The Central Benjamin Plateau

Today we traveled around the different entrances and areas around the central Benjamin Plateau. First, we started by walking down part of the Roman road. We went to a really cool look-out area where we could see into the desert. When we think of the desert in the States, we think basically flat with cacti. However, in Israel when the say desert, they mean desert.
Think rolling, sandy hills and wadis that go on forever. One would feel very isolated if they traveled it alone. Plus it is very quiet, I could hear a dog barking from somewhere in the distance because sound just carries across this barren land. Anyway, it was interesting to see what the Biblical definition of desert/wilderness looks like.

Then we traveled to Jericho were we got to see another of Herod's palaces. He is definitely all about building palaces on the top of the highest mountain. Though, it makes sense defense-wise. It is also interesting that Herod tends to incorporate new structure design into his palaces. For instance, at this location he stacked the bricks in the edge (in a diamond shape), so he could curve the wall. This was new because usually the buildings here are rectangular, with straight walls on all sides. This palace was also innovative because it had a tiled floor, at least in one room.

So from here we traveled to the tell of Jericho. Jericho is actually quite small when compared to what one would consider a town or city today (though, that should be expected). When you see it for yourself, it does not seem unreasonable to have walked seven times around it in one day (let alone maybe a few hours, if you consider that they were blowing trumpets and carrying things). There is archaeological evidence from this site that points to the destruction of the wall being instantaneous. Though, as usual different archaeologists date this site at different times. So Jericho remains a mystery as to how exactly it fits historically into the Biblical time line.

From Jericho we traveled to Nebi Samwil ("Prophet Samuel"), which is the supposed site of Samuel's burial. From here we could see the four cities that make up the central Benjamin area. These cities would be Gibeah, Ramah, Mizpah, and Gibeon. Ramah, interestingly enough, sits on in an area that basically connects the five different main roads into and out of the Central Benjamin Plateau. From this vantage point, on the roof of Nebi Samwil, it was interesting to see the land where many a military campaign traveled. A great deal of the Biblical stories happened in the Benjamin plateau.

Our final stop was at Gezer. I really loved visiting this part of Israel, because it reminded me most of home. There were areas that one might call a forest, with trees! There was also sections of the land that was blocked off for farming, which reminds me so much of the view from my deck at home. So I definitely took a number of pictures just of this area. Apart, from it's resemblance to home the site at Gezer that we visited was a Solomonic palace. We got to see the section of the tell that was considered "Solomon's Gate". There was also a Canaanite Gate in another section. This is an active tell, so we weren't supposed to walk in certain areas. Though, most areas we have visited have active archaeological work being done.

This field study I would say was very interesting. So much Biblical history took place in this area, because it is the connector to the two main international trade routes. And as we all know, those who can get to the trade routes get the money; and those with money have the power. No wonder Israel and Judah fought so much over this strategic area.

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I hope you all are doing well, and I am sorry that I do not post on here more. I have tried to upload photos directly into my blogs, but it does not seem to work. Therefore, I will try to be more diligent in posting photos on facebook and posting the links to the albums here (for those without facebook).
Love and God Bless,
Jennilee