Israel Group 1
Israel Lessons • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Andy Cook - EIN
GTI Study Tours
We didn’t slouch
Old folks - slow down
Pilgrimage vs. Study Tour
Flight left 1 hour late - concerned me
only issue with Turkish Air
11 hr flight from ATL to Istabul Turkey
3 hour layover
1.5 hour flight to Tel Aviv
Straight to our hotel at Neve Ilan.
To get to our hotel you turned left at the Elvis American Restaurant.
Guy that owns it is Israeli but loves singing Elvis Karaoke
Guide told us to take pictures of our breakfast so folks back home would know what a real breakfast was like.
He was very PRO Israel - kind of Trumpish - everything there was the best
But - I’ve never experienced a breakfast like that
Every cheese imaginable - all kinds of breads and pastries, meats
The only recognizable thing was scrambled eggs.
Knowing the geography makes a world of difference.
Regions
Philistines on the coastal plain
Shephelah - between the mountains and the coastal plain
The most fertile area of Israel
Also, the easiest place to have wars
Barely 10 - 14 miles wide
It is 34 miles by road - not as the crow flies - from Tel Aviv on the Coast to Jerusalem in the Judean Mountains
It’s 53 miles by road to Jericho which is practically on the border with Jordan
If you drive to the square in McDonough - that’s how wide Israel is.
Judean Mountains
Jerusalem and Bethlehem are there
Rotten place to have wars
Steep hills and lots of rocks
Literally go up to Jerusalem
Negev
Judean desert
Desolate - a million very steep hills, dust, dirt and rock
Very little vegetation
Dead Sea is there
There are several very important trade routes
From Europe south and from India south
both end up in Egypt
One is the Via Maris - the way of the sea - guess where it’s located
The second is the King’s Highway - It runs to the east of the Dead Sea/Jordan River/Rift valley
Almost all of the trade traffic traveled those two roads
They converged in modern Damascus.
The King’s highway straight south
And the other main trade route - the Via Maris made about a 1/4 circle around the sea of Galilee - Why do we care?
Where Jesus did 80% of his ministry
Why do you think that was?
(No social media, no mass communication - but lots of word of mouth traveling the world
(You don’t remember sermons much do you - but miracles - they’d travel
(You got to see this guy!)
Our first day on the ground was the easiest day - just to get us acclimated to walking a lot
All Totaled, we covered over 65 miles, almost 200 flights of stairs and went as deep as 180 feet underground on the trip.
This is the view from Yad Hashmona - the name means “Memorial of the 8”
Moshav Shitufi - essentially a kibbutz - commune type where everyone works together for a common purpose
Founded by Messianic Jews in 1971
Named for 8 Jewish refugees.
They 8 Jews fled Austria and went to Finland.
In a show of “conciliation” Austria handed them over to the Nazis in 1942
Auschwitz
7 died - 1 lived - Dr. Kolman - his family killed - immigrated to Israel.
When it was started, it was literally a garbage dump.
Cleaned it up and built a very realistic replica of Bible times
The trees on the hillside are not native.
When they arrived there were no trees
Planted pines because grow fast - but found they burn fast in wildfires
Let them die out and are planting more hardy trees now.
It’s about 8:30 - 9 in the morning - this is where we had devotions
Andy assigned us scriptures to read aloud at devotion times and at specific significant spots.
I was up first - my scripture was (someone read it)
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
I could barely choke out the words.
It was the most overwhelming moment - I’ve only reacted that deeply one other time - when I saw Anna’s first ultrasound.
This isn’t just a replica - they really do weddings here.
Typically weddings are held on Monday evening or Tuesday - Let’s see if we can figure out why.
Someone read Genesis 1:9-13
And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.
God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.
The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
What day of the week is the third day (sat even/sun, sun even/mon, monday even/tue)
Now what in the third day creation story would cause them to have weddings on the third day (God pronounced it very good twice)
As a side note - Yad Hashmona is a community of 270 people.
