Tel Arad

After Beer Sheva, we went to Tel Arad. We had a nice box lunch in a shaded area near the parking lot, then walked up the hill to the ancient fortress of Arad. Mickey gave us a shpiel about the history and archaeology of the site, which figures in portions of the book of Numbers (21:1-3, and 33:40). It is also mentioned in Judges 1:16-17, and Ezekiel 35:1-10, and indirectly in Obadiah 19.

It was fascinating to walk around a site where, as Mickey explained, Moses sent the spies to go "spy out the land" in Exodus. When they returned, of the 12 spies, only Joshua and Caleb gave a good report, and as a result of the bad report of the other 10, and the Israelite's subsequent refusal to go into the land, they were condemned to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and for that entire generation to perish in the desert before the people would be allowed into the Promised Land. Joshua and Caleb, of course, were the only two of that generation to enter the land.

Click on the picture to see other photos of Arad.

Beer Sheva

After my hopes of Plan A (posting to this blog every day during the trip with that day's pictures) not panning out, I'm now going to go to Plan B, which is doing the same, but only after the fact. I'll attempt to upload a set of photos from each place we visited, with some sort of description and links to photos from that site. No promises on how fast or how regularly I'm going to be able to do this, but that's my plan.

After about 24 hours of traveling from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv via Paris, arriving at our hotel in Beer Sheva around 3 AM, we got up the next morning around 10, had breakfast, and loaded our stuff onto the bus to go to Beer Sheva.

Beer Sheva is an ancient site that figures all the way back to the book of Genesis, and throughout the bible it is referred to as the southern boundary of the nation of Israel. Of course today's Israel extends quite a bit further south, but the ancient Israel of the Bible is often referred to as "the land from Dan to Beer Sheva." (Dan is in the far north.)

Click on the picture to go to the photoset on flickr, where each photo (well most of them) is accompanied by a description that I hope you will find useful.

Ready for Re-Entry

Well, this trip is officially over. I have mixed feelings about it, because it was such a wonderful time of travel, learning about how God has worked in the Middle East throughout recorded history, and how every single archaeological find that pertains to anything regarding biblical history confirms the text of the bible.

But it's great to be back home, to see and hug the kids, to sleep in my own bed and take a shower in my own shower. I'm ready for re-entry back to the world of work, business and managing the details of life. I think I just got closer with all the people on the tour with us, but especially with Mari. This has truly been the trip of a lifetime.

Oh, by the way, on our last full day in Cairo, we had lunch at a restaurant right across the street from the great pyramids. I sat down on the wrong side of the table and didn't realize they were there until I turned around and saw this:

The Orient Express???

For those of you who have read this at the Bridge Bible Fellowship blog, my apologies - this is a repeat. Just skip directly to the pictures.

I’m writing this sitting on a train ride along the Nile river. All I can say is, “Whoa!” This train ride has to rate among the top 5 all-time unique experiences of my life.

After waiting at the Giza station for over an hour, watching all the local people get on and off their trains, ours finally arrived.

Our group all had our own car, which is a sleeper car. Two per compartment, which is great. The train is old, like say 1950’s-ish, maybe 60’s-ish. The bathrooms are, let’s say, “interesting.” After an airline-style dinner of two kinds of “meat,” our compartments were converted by our attendant into two-bunk sleepers. Not bad, I’d say, if you like sleeping sideways on a train moving forward and rocking side-to-side.

The train went all night. We left Giza around 8:30 pm Thursday, and arrived at Luxor around 6:30 am Friday. After a wake-up knock on our compartment door, and a breakfast that consisted of 4 different kinds of bread and some cheese and some coffee, we disembarked at Luxor.

Later on that Same Day

This has been another very full day. We visited the Valley of the Kings, where the tombs of some of the major Pharaohs of the Egyptian Empire have been excavated, including King Tutankhamen (King Tut), and Rameses II, who it is believed is the Pharaoh of the Book of Exodus in the bible. After a couple of other stops, then to our hotel to freshen up, we went to the Temple of Luxor, which I have to say, is truly amazing on a human and architectural scale. The glory doesn’t go to God, though - it was built by the Pharaohs of the time to honor themselves.

Back to our hotel, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner on the hotel patio overlooking the Nile.

Tomorrow, we go to the temple of Karnak, then back to Cairo where we’ll visit the great pyramids and the sphinx, spend the night in our hotel there, then begin our travels back home.

