To stand atop of a mountain and look at where Abraham entered the Land and hear the words that God spoke to him when He told him it was all to be his, transforms an ancient Bible story into today's local news. The view is so extraordinary, so majestic, so magnificent that it provides a whole new aspect to the awe Abraham must have experienced when he finally saw what God had promised to give him.
From another vantage point we could see afar where the archaeologists have found Joshua's altar. When Israel came into this Land they sacrificed to the Lord. The diggings find the bones of only clean animals, and evidence of it being Joshua's altar. This is a relatively new discovery and one that adds confirmation to the Bible and Israel being there that far back. We could not get close to that area because it's in an Arab, that is to say, a Palestinian village and we, meaning any Israelis, are not permitted there. Huge red signs warn in Hebrew, Arabic and English - Don't go in here - it's dangerous. You could loose your life going into a Palestinian town. You might just disappear. Its happened.
We climbed another mountain area - yes, more hiking, to view from afar Joseph's tomb. His bones were brought from Egypt as he asked but I'm not sure he would be too happy to see where they are entombed - in Sh'khem, or Sheckem as its spelled in English. So much Biblical history there and little of it good. Its still a place of trouble today. The Palestinians call it Nablus.
Lastly we went to Shiloh, in Hebrew pronounced as Shee-low. This is where Eli was the high priest and Samuel was given to him as a little boy after God granted him to his mother who came to Shiloh to pray for a child. Yearly women come to Shiloh even today to pray for a child and as the story goes, many of them are then pregnant shortly afterwards. The place still seems to have an anointing for new babies.
There are remains of what once was the main place of Israel's sacrifices to the Lord for over 300 years, way before David conquered Jerusalem, until it was destroyed by the Philistines. Incidentally, the word for Philistines in Hebrew is the same word for Palestinians - Plishtim, pronounced Pleeshteem. So it was the Plishtim, Israel's sworn enemies, that burnt the tabernacle, the most sacred place to Israel at that time, to the ground.
There is a movie that we watched of the days of Joshua being acted out that is in a building with floor to ceiling windows on which the movie is somehow projected so that the story takes place in the panoramic view of the mountains all around. It presents a stunning reality of what life with the first tabernacle must have been like when Shiloh was Israel's place of worship. It's as if Eli and the elders of Israel and then Samuel are alive in front of you. High tech making it all seem like its happening with you being there and a part of it. How do they do that?!
We were there with a large unit of soldiers. All of them seemed rather young, all were male, and all had a dangerous looking rifle slung over their shoulders. I wanted to say that boys that age shouldn't play with such guns, but then, they are part of what make up the IDF, the Israeli Defense Force. They were getting the in-depth tour, being thoroughly informed of the history. The reason for sharing all this with an army unit, I was told, is this: A soldier who knows what he's fighting for makes a better soldier. So Israel prepares their soldiers not only militarily and physically, but spiritually. They were getting to see that this is the Land promised by God to Abraham and his descendants. It's their Land by God's choice. Though Israel would prefer not to fight, when pressed to do so, they know what they are fighting for.
Five thousand years of history was before us and the soldiers, today. But the promise God made to Abraham is as real to me, to us, today as it was when God spoke it to him. Perhaps more real. We can see the fulfillment of the promise in the Land today.
Seeing all the vast areas that are still empty, and in and around the Arab villages, its relatively barren, except where its specifically cultivated, we could see there are miles and miles of land that one day, according to the Bible, will be filled with the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There is more than plenty of room, though improving the Land will be quite a challenge. But what Israel has already done in the Land in less than 70 years is so incredibly, they'll conquer whatever challenges God gives them with His help.
There are rocks everywhere and it occurred to me as I was picturing how these hills would one day be filled with Jewish settlements, that God put the rocks there to build their houses with. That's what they're for. About Jewish settlements, we went past a few. These are very brave people who have basically staked out a claim for God and Israel and created villages and settlements where nothing else is. They are almost all religious Jews who believe the Land is theirs. Out there in Samaria in those hills, there is no owner of the land to purchase land from. No one owns it. Well, except God who has said it's His anyway to "lend" it to Israel. They just go and pick a spot and start building. The Jewish settlements are neat, clean and orderly. They are also perched atop of those mountains with views that are breathtaking. It actually took me a little while to get used to the heights, and when I say the houses are perched, I mean perched on the edges - best for viewing I suppose, keeping an eye on the Land God gave them.
Only God knows when they will be entirely free to live on that land without the world's protest, or what that will take and when it will happen, but it will. He said so. That the evidence of all that past history is now validated, makes one confident of what is yet to come. God always keeps His word, even if it takes a couple of thousand years to complete it.
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