ONDE VIVEU SAMUEL? Descobrindo a cidade bíblica do profeta Samuel

Shalom and welcome back to ‘Israel with Aline!’ Today we’re going to learn about the region of the Tribe of Benjamin and the city where the prophet Samuel lived and judged over the twelve tribes and we’re also going to visit the place where he was buried. So if you’re ready, let’s get started! We are now walking in the city of Mishpah, Mishpah in Hebrew means “Lookout”, why? We are 2,952 feet above sea level, we are 656 feet above the city of Jerusalem and that’s why here we have a wonderful view of the entire region. Later we are going to climb to the highest point here in Mishpah to show you the view as well. The city of Mishpah was in the territory of the Tribe of Benjamin and here Samuel lived part of the year and judged over Israel. “Samuel continued as Israel’s leader all the days of his life. From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places.” 1 Samuel 7:15 – 16 But now let’s talk a little about the archaeology of this place. And the archaeologist Itzhak Magen did archaeological excavations here between 1992 and 2003 and found archaeological remains from the time of the first Temple of Jerusalem precisely in this area where we are walking and the end of the time of the Judges and the beginning of the time of the first Temple of Jerusalem is precisely the time of the prophet Samuel and we are going to talk about them now. To better understand who was the prophet Samuel, we have to understand the time in which he lived; it is the time of the Judges, the time of the Judges begins after the people of Israel leave the slavery of Egypt and enter the land of Israel. The land of Israel is going to be divided among the twelve tribes, each tribe was if we can say “self-administered”, each one took care of its own territory and had its own rules. Of course, the tribes had relationships with each other, they had intermarriages between the tribes, they celebrated religious feasts together. But each tribe generally had its own judge. And at the end of the time of the judges is the time that Samuel lived and he was one of the judges of Israel. But about 3,000 years ago the people begin to look at the peoples of the region and they said, “all these peoples have a king and the king protects his people and we want to have a king too!” And Samuel who was a judge, looks at the people and says, “That’s a terrible idea!” Let’s read this passage now together in the Bible: “They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead “us, such as all the other nations have.” Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons, He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.” 1 Samuel 8: 5-14 And the prophet Samuel, although he knew that it was not the best thing for the people of Israel to have a King he accepts the will of the people so he goes and anoints Saul who will become the first King of Israel. I can imagine Saul sitting in his house, which was not a very simple house, but far from a King’s Palace, thinking about how his life was changing and consequently the lives of all the people who lived in the land of Israel. And the prophet Samuel after he anoints Saul as King over all the tribes of Israel he calls the tribes up to here, to Mishpah; imagine all this region here full of thousands and thousands of people from the people of Israel and he will say the following: When Samuel had all Israel come forward by tribes, the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan, and Matri’s clan was taken. Finally Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. So they inquired further of the LORD, “Has the man come here yet?” And the LORD said, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.” They ran and brought him out. and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. Samuel said to all the people: Do you see the man the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!” 1 Samuel 10: 20-24 And then Saul begins to reign over the tribes of Israel and officially the period of the Judges ends, and so Samuel was the last of the judges of Israel and also the first prophet after Moses. See how important Samuel was, he was both judge and prophet! Let’s keep walking and get to know a little more about the history of Mishpah and Samuel. I find it very interesting that Mishpah is right in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, which was one of the smallest tribes and had one of the smallest territories. But despite the small size of this tribe, some of the most important biblical characters came from it, such as King Saul himself. And this city also appears in biblical passages that are not connected to Saul and Samuel, for example there in the book of Genesis Mizpah is mentioned during the agreement between Laban and Jacob that they would not chase each other anymore. But unfortunately no archaeological finds from the time of Genesis have been found here yet. Mishpah also appears in the book of Jeremiah when the Babylonians destroy Israel and they start to take the people into exile in Babylon, but a small part of the people was not exiled and it came to live here in Mishpah. Mishpah becomes a kind of capital of the kingdom of Judah and its Leader is going to be called Gedaliah. And even the prophet Jeremiah came here and stayed with Gedaliah. It was a place that gave a little hope to the kingdom of Judah but unfortunately Gedaliah is going to be murdered and the rest of the people who were in Mizpah are also going to be sent to Babylon In the background we already see the building that is called Nebi Samuel, which means the prophet Samuel. According to local Jewish, Christian and Muslim tradition, the prophet Samuel is buried there. So let’s go in together and learn about the history of this place, let’s go! Seeing these gigantic constructions, one wonders how they did this so long ago, three thousand years ago and here is a great example of