Oh Samaria!

          Well this past weekend was a another adventurous and great leaning opportunity in the Levant. On Saturday a group of JUC students walked to the Damascus gate an near bu there is the quarry system of Zedekiah's Caves (aka Solomon's Quarry). It was a great experience where I got to feel like Indiana Jones, himself for the 15 minutes we where there, exploring the path-ed ways then going off the path and turning on out flashlights exploring the unseen bowls of the the ancient quarry where the Masons held their secret meetings. From finding and ancient shelter to tot he pools of water, thats named Zedekiah's tears. This was a cool experience, which down there wasn't so cool, no it was almost hundred percent humidity and we all came up just soaked. I had to just imagine how these cave systems were used throughout the many years, from Christians hiding during persecution, secret meetings of the masons, to workers taking out rock for the defense of the city and rebuilding. 
           On Sunday we all woke up early again for the field study to Samaria. We drove and stopped at the first stop of the day at an overlook of the lowlands and the countryside; which at this time and throughout the day was quite cold and windy, but we enjoyed the day. Then we stopped at the Orthodox Church which golds the site of Jacob's well. This was the site where Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, who had the five husbands but none were her currant husband (John 4). We went inside and the church was just built back in 2002, so the paintings and iconoclasts were brillant in color and great mastery of artwork. I walked down to the sacred room where the well was and the group and I pulled up a bucket with "holy water" and each drank some water, it was basically, well it was well water and oh how I miss my home well water.

          Driving on we visited the tell Balata, where the ancient site of the city of Schechem was. Being able to walk the limestone pathways around the ancient tells from Balata in Shechem. With its famous sliding stone door gateways and it was the capital and a very important city-state whenever a strong power could rule it, such as Abimalach built his huge fortress in crossroads of trade. Its nickname was the uncrowned queen of the Northern Kingdom. The Samaritans whose theology and thinking is that Adam was created, Noah landed, and Joshua prayed a blessing, all on Mount Gerazim. This type of thinking lets them assume that they are the chosen people and that the Samaritans read the Pentateuch only while their “enemies” the Jews read the Pentateuch and the Tanak; then the Christians read the Pentateuch, Old Testament, and the New Testament. The on the opposite side of the valley is Mount Ebal, where the Samaritans thought that this mount was a cursed land unlike Gerazim because of much less vegetation. We then drove to Samaria/Sebaste, where we visited Greek Orthodox Church, which is on the spot where the famed Jacob’s Well is supposed to be. We visited this newly built church with amazing iconoclast paintings and had the great opportunity to draw “holy” water and drink it. There we saw great mosaics of Jesus in the Last Supper, on the cross, and baby Jesus with Mother.

We then moved on to the ancient city of Samaria; we got off the bus and they’re in front of us was the great ruins of the Samarian Byzantine basilica. With huge pillars still standing and even lentil pieces with Greek written on it. The class walked up to the ruins of the theater which was built in the hillside and the columned building of the front is long gone but the column pieces and rubble where there. I can just imagine how it would’ve look like back in the Roman Era. With a few thousand audience waking in through the sides and sitting down with no overlook of the valley below them because of the theaters “back drop” building. And with every person speaking in the stage can send me back to listening to the dramas and comedies of the times, laughing or crying while seeing the rich and powerful sitting in their back-rested seats in the front rows.  This site has a major Roman footprint on it; this was the import of the new Roman/Greek culture that is trying to mix itself with the native culture and society. What was also amazing was the large temple to the first emperor of the former Roman Republic, now empire. Great builder, King Herod, built the Great the temple; this temple was probably the same temple that the Romans could see once they land on the shores of Judea. Herod had also built two other temples to honor Caesar; also the name of the town Sebaste is Augustus in Greek. There we learned about the Proto-Aeolic capitals, which is probably the capitals that the Greek learned and borrowed to create the Ionic order. These capitals were famous do to that its “leaves” were to represent the palm leaves and that a saying was said that a nation as strong as a palm could stand. Also the Ammonites had taken this style of column architecture for their palaces to show that they are a sort of power across the Rift Valley. 

Site of the Temple to Augustus Caesar 

Shiloh site where the Tabernacle was

We lastly visited Shiloh or in Hebrew is Shilo; our group saw this tacky educational video, and continued on to see the three supposed sites where the Tabernacle was and now there are ruins of Byzantine churches. This was truly an amazing site to stand where the Holy of Holies was and to speak where the Israelites spoke to God. This was also the site where Joshua divided up the land of Israel tot he 12 tribes of Israel. Which one can probably see the tribes on the hillside while waiting for Joshua to divide the land and then yelling "Asher go that way!" and "Issachar go that way to the North!" I still can't imagine that I was on the very site where the Tabernacle once stood before it was sent to Jerusalem, to the Temple.

This weekend my physical settings class will be traveling all over Judah, the Shephelah, Philistia, the Negev, and the Dead Sea; for the entire weekend. This well be great, I am soo exited.