We had another field trip this week! We went to Jericho on Wednesday, September 30, 2009! It is the lowest city on earth. It is 1300 Feet below sea level (and is on the banks of the Dead Sea, which at it's lowest point is another 1300 feet deep, which is 2600 feet below sea level! And it should be deeper, but the rift valley that creates it is full of silt. Crazy!)
Our first stop was to see a monastery, the Quarantal Monastery (in Arabic, the Monastery of Tempation) Or where Christ was taken up by the spirit and then tempted by Satan during His forty-day fast. It was really cool, it's built into the edge of a cliff, right into the rock. We had to hike up to it, and then us girls had to wear scarves to cover our hair when we got there. It was really hot...but kind of a neat experience. I also learned from a girl in my group how to tie a turban out of my scarves. I'll hold turban tying 101 when I get back, don't you all worry. Anyway, I forgot my camera on the hike up (I know, disappointing, right?) But I buddied up with my roommate, Amanda, and she took some pictures. I'll get them from her and post them for you all. For now, here is one picture I took from the bus before I left my camera behind:
This is the monastery in the rock. You can kind of see the path up on the middle-right side. I can't wait to show pictures of the inside!After this we went to tel Jericho. The actual ancient city. We sat on the top and looked at the mountains where the Children of Israel crossed into the Valley. We read in the Bible about the capturing of Jericho by Joshua, who was the prophet after Moses, and how the people circles the city in silence once a day for six days, and then on the sixth day (or seventh ?) they circled it six times, and then after that a horn was blown and the walls of the city fell down, and it was theirs for the taking. They have found ruins in the tel that date back 8000 years ago. WOW. It is the oldest city on earth. The oldest ruins they have found.
Here are some pictures from the site:
This is me, looking out on some of the dig sites. You can kind of see the hole to the right of my head, where they found the 8000 year-old tower (which is now uncovered from being buried.)
This is a dig site where they determined the outer wall of the city was, and where people tried to tunnel in, under the walls. Originally they had set the most vulnerable place of the wall here because the type of groud in soft, and whenever people tried to tunnel, it would collapse on them, and they wouldn't be successful.
We stopped at Tel Jericho for lunch, and at the bottom there are a lot of fountains and this inscription / mosaic in the sidewalk about Jericho. Oh I forgot to tell you. Jericho was desirable because of a spring that they had there. Water is life here in the Near East...without it, everything would die. Every major area was established originally because of three necessities: 1) water, 2) good soil for agriculture, and 3) an easily defensible position.
This was our second to last stop. It's a sycamore tree in the valley of Jericho, which was a stop on our field trip because of Luke 19. It's the story of a tax collector, named Zacchaeus, who sought to see Christ while He was in Jericho, so he climbed into a sycamore tree to see Him, as He passed. Christ came to him, in the tree, and called him down, saying that He was supposed to stay with him. Hence, us stopping at a sycamore tree that is fairly well-known in the Valley of Jericho.
This was our last stop for our field trip. It is the archaeological dig site of Herod's winter palace. Apparently he had a big pool of water and would come in the Winter because it was less hot than in the Summer.Anyway, that is our field trip from last week! love it!
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