Field Study in Samaria

Upon waking up to a rainstorm at 4 a.m., I was not anticipating myself having a productive and beneficial day in the field. Despite a bad attitude before anything had even begun, I was rather surprised at how interesting and enjoyable I ended up finding the day.

Our first stop was at a lookout east northeast of the Biblical site of Shiloh. The view was lost completely to the fog; we were unable to see more than about one hundred feet off the hill. However, from the comfort of the bus, I found the information extremely interesting. It was cool to learn about the tribe of Joseph, that found its own portion to be undesirable because it was too small. Rather than forcing this tribe to stick to what was given to them, Joshua ultimately empathized with their situation and provided another option for them. He gave the tribe Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, not just the hill country, but the forest that was beyond it. They were to “clear it and possess it to its farthest borders” (Josh. 17:18). This portion of the land was also the inheritance of Israel’s leader, as Joshua himself was buried there, in the city of Timnath-serah, north of the mountain of Gaash (Josh. 24:30).

After this we made the climb up Mount Gerazim, which is north of Shiloh and Michmathah, just east of Shechem. This is the site where, according to Moses in Deuteronomy 27, the Israelites will be blessed by the Levites (the descendents of Aaron, the tribe of priests). My fellow Taylor student and roommate, Dave Moran, memorized the passage of Levitical blessings upon the Israelites while standing upon this Mount. It was incredible to hear these blessings shouted out in a loud voice, and to be standing on the same mountain that they would have been shouted it over three thousand years ago! It is only in this land that I have truly begun to understand how much God is necessary for the survival, not to mention prosperity, of a people group. The Israelites were mice in a land where cats ruled; surrounded by empires of enormous might and power, the Lord’s people were utterly dependent on Him. The only requirement they were to meet to gain the Lord’s favor was to love him with all their hearts and obey His commandments. But they were unable to, and the consequences soon followed.

Afterwards, we visited the Samaritan Museum and afterwards treated with the best hospitality we had yet received since arriving in Israel (they gave our entire group of 30+ students tea!). I was intrigued by the theology and worldview that was held by the Samaritan man who gave us the presentation. He made every attempt to show us the validity of the family line of the Samaritans and their connection with the patriarchs of Israel, all the back to Adam. But as is standard in Eastern culture, there was no effort made to show any sort of legitimate historical evidence for this other than his display of a family tree. This concept has been one of the most challenging for me to deal with while studying in Jerusalem. Along with the site of the Church of the Arc, it seems so strange (and even a little delusional) to hold certain traditions as true when it can almost certainly be proved false. I have been wrestling with God about this lately, asking Him to remove the barriers that are attached to my Western, Protestant perspectives that I may see what He desires me to see in this land. Despite the intellectual difficulties that these likely-incorrect traditions and traditional sites bring, they have been helpful to the growth of faith of many, many people. In the class, History of the Chuch in the East, our Professor, Dr. Petra Heldt asked us if certain (or any) traditions have helped bring people to the Truth (a.k.a. to know Jesus), can we really say that they are not true, regardless of their unlikelihood? It has rocked my understanding of what is True in the eyes of God, and I am eager to continue exploring this concept. This may seem strange to anyone who is reading this, as it did to me at first, but consider chewing on this final example:

There is a church built upon "Jacob's Well," the site of many Biblical stories, the most common being Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn. 4). It was here where He claimed to be able to give living water and many came to believe based on the woman's testimony. This story is an inspiration to us, reminding us to drink the water He gives, but in the Middle East, surrounded by hundreds of other 'sacred' scriptures (from various religions and cultic groups), it can be incredibly beneficial to have a tangible location to mark this event, because it happened somewhere in the area. Does it matter if this event didn't take place here? Or can we consider it True because it brings people to Jesus? Or does using the word "Truth" in this instance require us to redefine what it actually means, or more importantly, what we actually value within our own hearts.

The Israeli Side of Life

The last few posts I gave have been primarily devotional so I thought I would take some time to expound upon the logistical side of my experiences here.

