Hoefling Exodus Tour 11/8/07
http://picasaweb.google.com/rambopreacher/Exodus118
Thursday, November 8
Petra, Mt. Nebo, Moab, Jerash and cross border to Israel. Overnight in Tiberias
Sheraton Moriah (2 nights)
Habanim Street
Tiberias, Israel 14103
5:45 wakeup, 6:00 breakfast, 7:00 start
They could have recorded another episode of “Night of the Living Dead” at our hotel outside Petra today. Great, rustic resort, but we spent so little time there, no one got to use or even see all of the grounds. This location matched St. Catherine’s hotel in uniqueness. Brent was so tired, he didn’t even get pictures of the rooms. This location was built like an adobe village.
Our first stop today was at Petra (http://nabataea.net/petra.html) – our second wonder of the world on this trip. A truly amazing location on the top of a mountain where a sea used to be located. Most of the stone is limestone, and as the sea became a river, it created a narrow canyon through the rocks, stretching about 1 mile to The Treasury. In 300 BC to 300 AD, this was inhabited by a village of Nabateans, who engineered a water filtering system, and made the most of the topography to protect their village from attack. The Roman Army did over take the village in the 1st Century AD, and paved the canyon with cobblestones. The views throughout the walk were spectacular – think about walking through the Grand Canyon, but only having about 30 feet between the two walls, 250 feet up.
Petra may be linked to Sela in the Bible, and may be the site referred to as the “people in the rocks” in Jeremiah; and a strong/fortified city of Edom in Psalms. Isaiah also references Seal and Ammon, a town nearby.
Petra is a fortified city, with caves high in the walls all along the trek. For our generation, it is probably best known for being featured in Indian Jones and the Last Crusade. The Treasury is the best know of the sites, which is three huge stories tall, all carved into the limestone face of the canyon. This was definitely worth the walk in and difficult walk out. We could have easily spent a day here There are many other carvings in the valley, and it is still inhabited. Our guide said it would take three days to walk the full length of the valley.
After a strenuous trip out, we continued onto Moab and St. George the Dragon Slayer Greek Orthodox Church. Four Christian and monotheistic religions started in this area. St. George’s is the oldest original church structure still standing. This area is know for its mosaic handwork, and a large portion of the floor in the church lays out a map of the Middle East during the early centuries BC.
Next, we went to Mt. Nebo, where God showed Moses the Promised Land. From here, you could also see the Dead Sea, the historical reference to where Jacob wrestled with the angel of God, and was named “Israel” from that point forward. Pastor Reyes gave a message on the twelve spies sent into survey the new land, and the murmuring of the Jews, the people of Israel. We prayed for unity in our churches and for peace in Jerusalem.
We also toured the Greek Orthodox Church at this site. The grounds included a sculpture of Jehovah-Nissi – The LORD is My Banner – a serpentine cross. This represents the serpent hung on a staff, which provided hearing to the people of Israel who had been bitten by snakes in the desert.
Dinner was at the base of Mt. Nebo. We also cross over from Jordan to Israel tonight – a 2 ½ hour process to travel 1 ½ miles. We feel like we are on the Exodus tour in the desert.
One comment on security and military personnel in Egypt, Jordan and Israel:
One member of our tour group described out progression through three countries by centuries. Egypt is still operating in the 19th Century – garbage everywhere, no traffic control, people living in unfinished buildings, heavy military involvement and visibility.
Jordan moves into the 20th Century – more relaxed military checkpoints, organized transportation, higher standard of living, not as many peddlers at the sites.
Israel was compared to the 21st Century – great highway system, no visible military, easy to travel, organized agriculture, roadside bushes and flowers. We have not bee uncomfortable about our safety at any point in our trip, and have found people to be friendlier as we have traveled from Egypt to Jordan to Israel. Israel’s checkpoint was to be the most stringent, but actually took less time start to finish then all of the others – and the agents were friendly.
Staying at the Sheraton Moriah hotel in Tiberius tonight and tomorrow – checked in at 10 p.m.
My notes:
I helped Mary with her journaling, so I will try to not repeat. Waking up in Jordan was a memory, I won't forget. :) after having been in Egypt for a couple days, I had been getting used to the smog and diesel/gas smell from all the cars in Cairo. here, the air was clean and the area was wakening. We arrived late, so I missed the scenery coming in.
Mary pointed out some Arabic writing on the wall at the hotel that appeared to look like it said "paintball" not sure what it said, but it kinda does look like it says paintball.
If you do the map view of the album of the pictures for this day, you can see that the Petra pictures are in a very mountainous area (south). hopefully that satellite view will help gain a better understanding of the Petra pictures. I had a great time with this area. though not much "Biblical significance" (at least not that many are aware of), I was amazed when I had been studying of the history of this place and that in the first century the Romans had repaved the road into the Petra area. and that some of that "paving" was still walked on.
The pavement was large rocks. I couldn't help but imagine roman engineers picking and then modifying rocks for this purpose, and that we were walking on the very same rocks. these rocks that were walked at about the same time as Jesus. I knew that this kind of thing might not be very prevalent in Israel, so I cherished this time. I know it sounds silly, but it was a special time for me.
again, referring to the satellite image and my pictures at the Mt Nebo area, you can see that it is a high place that overlooked the the promised land, from "this side" of the Jordan. I wondered if I was in the place of one of the 12 "spies", what kind of report would I have brought back some time before they got to Nebo. I don't know. I know my faith right now, and it's based on a salvation that is a gift. the Jews thought of the law as a gift, as I understand and especially their personal covenant and being chosen by God, but It is difficult for me to imagine that kind of relationship, that seemed to lack a personal paradigm.
