Saturday, October 5, 2013

Jericho Field Trip (9/23/13)



Jericho Field Trip

 
This is a picture of the Quruntul Monastery (above and below) in the Judean Wilderness. The Monessary was huge, even 15 feet wide! This site was on the Mount of Temptation, where the devil tempted Jesus after his 40 day fast. Found in Matthew 4:1-22 and Luke 4:1-13. This is a place of transformation in many ways. First of all for about 2-3 weeks each year this wilderness receives rain and displays green hillsides and beautiful flowers. We were shown some pictures off the internet (feel free to explore) to show the vast difference, and it seriously is so beautiful and so different than what we saw. Second coming here strips us of our worldly representations we have made and lets us see who we have really come and in some cases to meet and connect with God on all different levels. We looked at Isaiah 40: 6-8 then Matthew 3:1-12. If you look closely there are also little caves all along the hillside which were caves where individuals go to live by themselves to individually take on God. Also there are 2 Greek monks who still live here in this monastery.
 

Herod's Winter Palace

 
Next we went to Herod's Winter Palace (above) in Jericho. This was a huge site but it really didn't have much that we hadn't seen before. There was however a big round circle called a Mikvac (not sure of the spelling) which was a hot pool bath (pictured below). We like to refer to it as a Mormon Baptismal Font in the making ;)
 
TEl ES-SULTAN
 
Tel Es-Sultan in Jericho is the oldest man-made structure in the world. The Neolithic  (New Stone Age) ancient tower dates back to around 8000 B.C. The tel also yields evidence of Canaanite people in Bronze Age (3000-1200 B.C). Although this tower doesn't seem very tall it is amazing the condition it was in!
( look closely by the stairs, the top of the tower isn't remaining)
 
 
 

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