Our course calendar originally had us scheduled to explore the new city of Jerusalem today, but since the site of Samaria had just been re-opened, we switched our trip to head north of the city. Our first site was Tel Shilo, where the tabernacle was located during the early years of Samuel. The people came to Shilo once a year for a feast and sacrifice and it was at one of these feasts that the "
creative dating solution" took place in the vineyards near the city. Shilo was destroyed in the 11th century BC, when
Eli was high priest of Israel and the Ark of the Covenant was lost in battle. The messenger probably took the Berzeith route from the Sharon Plain into the hill country, running to warn the population that the Philistines were coming behind him to destroy the city. The Bible does not say directly that Shilo was destroyed, but archaeological evidence supports the theory, as does Jeremiah when he refers to God's judgement on Shilo for it's wickedness in chapters
7 and
26. The first part of Jeremiah 7 explains the
reasons for the destruction of Shilo, while warning Jerusalem to reform - their relationships with each other were broken, as was their relationship with God. In verse 11, Jeremiah calls the Temple "a den of robbers", which Jesus echos when he clears the
Temple. In both situations, the people are being warned that the injustices being practiced will lead to the destruction of the Temple - a message which is not received well.
After watching a video on the history of the Tabernacle at Shilo and exploring the tel (there wasn't much to explore!), we headed north to Mt. Gerizim, where the
blessings were read after the Israelites entered the land, as instructed by
Moses. (The curses were read off Mt. Ebal across the valley.) We walked to a spot overlooking Nablus (which was called Shechem in the Old Testament and Sychar in the New Testament) where our prof pointed out the various landmarks, including the location of Jacob's well. When Jesus meets the
Samaritan women at the well and she says that her "fathers worshiped on this mountain", she is referring to Mt. Gerizim, where the Samaritans still gather to worship today.
We then had the privilege of being able to hear a Samaritan priest explain their beliefs and how they differ from Judaism. There are only about 700 Samaritans today, descendants of the tribes of Levi, Ephraim, and Manasseh. One really interesting part of their religion is that they still gather for Passover once a year and sacrifice sheep. The sheep are lined up along a ditch and all the throats cut at once. The blood is used to mark the door frames of the homes, just like on the night of the Exodus. The organs are burned and the rest of the meat is cooked and eaten, the leftovers burned on the alter. They also dress as in the time of the Exodus, complete with a staff in their hands!
One of the men in town had the key to the ruins of a 7th century Justinian Church, so we made a quick visit to the site. The Samaritans believe that their temple was located at the same spot, but there isn't any evidence to support this claim.
We had lunch in the courtyard of the church of Jacob's Well, then a quick look around the church which was being kept open later than normal just for us! We weren't allowed to take pictures in the room with the well, but trust me, it's a deep well - they poured a cup of water into the well and it took several seconds for it to finally hit the water below!
We left the church and had a quick visit of Tel Shechem, where the Israelites renewed their
covenant with God, and where Simeon and Levi killed the inhabitants after one of them violated their sister
Dinah. Jacob was afraid that this incident would bring trouble between his family and the Canaanites and Perizzites, but obviously it didn't affect relations too badly, as later,
Joseph's brothers are grazing their flocks near Shechem when his brothers attack and sell him. It could be that some of his family had intermarried with them -this familial connection may explain why, when the Israelites return to conquer the land, there is no record of any conflict in this area - it seems to have been settled in a peaceful manner! Shechem is also the setting for the story of
Abimelech, and the location of the northern kingdom of Israel's first
capital, however, even though the city is in a good locations with respect to trade, it was not easily defended, so the capital was later moved.
Our final stop was Sabastia, the site of Samaria. We were the first JUC group to visit in 10 years - there was a lot of violence in this area for a few years and now the main road to the site, which is lined with half buried Roman columns, has been chewed up by tank tracks. We took a back road up the hill - a tight, windy road that the bus just managed to squeeze through.
Omri bought the land and built his capital here in the 9th century BC - an easily defendable position which took the Assyrians three years of siege to conquer. From here, Israel was able to maintain control over the Coastal Plain and the Jezreel Valley, controlling the trade along the Coastal Highway and becoming wealthy in the process. The city was rebuilt by the Romans whose temple to Augustus could be seen from Caesarea.
After watching a video on the history of the Tabernacle at Shilo and exploring the tel (there wasn't much to explore!), we headed north to Mt. Gerizim, where the blessings were read after the Israelites entered the land, as instructed by Moses. (The curses were read off Mt. Ebal across the valley.) We walked to a spot overlooking Nablus (which was called Shechem in the Old Testament and Sychar in the New Testament) where our prof pointed out the various landmarks, including the location of Jacob's well. When Jesus meets the Samaritan women at the well and she says that her "fathers worshiped on this mountain", she is referring to Mt. Gerizim, where the Samaritans still gather to worship today.
We then had the privilege of being able to hear a Samaritan priest explain their beliefs and how they differ from Judaism. There are only about 700 Samaritans today, descendants of the tribes of Levi, Ephraim, and Manasseh. One really interesting part of their religion is that they still gather for Passover once a year and sacrifice sheep. The sheep are lined up along a ditch and all the throats cut at once. The blood is used to mark the door frames of the homes, just like on the night of the Exodus. The organs are burned and the rest of the meat is cooked and eaten, the leftovers burned on the alter. They also dress as in the time of the Exodus, complete with a staff in their hands!
One of the men in town had the key to the ruins of a 7th century Justinian Church, so we made a quick visit to the site. The Samaritans believe that their temple was located at the same spot, but there isn't any evidence to support this claim.
We had lunch in the courtyard of the church of Jacob's Well, then a quick look around the church which was being kept open later than normal just for us! We weren't allowed to take pictures in the room with the well, but trust me, it's a deep well - they poured a cup of water into the well and it took several seconds for it to finally hit the water below!
We left the church and had a quick visit of Tel Shechem, where the Israelites renewed their covenant with God, and where Simeon and Levi killed the inhabitants after one of them violated their sister Dinah. Jacob was afraid that this incident would bring trouble between his family and the Canaanites and Perizzites, but obviously it didn't affect relations too badly, as later, Joseph's brothers are grazing their flocks near Shechem when his brothers attack and sell him. It could be that some of his family had intermarried with them -this familial connection may explain why, when the Israelites return to conquer the land, there is no record of any conflict in this area - it seems to have been settled in a peaceful manner! Shechem is also the setting for the story of Abimelech, and the location of the northern kingdom of Israel's first capital, however, even though the city is in a good locations with respect to trade, it was not easily defended, so the capital was later moved.
Our final stop was Sabastia, the site of Samaria. We were the first JUC group to visit in 10 years - there was a lot of violence in this area for a few years and now the main road to the site, which is lined with half buried Roman columns, has been chewed up by tank tracks. We took a back road up the hill - a tight, windy road that the bus just managed to squeeze through.
Omri bought the land and built his capital here in the 9th century BC - an easily defendable position which took the Assyrians three years of siege to conquer. From here, Israel was able to maintain control over the Coastal Plain and the Jezreel Valley, controlling the trade along the Coastal Highway and becoming wealthy in the process. The city was rebuilt by the Romans whose temple to Augustus could be seen from Caesarea.
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