Elizabeth at Home

In writing the words of Advent Journeys I came to thoroughly enjoy taking walks with the Biblical characters themselves. One of the couples I enjoyed visiting with the most was Elizabeth and Zechariah, the parents of John the Baptist. By tradition this couple lives in Beth Hakkerem (then Jer. 6:1; Neh. 3:14), or Ein Karem (today).

Over this wall we see the valley through which Joseph traveled

I first met this couple on Joseph’s trip (which occurs in the book on Week 2, but I wrote it first) as Mary came to visit her cousin when she finds out she is pregnant. As Joseph and Mary travel to Bethlehem, they visit Zechariah and Elizabeth along the way. Ein Karem is one of the Levitical cities located about five miles from Jerusalem.

The map of Joseph & Mary's route on right

Ein Karem is on the west side of a mountain which separates it from Jerusalem proper. In order to get there from Jerusalem on our travels in Israel, we took the light rail to the top of Mt. Herzl, and then transferred to a bus which took us down a long descent into the village. From the village we could see the ancient travel paths through a valley from the north and a valley which extended west, then south and finally to the east on the other side of the mountain. The terrain around the village is mountainous.

In front of Church of the Visitation in Ein Karem

The village today is small (considering its location as a suburb of Jerusalem), with a population of about 2,000 people. In the days of Zechariah and Elizabeth, there would have been less than 200 people.

Today it is said Ein Karem hosts about three million visitors per year. They come to see the village where John the Baptist grew up. They visit the spring where Elizabeth came out to greet Mary. They enter the Church of the Visitation, the Church of St. John the Baptist, the monastery of Les Soeurs de Notre-Dam de Sion, and the Moscobia Convent. The churches are very beautiful, and the small village descending from the spring into the valley speaks of the rural setting of John the Baptist’s nativity.

Mary's Well in Ein Karem

After ascending to the Church of the Visitation we stopped in a grocery to buy soft drinks and watch the pilgrims parading through the streets from one church to another. But through the crowds we could enjoy the quietness of what this village was in the days of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, and the two boys who every once in a while played on the dirt roads and in the spring.

Israel Adventure - Day 9

We began our morning drinking coffee with Dr. Kalman, the professor from Hebrew Union accompanying the group, on Ben Yehuda Street (a modern pedestrian shopping district in Jerusalem). The time was a casual pre-orientation. During the meeting we were serenaded by a saxophone playing on the mall (including Rebbe Elimelech and Eliyahu HaNavi). Dr Kalman just arrived, and most of the group was getting over jetlag. He gave us some details of what we are doing today and the next few days.

Following coffee he took us to the pedestrian grocery shuk (market), Mechane Yehuda, a few blocks away. We visited a crowded pre-Shabbat market with every kind of food available. We purchased halva and cherries. We also heard a man playing the electric guitar as we waited for the group to finish shopping.

After shopping we parted ways with the group, taking the light rail to Mt. Herzl. There is a cemetery there for Israel’s heroes. Theodor Herzl is buried at the top of the mountain, over which the views are spectacular.

We boarded a bus from there to Ein-Kerem, the home town of Zechariah and Elizabeth. As we rode through the terrain and entered the village I thought about my book Advent Journeys, which in Week 2 looks at the route Zechariah the Priest and Joseph, the father of Jesus, travel to the Temple.  I could clearly pick out the route.

The village is in a valley formed by a spring, called Mary’s Spring, where water is constantly running. Above the spring we walked up the mountain to the Church of Visitation. We saw many other pilgrims also visiting the church. We also visited the church of St. John the Baptist, a Franciscan mission. We took a break at a nearby shop and drank Coke while watching pilgrims making their way to the Catholic sites in the area.

From Ein-Kerem we took the light rail back to the Damascus gate. We entered Jerusalem; it was crowded and noisy. It was Ramadan and also Erev Shabbat (the evening Sabbath begins). Shopkeepers were announcing their wares. Many women in their Burkas were in the streets. We made our way through the Old City to the Jaffa Gate, where we crossed the street and entered a park. In the park there were fountains and children playing. It was a hot day and the Sabbath.

We continued past the Artists’ Colony (closed for Sabbath) to the Windmill and Lion’s fountain. Chelsea and Sarah had fun walking in the water. Then we came home.

