Day 10: Halfway. The Samarian city of Shomrom-Sebaste, ancient walled capital of Israel, yet to Joseph a desecrated city, its buildings more Greek than Jewish, and filled with foreigners who do not believe in God. Three days here outside the walls. Joseph is anxious to push on but this is a trading center and the caravan merchants are too busy to leave.
Ten miles southwest is Shechem, noted for the wealth and arrogance of its citizens who are not Jews, but Samaritans. Mary yearns, as do all Jews for a cup of curative water from Jacob's Well, but it is forbidden territory and leaving the caravan might mean being killed by the Samaritans. At Jacob's Well Jesus will meet a Samaritan woman and promise her eternal life.
Day 14: The Sabbath observed. No traveling. Mary needs the rest. Joseph is worried for her.
Day 15: Joseph and Mary travel around the new city of Shiloh, and mourn for the old Shiloh, a sad and lonely vista of broken-down buildings and shattered alters. Once it possessed the now-lost Ark of the Covenant, the revered sign of God's presence.
Day 16: Bethel. As devout Jews, Joseph and Mary pause for special prayers where Abraham offered his sacrifices to God, and Jacob dreamed of angels climbing up and down a ladder to heaven.
Day 17: The small wayside station of Ramallah. Here, at last, the first glimpse of the holy city of Jerusalem, its golden pinnacles glittering in the sun, 10 miles distant.
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