Blog to become Israel 2011 Tour blog

Soon we will begin to post info about the progress of the Bible Land Tour of Israel, April 26 - May 7, 2011. This blog will serve the purpose of updating friends and family back home about the progress of the tour.

This tour does not replace or compete with Ferrell's Travel Blog, an ongoing source of good information about the Bible lands.

Michael gets newspaper coverage in Crystal River

Michael lives in a small town. He has received local coverage about his "escape" from Egypt.

For 47-year-old Michael Lusk, refuge manager at Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, Crystal River never looked so good as it did Sunday evening.

Michael Lusk, refuge manager at Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge was in Egypt, on a tour with a former college professor, when the unrest and rioting started. The 47-year-old finally got home Sunday. He had been in Egypt, on a tour with a former college professor, when the unrest and rioting started.

“I could see smoke coming from Cairo from my hotel room,” he said. “No one who worked at the hotel seemed to know what was going on, or they weren’t saying, and the only way I knew was by watching CNN.

Check the full article, with photos, here.

Ferrell & Elizabeth arrive in Israel

We have heard from several tour members about the safe arrival in the USA. We, along with Bruce and Judy, and Michael, had a nice trip to Mount Sinai. I wrote on the Travel Blog about our trip to Israel.

Bruce and Judy most likely made their flight from Cairo. I see that it has been diverted to Cincinnati due to bad weather in the NE.

I suspect that Michael is on his way to Abu Simbel today.

Group safely home

We have heard from several of our group. We know they arrived safely in Atlanta, and that several are safely at their home. We are thankful for this.

It was COLD at Mount Sinai last evening. Michael was planning to climb the mountain -- getting up about 1:30 am. He, along with Bruce and Judy, will be returning to Cairo.

Elizabeth and I will visit St. Catherine's monastery and then go to Eilat, Israel. We may continue to post a note or two here, but mostly on the travel blog.

Thanks for sharing our travel this way.

Winging their way home

It is about 7:35 a.m. here in Egypt. Five of us are going to the traditional Mount Sinai today. Most of the group left last evening. I just checked Delta 85 and note that they are scheduled to arrive in New York on time (about 5 a.m.). At this time they are over the Atlantic.

Your continued prayers for the safety of all are appreciated.

Final day of sightseeing

After a period of worship this morning we made several stops in Cairo.

• The Citadel and the Mohamed Ali Mosque.
• In Old Cairo we visited the Coptic Museum where a few of the Nag Hammadi documents are displayed, the church traditionally associated with the visit of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus to Egypt, and the Ben Ezra Synagogue.
• Ancient Memphis, the capital of Egypt.
• The Step Pyramid of Zoser.

The time tomorrow is free and tour members have a variety of activities planned. The journey home begins tomorrow evening.

I think everyone is in good condition. The Lord has been good to us in our travels.

Visiting the land of Goshen

Today we visited the land of Goshen. Please take a look at a photo and a few comments about the area at Ferrell's Travel Blog.

Everyone in the group seems to be having a great time.

Jessica has been posting quite a few photos. Take a look at her blog (link on the right).

In the shadow of the pyramids

This morning we checked out of our hotel in Aswan (the cruise boat Moondance) and took a pleasant felucca ride on the Nile River. The felucca, a wooden sailing boat, is widely used in Egypt on the Nile River.

About 11:30 we left the cruise boat and went to the Aswan airport for the flight back to Cairo. On the way to the hotel in Giza, near the great pyramids, we stopped at a papyrus shop to see a demonstration of making "paper" from papyrus. Remember that our earliest manuscripts of the New Testament were written on papyrus. Of course, the shop had lots of artistic works on papyrus to sell.

Our hotel is in the shadow of the pyramids -- just a few blocks away.

Tomorrow we will leave early to visit the land of Goshen, the area where Jacob's family settled and grew to a great nation of people.

I think everyone in the group is doing well.

The first cataract of the Nile

Aswan is the location of the first cataract of the Nile River. This made it an ideal location for the Aswan Dam which was built between 1898 and 1902. This created a small lake south of the dam, but it was nothing to compare with Lake Nasser which has been formed as a result of the building of the new high dam at Aswan between 1960 and 1971.

