Shephelah

Tina Huber

Reflection day 7

Shephelah

January 11, 2012

Todays adventure started in the Judean Hill country at a place called Sattaf. This isn’t a biblical site but the lessons we learned certainly were. The drives that we take to our field studies are just breathtaking! I have learned so much in this first week on the lay of the land. Both from my classroom time and from hiking through it! We have studied the type of rock and soil in this historical land. Like today, the reason for this trip was to view the terraces on the side of the hill country. Terraces are small, walled off sides of the hill that are used for farming purposes. I love looking at them. They bring color to the hillsides. The farmers would accumulate only a quarter of an acre per year. It is precious vital land that was necessary for those who settled in these hills. So what is the lesson I learned from this? Hard to see a spiritual, life application till you know a little more. The rock that makes up these hill is called cenomanian. This bedrock provides everything for the people who settle here. This type of rock forms natural caves, which would be used for housing, springs get trapped in its stratified layers, we all now how vital water is, and the fertile soil that erodes off the hillside. When the psalmist calls God our rock, the word here stands for this bedrock stone. This stone that provides all of lifes necessities! God isn’t some little stone or boulder. He is the bedrock! How cool is that image?!!

It has been a cold and rainy day. By God’s grace we seemed to just miss the downpours today. So thankful! The weather didn’t bother me much. The sites and the stories are way to interesting to let a little rain get me down. I’m in Israel! Who cares! Beth Shemesh was our next stop. This town in located in the Shephelah (shfay-lah). I was pronouncing it (sheph-a-lah) because my brain only works phonetically. The Shephelah is a bunch of low rolling hills. Beautiful! Beth Shemesh is a town in this region. It is mentioned in the bible as the town that the Ark of the Covenant was sent through when the Philistines ‘sent it back.’ From our view we could see the hill where Samson lived and the valley that led to his first wife, Tinmah. We talked about his life for a bit and when you reflect on him he doesn’t seem like quite the hero I have made him in my mind. Although he may have been physically strong, he seemed to be very weak at leading his people. I’m thankful God uses imperfect people. Let’s go from one imperfect servant to the next as we travel to Azekah to overlook the Sorek Valley. This is where David and Goliath battle it out! We read the story and I love the smack talk that happens between these too. It was suggested that David in picking up his five stones was insinuating “after I kill you I’m going to kill your four brothers too.” Blood revenge was huge in this time and David was so sure he was going to kill Goliath that he picked up the extra stones to get his brothers if they attacked him. I thought that was very interesting. The story doesn’t mention anything about the brothers so I’m thinking they chose to run over retaliate. We took off running too. Trying to stay ahead of the rain we enter into the Tel of Lachish. Lachish was a vital city to Judah. Artifacts at this site have been dated to Hezekiah’s reign. Assyria is the enemy of Hezekiah’s kingship and this city was one of early warnings of invasion. I heard stories of Lachish that gave me nightmares. The Assyrians would make an example out of any town that resisted them and Lachish resisted. They were known for skinning people alive. The horrible things we do to each other for power and money. The site filled me with sadness as I walked around and imagined their final days. I couldn’t help but think to God why do you love us? I look out over the remains of this city and up in the sky is a beautiful rainbow peeking through our overcast day! Just what I needed at this moment to remember not just the promise that the rainbow represents but His promise of our redemption through Jesus Christ! God is our constant when we are surrounded by choas. We left and headed to Ashekelon. This is a port city on the sea. I walked to the beach and dipped my feet in the Mediterranean as waves came crashing in. Choas and serenity in the same moment. It is all in the perspective.