Israel-Day 7

On Wednesday we took an excursion into the Shephelah which is the ancient buffer zone between Israel/Judah and Philistia.  
We started the day with an overlook of Bethlehem where we discussed the Shepherd’s Fields and the Herodium (Herod’s fortress/tomb).  I was really struck that this was the actual field where the shepherds were watching their sheep when the angels appeared to them to tell them of Christ's birth.  There are still shepherds who are with their sheep in this field! You can see the city of Bethlehem in the distance.  

 Then we visited a site in the Elah Valley where David slew Goliath (and some of us collected a few smooth stones).   Below is a picture of Ken unpacking the David and Goliath story for us as we stood in the very valley where it all happened so long ago.

 Below is our pastor Ed and Travis (another guy on the tour) acting out the David and Goliath story.

 After this we visited the tel of Lachish which was second in significance only to Jerusalem in the time of Hezekiah.   It was a very impressive site!  

We had lunch at McDonalds (kosher, of course!) and Aromah Espresso Bar. 

 Then we visited the Philistine street at Kibbutz Revadim where we learned about Ekron from a docent (who spoke Heblish/Englew).  They were really into olive oil at Ekron so we got to see what olive presses would have looked like at that time.

Finally, we concluded with a brief visit to the tel of Beth Shemesh where Samson grew up and the Ark was returned after it had been taken by the Philistines.  A very fun day that was predominantly Ken's day to teach (since it was so focused on the Old Testament).