CURRENT NEWS, GALLERIES AND COMMENTARY

October 19, 2006: Dr. Paul Wright, Executive Director

“You can talk about the weather but you can’t do anything about it.” While we certainly can’t change the weather, its not exactly true that we can’t do anything about it. We can, for instance, enjoy the change of seasons, the fall color or the winter white (never mind that here in Israel fall “color” is a lot of brown and winter is mostly wet-brown). Residents of this land, from ancient Israel to modern Jews, not only enjoy the change of seasons, but celebrate them. That is, the great biblical pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Shavuot and Succot), are timed to mark the change of seasons, from dry summer to wet winter and then from wet winter to dry summer. Although they mark great moments in the story of redemption (the Exodus, the giving of Torah on Mt. Sinai and the Wilderness Wanderings), each has roots in much earlier harvest festivals, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of the Harvest and the Feast of the Ingathering, respectively (Ex 23:14-17). Israeli Jews have just finished celebrating the annual fall high holydays, which end with Succot (Tabernacles). Succot coincides with the ingathering of summer fruit—grapes, figs, olives and pomegranates, species native to the hill country of Judah (Deut 8:8). As part of the ancient cycle of prayers for Succot, Jews pray for rain—that the annual drought of summer be broken by the early rains (Deut 11:14). According to the traditions of the rabbis, faithful pilgrims ask God to send rain after Succot is over, but not too soon lest they be hindered on their walk back home. But the Talmud also includes a variant tradition—one rabbi asked God not to listen to such prayers, but to send rain immediately! And so it was this year. This past weekend, early in the morning the day after the end of Succot, Israel was blessed with its first heavy rainfall of the new year, right on schedule. Half of our student body, on a field trip with Dr. Yigal Levin (instructor for the course History of Ancient Israel) enjoyed the wet and the cold, a nice break from the hot Jerusalem summer and early fall. The class visited places connected to the end of the time of the Judges (the eleventh century BC), including the Philistine temple at Tel Qasile (near the campus of the University of Tel Aviv), the four-room house at Izbet Sartah (possibly the Ebenezer of 1 Samuel 4:1), Shiloh, the “pass” between Michmash and Geba (see 1 Samuel 14:4) and Gibeah, hometown of Saul (its still possible to climb to the upper floor of the unfinished palace of the late King Hussein of Jordan perched on the site).  

Samaria Field Trips - For the first time in over six years we have been able to put the Samaria field trip back into the slate of trips taken in conjunction with the Physical Settings of the Bible course at JUC. While some sites in Samaria remain closed to visitors (particularly Shechem/Nablus and Samaria/Sebaste), others are quite open, welcoming and safe. These include Shiloh and Mt. Gerazim (we had lunch with members of the Samaritan community on top). We also made it to the top of Jebel Kabir (above the settlement of Elon Moreh, northeast of Nablus) for a wonderful view of the region of Tirzeh and the Wadi Faria valley. Some second-year MA students (who were not able to travel to Samaria in conjunction with the class last year) commented, “there was a big hole in my understanding of the land that has now been filled. This is a beautiful part of the country!” 

Lecture Series - On October 11 we were proud to host the second lecture in the G. Douglas Young Lecture Series. The speaker was our own Dr. Gabriel Barkay, who spoke on the subject The Temple Mount: Past and Present. For the last couple of years Gabi has been directing a project by which debris illegally removed from the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount during the construction of a mosque on the site is being sifted for archaeological artifacts. Gabi’s team has found many objects of historical and cultural significance, including a large number with a direct bearing on the nature of the Temple Mount during the biblical period. Over 75 persons, many from the community, attended the lecture.  

Ministry Opportunities - About half of our semester students are involved in off-campus ministries this fall. Their placements include:

• The Four Homes of Mercy—assisting in care to severely handicapped residents
• The Beit Jala School—running an after school club with music, drama and sports
• Domari—helping to write grant proposals, running an art club, tutoring in English
• The Jerusalem School—assisting in character-development classes and playground duty
• The Princess Basma Center—assisting in the hydro-therapy of physically handicapped children
• Bethlehem Bible College—holding two community-based English classes and tutoring conversational English for Arabic-speaking Bible College students
• Jaffa Gate Ministries—distributing food to homeless in and around the Old City of Jerusalem.

