This place is way too religious!

Ok, this place is way too religious!  My boss told me to get some aerobic exercise so I trucked up the Mt. of Olives today. Since all the food shops are closed in East Jerusalem because of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, my goal was to make a big circle to the Old City over to the Jewish quarter and get a nice big shwarma. (He never said I couldn't mix exercise and food).  So, up hill and down dale, I finally get to the Jewish quarter, and everything is closed! Big fast commemorating the destruction of the temple. (No, it's not because Romney is here). Not to be discouraged, I went over to the Christian quarter, and...you guessed it...its Sunday and everything is closed!

"I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today..."

My Sabbatical Project

Since, it has been so blasted hot, I've been spending a lot of time at several libraries. My favorite is the

École Biblique et Archéologique Française just around the corner. The École is a world class theological library.  I'm working on an Old Testament Theology project, and have been making great progress.  Since I'm by myself, I have lots of pockets of time to chip away a piece at a time. Looks like it will have 13 chapters and I hope to have a draft done by the end of August.

I'm basically tracing the theme of blessings and curses through major seams in the Old Testament's story.

200,000 attend Ramadan Prayers

About a week ago the month-long Muslim sacred fast of Ramadan began. Ramadan is one of the 5 pillars of Islam and celebrates the giving of the Qur'an to Muhammed. During Ramadan, devout Muslims don't eat from sunrise to sunset. Like so much of Islam, there is a "system" for working this out. About 2:15 in the morning drummers walk through the neighborhood to wake people up who want to eat before sunrise. Then about 4:30 a very loud cannon goes off about two blocks from the Albright, where I am staying. This is loud enough to wake you up (believe me, I know) and it lets people know the fast has begun. No food, drink, cigarettes, until sunset. Pregnant women and those with medical conditions do not fast. During the day (except Friday) most of the non-food shops are open, but not any of the "fast food" shops where you can grab a quick bite. Usually by the afternoon, some markets are open where you can buy food to take home to cook for dinner. But you can't eat on the street (like I said, believe me...) and can't eat until about 7:45 in the evening, after the cannon goes off again.

I thought Ramadan was this serious time of contemplation, but it is really a celebration. I'm told during Ramadan prices are higher because people actually consume more; they just eat before and after sunrise and sunset. After dusk, lots of shops provide Ramadan pancakes, special breads, and special juices to help break the fast. Street noise and honking and fireworks well past midnight each night. Two nights ago we went to see some new friends in the Old City and broke their fast with them. We had this nice big platter of baked ground beef, onions, whole garlics, hot peppers, and other spicy stuff. Everyone stands around the platter, uses the Ramadan bread as spoon, knife, and fork and digs in. Yum! Made the mistake of  having a nice cup of Turkish coffee after, so was up past 2am.

Fridays are crazy. And I mean crazy! Yesterday, they estimated that 200,000 entered the Old City for prayers. On the first Friday of Ramadan the police had the whole neighborhood blocked off. No vehicles could get in. Many come to this area of town to walk into the Old City to the Al Aqse Mosque for prayers. Swarms of people. I noticed yesterday that the neighborhood was open, cars and buses everywhere...lots of honking and crowds. Police and soldiers around to well into the early morning hours.

Being a good Baptist...I'm eating all day! And last night at church (I go to church on Friday evenings here...a very cool habit, by the way) we had...MEXICAN FOOD!  We ate for about an hour and a half and then had church for about an hour and a half. Lots of fun.

Wine and Olives

So! I was thinking of the story of Gideon in Judges 6:11. It says that Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress so he could hide it from his enemies who were oppressing his people. Now this particular winepress [Jezreel] was built a millenium after Gideon, but you can see the general idea. It was quite a mess but we cleaned it up just enough for a photo. If you enlarge the picture you can make out the Byzantine pottery on the left on the side of the wall, the mosaic floor, and the round depression to collect the wine. So you can see how someone could work there and not be easily detected. Not exactly the best place to thresh wheat, but if you are trying to hide, it works.