First: the Food. We have a single-line cafeteria here, with one entree for each meal--usually eggs for breakfast and something hot for lunch and dinner. One night we were lucky enough to get some fish from the Sea of Galilee! Generally it tastes pretty good, but every once in a while we'll get something pretty strange--I'm able to fill up on whatever it is though. We drink some sort of fruity powder mixed drink, which is fine, and then there's the salad! I have had more vegetable servings here than possibly ever before in my life! It has remained a solid constant in my diet (its served every lunch and dinner), I eat it with a scoop of hummus, and its great!

The toilets here are pretty standard--the only catch is that you can't flush any of the paper, because it will clog the toilet, you have to throw away in a little basket. Unfortunately, I regularly drop the first piece in and then I have to fish it out (nasty, I know)! But thankfully I've only clogged it once, and I might be getting the hang of it... we'll see... :)

I have 1-2 classes a day, for usually about 3-5 hours total. Thursdays and Fridays I only have one class each day, which is a nice break before the weekend: we have field studies every weekend--at least one, usually two, depending on which courses we are enrolled in. The field studies are great, and even though they wear me out, I'd rather be out exploring the region than sitting around with nothing to do. In regards to homework, it tends to be a lot of reading with high expectations for our comprehension, but I guess I'm able to keep up with it.

That's all for now! Thanks for reading, I'll be updating again soon! Feel free to ask any questions! :)

In Christ,
Jonathan

The Promise Land

As many of you know, I spent a night last week in Ein Gedi, an Israeli city right on the south-eastern coast of the Dead Sea. Because of its low elevation and distance from the Mediterranean Sea, the region actually gets very little rainfall compared to other parts of Israel (that are also low in comparison to the world average).

I began to wonder why God would have chosen this land to give to His people whom He loved so much. Its not like the surrounding area was short on resources--with rivers like the Tigris and the Nile, the region is under no shortage of desirable land. What was so special about this land? Why would God lead His people here?

Have you heard of the Prosperity Gospel? Its a relatively new concept, but many pastors today are attracting the unchurched to the idea that Christ will bring the believer prosperity--through wealth, health, healing, happiness, etc. One of the biggest Scriptural evidences that comes about in convincing the audience that this is the truth is God's call of the Israelites into the Promise Land. However, even when we move beyond the fact that the term "Promise Land" is not once found in the Bible, a quick overview of Palestinian physical geography will inform the reader that this land is not all that promising. Short on fertile soil and utterly dependent on rain, the nation seems hardly flowing with milk and honey. How does this line up with the Prosperity Gospel? For certain aspects of it are true, but they overlook many essentials that come attached to the Gospel of Christ, for amongst the joy and peace, Jesus promises us trials and suffering. Clearly this doesn't fit the criteria of "prosperity"--but it seems to fall short of "joy" and "peace" as well. How can one be joyful and suffer trials at the same time? For this question, we should ask Paul the Apostle, who commands us to "Rejoice in the Lord always!" (Phil 4)--while he's in a Roman Prison! This man suffered through so much (2 Cor 11) but somehow remained in a state of constant joy. His faith was not based on the concept that Christ will bring prosperity, but rather for Paul, "to live is Christ" (Phil 2). Jesus isn't calling us to give us what we want from the world, but he calls us to rely on Him to live in the world! Prosperity does come from our faith in Christ, but that doesn't mean that it will always come the way we want it to. However, if our joy is in Christ, it will not be destroyed by undesirable circumstances or conditions, but rather it will be full (Jn 15).

Reliance on God did not begin in the New Testament with Christ. It has been the center of the Biblical narrative since Genesis 1. The Lord did not send his people into Promise Land so they could have everything they wanted, He sent them into Israel so they would rely on Him for everything they needed! (Dt 11). God intended not to spoil them, which would have certainly allowed them to trust in themselves, rather He intended to increase their faith with Him as their provider. We are given a similar portion to Israel. If we measure the Lord's blessings in terms of their worldly value, we will most likely find that we do not have everything we desire. What must be remembered and even celebrated is that the Lord is faithful, and if we remain in Him He promises to provide for us; not only filling our basic needs, but slowly showing us He is everything we could want.