In 2008, a British lesbian couple married in the UK, but wanted to hold their reception the Yad Hashmona banquet hall.
YH refused as the recognized homosexuality as “an abomination.”
The couple filed a discrimination lawsuit based on a law passed in 2000 forbidding discrimination in public places.
They appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court and they upheld the ruling.
YH had to pay the couple just over $25,000 American (20,000 pounds)
If you think for a skinny minute we are safe because we are in Gray - you need to get your head out of the sand
YH is in the Judean Mountains a quarter of a world away from the UK.
My plug for elders
We will need strong, biblically astute leadership should that ever happen here or in our community.
Tell me what this is:
The stone is probably 4 foot in diameter - not what I have in my mind
But why would it be hard to move that stone?
(Weight, location)
Here’s a little nugget - archeological evidence says the people then were about 4 feet tall.
King Saul was considered huge at 5 feet.
A four foot stone for a person 4 feet tall would be an imposing thing to deal with.
Someone read Matthew 28:1-6
Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.
His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.
But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
What you just read, looked pretty much like this.
What are you looking at? (a small vineyard)
Describe what you see:
(wall surrounding it
(arbor for the vines to grow
(notice the stone floor - notice it tilts a little down hill - what was that used for?
(crushing grapes
It would take a lot of work to maintain this -
What kinds of things would you have to do for it to be productive?
What would happen if you stopped working it?
How long would it take to fall into disrepair?
Some read Isaiah 5:1-7
Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?
And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!
Tell us what the Lord’s judgement looks like?
Tell me what you see in our country? In Atlanta?
This is another type of winepress.
Two people would turn the screw to smash the grapes
The juice would pour into the vats
Notice something - everything is made of carved stone
Someone read Ruth 3:1-15
Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?
Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.
Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.”
And she replied, “All that you say I will do.”
So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her.
And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down.
At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet!
He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.”
And he said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.
And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.
And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I.
Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.”
So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”
And he said, “Bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city.
I’ve always imagined that scene in a barn of sorts with a smooth floor.
Doesn’t look too smooth to me.
Read Matthew 3:11-12
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Who is “he” here? (Jesus)
Explain threshing.
(beat the bundles of grain on the floor to separate the wheat the straw
What do you do with a winnowing fork?
(throw the grain into the air for the wind to blow the chaff away.
(chaff would pile up around the floor and be burned)
Everyday examples - the word is so simple.
Any clue what this is?
Olive press
To get extra virgin oil - that means not pressed really
They put the olives into a burlap type sack with a wooden type lid and the weight of the olives would make some olive oil seep out.
This is the best oil but doesn’t get all of the oil.
They then put these poles with weight on the basket to squeeze out the rest of the oil.
Where would you see these?
(Garden of Gethsemane) - the garden of the oil press
There is another type of press which used a stone that is turned in a trough.
A couple in our group got to do this at another location - this type of press doesn’t make as good of olive oil as the other type.
The olive oil at the Mt. of Olives all goes to the Vatican now
Except for the few vials sold to some special tourists.
Olives are mentioned 64 times in the Bible.
They were edible - the oil is delicious
It was also used for lighting their houses with oil lamps.
Someone read Deuteronomy 8:1-10
“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers.
And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.
Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.
So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills,
a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey,
a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.
And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
What is he talking about?
What was one of the rewards of the promised land (a land of olive trees)
Ya’ll, if this is how the Lord operates, what will He do now that our government has become evil and corrupt?
This was dinner that evening.
We were at our hotel at the Dead Sea.
Every meal was an all you could eat buffet and they had at least 30 - 40 items every night.
The bread was fresh baked every where every day.
You see that roll? I’d break your hand if you tried to take it from me.
They have lots of eggplant - which I adore - most of the rest of that I wasn’t sure of.
There is some meat in there somewhere.
And let me say this - their dill pickles are better than any dill pickle I have tasted in my whole life.
Nothing we have compares and I can’t tell you way - they are just different. Wonderfully different.
And that was day one.
Any questions or comments?