pictures!

this past weekend my physical settings of the Bible class went on a three day field study. the first day we went to the shephelah, or lowlands. we stopped for a while at an old palestinian village. the inhabitants of the village were moved to gaza years ago. the area was full of trees and flowers and caves. it was all very beautiful.

this first picture was taken in a room at this village, looking out through some pillars at the hills.


it is the beginning of almond season in israel, and the almond trees are all in bloom. they're so lovely!


the second day we went to the negev, or desert. we stopped at be'er sheva and saw this reconstruction of an altar that was found there. there is no mention of an altar at be'er sheva in the Bible, so no-one really knows why it was there, but it looks very much like other Biblical altars they have found on other sites.

this next picture was taken on our third day at masada, down towards the dead sea. you can sort of see the sea off to the left of the picture through the haze.


this picture is of a river at en gedi. this place was incredible, literally waterfalls in the desert. after three days of hiking in the dry heat, en gedi felt like heaven.

there were lots of little animals at en gedi. there were these little rodent things that would just sit there and stare at you. they were too funny!


so, that was a very brief version of my weekend. i'll try and post some more pictures and maybe some stories later on, after im done with midterms.