Singing Along the Journey

Tel Hazor

It’s all about the water…

It’s all about the water… It is late at night after a second full day of visiting Israel with the Bible Study Tour from Campbell University.  What a great experience so far – and how much I have learned. You see, I’ve spent a lot of my life thinking about Israel and this region in a lot of different ways – historically, culturally, politically, and theologically.  And when you have devoted so much of your attention to a place, you really think that you know something about it, right?  In a short 48 hours, most of what I thought that I “knew” about this region has been swept aside with…
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It all happens at the gate…

Having spent these last weeks deeply immersed in learning to translate Biblical Hebrew by translating the entire book of Ruth, the word sha'ar or gate has become a regular part of my Hebrew vocabulary and my thinking about community life. You see, in the ancient world, the gate of the town was the most important place (that is, in Near Eastern culture -- once the Romans came along that would switch to the marketplace or forum).  Everything happened at the gate -- that was where important contractual business happened, where news was shared (or gossip, depending on your point of view), that was where you went if you needed help,…
Read More

It’s all about the water…

It’s all about the water… It is late at night after a second full day of visiting Israel with the Bible Study Tour from Campbell University.  What a great experience so far – and how much I have learned. You see, I’ve spent a lot of my life thinking about Israel and this region in a lot of different ways – historically, culturally, politically, and theologically.  And when you have devoted so much of your attention to a place, you really think that you know something about it, right?  In a short 48 hours, most of what I thought that I “knew” about this region has been swept aside with…
Read More

It all happens at the gate…

Having spent these last weeks deeply immersed in learning to translate Biblical Hebrew by translating the entire book of Ruth, the word sha'ar or gate has become a regular part of my Hebrew vocabulary and my thinking about community life. You see, in the ancient world, the gate of the town was the most important place (that is, in Near Eastern culture -- once the Romans came along that would switch to the marketplace or forum).  Everything happened at the gate -- that was where important contractual business happened, where news was shared (or gossip, depending on your point of view), that was where you went if you needed help,…
Read More