And the walls came a tumblin' down!

Among going to Negev (Southern Israel), the Garden Tomb, the Western Wall, and Jerod's Winter Palace, we literally took the road down to Jericho this week. Yep. You heard right. The road to Jericho. Just like the poor unassuming man in the parable of the Good Samaritan, we went down to the lowest and oldest city on earth. But don't worry, I didn't get robbed or plundered and left on the side of the road to die. I do have some pics from the trip though:

The walls of Jericho would have been built on top of this older wall that has been uncovered by archaeologists. In you didn't know what was going on, this is me faking to blow a trumpet. I guess these walls weren't supposed to come down . . .

Like I said, Jericho is the lowest and oldest city on earth. Pretty cool huh?

This arid landscape is the Judean Wilderness, which marks the road to Jericho and also the likely place where Jesus fasted for forty days and nights. I am trying to look contemplative here. Far in the distance, in the top left-middle of the picture, is the Mount of Olives.

Jericho was nice because it was like a little oasis in the middle of the Jordan River Valley desert landscape. It was very true to the biblical description of a "city of Palm Trees." Near the ruins of Jericho was Elisha's Spring, which according to the Old Testament story was filled with bad water until the prophet who it was named for came along and "healed" it.

I wish I had some more time to blog, but we had four field trips this last week, and we are leaving really early tomorrow for Jordan. In fact, I will be the bottom part of the country, so for my family at home, I will be in South Jordan :) Only it is the country, not the city.

Oh, I do need to say that today I got to play the Carillon Bells in the highest tower that I have access to in Jerusalem. I played the hymn, "Be Still My Soul." As the bells rang out loud and clear over the Holy City, I felt the same comforting and warm Spirit that I have come to appreciate so much in this new land. There are very few things that are comparable to being able to bear your testimony through your fingers to a million people through music. Once again, any high expectations that I had for this place have been met and then exceeded over and over again.

Shalom aleichem (I can read more than half of the Hebrew alphabet now, though I really have no idea what it means),

-SJM