A Walk in the Land
Deepens Your Walk with the Lord
Our Mission
To teach and encourage those who love the Bible, the land of the Bible and the people of the land and to lead educational tours to Israel that forever change the way you read your Bible and worship the Lord
Our Prayer
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26
History and Archaeology
The Great Ziggurat
I lived in Louisiana for fourteen years, but only visited New Orleans a handful of times at best. To be sure, I love jazz, Cajun cooking and antebellum homes. On the other hand, “The Big Easy” has a reputation for Mardi Gras excess, sexually-suggestive entertainment and public intoxication that made Bourbon Street a one and done for me.
Nicknamed the “City of Nanna”—don’t picture here your sweet grandmother, but rather the moon god of the Mesopotamians—the city of Ur likewise had the dual reputation of good eating and fine living as well as immorality and polytheistic idolatry. This is the world known to Abram as a young man (Josh. 24:2) and out of which God called him (Acts 7:2-3).
Constructed during Abram’s lifetime, the Great Ziggurat of Ur, a stepped temple tower, originally rose almost one hundred feet high with a square base that measured 148 by 210 feet, approximately the size of a large church sanctuary or perhaps four tennis courts. Built around 2000 B.C. in southern Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, by King Ur-Nammu, much of the ziggurat had crumbled by the sixth century B.C. when Nabonidus, the last Babylonian king, restored it. Some of you may recall King Belshazzar from the handwriting-on-the-wall story recorded in Daniel 5. Some of you may also recall that King Belshazzar co-reigned with his father, Nabonidus. Small world!
But over time relentless sandstorms relegated the ziggurat to obscurity until it was rediscovered by a British naturalist and geologist in 1850. Archaeologists excavated the three-tiered ziggurat in the 1850s, 1920s and finally again in the 1980s by order of Saddam Hussein who authorized the construction of a façade around the site which could be accessed by a monumental staircase.
Ur’s ziggurat stands as the finest example of all surviving Mesopotamian ziggurats, each supposedly serving as the dwelling place of an ancient god. Steeped in pagan worship, Abram’s hometown ziggurat likely hides deep secrets of unholy worship, and this is the life from which the Lord called him! From what unholy culture or practices has God called you and set you apart for his service as he did so long ago with Abram? Praise the Lord for his mercy and follow him all your days.
Daniel McCabe
Life in the Land
Shuk Art
Inside the main open-air Machane Yehuda Market in central Jerusalem, also known as “the shuk,” the Hebrew word for market, you can shop at approximately 350 stalls selling anything from fresh produce to clothing and souvenirs. Beginning in 2015 an Israeli artist named Solomon Souza began spray-painting the first of as many as 250 pictures and portraits on the market’s stall doors, which can be enjoyed every night after the market has closed.
How many of the following do you recognize other than the beautiful fish? Two are biblical characters and three are modern personalities both living and dead.
Daniel McCabe
On Location
My Favorite Places to Visit in the Old City of Jerusalem
I was recently asked to share my five must-see places to visit in the Old City—Moriah’s Books and Judaica, the Holy Café, the Christ Church Coffeeshop, the Tower of David Museum and the Ramparts Walk. Now, three quick bonus sites to mention.
First, one of my favorite shops in the Christian Quarter of the Old City is Ali Baba’s Souvenir Shop at 14 Christian Quarter Road (near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher) where the proprietor, Shaban Amer, sometimes serves you free baklava and lemonade while you shop.
Second, after exiting the Old City through the Jaffa Gate, cross the plaza that extends west high above Highway 60 to visit the open-air Mamilla Mall where among its modern shops you will find an Aroma coffee shop. In addition to the coffee shop at Christ’s Church, I like Aroma, a chain of shops best described as Israel’s version of Starbucks. Aroma is charming to me and I like to drink my coffee while strolling through the modern mall.
Third, I also love the town of Joppa south of Tel Aviv on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea if you’ll allow me to leave the Old City. I love Joppa partly because of the town’s artsy vibe, but it’s also the location of the ancient biblical port from which Jonah sailed for Tarshish. Today, however, it’s dotted by numerous modern cafes and restaurants.
Adam Keim