Shalom!

Hello all!

We arrived in Israel in the evening, day before yesterday. Fortunately, we have had a fairly easy time adjusting to the time difference here (we are 8 hours ahead of you all back in the Central Time Zone). We were able to wake up the morning after arriving feeling, for the most part, refreshed and ready to go. We jumped right into our first day with an hour long lesson (taught by our host and learned scholar, Vernon Alexander) on the geography of the city of Jerusalem and how that informs the way we read the scriptures. Among the highlights of our lesson:

The city of Jerusalem is comprised of a bowl shape, surrounded by three valleys. These are surrounded by mountains, which protect Jerusalem from the desert winds and allow it to be inhabitable. See 2 Kings 21:13 for a poetic description of how God would punish the inhabitants of Jerusalem by "wiping the dish". Picture turning a bowl upside down and wiping it clean while reading the passage. Also see Psalm 125. In verse 2, David speaks of how God protects His people by surrounding them "Just as the mountains surround Israel". While viewing Jerusalem nestled in the center of the valleys and mountains, it is easy to invoke the imagery of God surrounding His people with a protective embrace. David ends the psalm by saying "Pray for peace in Jerusalem." Still a timely prayer!

Ancient maps were written facing East i.e. the Orient. Hence the term "to get oriented".

Much more was covered, but for the sake of the length of this post I will leave off there. Let it suffice to say that being able to picture the imagery of scripture while reading can entirely change the meaning of some passages.

Other sites visited yesterday:

Jerusalem University College (The university that our hosts attend and work at. It used to be an Israeli outpost in Jordan until the area around was annexed following one of the wars.)

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Oral tradition and archeology actually substantiate that this was the site of Jesus crucifixion and burial. An amazing and powerful site to visit.)

Some of the Old City of Jerusalem

The Upper Room (Also fairly substantiated)

David's Tomb (Not substantiated at all)

The Broad Wall (The wall built under the rule of Hezekiah to protect the people of Israel from the impending invasion of Assyria. For scriptural reference see 2 Chronicles 32 and Nehemiah 3.)

Of course, this is just the broad overview. We will probably go back and spend some more time at some of the sites. The apartment we are staying in for the next month is roughly a 20 minute walk from the Old City :)

I apologize for the absence of any pictures. We were unable to get internet at the apartment this morning and this post is being written from a computer at the JUC. I will try to post some later.

Alexander and Katie