I just stepped out of my Land and Bible final. It brought tears to my eyes. Why, you may ask? The depth of material overstepped your intellectual bounds? Lo! (No). My eyes were clouded because the final encapsulated my time in Israel!
Allow me to explain =). For first half of the final, we looked up biblical references and named the regions and routes used by the people in the text. The second half was naming the cities in Israel. Y'all, for every reference, I had a picture in my mind. I know what those sites and routes look like!
I can see the Jezreel Valley stretching below, Jehu riding furiously down the Harod Valley to kill Jezebel at the city of Jezreel. I can see the whole Sea of Galilee - the plains where Jesus fed the 5000, the place of His home there, Capernaum. When Jeremiah speaks of briars and thorns, I feel them scraping across my legs (hiking in the hill country of Judah!). Just outside my window, the vineyards slope down the hills, painting a beautiful picture of Israel and later Jesus' words in John 15.
I'm here in Israel to tell you that the Bible is real. I have experienced it!! The events in the Bible must be seen as real events, not just stories created to satiate a mob, to be an "opiate of the masses". In the gospels, each disciple has his own perspective for events that happened - it wasn't as if they were all with each other every second of Jesus' ministry! Does it surprise you then, when we find apparent "discrepancies" when comparing the texts?
In only 2 weeks, I'll be headed home. But i know that what i will take with me cannot be kept in this land. The Word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. It has come alive for me through my experiences here, and for that I am extremely blessed and grateful to my heavenly Abba!
Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha'olam!
"Blessed be the Lord our God, King of the universe!"
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