"I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the LORD's anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you" (Dt 11:15-17).

A Portion of Infinity

There is something about the human heart that is not made for this world. The earth is limited and finite and although we exist within it, we cannot be satisfied by it. Our desires are deeper, our needs more extensive, and our souls more immeasurable. We have a hole in our hearts that longs to be filled, and cries out for infinity! But we get distracted. Rather than running to find the one thing that can actually fill our hole, we begin to fill it with whatever we can grab, desperately hoping it will fit--or at least patch it over temporarily. Our lives are full of blessings, even immeasurable blessings such as love and joy, but when we begin to depend on these things to fill our hole, we realize that without perfection, they are not as vast as they seemed. Our love is flawed, our joy circumstantial. The world will fail us, our own hearts will fail us, and what a wonderful discovery it is that God is everything we need! That can be easy to say, but when something we want is at risk, it can seem that we need more than what God is offering. Is it your future? Your child's future? Your safety? Are you putting these things before Him? Surely, they cannot fill your heart. We desire to be loved, but who is more loving than the One who sent His only Son to die in our place? We want to be joyful, but what can bring more joy to someone than the news we are no longer slaves to sin? We can search the world for satisfaction and pleasure, but what could be more blissful than connection with omniscient, benevolent Creator of the universe?

What can we desire compared to the Lord!? This question can best be answered by another, recorded in Psalm 74, written by Asaph:

Whom do I have in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides you
My heart and my flesh fail
But God is the strength of my heart and portion forever (v. 25-26)

We have nothing that can compare to riches of the Lord! He is our satisfaction, our joy, our security. Look within yourself, and pray this prayer (above) that Asaph prayed so long ago. God is more valuable than anything we could desire, and he is calling us to Himself. Augustine said it so perfectly in the 4th century, and it will always be true:

"Oh Lord you made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in You"

Paul Wright the Great

Dr. Paul Wright is not your average professor. The man is a genius, both in regard to his familiarity with the Bible and the city of Jerusalem. He knows a seemingly endless amount of history: describing events with such detail, clarity, and passion, his mind is overflowing with more information than a textbook but his delivery puts textbooks to shame. I do not think that I have heard him say the words "I don't know" and that is most likely because there isn't anything that this man doesn't know. Walking the city with such comfort while he feeds us with such elaborate information it almost seems as if he wrote the book of history, which he did--we're reading for his class. His teaching style can be most clearly depicted by a man dumping a bucket of water over my head while I strive to swallow as much as I can, because man, I'm thirsty for what he has. I knew Jerusalem would change me--I had no idea it would be like this. I did not know it was possible to know this much, and I did not know that one could love Jerusalem or God as much as he does.

While learning about Herod the Great, I was overwhelmed with the idea that certain things never change. Like many men today (Bill Gates, for example), Herod was an ambitious man, who, although full of pride, achieved enormous accomplishments throughout his life that have been remembered for over 2,000 years. Regardless of what else we determined about him, especially in regards to his ego, we must not fail to consider the incredible impact he made in this particular region of the world. Thankfully, we can also remember him by interacting with those who continue to live like him: there is no shortage of men who seem to be under the impression that they rule the world, or even something of value—the only difference is that Herod actually ruled a part of it. Yes, his jurisdiction may have been comparably smaller than Alexander’s or Darius’s, but for what little he had he was quite productive. Most impressive was his ability to please both the Romans and the Jews—for the most part. Although he wasn’t even part Jewish, he was humble enough (or maybe just smart enough) to know when to let the Jews have their way with the Temple while still being able to impress the Roman officials above him, thus bringing glory to the empire.

