Day 5: The Difference Between Abraham and Herod

We went to Tel Arad in the Negev Desert to a place Abraham lived (also a location that RVL helped with an archaeological dig in 1976). Abraham was so famous for his hospitality, that the Ephron the Hittite gave Abraham a full burial site for free for Sarah and the rest of his family (Genesis 23). God gave Abraham the gift a millions of offspring that would bless the world. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity all trace their roots to this man, as he was an example of authentic faith and true generosity.

As a city that would come under Abraham’s people years later in the promised land, Tel Arad contains a temple to God built during reigns of the early kings of Israel. Given that the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD, the Temple in Arad is the most well-intact Jewish temple we know of. RVL stressed the significance of Abraham’s decision to be faithful to God in word and deed. The kingdom of God is built by sacrificial love.

We then went to Masada (“fortress”), which is a famous landmark in the history of Israel. On this plateau, Jewish Zealots made their last stand against the Romans in 70 AD. Herod the Great built a stronghold on this mountain in the first century BC, and it is an amazing work of architecture and hard-work. King David probably hid at Masada for a while, given his frequent use of the word “Matsada” in the Psalms.

Herod was only “great” in the sense that he was wealthy and influential. He was a man of low character. He murdered hundreds of thousands of people, including over 40 members of his family. The story where he killed thousands of babies in Bethlehem to get to Jesus was the tip of the iceberg. Almost every story about Herod is negative. His rotting body ending up dying alone from syphilis at age 63.

Consider a comparison between Abraham and Herod. They were central figures of their day and both are described in the Bible. Herod the Great was one of the most famous men alive in his day, while almost no one knows anything about Herod today (other than being in the Bible for killing babies). Abraham was known only in his local area while alive, but now is a household name for over half the world.

RVL talked a lot today about what builds the Kingdom of God. It is not violence or worldly power that makes a lasting impression. People like Herod fade away shortly after they die. There is no society that lives on the remember Herod. Our lives will have real significance if we join God’s mission of bringing Shalom to the world. Care for the weak and oppressed, follow God’s plan and see what happens.

Day 4: Our “Mt. Sinai” Experience

RVL’s mission on this trip to Israel is for us to learn more about God through the story of His people and for us to join the story as His disciples. In aggregate, the American church knows nothing of these things. So RVL goes above and beyond to try to steer our group more toward joining God’s mission rather than the typical two paths within American Christianity (either become a legalist rule-follower or do nothing because you are “saved” and wait for Jesus to return).

Today we went to the Wilderness of Paran and hiked Mt. Berech in Timna Park. We hiked up Mt. Berech to get a better feel for Moses’s journey up Mt. Sinai (no one is sure where Mt. Sinai is, so we chose this mountain). It was a difficult journey for us, so how difficult would it have been for Moses age 80? But, Moses knew this area well by the time he was leading the Israelites. He had learned the wilderness area well during the 40 years he had shepherded.

RVL took us through the relationship between God and the Israelites during the time of Moses. That relationship blossomed in the desert, though it certainly had its ups and downs. After God had sent the 10 plagues (to defeat the 10 main gods of Egypt), He and the Israelites spent 40 years in the desert together; 38 of those years were in the Wilderness of Paran.

God courted Israel for 40 days after Egypt, and then “married” her on Mt. Sinai. It is astounding to think that God chose a people for Himself. Not because Israel was the best group of people, or even because God loved Israel more, but because He wanted the world to know God’s character of love, mercy, and holiness. Israel was an unfaithful bride – even on the “wedding day” at Sinai – but God was faithful for over a thousand years.

Part of a Jewish wedding to this day is to write two copies of each party’s wedding vows so both people have one. It is crazy and awesome to think of the 10 Commandments as God’s wedding vows with Israel. This is how Jews view the 10 Commandments. RVL described Orthodox Jews weeping when they hear the 10 Commandments read aloud, because God is still faithful.

At the top of Mt. Berech, we made a covenant to follow God and live out His mission in this world. We stacked rocks together as a sign of this covenant and we all agreed to wear our tzitzit (“tassels”) like Jews were commanded in the Torah as a reminder of God’s promises. Together, we recited the Shema and attached our tzitzit on the top of the mountain. Following RVL as my rabbi has been a powerful emotional experience to see someone so committed to God and His people.