After a rest at home we visited Shira Hadasha Synagogue, a Modern Orthodox place of worship about one block away. Most of the worship liturgy was sung. Worship held our attention (even though it was in Hebrew), and was a great way to end the day.

The joy of a child: Sarah, Hannah & Elizabeth

It can well be said that the birth of a child changes a person’s life.  The birth of my daughters Chelsea and Sarah has added an irreplaceable dimension to my life.  This dimension is more than the miracle of the little face with it’s eyes looking up at me (and me into those little eyes with wonder), or the ten little fingers which eventually grasped my index finger as they reached out in trust, or even the body which was born as a human wiggling as it showed of the life within.

The change in my life is more than the routine which was abruptly changed by those cries in the night to be fed or changed.  It was more than the new room we prepared in our home; but rather the change came through the new room which was formed in my heart for these little lives which God entrusted to Denise and I.

These lives were but a beginning, yet unshaped and unlearned, waiting to be taught and shown what life is all about.  In the early days my daughters trusted. ANd I gave all that I could so they would learn the things they needed in order to survive and to thrive in the world.

Then as life went on they taught me.  Even from the young age of three or four, they were teaching … for they kept asking, “Why?”  and I was forced to think to see if I could answer.  And as I sought the answers, I learned and I grew.  And as I loved and gave more and more of myself to keep up with their growth, God used this sacrifice to teach and shape me more into the image of who He desired me to become.

My daughters grew, and were shaped even more: not only by my teachings, or those of my wife, but through teachers at school and at church, by family, friends and neighbors, and by life itself.  And most of all (because we prayed) by God.  And my daughters grew to love God and seek His ways for their lives.  And we all learned.

In these more recent days, we have worked together.  We have written books.  First our Passover books: Spring and our Hagaddah.  And more recently Advent Journeys, a book about Christmas.

My daughters are the future, for they will live beyond my life.  They have brought the same joy as experienced by Adam and Eve as their children were born, or by Abraham and Sarah when Isaac was born, or by Isaac and Rebecca as Jacob and Esau came into this world.  They brought as much joy to Denise and I as Isaac, Samuel and John the Baptist brought when born in old age (although Denise and I were not that old).  The miracle of birth is an occurrence which will change your life.

And the more you let it change your life, the greater the reward.

Psalms of Ascent, Going to Jerusalem

During the first week, in our new book Advent Journeys, we walk with Zechariah the priest.  Zechariah was the husband of Elizabeth and the father of John the Baptist as recorded in Luke 1 of the New Testament.  In the introduction we learn Zechariah was a priest of the order of Abijah and he and his wife were without children.

As I wrote the chapter on Zechariah, the first thing I noted was that he was of the order of Abijah.  Abijah is one of twenty-four orders of the Levitical priesthood of Israel.  These divisions of priests first organized by King David are called Mishmarot & Ma'amadot.  In the times of Jesus each division of priests would serve five weeks per year (three weeks of harvest festivals where all Priests were to serve and two other weeks served in a rotation of divisions). {more on this tomorrow}

We are told that Zechariah and Elizabeth are advanced in age and can not have children.  This bears similarity to the stories of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel, and Elkanah and Hannah.  According to the Torah Zechariah was advanced in age, but he was still serving in the Temple.  This means he must have been about fifty years of age (Numbers 8:25).  And as all of the other aged parents, Zechariah was a man who was faithful to God.

Because Zechariah was faithful to God, it can be read between the lines that he enjoyed his week of service in the Temple.  I tried to capture this joy as I wrote the first week of journals for Zechariah in the book Advent Journeys.  On his way to the Temple for his work duty Zechariah would have recited (or sung) the Psalms of Ascent: Psalms 120-134.  These Psalms, as I read them, captured a sense of things which impacted the life of Zechariah.  I placed one or two Psalms of Ascent as a scripture reading each day during the first week of Advent. The journal of Zechariah will often reflect something in these Psalms.

In our twenty-first century world I hope we, as believers, can reflect the joy Zechariah felt as he approached the Temple.  I hope this joy is evident as we attend worship service each week, and also in our daily lives as a reflection of our love for the Lord.