Day 5

More internet issues but will try to post a couple days worth this evening. We are continuing to have 12 hour days slam full of good stuff. We spent alot of time outside on Friday and got plenty of sun. Went up lots of hills and down lots of valleys...


The family (Kyle, Liesl, Kirsten, Monty, and Heidi) atop the hill at Azekah in front of the Valley of Elah. The Philistines encamped throughout the entire valley behind us. So, let's just say there were alot of them. After 40 days of taunting, a certain giant is taken down by David, sending the Philistines in a frenzy back into the hills. I Samuel 17 is a must-read.


Here is my "smooth" stone that I will use to take down the Goliath's in my life. Hah. But seriously, this was taken right out of the dried up brook of Elah, where David retrieved his five smooth stones...Nice.


Joshua 10:1-14 gives the story for this next pic. Gibeon is the hill on the right and the valley of Aijalon is off left of the road. Here Joshua commanded the sun to stand still and the moon to stop until the nation of Israel avenged themselves of their enemies. v.14 says "There was no day like that before it or after it, when the Lord listened to the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel." I think this verse is actually the most impressive of the whole passage.


This is a Biblical hedge and vine from a vineyard near Jerusalem. To get the literary perspective, check out the Jesus' parable of the vine-growers in Mark 12:1-11.

*We also spent time this day at the Valley of Sorek (Samson and Delilah) across from Bet-Shemesh and also passed by Goliath's hometown of Gath.