We then went down the mountain and walked to a re-creation of the Tabernacle in Timna Park. The Tabernacle was God’s traveling tent during Moses’s era of Israel. Humans had built a world on pride and selfishness, so out of His mercy God removed Himself from our presence because we would immediately die if we encountered His holiness.

RVL described the Tabernacle as Creation 2.0 in that God once again joined humans on earth. God devised a series of sacrifices and symbolism that allowed humans to once again encounter Him face-to-face. God used Egyptian cultural elements – like the Tabernacle design and Zodiac signs – to lead the Israelites with symbols that they would understand, yet He reclaimed these symbols for His purposes.

Seeing the Tabernacle was also powerful, especially to consider that God followed through with His plan. He did live among His people. Though their wickedness at times resulted in a harsher penalty (again, because they were up against God’s holiness), they also were the only people ever who lived with God and enjoyed His immediate presence.

Not coincidentally, when Jesus comes into the world, the gospel of John uses the same word as this, so John 1 would read: “Jesus came and “tabernacled” among us.” In America, I am often surrounded by the idea of a cold, sterile God, who people want to put within the box of “systematic theology”. Israel knows nothing of this God. Our God is personal and up in my face. To be in Israel and consider how much God loves me and what He is doing in this world is more than I can handle. Amazing. 

Day 3: Finding God in the Desert

I finally slept a bit last night, so today I was feeling more like myself and ready for our first desert hike. Our morning began as always by saying the Shema together, then our bus headed to the Judah Wilderness. This meant that our bus pulled up to a random spot next to the desert and we started hiking through a wadi (“flash flood canyon”). As I mentioned earlier, RVL is teaching us how to be disciples of Jesus, and he uses the physical world as his teaching points.

The main theme for today was how God cares for hurting people. As God’s people, it is our responsibility to care for people who are hurting, especially those who are in chronic pain such as the financially poor, ill, orphans, widows, prisoners, etc. One word picture for this is David’s description of walking through a wadi in Psalm 23

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” – Psalm 23:1-4

This imagery is of a sheep following the shepherd’s voice through a narrow wadi, in which there is very little grass, with steep cliff’s that cast “shadows of death” as you can’t see the edges of cliffs. The sheep has no hope of food or safety without following the shepherd. Yet, if the sheep listens to the shepherd’s voice, he will make it to the next tuft of grass and through the dangerous wadi.

Another word picture is that we are to be “shade” for people when life’s desert is hot, because God is our shade (Psalm 121). RVL used the example of the rotem (“broom tree”) which is a small tree that shepherds use in the Israeli desert to give them just enough energy to make it to the next rotem. RVL described how many people had been “shade” to him when his mom was killed by a drunk driver. Powerful stories.

RVL used a number of other desert images to illuminate passages in the Bible. Because 70% of Israel is desert, the “sand” in the Bible refers to wadi sand. Ocean sand is called “sand of the sea”. In Matthew 7, Jesus says that a man who listens to His teaching and does not do what is says is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The hearers would have realized how stupid someone would have to be to build in a flash flood zone. Before RVL, I didn’t realize the magnitude of this imagery.

We discussed how God led the Israelites out of Egypt, because Egypt was a land of following the “eyes”. Egyptians did what their eyes enticed them to do. God wanted his people to be people of “ears” by following His voice. This is a relevant word picture to describe our difficulties as God-followers in American culture. Americans are all about doing “what is right in our eyes” (Judges 17), while God is asking us to allow His greater perspective to be what shapes us. Without the Bible, we are left with only our own limited perspective on life.

We passed a mustard tree, which was an impressive word picture in and of itself; RVL told us that this whole tree had grown since his last visit (a year ago). Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like a man who planted a mustard seed in his garden (Matthew 13). Jesus’s hearers would have thought it was ridiculous to plant an invasive species like mustard in their gardens, but Jesus was making a point that His message would grow quickly and upset the establishment.

