Psalm 122:6 Pray for the shalom of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love you.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Tel Dor

Our final trip before we headed to the desert was to the nearby ancient city of Dor. The city goes back 4,000 years to the time of the Canaanites. From a Biblical perspective, Dor is known for its history of the purple dye used for the blue thread (tekhelet) in tzit-tzit.

Numbers 15:37 Again YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 38 "Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. 39 "And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of YHWH and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined.

The people of Israel were commanded to affix a blue thread (tekhelet) to the corner of their garments as a constant and conspicuous reminder of their obligation to keep the commandments. Israel was also ordered to use the blue dye for the Tabernacle’s curtains, its inner partition and for the priests’ garments.]

Historical and geographical factors caused the tekhelet-making process and the source of the dye to be lost even though tzit-tzit continued to be worn. What was the source of this Biblical blue?

Talmudic sources claimed that the blue dye was extracted from a Hilazon- a marine mollusk covered by a shell, who was “similar to the sea” and could be found along the northern coast of the Land of Israel. They also mentioned that the color of the dye was similar to that of the sky and sea, and it was extracted from the mollusks while still alive.

Attempts to re-track the organic blue dye started in the 19th century. The Radzyner Rebbe led an expedition in search of the lost Hilazon. He was convinced that a certain squid was the source for the color. The Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Rabbi Herzog, later the Chief Rabbi of Israel investigated the results of the Radzyn Teknelet, and came to the conclousion that the squid was not the source of Biblical blue. He proposed the purple dye snail as a likely source for tekhelet.

So is there any evidence for this? We went to the Dor museum to find out.




North to the Tel, an area of rockcut pools and channels has been unearthed, interpreted by scholars as a system of dyeing installations or ponds for keeping Murex snails in captivity.


Also in Tel Dor, some large piles of crushed Murex shells were uncovered, evidence of a local industry. It takes 20,000 snails to make 2 grams of blue dye. We can be certain that this area was a purple-dye installation!

Also interesting to us as believers is the fact that the book of Acts tells us of a women was a ”seller of purple”:

Acts 16:14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. Adonai opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.

The actual building that houses the museum was also interesting to us as it was connected to the history of Zichron Ya’acov. It was initially a factory for glass bottles destined for the winery at Zichron Ya’acov. It was founded by Baron Edmond de-Rothchild in 1891, as part of his support of the Jewish settlement. The factory suffered from many difficulties. The local sand was unsuitable for glass manufacture causing the production of dark glass. There was a lack of knowledge and experience in running the factory. Many people died of Malaria. The factory was closed in 1896.


The museum also displays two impressive cannons found during underwater surveys of the bay at Dor. The actual canons are exhibited on replicas of the original wooden carts. They were part of the equipment thrown into the sea at Napoleon’s order when his defeated army was camped on the beach on the night of May 21st, 1799. The smaller canon was in French use after it had been captured by the French army in one of its wars with Spain. The inscription on the canon relates that it was cast on December 12th, 1793 in Seville (south Spain) for the army of Carolos the Fourth, king of Spain, using copper from Lima, Peru.


The Turkish cannon bears the Ottoman emblem of the moon-crescent and star. This was one of the Muslim cannons lost to the French during the battle of Jaffa. These weapons were only a small part of the artillery cast into the sea. We learn this from letters and diaries of French soldiers that endured that horrible night on the beach. Lois-Alexander Bertheir writes: “…Bonaparte decided that all the means of transport would be preferably employed for evacuating the sick and the wounded. He had 22 canons thrown into the sea.



Dor was a port city and there are many anchor stones from up to 3,000 years ago on display



A few pictures of the Mediterranean and ancient Dor -



Thursday, April 8, 2010

Back to Jezreel and Haifa

Hey, we're back in touch! We have continued to have a wonderful time in the Land, and I am sorry that it was not possible for me to update the Blog. I will try my best now to recover the past few weeks and I have some great pictures to share with you of the Land! I probably won't finish the blog before we are back in the States, but soon I will finish it!

The visibility was better this day, so we returned to have another look at the Jezreel Valley.




From one spot, you can look west and see the Mediterannean.

Israel is so narrow, from the same spot you can look east across the country and see Jordan.


A good view of the airforce strip. A lot of action was going on there this day.



Haifa, the beautiful port.