Though the construction of Herod’s temple is not recorded in any scripture to be ordained by God, Jesus himself regarded it of matching value as the previous temple, referring to it as the house of God (Matthew 21:13). It was such an out-of-body experience to walk the steps that Jesus walked and where Gamaliel (famous Jewish Rabbi) taught Paul and where the apostles would have met during the time of the early church in Acts. This is the site where they added to their number daily (Acts 2)! Christianity owes most of its identity to the initial growth that took place in Jerusalem within the temple. After these experiences, my biggest prayer has been that God would give us all the ability to bring this information back to the United States and teach those who are unable to make it here themselves. This city is full of so much history, but more important are those events that changed history as we know it. In order to fully comprehend much of the Bible, one must understand the physical settings of those who wrote it, for the authors wrote with their own presuppositions and assumptions that the audience would be aware of, but for those removed from Ancient Israel (in both time and place), much of what is assumed is not understood. Christ, my prayer is that you would enable us to tell the world about you and what you have done here, and create within us the same heart for Jerusalem that you have.

A journey through time--Jerusalem in the Old and New Testaments

Everyone enrolled in their first semester at JUC is required to take the class "Physical Settings of the Bible." This class, taught by University Director Paul Wright (who knows the Bible like the back of his hand and the city like the back of his eyelids), is a basic overview of the Holy Land and how its feature have impacted the stories that shaped our faith. Today we toured Jerusalem, the Holy City. When David conquered at the turn of the first millenia B.C., it had already been inhabited for 2,000 years. He did not change its name (of which we do not know the meaning) but his faith was the impetus for the growth of a city which now holds Ultimate worth. Her value was not overestimated by its inhabitants, for it was Christ himself who wept for her as he approached, prior to his crucifixion. This site is truly sacred for those of Christian faith.

However, it is not only the Christians who regard this city so highly. The Jews hold to their belief in the Holy Place of the LORD upon the Temple Mount where Solomon first built his temple and still await the coming of their Messiah into this city from the Mount of Olives. Islamic tradition believes Jerusalem to be the homeland of Abraham and Isaac, and the Temple Mount where Mohammad ascended to heaven. As if that could truly capture the situation, the point is that this is land that everyone wants for himself. In Jerusalem the conflict exists at a much more passive state--rather than violent struggles, they live in bitter, but 'peaceful' enmity. The Muslims worship on the Temple Mount in the Dome of the Rock, and the Jews pray at the bottom. The groups of Orthodox Christianity (there are 6) are content to fight amongst themselves over the rights to traditional locations to New Testament events (such as the death and burial of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher). Our God is truly alive in this city, but let us continue to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (Psalm 122).

I am so thankful to be able to walk where my Lord and Savior walked. This afternoon I climbed the steps of the Holy Temple (which no longer stands, circa 70CE), which have been in place since Herod the Great. Christ walked up the steps, 2,000 years ago, and cleansed the temple courts, and taught his followers from right where I stood. The whole city lay beneath me (and around me) and Christ was there, once again. Recently, the LORD has been teaching me that He is my security. I can fill my life with certain things (such as intellectual success, or friends) that provide me with security and fulfillment. If I make those good things into Ultimate things, I will always be left empty, longing for more. The truth is, I need to come directly to God for love and security--and everything else I need will be provided through Him. I am endlessly thankful for the relationships and blessings that He has given me.

Thank you, Lord.

Jerusalem: Week 1

After a week in the Holy Land I finally figured out how to change the language on Blogger, and thus begin a blog... okay, maybe I was just a little busy, but that's why I gave up after one try.

Anyway, the first week has been nothing short of mind-blowing. In my novice opinion, this place contains more history and conflict than anywhere else on earth, and rather than standing around and looking at it (like most tourists are doing), the locals just live their lives right on top of it. It doesn't mean much for Shu'baan, an Arab Christian shopkeeper that his shop is a 2-minute walk from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher--the site of Christ's death and burial tomb. Although there has been countless years of conflict between the Jews and Muslims, most of them seem quite capable of living what they consider to be 'normal' lives without being willing to further the conflict.

So far we have seen almost all of the Old City (but will continue to study it in more detail throughout the semester), climbed the Mount of Olives twice (once at sunrise to read the Sermon on the Mount), and just returned from Jericho (where we toured a few Orthodox monasteries and climbed the Mount of Temptations, where Our Lord was tempted in the wilderness by Satan). As much as we've seen, there's even more to come, and I couldn't be more excited!

More to come,
Jonathan