After the Judah Wilderness, we drove to the Wilderness of Zin. We hiked to the city of Avdat, which was a Roman-style city built up on a hill by the Idumeans (descendants of Esau). However, we didn’t go to Avdat to see Avdat, which is a typical RVL method. We went because Avdat displayed what a behmah (“judgment seat”) around Jesus’s time looked like. Jesus would have stood on the lithostratos (“pavement”) waiting for his judgment by Pilate. The Avdat behmah was not in great shape, but the behmah in Jerusalem is now 12’ under the road level, so this worked.

RVL dramatically told Mark’s gospel version of Jesus’s interrogation and crucifixion at Avdat. It was amazing to hear how the details of Mark’s gospel closely mirror the inverse of a Roman “Triumph”, the ceremony where Caesar claimed to be the Son of God. Mark was writing to a Roman audience who would have been very familiar with a Roman Triumph – especially around the time of Nero – so he wanted them to understand that Jesus was truly the Son of God, not Caesar. RVL is a fiery speaker, so everyone was moved by his retelling.

After another full day, we headed to the Isrotel Hotel near the Red Sea. Gotta get some sleep before our first “real” hike (according to RVL) tomorrow.

Day 2: Biggest Discovery Since the Dead Sea Scrolls

After my morning “nap”, I awoke to a 5:45am wakeup call. Two nights of sub-two hour sleep drained my energy, but hey … we woke up safely in Israel! And I knew that we would get to see RVL when we went downstairs. RVL is usually in good spirits, so he and fifty 18-year-olds greeted us when we got downstairs. This trip is primarily composed of graduating seniors who have taken RVL’s elective Discipleship class at Holland Christian School and are now trying to live that out in real life.

RVL’s Israel itinerary is built around two ideas. First, attendees don’t know what the itinerary will be each day, because you are learning to be a disciple of the rabbi (in this case, RVL himself). This is to simulate what a real discipleship experience would be and is similar to real life following Jesus. Second, RVL prioritizes understanding the Bible text, rather than visiting historical or cultural landmarks. Both of these ideas make RVL’s Israel trip very uncommon, but everyone who I know of who has been say they never looked at the Bible – or their lives – the same way.

After breakfast, we did our 6:45am devotional, which introduced everyone to RVL’s topic of the two weeks: caring for the poor. RVL often discusses that God set up the world such that people would be shown God’s love and kindness by the giving behavior of those who follow God. It frustrated RVL to no end that “Western Christianity” thinks that following Christ is only some kind of statement of faith or set of creeds, when it was always about connecting your faith to action.

Our morning devotional included the Shema (“Hear”), which is what Jews historically have said as a daily covenant with God. We recited both the Hebrew and English versions of the Shema. (“Hear O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord alone. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul. And love your neighbor as yourself”). RVL asks the group to recite this statement several times a day as Jesus and his disciples would have, and it is quite a moving experience.

From 7am to 5pm, our tour bus made a number of stops around the Judah Mountains and along the Coastal Plains. We got out and hiked pretty far off the main roads so that we could reach a teachable moment and we followed RVL’s theme of discipleship in the Bible. The walking pace of the group was fast, even on hills, so it took some real effort for us to keep up. I was amazed at how hard people worked to stay up front with RVL. People just wanted to hear him talk about what we were seeing and ask him questions. Rachel and I had the privilege of being up front with RVL a few times throughout the day and to hear his thoughts was life-giving for us both.

RVL is a specialist on the Hebrew language, plants of Israel, ancient Hebrew culture, and Hebrew Bible symbolism. To hear him talk makes the Bible come alive in ways that I have never heard from anyone else. He is full of poignant examples of culture, geography, and language that few Americans seem to know. For most native English speakers, the Bible is a boring academic study, so I have found walking with RVL over the past few years to be eye-opening.

For example, on our first hike to Tel Gezer, we passed by two trees that created teachable moments: an atad and a fig tree. RVL explained that in Judges 9:15, Gideon’s son Abimilech explains to those who want him to be king that he will devour those who oppose him. But in English Bible versions, the word atad is translated “thornbush”, so, if we have never encountered an atad, we miss the fact that an atad is a poisonous tree that takes over every living plant around it.

RVL explained that in Mark 11, when Jesus curses the fig tree, English speakers completely miss the word picture. Fig trees in the Bible represent religious leadership. Right before Jesus cleanses the Temple, Jesus curses the fig tree because it bears no fruit. Later that day, the disciples remark that the tree has already withered. The word picture is that the Jewish leadership is not bearing fruit and that God will remove the Jewish leadership shortly thereafter. We miss the word picture completely.

