Shabbat Shalom!

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Shabbat Shalom from Israel!



Today marks a pretty important day of the trip...we’re done digging! We have completely loved our time at Bethsaida, but we both have complete confidence that we won’t be switching career tracks to archaeology any time soon.



As we’ve found out, one of the most important aspects of archaeology is careful and meticulous recording of everything that’s happening at the dig site. Today this meant photographing what we’ve been working on for the last two weeks. A professional photographer named Hunan (the H is pronounced with as much phlegm as possible) came in with specific instructions about what our two pits should look like so that they can be well preserved for use a week, year, or decade in the future. This mainly meant spending a couple hours just sweeping our floors with hand brooms. Unfortunately, it’s pretty dry around here so this means nearly unbearable amounts of dust, especially when the floor you’re sweeping is mud in the first place.



We heard a lecture last night from Dr. Appold, a professor from Truman State University who brought a dozen students with him to the dig. He is a Lutheran pastor in addition to being a Biblical historian. His talk was on the five disciples that are said to be from Bethsaida: Simon and Andrew, James and John, and Philip. Unfortunately, besides Simon (Peter) and a little of John and Philip, there is relatively little we know about these men besides that they were called by Jesus and that they responded in faith.



We also know very little about the city of Bethsaida itself besides a few more quick references. We know that Jesus spent a great deal of time here as part of his Galilean ministry in the “evangelical triangle” of cities, the other two being Chorazim and Capernaum. We know that Jesus healed a blind man here and that he also warned the city, along with the other two in the triangle, that had he done the miracles that he had done in their cities in Tyre or Sidon that they would have repented far sooner.



We also receive a little Old Testament knowledge of the city, but this normally comes as it being referred to as the capital of the ancient kingdom of Geshur. King David (that’s theeeee King David) came to Bethsaida to marry the ruler’s daughter as a political statement. David’s son, Absalom, in fear of the wrath of his father some years later, flees to Bethsaida to live with his grandparents.



To recap, King David walked these streets, our Lord Jesus walked these streets, and WE walked these streets. Pretty neat, huh....



But enough history. As part of our reward for finishing the dig, we were able to make our way down the hill to the Jordan River Park that Bethsaida sits on and go rafting! Unfortunately, we were crunched on time and the river had been effected by drought so we were only able to go a little ways, but it was still well worth it. It’s a pretty small river, and it has reeds growing up high on both sides so it feels a lot like the images of the Nile we always got as kids as baby Moses floated toward the palace. It was a thoroughly relaxing and refreshing way to finish the dig.



Tonight we’re going on a hike up Mt. Arbel (not sure on the spelling) which is a mountain on the edge of the Sea of Galilee which Tiberias sits on. We’re not entirely sure what the Biblical significance of this mountain is, but, like everything else around the sea, Jesus probably went there so we might as well too. Tomorrow we start our last round of touring, beginning with a repeat visit to some of the holy sites around the Sea that we already saw with a different group. We figure, it’s not every day you get to go hang out at the Mt. of Beatitudes, so why not go twice! We’re also going to hit a couple new places including the hometown of Mary Magdalene as well as the supposed hill where Jesus cast a legion of demons out of a man and into a bunch of pigs that ran off a cliff to escape Jesus.



We say goodbye to the Aussies tonight, which will be hard because we’ve grown close to nearly all of them. But we’re encouraged by the fact that many of them are Christians that will take this experience back to Australia to make an impact on the kingdom. This will also give us a chance to grow closer with the Truman State students who are closer to our age.





On Sunday we pack up and finally head to Jerusalem! We’re so excited for this opportunity and we can’t wait to see how experiencing the life and story of Jesus in such an extraordinary place will change our lives! Thanks again for reading!

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