Village Schools of the Bible

LESSONS FROM ISRAEL:
CISTERNS, CAMELS, AND GATES
By Max Frazier, Jr.

This past winter, Marlys and I had the delightful privilege of leading our third Village Schools of the Bible Tour to Israel. We had thirty friends join with us for a two-week adventure in the Holy Land.

During our days there, we were exposed to the Essenes and the Nabateans, to Herod the Great and to his sons Archaelaus, Antipas, and Philip. We witnessed the stories of the ancient past and observed the energies of the Israeli people for the future. We sailed on the Sea of Galilee and floated in the Dead Sea. We climbed mountains and descended into valleys. And there was always the ubiquitous walking…wished we had kept track of the many miles. And everywhere we observed the beauty that was and is Israel. If you have not visited Israel in the Spring, you really do owe yourself the experience. Multiple shades of green blanketed the hillsides, punctuated with statements of bright yellow from the wild mustard, brilliant red from the anemones, and pinks and lavenders from the wild cyclamens.

Everyday God challenged us with His presence. We were reminded of His sovereignty over the nations both in the past as well as in the present. And, the stories from the ruins recounted the faithfulness of God.

I suppose I could write pages on what God taught me during those days in His Land. My own heart and mind were greatly challenged by the on-site teachings from Amnon and the teachings from the Word. But, three area especially stand out to me: cisterns, camels, and gates. Now, I am sure you are asking yourself this question: What do these three things have to do with biblical truth and an understanding of God? Let me share.

Cisterns: Water Is Life

The deserts of Arabia yield the “black gold” of our time – oil. But, the deserts of Israel yield olives, oranges, grapefruit, wine, strawberries, tomatoes, and flowers of every hue under the rainbow. One desert produces a lifeless commodity – howbeit, one that we have come to be much too dependent upon; another desert produces an abundance of life. What makes the difference? The answer is rather obvious – water.

The nation of Israel is blessed with no more than four months of rainfall. The balance of the year is hot and dry. So, every drop of water is very precious…not one is to be wasted. Water needs to be collected, stored, and even recycled. And this conservation of water is not a new phenomena of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries! No, it was a practice initiated and developed by the ancient peoples who inhabited the land of Canaan. Let me share with you the story from just three locations.

Beersheba: This ancient Bedouin community lies south of Jerusalem. It marked the most southern city in ancient Israel. (You might remember the phrase, “from Dan to Beersheba” – from north to south). It was here that Abraham made a treaty with Abimelech, king of the Philistines (Genesis 21:22-34). It was here that Isaac dug a well (Genesis 26:25). Called today “Abraham’s Well”, it is twelve feet across and plunges fifty feet deep through solid bedrock. Yes, there is still water at the bottom of the well, as a small pebble dropped from the hand of our guide testified.

But, the well lay outside the city walls. So, in the event of an attack, the water supply became very vulnerable. To remedy that problem, the ancients dug a large cistern into the bedrock, plastered it with a special clay that did not absorb water, and then dug a tunnel connecting the river with the cistern. We had the exciting privilege of climbing down the some 120 steps to this tunnel and then walking through it. One almost felt as if he were on hallowed ground. We were reaching back into time to the days of at least Solomon, if not before.

Masada: This mountain towers above the shores of the Dead Sea. It is known as the location of Herod the Great’s southern-most palace. (You might know that he spared little expense in making it as elaborate as possible, including having at least two Roman baths). It is also the location where a small band of Zealots held out against the Tenth Roman Legion during the closing days of the First Jewish Revolt (ending in 70 AD). Now, to survive on this mountain, one must have water. An intricate system of small aqueducts was built that brought water from the nearby mountains into large cisterns that had been cut into the rock of Masada. Collectively, these cisterns held millions of gallons of water. In fact, water was so plentiful in the cisterns of Masada, that the Zealots taunted the parched Romans by throwing buckets of water over the walls. Again, life was possible because there was water.

Jerusalem: One of the most remarkable stories in the Bible concerning water for the city of Jerusalem relates to the time of Hezekiah. One of the major water sources for the city was the Springs of Gihon, located near the southeastern corner of the city. Yet the spring lay outside the wall. With the siege of the Assyrian King Sennacherib imminent, one of King Hezekiah’s first tasks was to bring the waters from the spring into the city through a water tunnel. This is recorded in 2 Kings 20:20 – As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? The tunnel is 1750 feet long and follows an “S” shape through the rock. It ends in the Pool of Siloam, known as the place where Jesus commanded the blind man to go and to wash his eyes (John 9:7).

In the ancient world, water was life! It was that simple! I am reminded of conversation Jesus had with a certain woman at an ancient well in Sychar. It was a well that had been dug during the days of Jacob. Jesus was thirsty and asked for a drink. He then makes this statement to the woman – Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:13-14). Jesus knew the precious value of physical water. But He also knew that physical water only satisfies one’s thirst temporarily. What He offered, the spiritual water, satisfied one’s spiritual thirst eternally.