While we were hiking, RVL noticed a dove “hovering” over the earth, meaning that it was staying in the same place flapping its wings to look for a nest. I have never seen a bird stay in exactly the same place while flying, and he said that this is a unique quality of doves to “hover” in this way. The word rachaph (“hover”) connects God’s Spirit hovering over the formless void/waters in Genesis 1 and God bringing peace out of the chaos. We see the same imagery in Matthew 3 when God’s Spirit is hovering to rest on Jesus during his baptism (i.e. waters of chaos and Jesus bringing peace).

RVL brought up a bunch of Hebrew word pictures that most people were not familiar with. We learned about “standing stones” and what it means to be a standing stone for God. Ancient cultures would set up stones with no marking on them to raise questions from passersby. When someone would ask what these stones meant, the locals would tell them what their God did there. We are called to be standing stones for God in this world according to 1 Peter 2.

We then went to Zorah and followed the story of Samson and how he truly was not a hero in any positive sense of that word. RVL mentioned that Samson is the only Bible character who took a lifelong Nazirite vow. Numbers 6 describes a Nazirite vow as drinking nothing from the vine, not shaving your hair, and not touching a dead body. Samson failed often in all three. RVL likened our faiths to taking a Nazirite vow – not in a sense of legalism, but in a sense of commitment. For us to succeed in showing the world who God really is, we need to have a total commitment to God and not to the world.

A highlight of the day was visiting Tel Shaarim, a city that was first excavated in 2010, that was mentioned in 1 Samuel 17:52. An archaeologist friend of RVL found a piece of pottery from 1200 B.C. with Hebrew writing calling for the poor to be treated well at the city gate, a priority for Bible-following Jews. This is the oldest Hebrew manuscript ever found. The existence of this city – and of King David himself – has been hotly debated for the past hundred years by scholars. This has been the first archaeological evidence that David existed. RVL said that this discovery has been the biggest discovery for Biblical historians worldwide since the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1948. It was pretty cool to be there at the dig.

We went into a “Gethsemane” (more on that later). We located pottery from Abraham's time, and I (legally) took a piece. We found the dried stream where David pulled his five stones to defeat Goliath. I definitely took two of those stones. I have no idea what customs is going to do when I try to take this stuff back to the US! We finished the day by reciting the Shema again and having dinner together. It was a long day, but a really good day 1 of hiking.

A treat to our evening was seeing Patti and Annaliese Yukawa in the Isrotel Ganim Dead Sea Resort! We are staying in room 501 and they are in 505. What are the chances?! We got to catch up with them for a while and heard about their experience in Israel since Wednesday. And now it is time to go to sleep. Please pray for us.

Day 1: Separated In Istanbul

We left for Intercontinental Airport a bit later than I would like on Thursday. This was not a problem for catching our flight, but it was indicative of how unprepared we were for this trip. I was busy with a variety of growing businesses; Rachel was busy getting the house project on track. And both of us were overwhelmed emotionally with our church situation and conflict with immediate friends.

We made the flight from Houston to Istanbul, got to our seats, and set up shop. We were fairly prepared for an 11-hour flight between doing additional RVL reading, watching movies (Turkish Air has an amazing selection) and needing to sleep on this redeye. Unfortunately, there was an undisclosed problem and the flight left two hours late. I had remarked to Rachel when I saw the itinerary that we were cutting it close in Istanbul. And of course, we were going to miss our connecting flight.

This was a problem for two reasons. First, we were the black sheep of this group. No one knew us and we had a separate itinerary. We didn’t have a contact phone number and I didn’t know where to meet people beyond Istanbul. Second, I don’t speak Turkish. I do believe that you should speak at least the basics of Turkish if you are in Turkey, but I didn’t have time to learn before we left. So when we landed in Turkey, the real problem occurred.

We had already missed our connecting flight, so the question was whether we could make the next flight to Tel Aviv that left in 35 minutes. We got off the plane and walked the guy who appeared to be in charge. He waved us over to another guy who looked at our boarding passes. He gave Rachel a new boarding pass for the next flight. Wow, this is going to work out well. They were ready for us. Rachel took the boarding pass and starting walking down a hallway to the right. The guy kept looking for my new boarding pass. Still looking. He couldn’t find it. Ugh.