that. The land of Israel is not abundant in wood, and other construction materials, what we do have a lot of here are stones and that is why here we see an old quarry and we can clearly see how they did it, they cut the channel on one side, on the other side, they divided the stones into blocks and then they took the stones from here and used them for construction. This quarry stopped working in the middle, and that’s why it has been so well preserved. And we can clearly see here how they did this in the ancient days. Look where we have come; we are in one of the rooms of the Nebi Samuel complex, the complex of Samuel’s tomb. Unfortunately this place has been destroyed and rebuilt many times So what we see here is relatively modern, this construction is from the Crusade period I mean, it is between 800 and 900 years old, which, folks, for Israel 800 years is not very old. But one interesting thing from this time is that people were much shorter, so look here at the height of the door. But let’s go through it and continue our tour. Look what was found here in the archaeological excavations, do you see this circle here that I am entering? This in Hebrew is called “Beit bad”, Beit bad means the site of the olive oil press. The olives were brought here, pressed and olive oil was extracted here, of different qualities; the simplest oil of all was used for lamps, to light. The good oil was used to eat and also as medicine, for example to rub on skin wounds, but the best oil of all, the purest oil was dedicated to God, for example it was placed in the Menorah, the lampstand that illuminated the Tabernacle and then also the Menorah in the Temple of Jerusalem and also this pure oil was used for anointing, so when Samuel is going to be anointed he will be anointed with this pure oil, and also when Samuel is going to anoint Saul as the King of Israel he will take a jar of oil and put it on Saul’s head. So olive oil was very important, both in daily life and in sacred matters at that time. Look how cool it is, there is a Jewish ceremony of Halake going on right now, which is when they cut the hair for the first time. In Judaism there is a tradition of not cutting the boys’ hair until they are three years old, and when they reach three years old, the whole family gathers in a special place for the haircut, which is exactly what they are doing now, this boy has just turned three, and at this age is also when the children start their Jewish education, for example, they start learning the Hebrew alphabet, they start wearing the Kipah, the skullcap and also the tzitzit, which are the bangs on their clothes. And I am very happy that you could see a little bit of this party today. And here we already see the tomb of the prophet Samuel. We are next to the tomb of the prophet Samuel, but behind me there is a little golden sign that points in the direction of Jerusalem. It is very important for us to remember that although the prophet Samuel is buried here, that people cannot and should not pray to him or to anybody else! When we go to the tombs of important people like the patriarchs, in Hebron, like Rachel’s tomb, we don’t pray to them, we can only pray to God. So even though we are here, the direction of Jerusalem is marked because the people here are facing Jerusalem and praying to God. See that only half of the tomb is visible, half is here on the women’s side and the other half is visible on the men’s side; this is a Jewish tradition where men and women pray separately. And now in front of us we can see the men’s part. Look what a wonderful view we have here! No wonder we are on the side of Mishpah, the city which is called Mirador. And here we can also see clearly a verse that says “Yerushalaim Harym Savyv Lah” which means Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains. We have the Mount of Olives, Mount Zion, Mount Moriah, but look how many other mountains we have here. This is a mountainous region but this wonderful view also has a terrible history; since this point is so high, it is strategic, whoever controls this region also controls what happens in Jerusalem and since everybody wanted to control this area here there were many battles here. Saul’s own battle against the Philistines, but also in other times for example battles between the Crusader and Muslim forces 800 years ago and also more recent battles like the fight between the British and the Ottomans in 1917 that will end on June 6th with the victory of the British. And then they will also drive the Ottomans out of all of Israel and control the entire region. And despite so many battles, that place today is very peaceful. And this place today is an example of coexistence, here there is a synagogue and a mosque inside a building that was originally a church. So Jews, Christians and Muslims visit this place today. I am taking off my shoes out of respect for the Muslim tradition and here we can already see the Mosque, so the three great monotheistic religions pray here side by side in Nebi Samuel. And here, next to Mishpah and next to the tomb of the prophet Samuel, we find a small spring of water, which is called the spring of Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel. And since we talked so much about him today, we also have to remember the story of Hannah, a woman who was barren for many, many years and she goes to the city of Shiloh and she makes a very strong prayer to God and God will grace her with a son and not just any son, but the prophet Samuel, one of the greatest prophets and judges that the people of Israel ever seen. So today when we remember Samuel, let’s also remember Hannah. And if you want to know Shiloh, the place where Hannah prayed and where the Ark of the Covenant was, we have a video there, it is linked here on top for you, for those who want to watch it. And I hope you have enjoyed today’s video, thank you all for watching, subscribe to the channel and see you next time!