"Five smooth stones"

Head count...29 on the bus this morning!  It was great to have our full team up and ready for the day.  

We have taught in our Bible classes that the Promised Land stretched from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south.  Having visited Dan earlier in the trip, today we visited Beersheba, thus completing the circle, geographically speaking.  But, there were additional sites on today's program.

We headed west out of Jerusalem, and the density of the vegetation changed rapidly.  The farther west we drove, the more trees we saw (the exact opposite of when we left Jerusalem headed east toward Jericho the other day). Also, the steep mountainous area of Jerusalem quickly became the rolling hills of the area referred to as the lowlands or the Shephelah.

Our first stop was at the tel of Beit Shemish.  We climbed to the top of the tel where Gus and Barry pointed out sites that were visible from there like Zorah, Samson's home, and Timnah, the hometown of the girl who stole Samson's heart.  We could see the area where Samson tied the tails of foxes together, lit them on fire, and sent them out to do their destruction.  This was also the area where the milk cows brought the ark of the covenant back to the Israelites.

We drove on to the Elah Valley, the site of the well-known David/Goliath conflict.   Barry read parts of the account to us while pointing out the places mentioned in the scripture.  

The Elah Brook (where David picked up his "five smooth stones") is a wet-weather creek, and since this is the dry season, there was no water in it.  However, that fact did not keep us from choosing our own stones to take home with us.  Who could pass up a free souvenir like that? 

Shirley proudly displayed her selection of "five smooth stones".

When our time for photographs was over and we all had hands and pockets full of rocks, Barry had to encourage us to go back to the bus to keep us on schedule.  He announced, "Literally, at the risk of being stoned, it is time to go back to the bus."  It was dangerous to make that statement, but he survived.

Lachish was the next site on the program.  It is a very large tel and there are active excavations going on, so we viewed the area from a respectable distance.  In the photo you can see the gates of the city of Lachish.  

This city is mentioned in battles of Joshua, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar.

After all of these stops we headed toward Beersheeba.  The drive took us into a dry, hot area with sparse vegetation.  We saw "camel crossing" signs along the highway and observed a couple of small herds of camels in the fields.  

The tel of Beersheba is nicely preserved and a viewing structure had been built for even better sightseeing.  

The view from the top of the observation tower was excellent.

As we walked into the area, Gus passed out protective hats to everyone "to wear in the tunnel".  At this point a small voice in our group was heard to have said, "Did he say 'TUNNEL?'".  He definitely did, but this adventure was optional, and involved going down a series of steps to get into the water-access tunnel.  

Most of those in our group elected to go through what we now refer to as a "short tunnel" (compared to those we were in yesterday).  This is quickly being referred to as the Indiana Jones Tour of Israel.  Steve offered to have tee shirts printed with an "I survived..." slogan on them for our group members.  Barry is on the receiving end of much good-natured teasing.

Lunch was a problem in the desolate area of Beersheba.  Gus went into one restaurant to check it out.  When he got back to the bus we heard this announcement:  "Message from the cockpit:  Gus has returned and has judged the site unacceptable."  We trust Gus.

At another possible choice, the bus circled the parking lot three times until someone on the bus announced that after four more times we would all blow our horns.  Luckily, before we were forced to do that we located a very clean Arab cafe.  This was only their third day in operation, and I am sure they greatly appreciated our business.  Those who ate gave the business high marks.

Several of us elected to get off the bus at the Jaffa Gate when we arrived back in Jerusalem.  We took a casual stroll through parts of the old city and even found an overlook where we were able to get great photos of the Western Wall.  

As it happens, Jerusalem has a Festival of Lights one week each year, and it is this week!  We stayed in the old city until we could see the light show at the Damascus Gate.  Then we climbed the hill to our hotel where we will sleep well after we pack our bags for the return home tomorrow night.

Can tomorrow be our last day on this adventure?  It is difficult to believe that our time here is nearly gone.  We leave the hotel tomorrow morning and spend the day sightseeing before flying back to the United States about midnight tomorrow night.  I will try to make one more post if I can get an internet connection at the airport, so check back for our adventures of tomorrow.