Bethlehem

Well, I am a little behind in my posting. Last Friday (August 29) we had the opportunity to get out of Jerusalem. I'm not planning on writing a lot so here's a bunch of pictures with a few comments!

We rented a van for the day which was so nice to have!

 

First stop: Solomon's Pools! Three big pools that Solomon would have built to hold water.

 



Someone was enjoying being out in the middle of nowhere...and decided to take advantage of the opportunity :)!

 

 

This was a monastery that we stopped at just down the valley from the pools. Its in memory of Song of Solomon.

 

The wall that separates the West Bank from Israel.

(This is from the West Bank side)

 

 

THE PLACE where Christ was born. Amos told me I should at least bend down and touch it if I'm not going to kiss it. So I bent down and touched it, and wished I hadn't. After we climbed up the stairs out of the 'cellar' he asked what I thought of it. I must have made an awful face, cause he just laughed at me and said, "Sarah! You need to get in touch with your Catholic side!"

"No! That's just weird!"

 

So it wasn't really Starbucks, but it was still good coffee! We all got Shwarma and Falafal before continuing on.

At the Shepherds Fields we were able to walk through a cave, which was a cool experience. I think Jack enjoyed it the most!

 

Jack was disappointed with this picture that I took cause, "You can't see how high up I am, you should have gotten the floor on." So for the record, he's up high. He had to be lifted up into that little nook.

 

Now this was cool! You can see Bethlehem in the distance, the fields in the valley are known as Boaz's fields, to the right of were we were standing was some of the threshing floors that Boaz would have used...possibly the place that the scene in Ruth between Boaz and Ruth could have played out.

 

The Herodiom. Another one of Herods projects. He wanted to be able to see the Temple Mount from the top. So he took the top of the mountain on the left and moved it to the right. He also built a palace and had a big tower on top that he could look out and see Jerusalem from.

 

The last time I checked my passport says I'm a citizen of the United States of America....so we weren't breaking any laws when we entered section 'A' :)!

 

Some security was positioned sporadically through out West Bank, mostly in Section 'A'.

 

The Valley of Elah where David killed Goliath.

Reading the account and looking down at the place that it happened...imaginations working. It really gave life to the story, and was very interesting!

 

A vineyard we stopped at toward the end of our journey.

 

So back in the time of Jesus there was a law that if you were a stranger you could stop at a garden, orchard, ect. and pick produce to eat. You didn't need to ask, or pay for it. You were allowed to help yourself, but you could not 'fill your basket' and take some home. That is still a law in Israel today. So we stopped and helped ourselves to a mid afternoon snack!