The new high dam was constructed at a time when the Soviet Union was providing technical, economic and military support to Egypt. I remember staying in a hotel in Egypt in 1973 filled with Soviet tourists. In the years following we saw none of them. Lake Nasser stretches south for more than 300 miles. Many of the Nubians who lived in this area were resettled by the Egyptian government.

Our photo was made below the new high dam from a Nubian settlement.

The first cataract of the Nile at Aswan. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Some scholars identify the Arabic name Aswan with the Syene of Ezekiel 29:10 and 30:6. It may be identified with the Sinim of Isaiah 49:12.

I am against you and your waterways. I will turn the land of Egypt into an utter desolate ruin from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border with Ethiopia. (Ezekiel 29:10 NET)

The Hebrew word translated Ethiopia (or Cush) in some English versions is Kush (Cush).

Look, they come from far away! Look, some come from the north and west, and others from the land of Sinim! (Isaiah 49:12 NET)

The Text Critical note in the NET Bible explains,

The MT reads “Sinim” here; the Dead Sea Scrolls read “Syene,” a location in Egypt associated with modern Aswan. A number of recent translations adopt this reading: “Syene” (NAB, NRSV); “Aswan” (NIV); “Egypt” (NLT).

Note: This post is copied from an earlier article on Ferrell's Travel Blog. This is the kind of material that we regularly post there. Follow the link and you will be able to download a larger image of the photo of the cataracts.

Just horseing around

One of our stops today [now yesterday] along the Nile River was the site of Edfu. There is a large ancient temple from the period of the Ptolemies in the second century B.C.

From the cruise boat to the temple we took the local carriages. The carriage parking lot looked like our shopping mall parking lots on the day after Thanksgiving.

We had a great visit, but two of our couples, riding in the same carriage, had a little spill. It resulted in two small skinned places on Joe's left elbow and a skinned place on Doris's left hand. They are all fine. Here is a photo we made about four hours later at Kom Ombo.

We had already docked at Aswan last night before I went to bed. We am looking forward to some nice visits in the area of Aswan today. This includes the Aswan High Dam, Philae Island, and the Unfinished Obelisk.

Tour Members Listen and Look

This morning (Tuesday) we visited the greatest of the ancient Egyptian temples at Karnak. Many people think of Luxor and Karnak together, but they go under different names even today.

So far as I can tell everyone in the group is doing well. Here are a few of the folks listening to Osman, our accomplished Egyptian guide, as he points to the entrance of Karnak Temple.

Tour members look as Osman points out features of the Temple of Karnak.

 About 1 p.m. we sailed from Luxor. The life along the Nile is fascinating -- much like it has been for centuries. Well before dinner we arrived at Esna where the boats must await their turn to go through the lock on the Nile. This should happen sometime during the night. By morning we will be docked at Edfu where we will visit the city.

I posted a blog about the Valley of the Kings at http://ferrelljenkins.wordpress.com. I hope you will look at it.

Another of our group, Trena, had a birthday today. The group gave her a gift from Egypt this morning. This evening the cruise dinner staff brought out a cake and created a great celebration. Hopefully Jessica will have a photo of the event on her blog later (see the blog list). We have known Trena since she was a little girl. Her brother David is a neighbor and goes to church with us.

A busy day from Cairo to Luxor

What a day. We arose about 3:30 a.m. to be read to fly to Luxor. Upon arrival we visited the Valley of the Kings. After checking into our cruise boat, which will be our home for the next 4 days, we visited Luxor Temple. To much activity to get photos ready to post.

Everyone in the group is doing well.

Be sure to check Jessica's blog. She is posting more photos and personal info about the group as her time permits.

Group photo at the Pyramids

It is a bit chilly in Cairo, but we had a good day visiting the Egyptian Museum and the great pyramids of Giza. I have had some trouble with uploading and am running out of Internet time. You may see a larger image of the group by clicking here.

Everyone is well. We must arise at 3:30 a.m. to take a flight to Luxor. Hopefully in the next few days we will be able to post some more photos.

Arrival in Egypt

Our group arrived safely in Cairo this afternoon at 4 p.m. I think we had cleared all the formalities and were at the hotel about 5:30 p.m. We are tired, but enjoyed a good dinner and now look forward to a good night of rest. Joe and Doris flew separately from California, arriving yesterday. They already looked fresh tonight.

The representative from our good tour company, Nawas International Travel, met us at the airport and took us through all of the formalities flawlessly. Egypt is a different world than most of our American friends can imagine. If you find the right one you can get anything done that needs to get done.

