Hiking the Valley of Amos (Tekoa)
My husband is an outdoorsman. He loves exploring nature, hiking, etc. When I met him he was into hiking, rock climbing, and all those other adventure sports… So, naturally, I got into them. Now that we have kids, we still try to find ways to do these sorts of things. The kids LOVE it.
Again, we live in Beit Sahour, part of the Bethlehem district, in Palestine. There are very few parks and places to take kids to play in our town. We have found other ways to get our kids out and hopefully foster a love for nature and the outdoors. Just to the east of us is the Judean Desert… great for hiking, rock climbing, rappelling and a number of other things.
History…
We decided to take the kids for a day hike in the beautiful Wadi Acratun (otherwise known as the Valley of Tekoa or the Valley of
The Herodian as seen from our hike.
Amos or the Valley of Berachah or Valley of Blessing). Things here have several names… the Hebrew or biblical name, the Arabic name and possibly even a local name. This valley lies in the shadow of the Herodian. The Herodian is approx. 8 miles south of Jeruslaem on a hill shaped like a truncated cone that rises 758 m. above sea level. The palace-fortress was built by King Herod around 40 B.C. It had a breathtaking view, overlooking the Judean Desert and the mountains of Jordan to the east, and the Judean Hills to the west.
Wadi Acratun, otherwise know as the Valley of Tekoa, is where the prophet Amos hails from. Coincidentally, I am currently reading the book of Amos and I just found out that Amos was a shepherd in the town of Tekoa and took care of sycamore-fig trees. He said the Lord took him from shepherding to be one of his prophets to Israel.
The Hike…
Signage
We hiked in the Spring when the rains were almost finished and the dessert was green, green, green. The hike started in a small forest area off the bypass road between the Israeli settlement of Tekoa and the Arab village of Teko’a. It was like walking in an enchanted wonderland. (By May it would all be brown again.) I carried our youngest. My husband carried our two year old. and our 4 and 7 year old walked.
They loved it. Our goal was a huge natural rock formation that resembled an amphitheather. The trail winds along a wadi. A wadi is a valley that is dry except in the rainy season. We made it to the amphitheater, had a picnic lunch and headed back. Along the way we encountered herds of sheep, young shepherds and I found a well on the side of the wadi where shepherds watered their flocks when water was scarce. Next to the well was a large rock carved like a bowl to hold water. It was incredible. Made me more understand the imagery of the shepherd caring for his flocks that you read all throughout the Bible.
These are the things that your children remember… take advantage of what the world around you has to offer! They can be amazing teaching tools of both history, religion, science and nature… don’t ever stop exploring!
Following the leader…
Wild sage and poppies.
Monastic cells created by Byzantine monks found along the wadi.
Nature’s natural ampitheater… and where we were headed for a delightful picnic!
I found a well built along the wadi. Shepherd’s use it all year long to water their flocks!
Grazing sheep along the wadi
Loaded down…
Through the rock tunnel.
Hi, my name is Sam Ashmore. I just typed into google The Valley of blessing/Beracah because one of my favorite Bible stories occurs in 2 Chronicles 20 when that Valley was named. I began to do some research, found out it was in Tekoa, and then found this blog.
Anyway, God has laid it on my heart to go to Israel, and I am coming this summer. I believe that the first thing that God wants me to do is go to this valley and spend the day there with Him.
I basically just wanted to touch base with you to see if you could help me out at all as far as with details. If I wanted to stay around the area and be close to the Valley where would I find a good hotel or place to stay? Is the valley easy to get to? Any bit of information or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You
Sam
Hello Sam,
The valley is located in the West Bank between Beit Sahour (Bethlehem area) and the settlement of Tekoa. There are many wonderful hotels located in the Bethlehem area that many tourist stay in. From there you can easily take a cab to the valley or the beginning of the hike (we can arrange one once you are in the country) and hike around. My husband’s organization leads hiking/caving trips there quite frequently. Once you are in the country you can call the office on the website http://www.paidia.org.