Thursday, November 8
Petra, Mt. Nebo, Moab, Jerash and cross border to Israel. Overnight in Tiberias
Sheraton Moriah (2 nights)
Habanim Street
Tiberias, Israel 14103
5:45 wakeup, 6:00 breakfast, 7:00 start
They could have recorded another episode of “Night of the Living Dead” at our hotel outside Petra today. Great, rustic resort, but we spent so little time there, no one got to use or even see all of the grounds. This location matched St. Catherine’s hotel in uniqueness. Brent was so tired, he didn’t even get pictures of the rooms. This location was built like an adobe village.
Our first stop today was at Petra (http://nabataea.net/petra.html) – our second wonder of the world on this trip. A truly amazing location on the top of a mountain where a sea used to be located. Most of the stone is limestone, and as the sea became a river, it created a narrow canyon through the rocks, stretching about 1 mile to The Treasury. In 300 BC to 300 AD, this was inhabited by a village of Nabateans, who engineered a water filtering system, and made the most of the topography to protect their village from attack. The Roman Army did over take the village in the 1st Century AD, and paved the canyon with cobblestones. The views throughout the walk were spectacular – think about walking through the Grand Canyon, but only having about 30 feet between the two walls, 250 feet up.
Petra may be linked to Sela in the Bible, and may be the site referred to as the “people in the rocks” in Jeremiah; and a strong/fortified city of Edom in Psalms. Isaiah also references Seal and Ammon, a town nearby.
Petra is a fortified city, with caves high in the walls all along the trek. For our generation, it is probably best known for being featured in Indian Jones and the Last Crusade. The Treasury is the best know of the sites, which is three huge stories tall, all carved into the limestone face of the canyon. This was definitely worth the walk in and difficult walk out. We could have easily spent a day here There are many other carvings in the valley, and it is still inhabited. Our guide said it would take three days to walk the full length of the valley.
After a strenuous trip out, we continued onto Moab and St. George the Dragon Slayer Greek Orthodox Church. Four Christian and monotheistic religions started in this area. St. George’s is the oldest original church structure still standing. This area is know for its mosaic handwork, and a large portion of the floor in the church lays out a map of the Middle East during the early centuries BC.
Next, we went to Mt. Nebo, where God showed Moses the Promised Land. From here, you could also see the Dead Sea, the historical reference to where Jacob wrestled with the angel of God, and was named “Israel” from that point forward. Pastor Reyes gave a message on the twelve spies sent into survey the new land, and the murmuring of the Jews, the people of Israel. We prayed for unity in our churches and for peace in Jerusalem.
We also toured the Greek Orthodox Church at this site. The grounds included a sculpture of Jehovah-Nissi – The LORD is My Banner – a serpentine cross. This represents the serpent hung on a staff, which provided hearing to the people of Israel who had been bitten by snakes in the desert.
Dinner was at the base of Mt. Nebo. We also cross over from Jordan to Israel tonight – a 2 ½ hour process to travel 1 ½ miles. We feel like we are on the Exodus tour in the desert.
One comment on security and military personnel in Egypt, Jordan and Israel:
One member of our tour group described out progression through three countries by centuries. Egypt is still operating in the 19th Century – garbage everywhere, no traffic control, people living in unfinished buildings, heavy military involvement and visibility.
Jordan moves into the 20th Century – more relaxed military checkpoints, organized transportation, higher standard of living, not as many peddlers at the sites.
Israel was compared to the 21st Century – great highway system, no visible military, easy to travel, organized agriculture, roadside bushes and flowers. We have not bee uncomfortable about our safety at any point in our trip, and have found people to be friendlier as we have traveled from Egypt to Jordan to Israel. Israel’s checkpoint was to be the most stringent, but actually took less time start to finish then all of the others – and the agents were friendly.
Staying at the Sheraton Moriah hotel in Tiberius tonight and tomorrow – checked in at 10 p.m.
My notes:
I helped Mary with her journaling, so I will try to not repeat. Waking up in Jordan was a memory, I won't forget. :) after having been in Egypt for a couple days, I had been getting used to the smog and diesel/gas smell from all the cars in Cairo. here, the air was clean and the area was wakening. We arrived late, so I missed the scenery coming in.
Mary pointed out some Arabic writing on the wall at the hotel that appeared to look like it said "paintball" not sure what it said, but it kinda does look like it says paintball.
If you do the map view of the album of the pictures for this day, you can see that the Petra pictures are in a very mountainous area (south). hopefully that satellite view will help gain a better understanding of the Petra pictures. I had a great time with this area. though not much "Biblical significance" (at least not that many are aware of), I was amazed when I had been studying of the history of this place and that in the first century the Romans had repaved the road into the Petra area. and that some of that "paving" was still walked on.
The pavement was large rocks. I couldn't help but imagine roman engineers picking and then modifying rocks for this purpose, and that we were walking on the very same rocks. these rocks that were walked at about the same time as Jesus. I knew that this kind of thing might not be very prevalent in Israel, so I cherished this time. I know it sounds silly, but it was a special time for me.
again, referring to the satellite image and my pictures at the Mt Nebo area, you can see that it is a high place that overlooked the the promised land, from "this side" of the Jordan. I wondered if I was in the place of one of the 12 "spies", what kind of report would I have brought back some time before they got to Nebo. I don't know. I know my faith right now, and it's based on a salvation that is a gift. the Jews thought of the law as a gift, as I understand and especially their personal covenant and being chosen by God, but It is difficult for me to imagine that kind of relationship, that seemed to lack a personal paradigm.
posted by RamboPreacher | 6:46 AM
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