You have to see it...

Day 8 - Jerusalem, Israel - Some of you may be wondering if a trip to Israel is for you. In a word the answer is "maybe". If you want to understand your Bible better; if you want to understand the land on which the events of the Bible played out; if you want to not have to ignore all those geographical references in the Word of God, then the anwer is, YES! If you don't care about those things then the answer may very well be, no. I'm being cheeky of course, but I do think that if you have a choice between a vacation in Cancun and a trip to Israel, skip the beach, come to Israel, and understand your Bible better. No you won't have the chance to sip some cool drink by blue ocean waves, but the pages of scipture may very well come alive like never before. I'll let you decide if it's worth it.

Yesterday was another loooong day but a great day. I finally made it to Mt. Gerizim. While standing on Gerizim you can see Mt. Ebal across the valley and the ancient city of Shechem. Gerizim is the mountain on which 6 of the 12 tribes stood to pronounce the blessing during the covenant renewal ceremony in Joshua 8:33. I taught Deuteronomy last semester, and when we came to the chapter where this ceremony is commanded (chapter 27) I had the students stand on two picnic tables opposite each other. One side read the blessings (Mt. Gerizim) the other side read the curses (Mt. Ebal). Although it was fun, it was nothing like being there! Forget Cancun...come to Israel.

Steve