He told me in broken English that I needed to go to the transfer desk (I think). I frantically/calmly tried to explain to him that Rachel and I would have boarding passes together and there must be a problem. He did not understand English and forced me to the left. At that point, Rachel was out of sight. I called to her but there was no response. We were both forced down hallways that we were not allowed to walk back up. It was sort of like the opening scene from X-Men when young Magneto is separated from his parents at Auschwitz and he is yelling for them to come back.

This was a real problem. We didn’t have international phones and I didn’t know who to contact in Istanbul or Israel. I needed to get on a flight in 35 minutes … and this was not America. I ran to the transfer desk. I waited there for 10 minutes and watched no one get helped. Then I saw an English-speaking woman yell at the transfer desk guy that she was a Star Alliance Gold Member and she needed to get to Tel Aviv tonight. He sent her off to the ticket sales desk. I thought that she might be my only hope. I ran after this woman – I later found her name was Karol – and asked if she knew how to get through the Istanbul Airport. She said, “Follow me.”

This next 20 minutes was one of the most frantic 20 minutes of my life. I am not the best at directions and the Istanbul Airport is huge. Karol was a Star Alliance Gold Member so she got us through the passport area and security by raising her voice to the attendant. This made me a bit uncomfortable to be so close to THE squeaky wheel, but I had to make this flight. Then the real madness happened. Karol said she couldn’t run, so I needed to run to gate to tell them to hold the plane. We decided that we had to get to gate 512. This was about ¾ mile away. I had to make a run for it.

This was approaching my sprinting speed for ¾ mile, which I am not in shape to do, especially with a 25 lb. pack. I got to gate 512 and managed to tell them that they needed to hold the place. They said something to the effect of: “There are two planes going to Tel Aviv and this is the wrong gate. I need to go to gate 213.” Not good. For those at home, gate 512 is not close to gate 213. I made a mad dash for gate 213 dodging speeding carts and loud Turks.

I had slept about 2 hours the night before, so this was about the max of what I could do. But I got to the gate in time. However, the guy at the gate said that my boarding pass was not valid and that I had to go to the transfer desk. When Karol caught up to me at 213, she was furious. Karol was used to getting her way and her technique would have worked in America. But the Turks said that no means no.

Karol made one last attempt to go to the Turkish Airlines concierge for VIPs and see what yelling at them could do. Again, this didn’t work. Another very real problem that occurred to me is that I had no idea where Rachel was or if she made it to the plane okay. Rachel has not traveled much internationally and we didn’t have a plan for this. I just hoped that Rachel took her good boarding pass and got on the plane rather than looking for me in the airport.

I ran back to gate 213 to see if I could find Rachel boarding the plane. No Rachel. I asked the attendant if Rachel Martin had boarding the plane. He went and checked and said there was no record of Rachel Martin boarding the plane. Yikes. We are both lost in the Istanbul Airport without a way to communicate and I have no idea where Rachel went. I ran to get a calling card, so I could call Verizon to set up a temporary international calling plan. This part actually went well because there was a multi-lingual man who helped me navigate the calling card, and the Verizon customer service person made this easy.

Immediately after setting that up for both Rachel and I, I got a text from Rachel saying that she was boarding a flight to Tel Aviv and that she hoped I would be okay. Small victory! Rachel was going to make it. This put me at ease tremendously. I considered that this traveling experience was sort of a hard reset on my system that God needed to make before I was ready for the Israel adventure. “Don’t lean on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” He was going to take care of me and I had everything I needed. I went back to the transfer desk and got a new ticket for a midnight flight.

During the next few hours, I memorized the assigned Bible passages that I had neglected for the past 6 months. And I finally memorized the Shema, which Rachel had memorized years earlier. This put my mind in a much healthier place as I boarded the flight to Tel Aviv. I landed in Tel Aviv at about 2am local time. I then took a taxi for an hour to our hotel in Neve Ilan, which I am just arriving. Wakeup call is in 3 hours. We have a full day of hiking in the sun tomorrow. May God give me strength.