Israel: Day 17

A Good Samaritan

I hate to admit it but today I was ready to go home. I am exhausted and missing my family something terrible. However, it was not to end. We were on our way to Samaria. That’s right, I said Samaria. We began with a quick stop over the city of Levoram. This is the location of the very odd, possibly disturbing story of the replacing of the lost wives of Benjamin (Judges 21). Since the women of Benjamin had been destroyed, so it had been commanded that the men lie in wait in the vineyards and when the dancing girls of Shiloh came prancing through they snatched the one they wanted for a wife, or simply the one you could catch… whoa! This is gonna be an interesting day.

In Samaria, our next stop was a Greco Roman city of Sabastia. This is one of three potential sites where John the Baptist was beheaded. While that in itself is worth mentioning, it was far more strange to realize that according to the very excited shop owners that this was the first time in TEN YEARS that a tour bus had stopped here… and we brought two full buses! Here we listen to the story of Ahab inviting Jehosephat up to help him attack an Aramean king (1 Kings 20; 22). A very odd story indeed.

As we cruised through Samaria in our tour buses, people gawked warmly at the touring Americans and Canooks. It had apparently been awhile since they had seen us in such numbers. Then, we arrived at Shechem. Shechem is a very important site. This is the town Abraham first comes to (Genesis 12) and Joseph searches for his brothers (Genesis 37). Shechem was also important in Joshua and Judges to name a few. Judges has the sadly humorous story of Abimelech who is squashed by a mill stone dropped by a fleeing woman who had it in her purse. I don’t know. If I am fleeing for my life, why would I grab the 30lb (I have no idea how much they actually weigh) and stuff it in my bag. Have you been to Israel? I am pretty sure that you could find another rock…

Our next stop in near Shechem was the traditional site for Jacob’s Well inside an Orthodox Church. As beautiful as the churches are, I find myself sometimes struggling to sense the Lord’s presence amongst the souvenir stands and flash photography. Oftentimes, I leave feeling sterile and saddened. I pray that others find His grace in such places when I am distracted.

Up from Shechem, we climbed (in our blue buses) Mt. Gerizim for lunch at the Good Samaritan. After lunch, we walked across the street and entered into a Samaritan Synagogue to learn about this very different from Judaism faith. Their faith ends with Moses as the last prophet and they only keep the Torah (1st five books of our Bible). After this oddly more worshipful experience, we walked up a block or two to the Mt. Gerizim site. It was interesting to look at the altar used for sacrifice until very recently when the Samarians moved to a newer, closer location.

Our final destination, stop and final location for this entire trip was at Shiloh. This is another important biblical location. Joshua reports the tribes of Israel meeting in Shiloh and this is the place Samuel hears the voice of the Lord calling him (1 Samuel 1-4).

We crawled back up the hill to the JUC from our final trip and prepare for dinner. As I begin to ponder the days gone by, my thoughts continually return to home. The Child of God within has been awakened and I pray that this son returns to his family, bringing joy and direction. The Lord has begun another work within me and I am excited to see what unfolds in the days and weeks ahead.

Blessings again from the Holy Land!