These are wonderful opportunities to learn to serve others in a genuine cross-cultural setting and be the face of Christ to many who otherwise wouldn’t know Him. The impact of “bearing cups of cold water” is immediate and lasting, although I often think that it’s  our own students who are changed the most.  

The fall Pastor-Parishioner short-term program begins next week. There will be 47 participants for this two-week program, including nice groups from three churches. The program will be instructed by Cyndi Parker.  

Short-Term Scholarships - We are pleased to announce that we have again received special scholarship funds to allow three students to attend our June and July courses, the Geographical and Historical Settings of the Bible, and Jesus and His Times. Guidelines for applying for these scholarships can be seen by clicking here. Last year’s recipients were Steven Vance, Rebekah Kraemer and Clay King.  

Scholarship Awards - We were able to grant some nice scholarships to several of our semester students this fall, and I would like to offer a public thank-you to all of our supporters who enabled us to do so. But the need for scholarship funds continues! Just today I received a request from an applicant for our upcoming spring semester who is from a very poor country in Asia. This person teaches Bible and Biblical backgrounds in a Bible College in his home country and is being encouraged by the administration of his school to further his education at JUC. Although our funds are tight, his are even more so! If you are able to help this person, or others, spend one semester at Jerusalem University College, the impact of your dollars will literally reach around the world.

Washington Meetings - I will be in Washington DC in November representing Jerusalem University College at the annual fall meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society. This is a great way to touch base with representatives from many of JUC’s associated schools. If you are planning on attending the ETS meetings, please stop by our booth. I would very much like to say hello. You are also welcome to come to our breakfast on Saturday November 18 from 7-9am at the Georgetown West Room of the Washington Hilton, Washington DC, just before the start of the meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature. I hope to see you then!

Fall Semester 2006

Please Click the photo to go to the Gallery and find out.

Living Water 

If we lived in the hill country of Judea during the time of the New Testament, we probably would have preferred to make our home near a spring with a continuous flow of fresh, “living” water. Most of the springs dotting the hillsides of Judea were small, producing little more than a trickle or small brook that was easily lost among the rugged, dry hills of the region. Yet any would have been adequate for the needs of my family or yours, or a small group of families living nearby, providing us clean water for drinking, household needs and watering our flocks (Ps 104:10-11). 

If there were no springs in the vicinity, it may have been possible to tap into the underground water table by digging a well—an arduous and unpredictable task, but well worth the effort if successful. A well could supply us with unlimited fresh water, and would be a common meeting place for our fellow villagers. Drawing water was hard work, and so was typically was done in the cool hours of morning or evening rather than in the heat of the day (Gen 24:11; 29:7; cp. Jn 4:6-7). 

Most Judeans who lived in towns and villages, however, drank cistern water—and we probably would have done so, too. Hewn into bedrock beneath a house, a cistern collected run off water throughout the rainy season (October through April). If used sparingly, this water would keep our families and livestock alive during the rainless summer months. But by the end of the dry season most cisterns ran low, and a dipped bucket would likely pick up both water and sludge from the cistern bottom—not a particularly healthy drink, but at least it would keep us alive.  

Residents of Jerusalem drank cistern water for centuries, right up to the introduction of plumbing in modern times. Nineteenth century explorers speak of the deplorable living conditions within the walls of Jerusalem, due in large measure to the filth of the streets (see Jer 38:6) that was washed into the cisterns every rainy season. Should we assume that living conditions in Jerusalem during the first century were any better?  

One autumn, Jesus spoke about water when he was in the Temple in Jerusalem celebrating the festival of Succot (Feast of Tabernacles). This eight day Jewish festival was—and still is—celebrated every year in early to mid-October. It was during this festival that the Jews of Jesus’ day prayed earnestly for rain—rain to end the drought of the dry season, to replenish the fields, and to refill the cisterns. It was also at this time of year, in anticipation of the renewed “early” rain from heaven (cp. Deut 11:11, 14), that the people of ancient Judea were most aware of their thirst. The Gospel of John tells us that:  

On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me and drink! The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him” (Jn 7:37-38). 

Not stale, unsanitary cistern water. Not standing well water. Not even a little brook of spring water. But rivers of living water, flowing from Jesus and the hearts of those who believe in Him. Fully quenching. Healthy. Invigorating. And able to empower people to truly live.