Category: Israel 2022

  • Day 056: A Memorial and a Name (Numbers 5-6)

    The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you…

  • Day 055: “My Father Was a Rabbi, and His Father Before Him…” (Numbers 3-4)

    “Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their clans and their fathers’ houses, from thirty years old up to fifty years old, all who can come on duty, to do the work in the tent of meeting. This is the service of the sons of Kohath in…

  • Day 285: Woe to You, Chorazin! (Matthew 11)

    Matthew 11:21 (ESV) “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. I first wrote and posted this the last time I was in Israel, in February 2022. But it goes…

  • Day 174: Sacrificing At the Altar of Dan (1 Kings 12-14)

    25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And 26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. 27 If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this…

  • The High Cost of Floating Along

    One of the “high points” of a trip to Israel is actually a low point—the Dead Sea. At 1,385 feet below sea level, it is literally the lowest spot on the globe. We had a ball floating in the Dead Sea. Because the Dead Sea has no outlets, all the minerals flowing into it make…

  • The Church of the Nativity

    When I went to Israel in 2018, Bethlehem was not a highlight, if I am being honest. It was packed wall to wall with people. The Church of the Nativity felt like a line at Disney World, only without a ride at the end. Our guide gestured over to the steps you could descend to…

  • Day 313: In Praise of Saint Incognita (Matthew 26, Mark 14)

    9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” (Mark 14:9) In the Greek Orthodox sanctuary of the Church of the Nativity, there are two rows of ten columns. Each column bears the image of a different…

  • Day 174: Altars of Convenience (1 Kings 12)

    “And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their Lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me…

  • Day 074: Shabbat in Tiberias (Dt. 10:12-13)

    “Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him; to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and the statues of the Lord, which I…

  • Pilgrimage: Day 1

    Pilgrimage (n): A long journey to a sacred place for a spiritual purpose. This morning was one of those happy accidents that God seems to coordinate for no other reason than to give us a shared smile. I was reading Trevin Wax’s excellent devotion Psalms in 30 Days, which uses the Christian Standard Bible as…