On June 1, I left New Orleans airport with Dr. Browning and a group of students from William Carey and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. We had to check in to the desk at 5:00 in the morning, but our excitement hardly allowed us to notice the time. We flew to Chicago, then to Frankfurt, then to Cairo. Along the way, we met new people joining our group - a medical student from Georgia, a graduate student in art, a mother and daughter from Arkansas.
The traffic in Cairo is not for the faint of heart; our bus came within centimeters of plowing through people and cars. Each lane had dozens of cars weaving in and out, honking constantly. Add masses of pedestrians, donkeys, and camels, and you have the general idea.
We survived the traffic, however, and over the next few days, saw some of the magnificent monuments and treasures that we knew so well from photographs in books, such as the mask of King “Tut,” the Nile River, and the great pyramids at Giza. We took an overnight train to Luxor, where we visited tombs in the Valley of the Kings and walked through the temple of Karnak.
We crossed the Red Sea on an early morning ferry, but the ride wasn’t so enjoyable for the folks who got seasick! After a long drive through the desert, we arrived at our “hotel” at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Everyone slept through the afternoon, and at 1:30 in the morning, we set out to climb the mountain.
Mt. Sinai, we all agreed later, was a “kick in the pants.” After three hours of walking up slopes, panting at rest stations, and climbing hundreds of stone steps as high as my knees, we reached the top. It would have been restful if it had not been so cold! But everything was worth it when the first colors of the sunrise illuminated the mountains in the distance. That afternoon we visited St. Catherine’s Monastery.
The next day found us in Israel, where we spent the first few days sweating and exploring the wilderness. We walked through a canyon (then had to climb out), crawled through ancient mining shafts, and visited sites such as Beer Sheva and Arad.
In the area of the Dead Sea, we visited Qumran (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were written), took a cable car up to the impressive fortress of Masada, and climbed En Gedi, where we were rewarded with a much-needed oasis at the top! We also got to swim - or float, rather - in the Dead Sea, and had a great time smearing the black mud all over ourselves.
After that, we set out for Jerusalem, stopping at Jericho and Herod’s palace at Herodium. We also visited the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where we saw the star marking the traditional site of Jesus’ birth. Adjoining the Church were the small quarters where Jerome translated the Latin Vulgate.
We spent our first day in Jerusalem walking around the city walls and the temple complex. At the end of the afternoon, we walked through the 700 yards of Hezekiah’s tunnel; while the opinions of the group were divided on this one, I loved it. It was pitch black, there was ice-cold water up to my knees, and the walls were so narrow, my arms brushed the sides as I walked.
The next morning was spent visiting churches: the Mosque of Ascension, the Church of the Pater Noster (where the Lord’s Prayer was displayed in every imaginable language), the modern Church of All Nations, Gethsemane, and the Tomb of the Virgin.
While all the churches we saw were beautiful, there was an element of gaudiness and materialism. It was easy to forget what happened at these places because all the “show” was so distracting. Everyone was noisy and disrespectful of the services being conducted at some places, and at others, visitors were hurried through in an orderly line.
From there we went through a security check to approach the Western Wall, where the guys had to put on head coverings that looked like coffee filters. I suppose we were the disrespectful ones here, pushing through the crowd of praying Jews so we could put our hands on the wall and take a picture. We went to the site of the pools of Bethesda, then walked the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. At the end of the day, we visited Gordon’s Calvary and the garden tomb.
We enjoyed a much-needed break the next day, visiting only the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock in the morning, then spending the evening at the Israel Museum, where we got to see biblical manuscripts such as the Aleppo Codex and some of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Because we stayed in Jerusalem for five nights, we finally got a chance to do laundry, so our rooms were strung with clothesline and dripping garments which we’d “washed” by stomping on them in the bathtub! Every night we explored the streets around our hotel, visiting different bazaars and trying to find unkosher food. Since observant Jews can’t mix meat and dairy, we never found a pizza with meat on it, try as we might!
From Jerusalem we visited Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean coast, Mt. Carmel, and Megiddo (or “Armageddon”). Our next few nights were spent on the Sea of Galilee. After supper we went swimming, and got to watch a lovely sunset over Tiberias as lights gradually came on all around the perimeter of the lake.
