Israel 2012 Bible tour Day 3

Today's video is on Shepherds and sheep in the fields and the significance of both, Tel Arad, and The Gan. The video for Tel Arad did not completely come out so like my last post parts of it will be written out.

With out further adieu open your heart, your mind and turn up your speakers here we go.


Israel 2012 Day 3 from Charissa Robertson on Vimeo.

Genesis 15

"God's Covenant With Abram
1 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” 2 But Abram said, “O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” 4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”" 

 Abram would have looked at the stars as a symbol of the souls of people who came before, and also those yet to be born. Also just the sheer number of stars was as innumerable then as they are now.

"6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. 7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” 8 But Abram said, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” "

Abram challenges God to "prove it"

"9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. 12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him."

Abram does what the Lord asks of him, and then some. He knows that the Lord is about to make a covenant with him because of the cultural tradition in that day. When making a covenant (meaning to cut) you would use a heifer, a goat, sheep, a ram and/or birds. After gathering the animals you would cut them in half from nose to tail and would arrange the halves as Abram did so that the blood would flow into a stream between them. The greater party would set the terms of the agreement, and the lesser will either accept or reject the terms. Before young people would get married the fathers of each person would get together and negotiate the bride price and would seal the marriage with a covenant like this one prior to any official ceremony or consummation. Each party would walk through the blood path bare foot to symbolize that if they broke the covenant that the other person could do to the other what had been done to those animals. After they would exchange a sandal to bind their agreement and to serve as a reminder of the covenant.

The desert gets VERY dark during the night, just as John was explaining in the Sheep and Shepherd teaching, but in this instance John pointed out that Abram likely fainted because He knew the seriousness of what was about to happen and that he could not live up to the terms of God's covenant. The expression "a thick and dreadful darkness" has been found in other Hebrew writings to express being scared to death.   Genesis 17:1 say  "When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless." (emphasis mine) Abram knew that he could not live in perfect obedience, and could pay for it with his life.

"13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” 17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”"

 Many times in the bible God is portrayed as Fire or Smoke (Pillar of fire and smoke in Exodus, The burning bush with Moses). Instead of making Abram walk through the blood path in verse 17 God took the form of a blazing torch and walked through it for him, knowing full well that Abram would not be able to keep the covenant. Announcing in a very cultural way that "If either you or I break this covenant, I will pay for it with my own blood" Sound familiar? Think New Testament.

Usually when we think of Judaism and Biblical sacrifices that we think of it as legalistic, but this act served as a visual reminder of God's covenant with their father, and expresses their love for God. So although sacrifices did become an atonement of sin, it was because of this covenant, where you would present the animal to take your place. All sacrifices were for ceremonial uncleanness not for intentional sin. The blood of the temple sacrifices would remind the people of the blood of that first covenant.

 The Jews do not have a hard time believing that Jesus is God because God showed up in human form in many places in the Torah. In Genesis 18 the Lord appears to Abraham in the form of a man, although Abraham did not recognize Him or the angels With Him.

Genesis 18:1-7
"The Three Visitors
1 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground."

This translation says that Abraham hurried, but in the Hebrew it is translated to he ran to meet them. Hebrew men didn't run, especially an elderly man, it would have been a shameful thing to do. A Rabbi was once asked when he would run, and he replied "Only if a black scorpion was about to sting my granddaughter".  Besides Abraham there are only 3 men in the bible who run, Esau, Aaron (in crisis to offer an offering to God) and the Father of the Prodigal son. Also mind you that before this instance when Abraham runs to the three men approaching his tent, that he was just circumcised. Women you can try to imagine what that would have done for his running gate, men you probably have a much better idea than I do, but Abraham was willing to shame himself to take care of total strangers. It would have been acceptable and understandable for him to send his servant up ahead to greet the strangers, but he runs ahead to meet them.

 "3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by.4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree." 

Abraham washes their feet... also the role of a servant. And he invites them in for a meal. In eastern culture, even today sharing a meal with someone is a intimate encounter. It signifies that you are not only accepted into their group/ family/ clan/tribe but that you are now one of them. In today's culture to split the bill when going out to eat means that you want to sever the relationship. So when you read about meals in the bible and people sharing meals it is very significant to what they are saying about their relationship.

"5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.” 6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread.” 7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it."

