Welcome to my new site! I have now returned from my sabbatical, which was volunteering with the Bethsaida Archaeology Excavation Project in northern Israel. I will leave the site up with the Bethsaida/Israel reports for a good while now. Thanks to Thrivent Financial for Lutherans for making a site like this available at no cost to Lutherans.Rediscovered in 1987 by Rami Arav, professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the site of the New Testament town of Bethsaida has produced evidence of the New Testament-era life in this place along with an unexpected surprise ~
Underneath the ruins of the New Testament town lies a sizable city from the 10th - 8th Centuries B.C., including the time of Kings David and Solomon in Israel and the divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel. It has been determined that this was the capital of the Kingdom of Geshur and the home of one of King David's wives, who was the mother of Absalom. (This was Maacah. See 2nd Samuel 3:3.)
Updates during my three-week stay with the excavation team are posted below. To see them, click on the individual days under "Page Links" at the bottom of this page. Blessings!
- Pastor David P. Buuck
Bethlehem Lutheran Church of Minnetonka, Minnesota, USA
P.S. Do you have a comment or a question? At the bottom of this page there is a box where you can click ON MY EMAIL ADDRESS to send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!