Ein Harod - spring of fear (Gideon's spring)

Ein Harod.  It means "spring of fear."

Going back to time of judges in Old Testament period, we turn to chapter 6 of book of Judges.  After time of judge Deborah, the Bible says, "Then the land had peace forty years.  Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites."  It is at this time of trouble that God hears the cry of the Israelites and calls Gideon, son of Joash the Abiezrite, to rescue the Israelites.   

Gideon: "But Lord, how can I save Israel?  My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."
LORD: "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."

Judges 6:33 - "Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the valley of Jezreel." 
=> The Midianites would have camped by foothill of the mount (hill of Moreh) across the valley shown in the below picture. 


On the other side of the Jezreel valley, where the above picture was taken from, is the spring of Harod, located by Mt. Gilboa.  Per Dr. Dyer, this is the only spring in the region, so that's how we know this is the spring of Harod.

After Gideon's famous fleece test.... Judges 7:1 says, 

Early in the morning, Gideon and all his men camped at the spring of Harod.  The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.  The LORD said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands.  In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.'"  So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.  But the LORD said to Gideon, "There are still too many men.  Take men down to the water, and I will sift them for you there.  If I say, 'This one shall go with you', he shall go; but if I say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go."  So Gideon took the men down to the water.  There the LORD told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink."  Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths.  All the rest got down on their knees to drink. 

       <Dr. Dyer demonstrates lapping with hands to mouth>

 
            <Dr. Dyer illustrates how men kneeled down to drink>

<my friend Glenn laps water just like one of 300 men selected by the LORD>

Jumping to Judges 7:22... 

When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the LORD caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords.  The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah.  Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites.  ..... They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan.

Dr. Dyer's message: Faith isn't absence of fear.  It is willingness to trust God in spite of fear.  Gideon trusted God; Saul failed to.

*. Note: Read chapter 6 through 8 of the book of Judges for the entire story.

Qumran (The Essenes & the Dead Sea Scrolls)

There were 4 sects in Israel during the time of Jesus.   According to the guide on my Israel tour,

• Pharisees: majority, religious focus, these were common people
• Saducees: aristorcrats, imitating Roman way of life, high priest, officers, wealthy, didn't believe in resurrection 
• Zealots: Galileans, national agenda
• Essenes: devoted ones, wrote dead sea croll, lived in caves

It is the last group of people that are related to Qumran. 
Located on the north western shore of the Dead Sea (lowest spot in the world - 1300 feet below sea level), Qumran was located by the main road to Jerusalem and Jericho.  Around 2nd century B.C. (near end of Hashmonean period), group of people called Essenes left Jerusalem because the line of King and Priest were corrupted.  These were devoted people who lived in the caves of Qumran (or some say huts/tents) and had a headquarter on a hill: communal area for ritual baths, watch tower, pottery workshop, Sciptorium - writing room -, cistern, etc.  They did not marry and led ascetic life; they took in orphans and trained them to be Essenes to continue their lines.  It is these people who carefully copied the Bible(Old Testament) over 2000 years ago and had them preserved - we now know them as the Dead Sea Scrolls.  

The Dead Sea Scrolls were first found by bedouin shepherds in 1947.  According to my guide in Israel, when sheeps go astray or are missing, shepherds throw rocks into caves to get them to come out, and when these bedouin shepherds threw rocks into caves of Qumran, they heard a different noise, jar breaking noise.  Since then, excavation of the area revealed quite a bit about the Essenes sect and every book of the Old Testament except the book of Esther was found, including the entire book of Isaiah.  "Entire book" includes Isaiah chapter 53 - passage about suffering Messiah (http://nasb.scripturetext.com/isaiah/53.htm).  Some Jews had disregarded Isaiah 53 because they said/thought it must have been added by Christians. 

Well, below are pictures from Qumran, taken in May, 2006:

Above is: Cave #4, one of the more famous caves in Qumran

Above: Watchtower

* remember, Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern.  This gives you a visual of what a cistern looks like: http://biblecc.com/jeremiah/38-6.htm

Following pics are close-ups of far away caves and more landscapes of the Judeans hills of Qumran:

Caesarea & Apostle Paul

 Our small group is studying Philippians this semester, so I decided to post a blog on the city of Caesarea (if you read this blog, you will find out why Caesarea is releated to Apostle Paul, who wrote to Philippians while in house arrest in Rome). 

  Located on the Mediterranean coastline of Isreal, Caesarea lies between Tel Aviv and Haifa.
    Mediterranean sea

 
   "Roman Aqueduct was constructed to bring water from the Carmel mountain range to the Roman capital of Caesarea." (from Sojourner In the Holy Land)

Caesarea, built by Herod the Great, was named in honor of Augustus Caesar. 

When Apostle Paul, despite being warned that he'll be bound if he goes to Jerusalem, arrived in Jerusalem, mob of Jews, who were incited by the Jews from province of Asia,  took him outside the temple and tried to kill him.  Interrupted by the Roman soldiers, Paul was given a chance to voice his defense but the crowd still demanded that Paul be executed and the commander of Roman soldiers took him to their barracks to flog him.  Acts (22:25~29) picks up from here:

As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn't even been found guilty?"  When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it.  "What are you going to do?" he asked.  "This man is a Roman citizen."  The commander went to Paul and asked, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?"  "Yes, I am, " he answered.  Then the commander said, "I had to pay a big price for my citizenship."  "But I was born a citizen," Paul replied.  Those who were about to question him withdrew immediately.  The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.