 Abraham has Sarah make three seahs of fine flour into bread... First of all fine flour would have been wheat. farmed and harvested in Israel; barley and wheat. Barely is the first grain harvest and was considered poor mans grain because everyone could afford it. Wheat is the second grain harvest and was more expensive, so was considered finest grain. This would have been like us opening a $500 bottle of wine that your saving for a special occasion and sharing it with a complete stranger. Secondly three seahs would have been 65 pounds of flour. They didn't know how long the men would stay, but they were prepared to feed them for a month. This shaped the way that people of the middle east treat a stranger. Jesus said in Matthew 13:33 that "the kingdom of heaven is like a woman who took yeast and mixed it into three seah's of flour. Jesus is stringing the pearls. For a Jew in that culture and even now when a portion of scripture is read or spoken, the speaker or reader is referring to the whole story that the line came from. So Jesus is referring to Genesis 18.

Jesus once said that "Abraham longed to see my day" What do you think Jesus meant by this? Could it have been that Abraham longed for the day when people would take care of each other with a joyful heart?

Alright so all that is background. What makes Tel Arad one of my favorite places? The Temple that was found there!!! And I would love to share with you a little about the temple, its rooms and items that would have been used in worship in the temple.

So when you walk into the temple you are in the peoples court and that is where you would bring your sacrifice. In Jerusalem there was a division line for where the Gentiles were allowed to go and where the Jews were allowed to be. If a Gentile crossed the line s/he would have been killed. The Priests court was part of the peoples court in Arad, but this would have been a separate court in Jerusalem as described in Exodus

Exodus 27:1-8
"1 “Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide.2 Make a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar are of one piece, and overlay the altar with bronze.3 Make all its utensils of bronze—its pots to remove the ashes, and its shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans.4 Make a grating for it, a bronze network, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the network.5 Put it under the ledge of the altar so that it is halfway up the altar.6 Make poles of acacia wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze.7 The poles are to be inserted into the rings so they will be on two sides of the altar when it is carried.8 Make the altar hollow, out of boards. It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain."

Exodus 26-30 describe in detail how the Tabernacle was to be designed and constructed. The temple was designed around these specifications

 The Priests were only allowed to enter the Holy of Holies once a year on Yom Kipper. It contained only the Ark of the Covenant. Inside the Ark of the Covenant were the ten commandments. When we think of the ten commandments and see artistic renditions of it, we think of two tablets with 5 commands on each tablet, but one argument on this is that like any modern contract one copy is given to each party. When God wrote out the commands on the tablets on Mt. Sinai and gave them to Moses he commanded that they be put in the Holy place of Israel. Both copies were put into the Ark of the Covenant. In the picture below the two stones in the back of the room are replicas of replicas (yes I know a bit confusing) of tablets they found when excavating the site, the original replicas are in the National Israeli Museum. The original ten commandment tablets are "lost" with the Ark of the Covenant. Some believe it to be hidden under the temple mount.

The Holy of Holies. God's bedroom. 

Covering the entrance to the Holy of Holies would have been a veil which was a hand breadth wide and weighted more than a ton (it fell down a lot and would take several priests to put it back in place) and is described in Exodus 26.


Exodus 26:31-35

"31 “Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim worked into it by a skilled craftsman.32 Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases.33 Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the Testimony behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.34 Put the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy Place.35 Place the table outside the curtain on the north side of the tabernacle and put the lampstand opposite it on the south side. "

This veil was torn supernaturally when Jesus gave up His spirit on the cross. (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45) I believe that this is discussed more later on in the tour but this is very symbolic of what Jews still do to express deep sorrow, and has been documented all over the old testament but Jews will physically rip their shirt in sorrow.  This also symbolized that God was now accessible for all, not just the priests, and not just the Jews but all people.

Back tracking a bit back to making sacrifices for temple worship the priests would perform a form of baptism called Miqvah, which would cleans them while reciting the Sh'ma

There would be a Torah recitation and the family would bring their animal to the alter and the priest would declare that it was for your family, butcher the animal, throw the kidneys and fat into the fire and the blood would be thrown against the altar. The meat would be roasted and then eaten. Josephus Flavius recorded that 250,000 sheep were slaughtered during Passover.

During Yom Kippur the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and it would fill with smoke (the presence of God). On that day two goats would be brought led by scarlet ropes and tied to the altar. Lots would be cast to determine which goat would be slaughtered and its blood would be sprinkled on the front of the ark, sprinkled on the mercy seat in the holy place and put on the other goat. The other goat would then be led out to the desert to die (scapegoat). The Mishnah records that gentiles would be hired to catch and kill the goat so it would not wonder back into the city. Over the year the scarlet chord tied to the altar would be bleached white the sun. The Mishnah also records that 40 years before the temple was destroyed the cord stopped bleaching white.

Jesus was taken out of the city by Gentiles during the Passover Feast and crucified as our scapegoat.

I know this is long but hang in there the next section is just as amazing. If you didn't finish the video before, go back and finish it now, I think you will be blessed.


All of my information was taken from notes I received from John Farwell the leader of our trip and Ray Van  Laans website: www.followtherabbi.com