Wandering in the Wilderness

“Why sit in the shade, when we could stand in the sun.” It seemed as though this was the motto of the day.

            We left Jerusalem early in the morning and entered into the wilderness; the edge of the land flowing with milk and honey. We headed north east out of the city along the assent of Adummim towards Jericho. As we were driving we passed the Good Samaritan Hotel. The story of the Good Samaritan was exactly that a story, yet there is still a place, where the story took place, that remembers the story.  That is one thing that I have seen in this country, sometimes memory and tradition is more important than fact.  The locations of holy sites around the city are placed where they are more often than not because of church memory and tradition. It is unlikely due to the setup of Jerusalem at the time of David, that he would be buried on the western hill, and yet that is where tradition has put his tomb.

            We parked out bus off the main highway through the hills and walked up the old, dirt, mountain road that goes from Jerusalem to Jericho. This was the road of ancient times, the road that Jesus would have walked as He headed towards Jerusalem. We walked up to the top of the one of the hills and sat in silence. It was a beautiful kind of silence, the kind that was occasionally interrupted by the chirping of a birds echoing through the canyons, and the rush of the east wind blowing. As we looked over the hills we were told to reflect on the words from Deuteronomy, “In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye” Deuteronomy 32:10.  Looking into the desert, you felt small and vulnerable, exposed to the elements. You need God’s care in this place; wandering here on my own strength is unfathomable to me. This is the promise land and God has promised to take care of His people here. The last line of the verse, can be translated as guarding him as the little man of his eye. As we sat upon the hill in the wilderness, we looked into each other’s eyes, and could see our reflection of ourselves in the eyes the other person. Reading it with this translation, it was powerful to think that as God looks into my eyes, He can see His own reflection. Before we left the hilltop, we read, “How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand” Psalm 139:17-18. Looking out and seeing the desert hills go on in every direction, the true weight of this verse him; God’s love and care for us is greater than the amount of sand and rocks on the expanse of wasteland in front of me.

            We headed down the hill, and walked down past St. George’s monastery, a monastery that had been in the desert for centuries. The dedication of these monks is so impressive to me, I don’t think that I could give up everything and live in solitude with God in the desert.  We continued down the ancient road, into Palestinian territory and into the oasis of Jericho. It is always strange to cross these boarders and see the signs posted.  Jericho is an oasis and as we walked around the city were able to see the old ruins from the time of Herod and all the way up to 10,000 years ago. It was amazing to see all of the history around the city. It was very interesting to learn that there has not been any archeological evidence to support or to deny the presence of Biblical events in Jericho.

            We drove to the north west of the city to the Benjamin Plateau, and looked over the land that was so strategic to the military episodes of the different kingdoms. It was so interesting to be able to visualize the different battles found in the Bible and to see how history has repeated itself over and over again, from the Babylonians, to crusaders, to the British, to the Israelis. It was pretty powerful to look over this land that has been so important in military exploits and see the separation wall tearing through the land. We also went do to Gezer, and we were able to see its geographical importance due to its proximity to trade routes.

            Today we visited the backdoor to Jerusalem, Jericho, through the wilderness and the front door to Jerusalem, Gezer, through the coastal economic centers. It was interesting to gain a fuller knowledge of the land surrounding Jerusalem and through that get a better understanding of how the city functioned.