Page 36 - Holyland Magazine - 2021 Edition

A view of Karnei
Shomron
Experience the Bible
in the Heart of Biblical Israel
Judea and
Samaria
A journey through ancient Israel
By Sondra Oster Baras
Photos: Sondra Oster Baras
Route 60 is the highway's name on
the map, but since ancient times, this
winding north-south road has been
referred to as the Path of the Patriarchs. become known as the City of the Patriarchs.
When Abraham first entered the Land
of Israel, following God's commandment to
him in Genesis 12, his first stop was at the
Oak of Moreh, near Shechem. On that scenic
mountain top, God first promised the Land of
Canaan to Abraham's children and from that
historic point, Abraham gazed at the land
around him and embraced his legacy.
And then Abraham began to walk the length
and breadth of the land, along the Path of the
Patriarchs. He passed the place that would
become Shiloh, where his descendants would
erect the permanent Tabernacle. Further
south, he stopped at Beth El, where he built an
36
altar to God and where his grandson, Jacob,
would later have a vision of angels ascending
a ladder to heaven. Continuing south he would
skirt what would become Jerusalem, then
pass through Bethlehem, where Jacob would
later bury his wife, Rachel. And he would finally spread before me, below the bright blue sky
come to rest in Hebron, which would later
What is so amazing is that we can drive along
Route 60 today, in an air-conditioned tour bus,
and see all those places that Abraham saw
and walk the very paths that Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob walked, as they lay the foundations
for the Nation of Israel.
My favorite stop along this route is the Three-
Seas Outlook. Each time I visit, as the bus
winds its way along the narrow road through
Itamar, and then out through the Samarian
hilltops that extend east to the edge of the
mountain ridge, overlooking the Jordan Valley,
I feel as if I am climbing towards heaven. And
then the bus reaches the crest and there,
above, is the fertile valley that spreads east
from the Biblical mountains of Gerizim and
Ebal.
As I stand at that outlook, I can see it all before
me: the Oak of Moreh, where God first spoke
to Abraham in the Land of Israel, and where
he built his first altar; Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim,
where the Nation of Israel stood just after
conquering the Ai, entering into a covenant
with God, just after Joshua built an altar on Mt.
Ebal; the Plains of Moab where the Children of
Israel camped just before entering the Land;