When Paul's nephew found out about Jews' conspiracy to kill Paul, he reported to the commander of the Roman soldiers.  So Paul was escorted/transferred to Caesarea.  (refer to acts 23:23~24)

Then he (the commander) called two of his centurions and ordered them, "Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight.  Provide mounts for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix."

Caesarea was a very important Roman governmental city.  As we just read, a governor sent from Rome to govern Judea and Samaria resided in Caesarea.   

It is in this city of Caesarea that Paul appeals to Caesar.  Now two years had passed since Paul's arrival to Caesarea, and governor Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus.  Because Felix wanted to please Jews, Paul was kept in prison.  Let's read Acts 25:8~12:

Then Paul made his defense: "I have done nothing wrong against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar."  Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?"  Paul answered: "I am now standing before Caesar's court, where I ought to be tried.  I have not done any wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well.  If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die.  But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them.  I appeal to Caesar!"  After Festus had conferred with his council, he declared: "You have appealed to Caesar.  To Caesar you will go!"

There are some that say Paul was imprisoned once and was executed and others that say Paul was imprisoned twice, and the second time, he was executed.  Here is an excerpt from Archaeological Study Bible: Imprisonment in the Roman World: In Prison Versus House Arrest:

Paul was probably detained in the Praetorium, a fortress or governor's residence while in Caesarea.  While in Rome he was allowed to dwell outside the military camp, as well as to find and rent his own quarters.  He received this relatively mild treatment for three reasons:

• Paul was a Roman citizen.
• He had received favorable verdicts from governors Festus and Agrippa.
• The praetorian prefect overseeing prisoners from the provinces in the years AD 51~62 was the honest Afranius Burrus. 

Paul's trial took two years to conclude.  According to Eusebius (History, 2.22, 25), Paul was released but later detained again in Rome when Nero began to execute Christians.  Paul was at that point probably placed in the tullianum, the underground execution cell of the prison at Rome.

Following link seems to have a good guide on Paul's journeys in Asia Minor.  I have not had time to go through these fully.  So if you have time, take a look at it.  If something seems wrong, please do let me know via e-mail.    https://www.visionvideo.com/pdf/ApostlePaulGuide.pdf   (I'd probably get this video of Turkey sometime in future.)

* Oh, by the way, Caesarea is also mentioned in Acts 10.  This is where Cornelius the Roman centurion and his household get saved and baptized by Peter. 

City of Jericho

I know it's been some time but better late than never...   Continuing from my previous blog on River Jordan...

Near the traditional place where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, following is a picture of myself with modern city of Jericho and the Judean wilderness in its backdrop - west side of the Jordan River.  The land west of the Jordan river was called in the Bible "a land flowing with milk and honey," the Promised Land.   

Couple more pics of modern city of Jericho:

Jericho, known as "City of Palms".  You can see lots of palm trees in the following picture.

Zoom-In the hills of Judean Wilderness - traditional site where Jesus was tempted by the devil (we ate at the restaurant nearby.  not surprisingly, the restaurant was called  "mount of temptation restaurant")

(Matthew 4: 1~4) Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."  Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

About 100 yards from the restaurant is the ancient city of Jericho.  Following is the view of the mount of temptation from the Tel Jericho (Tel = man-made hill: result of repetition of building a new city on top of destroyed city.  obviously, top layer will get smaller than bottom layer)

** I'd suggest that you read Joshua chapters 1 through 6 (OR at the least, Joshua 6) before continuing.

Following are pics from the excavation site of the ancient city of Jericho.  Try to imagine the encounter of two Israelite spies and Rahab the prositute.  I may be wrong, but I think this Rahab is the mother of Boaz who married widow Ruth, who by the way, bore Obed the father of Jesse who is father of King David (Refer to Matthew 1:5~6)  *By the way, Ruth is one of my favorite books in the Bible    because it's the story about love and hope, faith and courage, despair and revival.

 (Joshua 2:1) 'Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim.  "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho."  So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.'  *. Rahab's house would have been located inside of the wall of Jericho.  According to the NIV Archaeological Study Bible, "German excavations from 1907-1909 on the northern section of the site uncovered a portion of the lower city wall that did not fall as it did everywhere else.  The still-standing section rose as high as 8 feet, with houses built against it still intact.  A second wall at the crest of the embankment revealed that these particular houses were situated between the upper and lower city walls and were thus 'in the city wall'.  Since the lower wall also formed the back wall of the house, an opening in the wall (window) would have provided a convenient escape route for the spies.  From this northerly location, it was only a short distance to the hills of the Judean wilderness, where the spies hid for three days (Joshua 2:16, 22)."

Also try to imagine encounter of Joshua with the Lord as well as the fall of Jericho.  Note the resemblance between Joshua's encounter with the Lord and Moses encounter with the Lord at the burning bush in the land of Midians.

(Joshua 5:13~15) {Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand.  Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?"  "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come."  Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "what message does my Lord have for his servant?"  The commander of the LORD's army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy."  And Joshua did so.}  

* my personal reflection: often times, I asked God if He is on my side or He would come through for things which are occupying my hearts and minds; however, as the Lord said to Joshua, it is the other way around.  I'm the servant and He the Lord.  Am I on His side?   And have I taken off my sandals yet?

Quote from the Scroll marked I

"Time teaches all things to he who lives forever but I have not the luxury of eternity. Yet, within my allotted time I must practice the art of patience for nature acts never in haste.  To create the olive, king of all trees, a hundred years is required.  An onion plant is old in nine weeks.  I have lived as an onion plant.  It has not pleased me.  Now I wouldst become the greatest of olive trees and, in truth, the greatest of salesmen." 

- Og Mandino's The greatest salesman in the world