Benjamin (Friday, June 18th)

No, not Benjamin as in a person. Benjamin as in the territory allotted to the tribe of Benjamin in the book of Joshua. That is what we explored to day.

It was a long day. We had breakfast at 6:00 and then at 6:45 we walked down to the bus that was waiting for us just out side of Joffa Gate. We started by heading west out of the city toward Gezar, stopping along the way to appreciate the topography of the land. The deep ravines cutting their way through this area of the country making traveling across it difficult. We stopped again in Beth-shemesh and heard the story of Samson retold with fresh in-site as well as the setting of the story stretching out before us. I learned for instance that Samson was not a complete idiot for telling Delilah the secrete of his strength. (I had always kind of wondered.) He knew what she was up to. He was however extremely arrogant because you see he had already broken two of his Nazarite vows (drinking wine and touching something dead) without any repercussions. So he probably thought that even if he told her and she cut his hair it wouldn't make a difference.

At Gezar I got to see the remnants of a six chamber gate built by Solomon to fortify the city. As Gezar was the western "gate" to the hill county and the Benjamin plateau, any army trying to attack the plateau (and many have tried) or make their way to Jerusalem would have to go through Gezar first.

From there we went to an interesting place called Nebi Samwil. It means "Tomb of Samuel". It was actually originally built as a Christian church over the site of a Crusader Fortress. Today it is a Muslim masque and also a place visited by Jews because it is the traditional tomb of Samuel the prophet (although it is probably not the site were Samuel was buried). What makes it even more interesting is that if you climb up to the roof of the church you can get an amazing view of the surrounding area. From here you can see Gibeon, Gibeah (Saul's home town and headquarters), Rammah (Samuel's home town), and even Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. Our teacher said it is even hypothesized that this might have been the "high place of Gibeon" where God met Solomon as he prayed and

told him to ask anything of him.

After having lunch at Nebi Samwil we got back on the bus and started out east for the city of Jericho. To get there we drove through the wild

erness. Think dry chalky ground, deep ravines, steep hills, dust being blown into your eyes, and HOT! Now imagine coming down out of these hills to a valley filled with green and palm trees which inevitably mean water. Still outrageously hot but with the promise of water and shade and

ice cream! Okay maybe there wasn't any ice cre

am in Bible times but you get the idea

. This was the site of Jericho where people have been building cities for around 10,000 years. One of the structures excavated there dates back that far. We also saw the remains of the city Joshua and the people of Israel conquered on their way into the land.

On our way back to Jerusalem we made one more stop in the wilderness and my mother got one of her wishes. I rode a camel and had my picture taken :) Tomorrow will be another full day. Until then, Shalom!