Sunday was another busy but incredible day! My roommates and I got up around 5 before the sunrise, got ready quickly, and walked out to the Maqtesh, which is like the Israeli equivalent to the Grand Canyon. We watched the sun come up slowly, first peaking over the other side of the crater, then continuing up to show the glory of God and his might. It was amazing! After going back to the hostel for breakfast our class went back out to the Maqtesh and shared in different ways how it reminded us of God. I was so blessed by our conversation! It reminded me of a worship song that goes, “Your love it deep, your love is high, your love is long, your love is wide…. Your love is deeper than my view of grace, higher than this worldly place, longer than this road I’ve traveled, wider than the gap you’ve filled.” It was breathtaking! Then we got on the bus and went to Avdat. At Avdat the biblical city of Obodah, we learned about the Nabateans. The Nabateans were the only group in history to successfully live in the desert wilderness of Israel. The became a wealthy people because of this and built fortified cities along the spic route which only they were able to control and travel. Because of this spice route to Gaza from the Arabian Peninsula, they became very very rich and built cities like Petra our of the sandstone to house their money. We will be going there soon, as well. After Avdat we made our way to the Wadi Zin where we climbed up through a canyon! I climbed up a canyon! It was probably the hardest thing I have ever done, but it was a blast! The canyon was a part of a larger wadi system. It was formed by water erosion. While on the climb/hike we saw lots of Ibex along the ridge. They are so adorable! Once we finished our hike we drove to the tel Be’er Sheva which is where Abraham set up some of his camp when he came into Israel and dug 7 wells. None of the wells have been found yet. The Iron Age well (Iron Age = time of United Monarchy of Israel) was massively deep! We threw rocks into it and they took several seconds to hit the bottom. I think we counted 6 seconds. The wells in those times were social gatherings for single women. There are several bible stories in which men find wives at the well. These include Moses and Isaac. Then we went over to see a 4 room house. This was a typical home at the time. The size of the home is about 20 ft x 12 ft. The ENTIRE home! The rooms are about big enough to fit 2 people layng down. It consists of a back room, two guest rooms (which are called Inns) and a front room where the animal would normally be housed in the winter to keep the home warm. When Jesus was born, he was most likely born at the end of summer. This would mean that all of Joseph’s family would have been visiting in Bethlehem for the harvest and all the animals would have been out at pasture for the night. So, the guest rooms of the 4 bedroom homes would have been full of relatives and the front animal room would have been vacant because of the animals being gone. This is the most likely place that Jesus would have been born. Interesting, huh? After Be’er Sheva we went to Arad, where there is an exact replica of the first temple in Jerusalem, just on a smaller scale. It was really cool to be able to see that. One thing I thought was really interesting. At the time that the temple was built there was great confusion in the identity of God. It was commonly believed that God was a man and that he had a wife named Ashterah. This was confirmed by the two alters and pottery found in the area that contained both names.
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