The Negev

Southern Israel: the Negev, as close to inhospitable land as you can possibly semi-survive in. I can't imagine what it's like to live down there, especially in the 120+ summer heat.

Tel Arad

There is next to absolutely nothing down there, but it was awesome! Desert as far and the eye can see, but somehow people were able to make the most out of the land and live down there in the Biblical and greater Negev. We hiked up to the top of a bunch of tels to see all kinds of ruins of cities, fortresses, and entire civilizations lost in the dirt. We saw where Sampson was born, raised and reeked havoc. We also saw where David killed Goliath. We had to wear hard hats at Tel Beersheba and walked through the cities ancient water system. We visited an ancient Israeli fortress at Tel Arad and saw what is believed to be a second temple built by Solomon to Yahweh, this one on a much smaller scale. 

Mapping parts of the Bible. 

This is why I love this class: this is how we learn. Cyndi, our guide and professor, read to us 2 Chr 20:6-10. When you read it, it just looks like a list of cities and an average reader would skip to the next part of the story. Instead, as she read off the names of the cities, we put a rock on the map where they were located. We've spent the past two weeks learning cities, trade routes, mountain/hill/valley lines, rivers, roads... basically everything about the geography of the biblical Holy Land. As we plotted these cities from 2 Chr, we quickly realized that it was a defense strategy by Rehoboam to refortify these importantly located cities to protect the Kingdom from coming invasion! It was so cool to see seemingly meaningless names turn into ancient war plans!

Swimming in the Mediterranean 

One of the highlights from the week was swimming in the Mediterranean Sea! None of us have swam in the ocean for months, and we were all dying too! I've grown up around the ocean, it's in my blood! I was so excited to finally swim around freely! The Mediterranean was warm and clear. We stayed there all afternoon and we watched some of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen in a really long time!

Wadi Zin

We hiked through the massive canyon created by Wadi Zin and up the side of the cliff! The walking on this trip has honestly been some of the highlights! The thinks we see while in the middle of nowhere on a hike have been unbelievable! 

Made it to the top!