Internet access at the hotel is about $28 for 24 hours of use. Maybe I should pout a "donation" box on the blog.

Jessica mentioned blogging tonight, so I hope you will check her post as well. See the link to the right.

For this first blog I will include the post from last night's Ferrell's Travel Blog, but I will not be doing this all the time. I hope you will check that blog as well. It will be more biblical and historical, but we will probably not be mentioning persons on the tour.

The first biblical reference to Egypt is in Genesis 12:10.

There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay for a while because the famine was severe. (Genesis 12:10 NET)

Untold multitudes of people have traveled to Egypt before and after the time of Abram, and for a variety of reasons — to find food, to find refuge, to conquer, to search for treasures, to study history, to make photographs, naming just a few. Our purpose in going to Egypt is not only to enjoy the culture of Egypt, but to study the history at it relates to biblical history. In the next couple of weeks we will try to highlight some of these things. We hope you will travel with us through this blog.



We may not be able to post every day, and due to the time change, it may be at an unusual time of the day. Our non-stop flight is scheduled to depart from New York in less than two hours. The flight takes about 11 hours.

The banner is ready

Now all we need is a group to stand behind it.

Jessica's Jaunts

Jessica Rice and her husband Paul are traveling with us to Egypt. Jessica is planning to post blogs under the name Jessica's Jaunts here:

http://jessicarice.wordpress.com/

Jessica is a long time friend and a wonderful photographer. I am delighted that she plans to post info about our tour in Egypt. We hope you will follow both blogs as we make our way through this storied ancient land.

Now we turn to Egypt

Until today this blog has been the Ferrell Jenkins Emerald Ireland Travel Blog. Today we changed the heading to read

Ferrell Jenkins Egyptian Adventure Travel Blog.

This blog is not intended to replace Ferrell's Travel Blog. We hope you will continue to follow the postings there:

ferrelljenkins.wordpress.com

This blog is intended to keep friends and family members of our tour group informed about the daily activities of our group. This is where you should turn to learn if our flights were on time and everyone is well.

The Egyptian Adventure tour is scheduled to depart from Atlanta on January 14, 2011, in the early evening. You may read information about the tour at our tour web site:

tour.biblicalstudies.info

The problem of returning home

Once you get back home you must begin to put away everything you used on the tour -- so it will be ready for the next tour! And you have to get back to your regular work.

Thanks for following the tour with us.

Our next tour is the Egyptian Adventure Tour scheduled for January 14-25, 2011.

The Book of Kells and the Scottish Connection

This morning we visited the Trinity College Library to view the Book of Kells which dates to about A.D. 800.

Entrance to the Trinity College Library exhibition of the Book of Kells
and the Long Room. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Two volumes of the famous illuminated Gospels in Latin were on display in a special case. One showed the first words of Luke 4.

And Jesus,full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness. (Luke 4:1, ESV)

Two full pages were used for these words and the associated drawings. Another volume was open to John 7:31-40.

The Book of Kells is famous for its drawings showing the The Four Evangelists, that is, the four writers of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Souvenirs may be seen in shops throughout Ireland with these images imprinted on them. Here is a plate depicting John as an eagle.

John as an Eagle. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

In A.D. 597 Saint Columba went from Ireland to Iona, an island near the coast of Scotland, to teach Christianity. Some scholars suggest that Columba prepared the famous Book of Kells, an illuminated Gospels, at Iona. The information at the Trinity College Library display dates the Book of Kells to A.D. 800. I do not have the materials available to clarify this difference.

It is not certain that anything remains on the island of Iona from the time of Columba, but there are numerous medieval ruins. Here is a photo I made a couple of years ago of the ruins of the nunnery on the island.

Ruins of the nunnery on the Island of Iona. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Eventually the Book of Kells was brought to the Abbey of Kells, a monastery founded by Columba, about 40 miles north of Dublin.

We also visited Saint Patrick Cathedral and the Chester Beatty Library.

Dave and Marge left to return to London for their flight home. The rest of us plan to leave Dublin tomorrow about noon.

Dublin

This afternoon we arrived in Dublin for a two night stay before returning home. Everyone in the tour is doing well.

I haven't had time to work on any of the photos I made today. We visited several sites in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, associated with Thomas and Alexander Campbell around 1800.

More later.