Thursday, June 25, 2009

Life in Biblical Times Field Trip



















Pic #1: Reading the Torah Pic #2: Running away from the marriage trail :) Pic #3: Lisa and I making our spice!


A couple of weeks ago we went to this great big reserve type thing where they have it set up like life would've been in Bibilical times. It was a lot of fun! We got to draw water out of a well and sift hay and make our own spices. My favorite was herding the sheep though. There are so many neat lessons that can be learned from Sheperds and their sheep. We talked about how the sheperd must lead the sheep from behind. The sheep must be able to to see their destination. If someone tries to stand in front of them they will immediately stop. They must have their own agency to really see where their going. It is the sheperds job to put up boundaries so the sheep know what is expected of them and where to go but in the end the sheep are free to waander where they want. That has a lot of applicable lessons for our own lives. Our Heavnely Father gives us our agency and gives us the steps we need in order to get to our ultimate destination but it is up to us to get there. Sure we have people who help us get on the right path when we wander or make a mistake but we are never lead blindly. In the end it is our decision. I thought that was a really neat thing to think about. We also got to see a Torah scribe writing the Torah. He was working on the book of Esther while we were there. It takes about a year to write a Torah scroll because it is all done very neatly by hand. The scrolls run anywhere from $25,000-$100,000 dollars. They are amazing! Before the scribe writes the name of God in the Torah he must go and wash himself in a mikvah (ritual bath). That is why it often takes so long..think about how many times the name of God is written in the Old Testament! It was cool to learn more about it and see an actual scribe at work. It was a really fun day!

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