Gates: Security is Essential

Over the years of traveling to Israel, I have become fascinated with the structures of the gates of the ancient cities. We know that most cities were surrounded with at least one wall, and often two or three, for protection. These walls, constructed of large stones (of which there were an abundance), stood several feet high and measured several feet thick.
Entry into the city was gained through one of more gates.

I have found these ancient gates to be fascinating for at least two structures usually present. First, a system of guard rooms were found as one entered the gate. The purpose for these guard rooms (usually two-pairs in number, although Solomon’s gates are distinguished with three-pairs), was to identify those who were gaining access to the city. We could say it was the ancient method of screening. You see, what went into the city, usually found its way back out of the city. A caravan would enter with its camels laden with goods for trade, and then would exit with goods for another place. The officers at the guard rooms would only allow access to the city to those individuals who would help the city prosper. Undesirables were kept out of the city.

The ancient cities of Dan, Hazor, and Megiddo offer clear evidence of these guard rooms. As I stood in one of those guard rooms at Megiddo, looking back at the gate through which I had just walked, I was reminded of this verse in Proverbs – Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life (Proverbs 4:23). My heart represents my internal city. It represents who I am. Now there are many gates that gain access to my heart – my eyes, my ears, my mind, and my mouth. If I am to protect my heart, my internal city, I need to guard carefully what comes in through the various gates. And often it takes more than just a single guard room. I, too, need to have several there to help control what comes into my heart.

The ancients understood the seriousness of guarding their cities and who had access to them. As believers, we also need to understand the seriousness of guarding our hearts. Friends, the ancient ruins not only tell the story of the past, but also help us to better understand the present.

Camels: A Marvel of God’s Creativity

At a place called Ezuz, a little village out in the middle of the Negev, our group had the privilege of mounting up on camels for a thirty-minute trek into the Negev to a small bed-n-breakfast for our noon meal. Now I am a guy who shies away from horses (I am waiting for one of the Lord’s well-trained horses described in Revelation 20), so I was very hesitant about getting on the back of a camel. But, mount up I did…not without some difficulty. And then the camel got up…you know, they get up on their back legs first, which really throws the center of gravity for the person riding in the front off. I looked like the pictures of the cowboys riding their bucking broncos. Marlys and I held on…the camel got up on all fours…and we were off.

Of the creatures God created, perhaps the camel is the most unusual. Our guide told us that tradition states that the camel was created by a committee. But I am not sure that a committee would do as adequate a job. Here is what I have learned about camels, with a little help from www.arab.net/camels website:

Camels have an acute sense of hearing. Their ears are lined with fur to filter out sand.
Camels’ eyes are protected by a double set of eyelashes to filter out the sand, and bushy eyebrows protect the eyes from the sun.
Camels have broad, flat, leathery pads on their feet. There are two toes. The pads spread so the camel does not sink into the sand. Sort of functions like snowshoes. (I was amazed as I watched our camel walk over rocky terrain. It was as if those pads just conformed to the rocks).
Camels have a very low body temperature. In fact, they can raise their body temperature by as much as 6 degrees C before perspiring, thus saving body fluids.
A camel’s hump does not store water. It is a mass of fatty tissue from which the camel can draw energy if there is a lack of food. The hump will decrease in size until the camel finds food.
Camels can go 5-7 days without food or water. They can lose as much as ¼ of their body weight without impairing their normal functions.
Camels have powerful leg muscles that enable it to carry heavy loads over long distances. A camel can carry 330 pounds comfortably; but camels have been known to carry up to 990 pounds.
A camel can drink as much as 21 gallons of water in ten minutes. This would kill any other mammal, but the camel has the ability to store water in its blood stream.

I know what you are going to ask, “Max, why the waxing eloquent on a camel in an article about God in Israel?” I am glad you ask. I went to Israel knowing that our group was going to have the opportunity of riding camels. Let me just say that I was not very enthusiastic about such an opportunity. But my attitude has changed. No, I am not ready to kiss a camel, as one person in our group did. No, I am not ready to trade my car for a camel…I am not sure a camel would survive a Minnesota winter. But I have come to see the camel for what it is…an unique creation of God. A creature fitted by God for survival in some of the most harsh climates in the world.

Is there a spiritual lesson here? I think there is. God made the camel for a very special purpose…a purpose only the camel can fill. Without the camel, one wonders if the ancient world would have survived as it did. And, friends, God has made each one of us for a special purpose. He has chosen us to go and to bear fruit for Him. He has asked us to become His hands, His feet, His eyes, His ears, and His mouth in this world. As God has gifted the camel to bring glory to God in the deserts, so He has gifted you to bring glory to God in your office, in your school, in your community, in your home, and in your church.

Cisterns, camels, and gates: everywhere one looks in Israel, he sees the “finger of God.”

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