This olive press was found in excavations under the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. So today, when you go in and out the Damascus Gate, you are about 25 meters above the ancient Roman Street from the first century. From what I understand, the best olive oil comes from the seeds so they have to be squished by a heavy object.  If you use the same thing on grapes, the seeds make the wine bitter. So the rule of thumb is...feet for grapes, stones for olives. This particular olive press dates to the time of Hadrian. He's the guy who kicked all the Jews out of Jerusalem in AD 135 and rebuilt Jerusalem into a Roman city: Aelia Capitolina.


Here's a pic of the Roman Street under the Damascus Gate.  Lots of excavation done underground in Jerusalem for obvious reasons.

"Down to Gehenna"

"Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne, He travels the fastest who travels alone" (Kipling). Yesterday, I did just that. I left early (alone) before anyone else was up and went on a long four hour hike before it got too warm. We are having a heat wave this week. So I wandered down to the Valley of Hinnom (Greek, Gehenna). This pretty little valley, unfortunately, doesn't have the best reputation. In Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, it is an accursed place, a gate to the underworld and a valley of torment. Where the Hinnom and Kidron Valley's meet, it's the lowest elevation of the city, so there's a sharp contrast between these two valleys and the Temple Mount well above them. 2 Kgs 23:10 sharply condemns people sacrificing their own children here to the god, Molech. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah both promise that Molech himself will be burned there. Indeed, there are a few accounts in the Bible of Judah's kings taking the images and idols of pagan gods and burning them there near where the Hinnom and Kidron Valleys meet. Also, there's a Christian tradition that this is near the place where Judas killed himself. Jesus famously said that if there's a part of your body that causes you to sin, cut it off! It's better to enter heaven with a missing member of your body than your whole body be cast into Gehenna.

The valley is full of old rock-hewn tombs like this one.

Just like Home...or is it?

Take a close look at this picture. For my birthday today a group of us took the Arab bus to Bethlehem for a few hours.  Just like home...almost.

Religious Ambiguity and Faith-Based Absurdity

Israel is a place of political and religious ambiguity. I took a trip to Hebron yesterday to see the Cave of the Patriarchs. That's where, according to longstanding tradition, the Cave of Machpelah is located where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah are buried. Hebron is in the West Bank. The top picture shows the cenotaphs of Isaac and Rebekah. For centuries the Cave of the Patriarchs has been located under a large mosque built on Herodian and Byzantine remains from much earlier periods. In 1994, a religious orthodox Jewish zealot entered the mosque there, shot up the place and killed 29 people, and injured 125 others. He was beat to death by the crowd who were praying in the mosque. The mosque was closed for almost a year and when it opened, the building had been divided into two sections: a synagogue and a mosque. So Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebekah are on the mosque side, and Jacob and Leah are on the synagogue side. There are two separate entrances and parts of the Old City are completely closed, while other parts are cordoned off into Arab and Jewish sections. There are about 350 Jewish settlers, mainly from Brooklyn, NY, who live there among an Arab population of about 350,000.  This mural demonstrates the tensions.  I'm not positive but it looks like it originally said, "Free Palestine," and that has been painted over and on the dove it says, "Free Israel." I think it was Mark Twain who called this place a literally disillusioning place of unkempt, faith-based absurdity.

Sites with the Grand Old Man of Syro-Palestinian Archaeology

This week I visited several sites, including tell es Safi (biblical Gath) and tell Qeiyafa with the "grand old man" of biblical archaeology, Bill Dever. Both  are very important sites along the Judean/Philistine border. We also stopped by a couple of other"cool" places along the way. Bill gave a running monologue all along the trip about his experiences and about the general geography of the area. I took lots of notes.

2 Kings 12:17 states that Hazael, king of Syria went up against Gath, fought against it, and took it. In several places at Tell es Safi  there is clear evidence of a ninth century B.C. destruction layer like the one in this picture. There's no clear evidence who destroyed this city from the archaeological evidence alone, but the pieces seem to fit. On the 9th century floor were literally hundreds of pottery vessels like the one above. Last summer they found a horned altar there.  I'll post a link below.

Haaretz article on the Horned Altar

Qeiyafa is an important site, especially in light of the chronology debates of the last 20 years. It is a centralized border outpost that joins a string of similar outposts along the Judean/Philistine border. Here is the 4 chambered city gate and the Valley of Elah (of David and Goliath fame) below.