You must be tired of hearing me say it - but we had ANOTHER great field study this week. We went to Samaria, which I have never been to before, so it was very exciting. It's one of those places you can't just go...you need someone to be willing to host you to get beyond certain boundaries, and there are other boundaries that you wisely choose not to even cross. We have only experienced a glimpse of the realities of this land today. But after a week of negotiation, our Prof. was able to get permission to visit all the places we wanted.
Our first stop was the community of Elon Moreh (Oak of Moreh). This place remembers where Abram first received the Promise from God (Gen 12:6). After 1967, when the land was returned to the Jews, there was an interest in moving back to central cities of historical importance, like Shechem. (Elon Moreh overlooks Shechem). So today Elon Moreh is home to about 300 Jewish families. Our host, Pinchas, took us to the top of the hill here where you could look across to Mt. Gerazim and Mt. Ebal, and look down into the valley to Shechem.
Shechem, which is called Nablus today, is a West Bank territory. We did not go into town, so we were unable to visit the church there that was built over Jacob's Well (Jn 4:6). But we did go to the top of Mt. Gerazim! From here we were able to look down on everything. And the coolest thing? We stood on Mt. Gerazim and shouted out the blessings from Deut. 28! How cool is that? Several of us each picked a verse to memorize, and then we shouted them out in order. It was SO cool. If we only had another group on the other side of the valley...they could have shouted the curses from Mt Ebal. Seriously - it was the highlight of my day.
Mt. Gerazim and Mt. Ebal facing each other, with Shechem in the valley between.
Atop Mt. Gerazim.
Amidst our "Gerazim moment", we did realize the modern reality of this place. Looking down into the valley, you could look north and see the ancient remains of Shechem. Then a little further south, the church remembering Jesus' and the Samaritan woman, and then right across the street going south, a dense, ghetto looking, square mile of dwellings. It was a Palestinian refugee camp. Your basic Hamas breeding ground. Frightening. In fact, Dr. Wright said the last time he had a group on Mt. Gerazim, during the entire lecture there was a gunfight going on in the valley below between these people and the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). And that's where we sat and ate lunch - looking down on the refugee camp. The strangness of it all....
The ancient remains of Shechem.
The refugee camp
And then....we went to meet the Samaritan priest. It's true. They do exist. I didn't know. But there are about 600 Samaritans today - half live on Mt. Gerazim and the other half in Tel-Aviv. They aren't Jewish, they aren't Muslim, and they aren't Christian. They speak Arabic, but their Bible is written in a type of ancient Hebrew. They have enough of their Israelite identity to hold onto Moses, but their Bible is only the Pentateuch. All of their theological understanding is Pentateuch based - yet they still await the Messiah, which is not a prevalent theme in the Pentateuch. Not sure how that works...Anyway, to them, Mt. Gerazim is the most important place in the world. As a matter of fact, according to their beliefs, this is where just about everything significant happened. For example:
Where was the Garden of Eden? Mt. Gerazim.
So of course - Adam was created from the dust of Mt. Gerazim
Where did Noah’s ark land? Mt. Gerazim
Where was the binding of Isaac? Mt. Gerazim, of course.
And when Jacob went to the house of God (Beth-el), clearly that was here
And when Joshua crossed the river and erected 12 stones, it was here
And when the Tabernacle was brought into this land, where did Joshua put it? Mt. Gerazim! Where else?
The Samaritan priest
And if it couldn't get anymore interesting.....guess who still does animal sacrifices? It's true. On Passover, they sacrifice animals. And if you want to come and watch the ceremony, you're invited. Here is the altar:
Needless to say, I am learning so much about all the people groups here, and all the stories behind where people live and why.
The adventure continues!
Okay – I could show you a million sites, but that would require a million pictures and even more information, so I will leave it at this – we visited the remains of many important Biblical sites this weekend. I am including this picture of Beer Sheva, mostly because there has been so much reconstruction here, so you can really get a feel for what the town would have been like. Enjoy….
One other site I really enjoyed was Azekah. From here you could look down into the Elah Valley, where the infamous story of the battle of David and Goliath took place. Where exactly in the valley? We aren’t sure – but you can get the lay of the land. So have a look – and use your imagination…
We also went to En Gedi, where there are springs coming out to the west of the Dead Sea south of Qumran. It is also a beautiful spot, remembered as the place David hid in caves from Saul (and wrote several Psalms here). Here is one of the waterfalls… 
A bonus at the end of one our days was some beach time! We visited Ashkelon, which is right on the Mediterranean. After seeing the site, we were here long enough to watch the sun set. 
Sparing you the geological details, another phenomenon in the south are 3 large erosion craters found atop 3 ridges in the Greater Negev. We visited the largest one – Makhtesh Ramon. It is the largest erosion crater on earth, about 10 miles long, and quite amazing.
Sitting on the edge of it felt like sitting on the edge of the world.
