After a couple hours driving south through the desert, we reached the southernmost point in modern Israel: the city of Eilat. Situated on the Red Sea, this resort town is wedged tightly between Egypt on the west and Jordan on the east. While the Mediterranean Sea is Israel’s main link to international waters towards the west, this small section of shore provides a gateway to the east. This site has been in use since antiquity. For instance, King Solomon launched ships from here to bring back gold (1 Kings 9:26-28). Our first stop in Eilat was the national park. Renting […]
Author Archive: Brian Johnson
Meanwhile, Back in the Desert…
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with […]
God’s Tent
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 The last of the fall festivals has just finished: Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. We set up our sukkah and have enjoyed spending time in it. Spending time in a sukkah is meant to remind us of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, living in tents for forty years. The Israelites followed the presence of God through that harsh, hot land. God dwelled in their midst. […]
A Tale of Two Goats
Then [Aaron] is to take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats–one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the LORD and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat. Leviticus 16:7-10 The second of the fall festivals, Yom Kippur […]
Book Binding
He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. Revelation 3:5 Shanah Tova! Happy New Year! We just finished Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. The fall festivals are beginning. A common phrase for this time of year is “May your name be inscribed in the book [of life] for the next year.” The Bible talks about books with people’s names written in them. When Moses pleaded with the Lord to take away Israel’s sin with […]
The Great and Terrible Wilderness
Then, as the LORD our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful desert that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea. Deuteronomy 1:19 The Negev began to look lush and green as we continued south into the Negev highlands. The farther south we went, the fewer plants we could see growing. No one survives in this region unless they’re prepared. Driving a car makes life much easier, especially with the air conditioning cranked up. The ancient Israelites had no such luxury. This […]
Negev
Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God. Genesis 21:33 We turned south, leaving the Shephelah and Coastal Plain behind us. It is obvious that less and less rain falls the farther south you go. The plants became smaller, sparser, and browner. We entered the Biblical Negev. While the modern Negev region covers the whole of the south of the country, in Biblical times it was a small region, forming the southern extreme of the ancient nation. At the center is the site of Beersheba, located where two […]
Coast
“Your western boundary will be the coast of the Great Sea. This will be your boundary on the west.” Numbers 34:6 Continuing west from the Shephelah, we arrived at the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The coastal plain is characterized by its flatness and being on the coast (hence the region’s name). This area allowed for easy, unimpeded travel. The main international airport that serves Israel today is located in this region near the modern city of Tel Aviv. I had once wondered why they hadn’t built the airport closer to Jerusalem. The simplest answer is that if you go […]
Shephelah
Then Jeremiah the prophet told all this to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem, while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah that were still holding out–Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities left in Judah. Jeremish 34:6-7 We continued our journey west, emerging from the hill country to the shephelah, the low foothills. This region is characterized by low, rolling hills and wide valleys. The Sorek valley (mentioned last time) opened up as we crossed the limestone line. Sitting near the border is the ancient site of […]
Sorek
I will sing for the one I love   a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard   on a fertile hillside.He dug it up and cleared it of stones   and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it   and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,   but it yielded only bad fruit. Isaiah 5:1-2 After three days in and around Jerusalem, we rented a car as planned and headed west. Jerusalem is situated in the hill country, the ancient site laying a little east of the […]