and working in the area, did he already know his disciples as kids growing up? Did he have his finger on the pulse of the people in the area?

inside of a roof/second floor of a house

This past year I heard a pastor speaking at a young adult worship service who worked part-time as a pastor of a local church and part-time in the trades. He actually went through an apprenticeship and was at the point of taking on apprentices himself and was using that as an example of discipleship. It was interesting how he pointed out that being part-time in the trades kept him touch with what was going on in the community and gave opportunity for evangelism in a very practical way. 

            It is interesting to think about the way that we look at and view ministry. My dad has reminded us again and again that ministry can happen anywhere and maybe that is what Jesus was getting at too. The God places us in certain places. God placed Israel in a land that has the world passing by and through it so that the world could know who God is.

Galilee Day 1 - October 26 - Water and Rome

            Today we started looking at the region of the Galilee specifically starting with the Jezreel valley. We looked at many different concepts and ideas, I found many of them to thought provoking and still have many questions about how God has acted in history and how that speaks to us today.  There are many different things that I could write about, but I will only focus on a couple right now.

            We started out at the Jordan River at one of the traditional baptismal sites.  This river, glorified creek has been instrumental in the formation of Israel. Water imagery in the Bible is incredible. In the Middle East water is viewed much differently than in the West. It is necessary and valued for life, but it is also a symbol of chaos and death. In the Egyptian creation myths there is the idea that the land was brought up from the water. In Genesis it starts out saying that the world was formless and empty. In Hebrew ( וָבֹ֔הוּ   תֹ֙הוּ֙) the second word in this phrase doesn’t have any meaning, it is an empty word, that things, even words, without a name or meaning have no purpose. God separates the waters and creates. He names thing, light, dark, day, night, dry land and oceans, giving each a purpose.

          

              Later Abram crosses the Jordan River and afterwards he receives a new name, Abraham. He received promises for the future and purpose for his life. His grandson Jacob crosses the river, probably at a similar point and at that time spends a night wrestling with God where he received a new name. He was physically altered and also received promises. A couple hundred years later the entire people of Israel and some extra leave Egypt and come to the waters at the red sea, here they cross through the waters on dry ground and make their way to Mt. Sinai where they become a people of God.

            Jesus goes down to the River and is baptized by John. He receives a new name in a way when God says “this is My Son in who I am well pleased”. After that his purpose is clear and his ministry begins after fasting 40 days in the desert where he proves himself and withstands the temptations that confront him. 

From there we started making our way up to the Galilee, in particular the Jezreel Valley. The Jezreel Valley is very different from the other areas that we have already looked at. Instead of being even somewhat difficult to travel through, the Jezreel valley is wide open.  We compared it to a roundabout, many different road come into the valley and meet up there. The flat fertile ground is also some of the most fertile land in Israel. With over 330 feet of top soil it is valuable land.

 There are a couple key cities that are situated in the area.  Beth She’an is in the Jordan valley and guards one of the ways into the Jezreel Valley. Megiddo is another city that is important in this area. It is said that taking Megiddo is like taking 1000 cities. With the roads that meet up and pass by it is evident that this city is incredibly important to the ancient near east. In the Iron Age alone there are 10 different destruction layers.

 

Beth She'an a Roman city has Roman things - Bath house

Theater

public bathroom

temples

The road passes right in front of Meggido. 

 It must have been an important city. Found a horse at Meggido.

We continued to look at the idea of, ‘What do we do with Rome?’ Although we no longer have Rome to deal with, we have other groups that we deal with.  Deep down we have ideas of who is and who isn’t worthy of being part of ‘our’ church. We tend to act in certain ways to certain groups of people that are different than us. Certain phrases such as “_______ deserves to burn in hell because.....” is (a severe) example of us passing judgement and choosing how we respond to our ‘Rome’.

The four different perspectives of dealing with the Romans as presented by Josephus were summed up in a simple way. The Sadducees sided with the Romans to make a profit, the Zealots fought and killed the Romans, the Essenes retreated to the desert and the Pharisees didn't know what to do with them.

But the reaction of Jesus is different. On a hill outside of Nazareth we looked at the story of Jesus reading the scroll in the synagogue of his home town. He reads from Isaiah 61. The chapter is filled with a lot of imagery of the prisoner being free, the comfort of God’s people and the prosperity of the nation. These ideas and images were connected to their idea of the Messiah, the one who would come to redeem Israel to their rightful place and kick the Romans out.

Jesus ends off by saying that the scripture had been fulfilled that day. This didn't settle well with the Jews there. The Romans were still there and the Jesus is telling them that it has been fulfilled in that day. Jesus continues to point out other examples of other prophets that were bringing hope to the people around Israel but not directly to Israel. The people get so mad that they are ready to throw Jesus off of a cliff and stone him.

It draws into question how do we respond if God was to come to us and tell us that we got it wrong? That the people we don’t like that the rules and authority that we struggle against are just as worthy of God’s love as we were.

This has made me think a little bit. In the past I have had to forgive certain people in my life. It wasn’t easy, but God taught me a lot through it. At one point I spent a couple months wrestling with the verse, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 8:5)  If God responses with such deep love and care towards someone who is so clearly far below him, far from being worthy of any such love and grace, how much the more are we called to let and encourage others to experience same grace that God is extending to them.