A Trip to Hebron and Bethlehem
A Wild Day
In all of my eight trips before to Israel, I had never made it to Hebron. JUC goes to Bethlehem, Herodion, Arad and Beer-Sheva, places that surround it, but not there. I understand why, but that did not assuage my desire to go there to see David’s first capital and especially the burial place of the Patriarchs.
Hebron is deep in the West Bank and few foreigners venture there.
After Wednesday I understand why—it is difficult to get to and without a good guide very hard to navigate.
Fortunately, a former student of mine in the Philippines, Jack Sara, is a Palestinian Christian and the president of Bethlehem Bible College (BBC). He helped me find a guide and so Wednesday morning, we caught a bus to Bethlehem to begin the adventure.
The receptionist at BBC helped us find local transportation that was a quarter of what a taxi would cost for the fourteen mile trip. When we arrived in Hebron, we were met by Leena Hammouri. She is a Palestinian guide from Hebron who got her guide training at BBC a number of years ago (she is Muslim).
As soon as we met up with her, she took us to the Ibrahim Mosque—and quickly, so that we could get in and see everything before late morning prayers (Muslims pray toward Mecca five times a day).
This mosque is situated over the cave of Machpelah that Abraham bought for the family burial site. The Bible tells us that Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Joseph are all buried there.
The mosque was at one time a church built in the crusader period, but the outer shell was actually constructed by Herod the Great in the late first century BC and was built of the same dressed ashlar stones as seen on the retaining walls of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem—impressive. So at first it was a synagogue in the first century, then church and synagogue, then mosque.
Today there is a half mosque, half synagogue at the site with commemorative tombs for each of the Patriarchs and wives (the cave is far below). That is an interesting story in itself, but one I’ll hold off on.
Upon entering we removed our shoes and Lynn, Michele, and Mandy had to don long robes with a hood that was supposed to cover all arms and their hair (it almost worked!).
The entire area was spectacularly arrayed with Islamic art, mostly Koranic calligraphy, and massive Turkish wool rugs covering the floors. The “tombs” of Abraham and Sarah were behind barriers (and were also seen from the synagogue side). The shrines to Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah were in the mosque portion. Joseph’s tomb was in another area totally separate.
Leena patiently described both the history of the mosque and the Islamic customs. It was quite an education for us.
After leaving the mosque (and a welcome “break”), we went around to the other side of the complex. Israeli Police guarded that area, and we had to state we were Christians to be able to go to the synagogue side (Palestinian Muslims, thus our guide, were forbidden—a theme that continued through the visit).
What a contrast!
The Jewish side was radically different in every way and reminded us of what we had seen by the Western Wall and in the area at David’s tomb with many Orthodox Jews studying and praying there.
We could hear the Muslim prayers going on on the other side of the partition and saw the tomb shrines from the opposite side.
Surreal.
Within our first hour of being there we were slammed with the political and social realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In the hours following, Leena indicated to us over and over how oppressed the Palestinian residents feel with forced closures of businesses for thirty years, occupation of housing, taking of land for Israeli settlements, the ubiquitous presence of Israeli police, cameras, and observation towers, and other actions.
Unfortunately it wasn’t just her words; we could see the actual evidence over and again.
We finally made it out of the old section of the city controlled by Israeli security (deemed H1) and to the bustling Palestinian controlled H2, and finally to the bus station and our ride back to Bethlehem.
Leena was an extremely gracious host who educated us and took us to some great shops (we had some amazing carrot juice!) and other interesting spots. We hope to stay in touch and send others to experience her expertise.
I have been to Israel now nine times and have seen and felt the tensions over the years. The Israeli’s penchant and felt need for security in the face of enemies who wish their destruction, is in stark contrast with the Palestinians’ frustration with the security wall, Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Israeli forces on the Temple Mount and other aspects. Above it all the lack of political will on both sides to come to a win-win solution is evident and sad, because neither seems to actually want it, while the people suffer.
Another almost invisible factor is the Palestinian Christian population that simply wants to live quietly and serve the Lord, but who get lumped in with everyone else.
Our visit to Hebron brought all of this to much clearer focus and is a motivation to pray for peace and show Jesus’s love to all involved.
Our return trip took us back to Bethlehem and a visit to the Church of the Nativity. While the visit there was well worth it, our visit to Hebron continued on our minds.
We made it back safely to Jerusalem and had another wonderful dinner together. We ended up walking another 5+ miles for the day, making 23 miles walked so far.
At no time during the entire day did we ever feel unsafe and in fact could see the providence of God every step of the way.
But in ways big and small we now see the world a bit differently after this day’s trip.
An Invitation
Are you interested in learning New Testament Greek? I will be teaching an intensive course with 50 hours of live instruction via Zoom from June to August. Please contact me at jack.painter@gmail.com or go to https://www.rightonmission.org/intro-to-new-testament-greek for more information. I would love to have you!