Paratz

 

Hiking in the hills, close to where Paul must have hiked

incredible, the distances they hiked then

a days journey was about 40 miles, seems very far to me

 

we came to a sheepfold

so many biblical pictures involve sheep

 

It seemed not in use anymore, used to be a few years ago

 

because of disuse, we didn't all go into it,

 for fear of it coming down on us

 

we talked about the Kingdom of Heaven

Matthew 11 From the days of John the Baptist until now,

the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence,

and violent people have been raiding it.

 but it has nothing to do with violence it means "explode"

like sheep who have been cooped up in the pen and are set free

they jump and run, just like our cows in the Spring

it is called : Paratz

 

Micah 2: The One who breaks open the way will go up before them;
    they will break through the gate and go out.
Their King will pass through before them,
    the Lord at their head.”

 

John brought down the gate, we are the sheep and our king Jesus

goes before us

we should have Paratz!!

 

we came by a well with a cool bucket

 

and troughs that were constantly filled by a running well

a lady was hitting trees

and the sheep were eating what fell out of the trees

 

for a brief time we hiked on a paved road

 

came through a village, with very friendly people

 

 

next we went to Lystra

 

lystra was the town of Timothy, Acts 16:

Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra,

where a disciple named Timothy lived,

whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek.

The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.

Paul wanted to take him along on the journey,

 so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area,

for they all knew that his father was a Greek

 

as Timothy's father was a Greek, he would not have

been allowed to be circumcised by the Rabbi, now Paul did it

for Timothy circumcision was a good thing, he was Jewish

Titus was not circumcised, because he was a Greek

 

we, gentiles also must keep God's law,

except for those things that are distinctly Jewish

like wearing tassels, circumcision and the kosher laws

believe =obey

 

Sheep in our path, so we took the long way around

sheep dogs in this area can be vicious,

there are wolves and the dogs are trained to protect the sheep 

one of the dogs was trying to attack a tractor

 

 

 

You can see the kind of dogs in this video I took from the bus