This has been one of the longest trips I've ever taken, and it has almost come to a close. I'm not sure I'll remember how to function once I get back home, but I'm sure I'll figure it out. For those whom I've been missing (you'll know who you are), I'll be seeing you again soon, God willing.

Love,

Larry

On to Egypt!

Harold striking a regal pose on our boat going across the Sea of Galilee

After a fond farewell to our trusted and beloved guide Mickey yesterday afternoon, and getting dunked in the Jordan River by Pastor Paul (my second baptism, just so I can say "I got baptized in the Jordan"), and one last night at our beautiful room on the Sea of Galilee, it's off to Cairo.

It's a short flight to Cairo, where we'll visit a museum and the old Coptic city, we'll be taking a train to Luxor. I'm typing this from Ben Gurion Airport waiting for our flight, enjoying a Latte with Mari and the rest of our group. I hope to post more pictures later today if I can find the time.

It's a little sad to be leaving Israel, especially our last place where we stayed in Galilee.

Here's a photo of the Dead Sea, where we were a few days ago. You gotta go there and experience what it's like to float on the water there. I couldn't stop laughing!




And another shot of Mari and me standing on the shore

Finally, I got a few photos posted

I know this is not a momentous occasion for anyone else, but it is for me. This is the 11th day of being in Israel, and the first I've been able to post any photos.

You can see my photostream here.

We are now at the Sea of Galilee, and I'm almost caught up with editing my photos on the computer. I've been organizing them in folders according to each place we've been, so at least I'll remember which place each photo was taken at.

I thought this was going to be a "vacation." I was so wrong. This is a "study tour," which is much different. "Vacation" implies rest. That is not what is happening on this trip. We have left our hotel early every morning, had a full agenda every day, with lots of walking, and returned nearly exhausted every night. Then we get up the next day and do it again.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have it any other way. If I went at the pace of my own choosing, I would not have learned a fraction of what I now know about so many things. Our tour guide, Mickey, is a fount of information... historical perspective, biblical perspective, political perspective, archaeological perspective... in fact, he has a perspective on anything we can ask.


This is Mickey, doing his thing - explaining in detail about Be'er Sheva, a site where Abraham made a pact with Abimelech thousands of years ago.

The days have been so full, and the internet connections so spotty, that I couldn't find any time to post pictures or even text on most days. In fact, I'm getting really tired right now, as it's 12:22 am.

Mari and I are in a resort on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. If our hotel room were any closer to the sea, we'd be in a houseboat. It's literally a few steps away from our front door.

Signing off for now, going to go get some sleep.

Houston, We Have a Problem

That's the message I keep getting when trying to upload my photos. Every hotel I've been at so far (I've lost count, but I think it's been 4 hotels in 5 days or something like that), the internet connection keeps timing out. So by the time I get 5 percent through a photo upload, the connection times out, and the photo doesn't make it. This is SO FRUSTRATING.

So I'm going to have to resort to text only. Too bad, because I'm not so good at writing, and I was so hoping to be uploading photos as the main chronicle of this trip. The places we've been and the things we've done have been absolutely incredible, and my means of communication is by photos. I was only going to write simple explanations of the places we've been as an adjunct to the images.

That said, and the fact that I'm limited to text, here goes.

Have you seen the movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?" That's the one where Sean Connery plays father to Harrison Ford, and they're trying to find the Holy Grail. Remember when they get the grail and they run out of that place and it's this huge temple-looking thing that's carved into a mountain? We were there.

Know the place in the Bible, in 1 Samuel 23 where David is being pursued by Saul and he's in a cave and cuts off a corner of Saul's robe as he was tempted to kill him but he doesn't? We were there just today.

Know the place in Exodus where God tells Moses to speak to the rock so that water would come out, but instead Moses strikes the rock twice with his staff? Water comes out anyway, but God tells Moses that because of his disobedience he will die without entering the Promised Land? We were there.

We've floated in the Dead Sea (you gotta try that). We went to Masada, where the Jews held one last stand against the Romans in 73 AD. We went snorkeling in the Red Sea. We went to Be'er Sheva, where Abraham made a pact with Abimilech. We went to Mamshit (Memphis), a major Nabatean station on the ancient spice route.

Now we are in Jerusalem for five days, at an outstanding hotel (except for their internet service). Tomorrow we're going to Bethlehem, to an underground tunnel system being dug by archaeologists, and a couple other places of major significance like the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane.

I have to end now, but I'll keep trying to post photos if I can.

- Larry