By now we have gone on most of the in-country field trips with the students, but we had missed the trip to the Negev area last summer (because it was so beastly hot).  Winter is the perfect time to go to the Negev, which is the southern desert area of Israel, and we had an excellent time visiting four main Old Testament areas. This is a large area—more than half of the land area of modern Israel.  

First was Tel Be’er Sheva (not far from the modern city of Be’er Sheva, or Beersheba in the Bible).  This is the territory of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The site was a fortified government outpost to guard the southern border of Judah.  Not surprisingly, there is a deep cistern and ingenious water system.  It’s also the site of a famous horned altar (made with cut stone, not unhewn stones as commanded in Exodus 20).  

Eric Huntsman leading the discussion

We next visited the tomb of David Ben-Gurion, who helped establish the state of Israel and was its first prime minister. It overlooks the Wilderness of Zin, where the children of Israel spent much of their 40 years wandering.  It reminded us a lot of Death Valley.  We were only about 20 miles from the Egyptian border here. We had a devotional on the site led by Mauro Properzi.  

The highlight of the day was Avdat, an important settlement and rest stop along the ancient Incense Route between Petra and the port of Gaza. It was under control of the Nabateans starting in 200 BC, then the Romans (AD 100-400), and finally the Byzantines (AD 400-700). The stunning citadel on the top of this hill has courtyards, churches, a Greek-style temple, and more water-collection systems.  We could have spent all day here.  

Fun metal sculpture of a camel caravan

Our final stop was Tel Arad.  This settlement dates from the early Bronze era, before the time of Abraham—3500 BC!  A temple with a holy of holies, massive walls and wells.  Somehow people survived here for millennia.  Jim keeps wanting to be teleported back to these sites to see what life was really like then.

We went to Mamilla and into the Old City to visit Udi Merioz who gave Jim the sketch he’d made for him.  He then had Jim sign his name on a scrap of paper and proceeded to sketch a Jerusalem scene around it within a matter of seconds.  He’s very friendly and generous.

Two terror attacks this week. One in a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem and another shooting at City of David, so we’re locked down. Yes, the Center gets locked down every time something like this happens. We had not even heard about this until people started e-mailing us to ask if we were OK. This happens all the time--it hits the international news and if we're not watching TV or something, we don't even hear about some of these things. But these two were actually closer to us than anything else since we've been here. We'll see how long the Center will stay locked down this time. Luckily the Center is a BIG place, so you don't get claustrophobia. A gym, weight room, 8 pianos, student commons with movies, outdoor walks, etc. But we hope things calm down soon.