Living Water…

Well it’s probably not a surprise for you to hear it’s been another full day! Yesterday, we headed south to Hebron. Today, north, to Shiloh and Nablus.

En route, we drove through the land connected to the stories in the book of Judges. With this focus on women in the Bible, Paula led our thoughts on some of the women within this time period of the Judges ~ both women with some power, like Deborah and Jael; and women with absolutely no power, and who suffered atrociously, such as Jepthath’s daughter, and the Levite’s concubine. 

Turning to Shiloh, when Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan, it was Shiloh, which became the spiritual centre. The Tabernacle, which had travelled with the people as they wandered in the wilderness, found a permanent home Shiloh, being there for over 350 years. 

Today, there is a large archaeological site at Shiloh, which we took time to explore. There are a number of archaeological digs taking place ~ the site kind of reminded me of something from Indiana Jones! 

We watched a couple of helpful videos and reconstructions. One of the famous biblical stories from Shiloh, relates to Hannah. Hannah came to the tabernacle at Shiloh to plead with God to give her a child. If you know the story, you know that she promised that if she had a son, she would dedicate him to serve God. And that is what happened. As she cried out God in prayer, she was overheard by the Priest, Eli, who assured her that she would have a son. Sure enough, Hannah has Samuel, and when he was old enough, she brought him to the tabernacle, to Eli, and dedicated him there.

We continued a little further north, and wound up to the very top of Mount Gerizim, and to another archaeological site involving the Samaritan people. Samaritans claim to be the true descendants of Moses and believe that Mount Gerizim is Mount Moriah, Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac. It is where they worship. To this day, there is a small Samaritan village on the mountain.

In the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, the woman talks about the fact the Samaritans worship on Mount Gerizim. The well in this meeting, is in the city below ~ modern day Nablus, known as Shechem and Sychar in the Bible.

Again, we visited the site, and also enjoyed the amazing views. After all this archaeology, it was definitely time for lunch, which we enjoyed in a restaurant in Nablus.

Having been very well fed indeed, we headed to the old part, to visit the well. I had the privilege of visiting this place back in 2017, and vividly remember our lovely Palestinian guide, Daoud, emphasising the historicity of this place, saying that, “wells don’t move!”

The Well is Jacob’s well, where he had the famous dream of the ladder, going up to heaven. And, of course, this is where Jesus met the Samaritan woman. There is a Greek Orthodox Church built over the well, which is served by Father Justinious. I remember missing this Priest six years ago, and he was elderly then! I think he’s now 94 and still greeting Pilgrims and writing icons. 

We went down to the well below the church, and members of the group took turns to draw the water up from the depths of the well; and we eat drink it, remembering and reflecting on Jesus, being in this spot; drinking this water… it’s a beautiful encounter and remains a beautiful place. After our time inside the church, we sat outside, and Paula shared her insights and thoughts about this woman of the Bible.

Our visit over, we returned to Jerusalem, to the college. I had a little time to freshen up before dinner and then time to chat in the beautiful courtyard. After dinner, some of us gathered to take time to debrief and begin to process our thoughts and feelings, before ending the day saying Compline together.