We visited the Crusader fortress Nimrod, then enjoyed a surprise picnic from our busdriver, Nasser. From there we went to the site of Caesarea Philippi, then to ancient Dan (not to be mistaken with our worthy professor, Dan Browning).
The next day we visited sites associated with Jesus: Kursi, Sepphoris, the Churches of the Annunciation in Nazareth, the Chapel of the Sermon on the Mount, Korazim, and Capernaum. In Capernaum we saw “Peter’s house,” as well as the synagogue where Jesus taught. We then went to the Chapel of the Loaves and Fishes at Tabgha and finished off the day at the “Jesus boat,” a first-century vessel recently found at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee.
It was overwhelming to walk along ancient streets and to see the buildings where Jesus carried out his ministry. These places, not converted into fancy churches, had much more meaning for me because they were left to speak for themselves.
That night we arrived at Kibbutz Nir David, which was really pretty , with a river right outside our cabins. The cabins had just been built, and contained two things quite necessary to our survival: air conditioning and television. We enjoyed a day off before we started digging at Tel Rehov, then got up bright and early at 4:30 on Monday to hop on the bus and head out to the site.
Our excavation was headed by one of Israel’s most respected archaeologists, Professor Amihai Mazar of Hebrew University. We were assigned to area B2. Our first task each morning was to raise up the shades, which were supported by flimsy plastic poles that had a tendency to fall on people’s heads.
Work lasted until 9:00, when we had a break to eat breakfast, which always consisted of bread, tuna, yogurt, and fruit. Then it was back to work until 12:00, when we cleaned up our areas and put away the tools.
We rode the bus back to the kibbutz for lunch, then jumped in the river on our way back to the cabins. The afternoonswere spent napping and watching the movie channel, followed by pottery washing and sorting. Pottery washing was not fun; we had to scrub every shard with tiny brushes. After supper, there were occasionally lectures, and we always went to bed as soon as possible.
This was our daily routine for the three weeks we spent at the dig. Some people got six hours of academic credit for the travel and archaeology. Dr. Browning assigned a reading list to choose from, a map manual to outline different biblical events, and occasional tests.
During my brief career as an archaeologist, I found nothing to base an Indiana Jones movie on, though we all found lots of pottery. People in our area also discovered two figurines, loom weights, and a jar handle with a seal impression on it. All in all, I had a great time playing in the dirt. I now have much more respect for the pictures of archaeological sites that I see in books. I know firsthand that someone was really excited about finding that two-foot mud-brick wall, and that a lot of people sweated over buckets and wheelbarrows to excavate that cistern.
On the weekends we did more touring, visiting sites such as Hazor, Gamla, Belvoir castle, Bethsaida, and the Jordan River. My favorite part of the trip was watching the sunset from the cliffs of Arbel, which overlooked the Galilee. We also saw a beautiful sunset from the top of Mt. Tabor. We visited the Crusader city of Acre, as well as the site of Dor, which provided a gorgeous view of the Mediterranean Sea.
Perhaps the most memorable weekend excursion (for the seven of us who went with Dr. Browning) was the one to the hexagonal pools, where each of us jumped from a forty-foot cliff into the freezing water below. I never knew water could bruise!
Our last weekend was spent in Tel Aviv, from which several of us traveled by van with Dr. Browning to visit the Philistine plain. We saw Ashdod, Gath, Jamnia, and the dried-up stream where David found his stones to kill Goliath.
On July 9, we boarded our plane in Tel Aviv and headed home.
I’m excited now about thumbing through Biblical Archaeology Review and similar magazines, because I know what they’re talking about. I’ve stood on those ruins and walked down those streets. And when writers mention “balks,” I can nod with understanding, because I broke several of them myself at Tel Rehov. And, needless to say, passages in the Bible have a thousand times more meaning.
From airplane food to the Great Pyramid to the Temple Mount to digging a six-foot pit and finding nothing - I’m overwhelmed with all I saw and did. The expression “I’ll never forget . . .” is over-used, but I think it genuinely applies to my experience this summer. I’ll never forget it.