From Haifa, you can look north to the white cliffs of Lebanon. In the last Lebanese war, rockets were fired from there upon Haifa.


A long established German community in Haifa.


Always beautiful flowers


A walk along the sea side

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Some thoughts and some pictures

Wow! I just really want to tell you tonight that our Heavenly Father is moving mightily in this Land. If you do not understand the significance of Israel, the people and the Land, then I would beg you to read through the entire Scriptures looking for the Father's heart in all of this. Yeshua came to restore Israel to the Father. He came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel! Yeshua did not come with a new agenda. Believers are a part of this plan, but certainly do not replace Israel. Today He is rejoining the Jewish people with their lost brothers. It is visibly happening in the Land and we see that revelation is happening everywhere as Jew and non-Jew recognize that together they are Israel. The brothers are moving toward each other with an ever quickening pace! Pray that the Holy Spirit would give you truth about this! It is an important prophesied end-times revelation!

Here are the lyrics of a song we heard sung here. I promised you these in an earlier blog. Dawn Rogers and Tricia Walker are on the sheet I have a copy of. I know you can find this song on I-tunes.

Verse 1 - Who am I to be part of Your people; the ones that are called by Your name? Could I be chosen as one of Your own, could it be that our blood is the same?

Chorus 1 & 3 - Baruch Hashem Adonai, Baruch Hashem Adonai. Blessed be the name of the Lord, Baruch Hashem Adonai.

Verse 2 - How can a stranger, a remnant of nations, belong to this royal line? You showed Your grace when the branches were broken, and I grafted into the vine.

Chorus 2 & 4 - Baruch Hashem Adonai, Baruch Hashem Adonai. Blessed be the name of the Lord, Baruch Hashem Adonai. Blessed be the name of the Lord, Baruch Hashem Adonai.

Verse 3 - How could You show me such bountiful mercy by taking the life of the Lamb? Your love is greater than I can imagine, I bless You with all that I am.

Verse 4 - Praise to You, Jesus, the veil has been parted, and what once was secret is known. Now I can cry to You, Abba, Father, and praise You as one of Your own.

Okay, I also want to share with you a few pictures from when Cal and I travelled up to the Golan for an overnight stay.

First view of the Sea of Galilee

The beautiful Sea with the visibility a bit better now.


Some interesting facts about the Sea


En Gev - The beautiful kibbutz on the east side of the Sea.


A curious friend.


Her egg was huge!


The Jordan River Paradise!




Saturday, March 20, 2010

Dead Sea, Judean wilderness and Samaria

Sorry so long to post some pictures. As relationships are being built, there's not much time to blog except for sleep time! We took a wonderful trip to the Dead Sea this past week.


The Judean hills are spectacular this time of year.


Splashes of green like soft carpet.




Happy sheep feeding on the spring grasses.


This was exciting. We were in the lowest part of the earth here, near Jericho. It's also the area where John the Baptist was baptizing people for repentance. In humbleness, Yeshua was baptized here, picking up those sins that others left in the River. We also know this to be the area where Elijah crossed the River and went up into the clouds. And this is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the Land of Israel. Notice the valley between the mountains. Continuing on through this valley would take the Israelites to the Mount of Blessing and the Mount of Cursing where the covenant would be renewed with the 2nd generation out of Egypt at Shechem.


Interstingly enough, our Jewish friend told us everything green we saw in this area was edible. We munched the salty herbs along the way.


And here, my friends, is the Land the Israelites walked on. We took off our shoes and walked on this holy ground. Moses would only have seen this Land from across the Jordan on Mount Hor. The second generation of Israelites were also circumcised here.


It's a good Land, flowing with milk and honey!


An abandoned tank from some previous war.


Dead Sea and Jordan in the background.


More of the same.


Across the Dead Sea to Jordan.


We avoid these many, many busses! But happily, many people are in the Land!


Spectacular shots of the Judean wilderness.


More splashes of green. An awesome view.


A bedouin camp in the valley below.


Have I showed you this one yet?

Flowers are coming to life everywhere.


The wall of protection, sad but necessary to preserve life.




A checkpoint.

Ooops! Wrong turn!

One of many mountain tops where fires were once built to signal Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) clear to those in Babylon.


Beautiful evening entering into Samaria.


Numbers 10:10 "Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your Elohim: I am YHWH your Elohim."

Our guys blow the specially made silver trumpets for New Moon.