Shepehelah Field Trip

Today has been a great day of homework and recovery; our afternoon class got canceled today.

Yesterday we had a packed field trip day. On our field trip we visited the sites of the Shepehelah. We saw places where Samson lived and where David fought Goliath.

First we went to Beth Shemesh and the Sorek Valley. We overlooked the valley and watched shepherds herding their flocks in the valley. This part of Israel is really pretty and green, lots of farm land and very few houses and civilization. At Beth Shemesh we explored a cistern, which are underground wells used to collect water in Old Testament times. This was the valley where the Philistines sent the Ark of the Covenant back to the Israelites. (1Samuel 6)

After Beth Shemesh we went to Lachish which was the Shephelah's largest city in Old Testament times. In the Bible Joshua conquered Lachish in Joshua 10:31-32.

Then we went to Mareshah, which was a fortress in the Old Testament. There were underground rooms full of pigeon holes; these people raised pigeons for their industry and also for sacrifices. We also saw an olive press where these people crushed olive for olive oil. Mareshah can be found in Joshua 15:44 where the tribe of Judah is assigned to this area.

Next we went to Elah Valley (1Sam 17) where David fought Goliath. We were given slings to try out our slinging ability; I wasn't too bad but I could definitely improve in my slinging skills.

We also went to some bell caves which were really cool, they were huge caverns of limestone where they used to quarry the limestone. We also went to the Micah caves which are similar to the Nutty Putty caves. Those were fun to crawl through and such. I didn't explore as much as other people did, I just sat in the main cavern and enjoyed sitting and relaxing.

At the end of the day we went to Azekah where old Old Testament times they built up a fortress. Azekah was beautiful and it overlooked the whole Elah Valley, on a clear day you can see the Mediterranean Sea and the ridge of Jerusalem. Azekah can be found on Joshua 15: 35

All in all it was a good field trip. It was a long day but it was good to connect all the things I'm reading in the Old Testament to the places where they happened.