The Shuk

Deuteronomy 8:7-10 “For YHWH your Elohim is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land in which you eat bread without scarcity, in which you do not lack at all, a land whose stones are iron and our of whose hills you dig copper.” ISR2009

At each booth you would put what you want in a bag, hand it to the market attendee to weigh it, then pay…very quick and super informal

 

I have a picture in mind of what I think the marketplace looked like in the time of Yeshua and his disciples, and if I had to guess at what it would have been like I would say that it is very similar to shopping at the Shuk Ha’Carmel. This is a picture of only one of the booths that stretched a number of blocks along both sides of the street; each booth was canopied by a tent, leaving room in the middle for the hot sun to shine through. They had everything from fresh produce stands to candy stands to fresh baked bread…my favorite booth was a spice, seed, and honey booth; according to the market attendee everything in the store came straight from the kibbutz (thanks Abby for teaching me that word). He let us sample the fresh dates, which were absolutely delicious! It was here that I bought fresh raw honey for 10 shekels (which is $2.92, I have been using the currency app like crazy!).

 

All of the fresh produce was inexpensively priced and was super fresh! (So fresh that I had to check every kale leaf for a friend I may have brought back with me.) The produce at the market was much cheaper then what can be found in the grocery store a block away from campus, the only downer is it takes a lot of effort to get to the Ha’Carmel…but definitely worth it!

I left the market with enough fresh food to last me awhile, I just hope it doesn’t go bad before I finish it! So in an attempt to get optimal use out of my bounty I made a rendition of the peach & cucumber salad from home.

Turned out pretty yummy!

Tying everything to Deuteronomy 8. Everything mentioned in this passage I saw in an abundance on the streets of Israel; everything locally grown and deliciously tasting. To this day the land of Israel is being blessed with the fruit of the land. However, this comes with keeping the commandments of Elohim that he gave to bless us and show our love to him.

Deuteronomy 8:11-14 “Be on guard, lest you forget YHWH your Elohim by not guarding His commands, and His right-rulings, and His laws which I command you today, lest you eat and shall be satisfied, and build lovely houses and shall dwell in them, and your herds and your flocks increase, and your silver and your gold are increased and all that you have is increased, that your heart then becomes lifted up and you forget YHWH your Elohim who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, from the house of bondage,” ISR2009

As we obey His perfect instructions he continues to lavish his people with blessings more than we can manage. But as blessings come we have to remember the one by whom they came.

A small fun fact to end this post…according to Nehemia Gordon on Truth2U, Deuteronomy 8:8 is essentially listing the staple crops of ancient Israel known as “the 7 species” which are the 7 main crops grown here. But one crop is missing (because wheat and barley are considered to be in the same category)…the date, which is native to the land of Israel. Apparently there was a date seed found on Masada from 2,000 years ago and was planted, it then produced a fruitful date tree because the seed was preserved by the dryness. It is suggested by scholars that the honey referred to in this verse is actually date honey…who woulda thought?

At the end of the day the trip to Ha’Carmel was definitely worth it, and I will most certainly be going again! 🙂