My First Trip to Israel | "Semi-retired" Pastor Frank

The Diary of My First Trip to Israel—pages 7-8

Page 7: “The shadow of the sun was dipping just below the crest of the wall above the Western Wall as young male voices were heard coming from the Jewish Quarter in the southeast of the Old City. They were dressed in black pants and white shirts. Their fathers were already waiting and worshiping at the wall in black suits and varied black hats. It is Friday night—Sabbath. I put on my cardboard yarmulke, compliments of the State of Israel, and joined the throng. Men and boys, arm in arm, dancing counter clockwise in a ring, many already at prayer or Torah reading, speaking out loud and rocking mechanically at their spot on the wall. Women were scarce, and no women were seen with the men to the left of the barrier which excluded them. They were to worship for hours, but I was now ready to eat, and soon I was seated at an Armenian restaurant looking at lamb, baby chicken and beef. The total bill for our group of eight came to $187. We even tipped.

It’s now 11:09 and I am rested. My headache is now only a memory and I have scarcely even burned even after exposure to the sun for two days. The Sabbath streets are eerily quiet compared to previous evenings. Even the birds are quiet. The weather has remained the same, and Jerusalem Day festivities are either completed or on hold. I have learned that this day celebrates the founding of Jerusalem by David.

I’d have liked to have been there!

Page 8: Today was a day of rest for me and for the Jew. It is Sabbath, Saturday, May 15th. We arose leisurely, breakfasted together in the second floor dining room and ascended the hotel stairs to the roof for a panoramic view of the city and beyond. Jordan lay slumbering in the haze of the morning to our east. The Mount of Olives served as a backdrop to the Dome of the Rock whose golden covering sparkled in the mid-morning heat. Now it was off to the synagogue for services.

Nothing in Jerusalem is flat, so we exited Jaffa Gate and rapidly descended into Gehinnom, the Valley of Hinnom, the New Testament picture of hell, past the Hilton and U.S. consulate, flanked by guards who shadowed us on the sidewalk as we made our way down empty streets.

We arrived at an old but modern edifice of worship. The women in our group went to the balcony as required. The men remained below to observe, though two younger men rolled their eyes after spotting us. The worship was dominated by the elderly and they couldn’t have filled more than 20% of its capacity.

A lunch at McDonald’s was all that was available. Every other eatery was shut down. After lunch a small group of hearty souls toured the citadel by our hotel, which may have served as a military garrison as early as the time of David. It was a lengthy and must-see self tour and ended with a look at a 1:500 model of the entire city of Jerusalem.

A return to the hotel resulted in a long nap. This evening we went out on David St. to a nearby cafe for shwarma and a coke which set me back twenty-one shekels. We then sauntered out on the deck which overlooks Jaffa St. to people watch and find joy in the setting of the sun. The larks frolicked above while the children below played soccer and climbed on the railings. The chill Jerusalem night air chased us inside for good conversation and a time with my pen. The city has come alive again with the quick curtain of night having fallen and the Sabbath complete.”

Thus far, I’ve only covered four to five days of my first trip to Israel, but I hope that it has given you a flavor of the joy I experienced so long ago which has carried through to this day. Maybe someday I’ll share with you the latter half of my trip. How young I seemed back then! The people that I met there were beautiful, and I wish you could see their faces as I still can. That first trip made such an impression on my mind, and I look forward to being able to take you with me one day to the land of Israel. As I’ve said many times, a walk in the land deepens your walk with the Lord. You are there in the land where he was, where he lived, where he died, and seeing those sights has brought me a greater understanding of the Word of God. Still to this day, as I read it, the Word of God comes alive. I can see it, smell it, taste it, hear it and touch it, and so I do hope that one day, whether with our ministry or not, you will make a trip to the Promised Land.

Daniel McCabe

Trivia (Find the answer at the bottom)

Hebrew is written from right to left and English of course from left to right, but in which direction is Arabic written, the third most common language today in Israel?

A. Right to left

B. Left to right

Hamartiology – Origin and Transmission of Sin

Hamartiology refers to the study of sin. It comes from the Greek word for sin, hamartia. Sin is a violation of God’s moral standard. Some define sin as missing the mark, but essentially it’s anything that runs contrary to God’s character or will. Committing an act forbidden by God is sin as is failing to commit an act commanded by Him.

Adam and Eve failed their first test of obedience issued by God back in the garden. They were tempted by Satan, of course, but Adam and Eve were the guilty ones for choosing to sin. They couldn’t simply blame their sin on Satan even though Eve tried. It’s certainly true what Eve said, “The serpent deceived me and I ate,” but she couldn’t wiggle out of her guilt by blaming it on the serpent, the devil. Adam had likewise chosen to eat the forbidden fruit, and he tried to blame it on the woman, “She gave me of the tree and I ate.” Even when we’re tempted, we’re still guilty when we choose to sin. It’s our fault. By this act of evil by Adam, our representative head, the entire human race fell and became guilty of sin.

Traditionally, there are two different ways to think about the transmission of sin—representative headship or seminal headship. Did we inherit our sinful nature from Adam because he represented us—he’s our leader and our representative, and since he fell, I fell too? Or did we inherit our sinful nature from Adam through physical genetics? I think both are in play here. Adam represents man as the very first man. But he is also our head in that we all come physically from him.

Either way the guilt of sin has been transmitted to us. Every person is prone to sin from birth and can do no truly good act to please God. All of our righteousness is like filthy rags. We can’t do any good works to enter into a state of purity and goodness. We can only receive goodness from Jesus Christ as He imputes His righteousness to us. If we have faith in Him and ask forgiveness for our sins, then He is gracious and kind to do it (1 John 1:9).

The extent of sin is thorough in mankind. Every single person is guilty of sin. Even the baby that’s conceived is born into a fallen race, so even if he hasn’t technically committed any sins of his own, he is still part of the fallenness of this world. Jesus Christ is the only sinless human being. He’s fully human, and He’s the only sinless human.

Satan and some of the angels also sinned and fell from God, and they continue to tempt mankind to sin. Satan is up to his old tricks, and he’s always trying to tempt us, but we must resist his temptations though sometimes in our fallen flesh we give in to them even though we shouldn’t.

Adam Keim

History and Geography: Gideon of Ophrah

“Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor’” (Judges 7:11-12).

The precise location of Ophrah, Gideon’s hometown, is a difficult place to discern. There is another town called Ophrah in the Judean hills (1 Samuel 13:17), but Gideon’s home was most likely in the Valley of Jezreel. You can see in the picture that Nazareth and Megiddo were nearby places.

The pictures in this series will be snapshots from Google Earth so you can see the terrain as it is today, which in many cases is just like it was in biblical times! The Sea of Galilee lies about 18 miles to the northeast, and the modern city of Afula sits just next to ancient Ophrah. Personal travel tip: Afula’s traffic can get quite slow in the afternoons.

Ophrah is perched on the western edge of the Hill of Moreh. That hill also held such notable places as Endor on its east, where Saul found a witch in 1 Samuel 28, and Shunem on its south, where Elisha resurrected a woman’s son in 2 Kings 4.

Gideon felt personally the raids on his land by the Midianites. He beat out wheat in a winepress installation in order to hide it from oppressors. The Lord used him to lead a meager army against the Midianites, intentionally small so that the glory of victory would go not to any man, but to Whom it belonged–God.

Ophrah is a little-known town to even savvy Bible readers. In fact, most of what I want to highlight in this series are lesser-known locations, but places in which God raised up people to achieve great things by His own hand.