well, we are back in israel, and so far it's been a busy few weeks. we've been traveling around and exploring the judean wilderness, more specifically the ancient city of jericho. we are currently working on a feature length documentary about whether or not the walls of jericho actually came tumbling down like the bible records; whether or not it makes sense archaeologically and scientifically for joshua and the israelites to have actually destroyed the city as God commanded them. so keep in touch for more about how it's going. it's my intention to post a video every once in a while on what we are up to...we'll see if i stick to that commitment.
it's honestly hard for me to recall all that has happened since we first arrived. though at the moment all i can think about is yesterday...
earlier this week we got wind that the jewish priests (the cohen - blood dependents of moses' brother aaron) were going to sacrifice a lamb in the old city for passover, so we did everything we could to find out where and when. joel went down to the old city yesterday morning to poke around and see what he could find out about it, but everyone he asked acted unknowing because he is was a gentile (passover is strictly jewish). joel came home and told dave and i about it and we all placed our bets on the fact that nothing would happen, that they wouldn't end up actually doing a sacrifice. but as we say, if you go and bring your camera nothing will happen, if you don't go then you'll read all about how awesome it was in the news the next day. so joel took a camera and went back to the old city later that evening and found out where the priests were meeting. he found them in a large room and as he entered the doorway they had just wrapped up a meeting and were headed out the same door he came in. as they passed by him he noticed a man carrying a little metal briefcase and suspected that it carried the blade for the sacrifice. he followed them through countless ally ways down in through the old city and deep into the jewish quater, a specific rout intended for secrecy. eventually they came to an inner courtyard where the sacrifice was to take place.
i'd love to tell you more but i would rather you see it for yourself. it's very graphic...though i will say it's extremely insightful into scripture as far as the old testament sacrifices and Jesus as the sacrificial lamb of the new covenant. so while it's hard to watch, it's immensely educational. i've posted the video below.
earlier this week we got wind that the jewish priests (the cohen - blood dependents of moses' brother aaron) were going to sacrifice a lamb in the old city for passover, so we did everything we could to find out where and when. joel went down to the old city yesterday morning to poke around and see what he could find out about it, but everyone he asked acted unknowing because he is was a gentile (passover is strictly jewish). joel came home and told dave and i about it and we all placed our bets on the fact that nothing would happen, that they wouldn't end up actually doing a sacrifice. but as we say, if you go and bring your camera nothing will happen, if you don't go then you'll read all about how awesome it was in the news the next day. so joel took a camera and went back to the old city later that evening and found out where the priests were meeting. he found them in a large room and as he entered the doorway they had just wrapped up a meeting and were headed out the same door he came in. as they passed by him he noticed a man carrying a little metal briefcase and suspected that it carried the blade for the sacrifice. he followed them through countless ally ways down in through the old city and deep into the jewish quater, a specific rout intended for secrecy. eventually they came to an inner courtyard where the sacrifice was to take place.
i'd love to tell you more but i would rather you see it for yourself. it's very graphic...though i will say it's extremely insightful into scripture as far as the old testament sacrifices and Jesus as the sacrificial lamb of the new covenant. so while it's hard to watch, it's immensely educational. i've posted the video below.
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5 comments:
Awesome, thanks for the updates again Nathan!!
Wow intense video but so very interesting. So is this the first sacrifice in a while for them or do they always do this during passover in Israel?
to my understanding, this is the first sacrifice they have done in a long time. obviously there is no temple for them to do the sacrifices in and i am not sure if there is even an exception for that in the jewish law. but i do know that there is a small group of samaritans that still exist whom live up on mt. gerizim and they hold passover every year in the center of their town. i've been to the spot where they do it and they have a bunch of fire pits (alters) and even bleachers for people to watch the whole deal. they sacrifice multiple lambs, i think one for each family on passover. we are planning on being there with our cameras and it's coming up soon, so hopefully we will post about it when the time comes. i have a few pictures of the samaritans central area where they do the sacrifices on my flickr page if you want to check it out - http://flickr.com/photos/nathanwilliam/
question for you nate--
did the priests get upset with you guys for filming this? it seems like if you are 'Gentiles' and you have big cameras with you.. they would be pretty concerned for the 'degradation of sanctity' of the whole ordeal?
well, stay safe man. that 'sacrificial blade' didn't look too inviting..
there were several other people filming the ordeal, cameras and people that looked like they were invited to come film it. joel with his camera may have just blended in with them. also, we know one of the more prominent jewish priests pretty well and i don't think he would have had a problem with us being there and filming it.
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