Jim Bakker Show - Footsteps of God | Aaron Lipkin, Derek & Sharon Gilbert
Aired: 2023-08-02
Duration: 07:14


=== Footprints of Gilgal (03:46) ===

[00:00:02]  Aaron, tell us about the footprints that you have found.
[00:00:07]  Do the footprint structures appear in the Bible?
[00:00:11]  So that's a very good question.
[00:00:14]  You know, what's interesting is not just the fact that you find an archaeological finding that proves the veracity of the Bible.
[00:00:21]  The next stage is to look at the finding and see how it even enriches our understanding of the scriptures.
[00:00:30]  And Professor Adam Zertal, when he surveys Samaria in the 1970s, 80s, 90s, he finds a very mysterious foot-shaped enclosure in Samaria and the Jordan Valley, which he doesn't know what it is, but he knows that it's Israelite.
[00:00:48]  He knows that it belongs to the time of Joshua.
[00:00:51]  And what you see is an enclosure that is shaped in the shape of a foot.
[00:00:57]  And it's adjacent to a slope that served as a theater for people to sit down and watch the ceremonies that were going on inside that enclosure.
[00:01:10]  The enclosure has an outline that could be a procession road where people would walk around.
[00:01:17]  And it also has an altar.
[00:01:19]  It has subdivisions inside the foot structure.
[00:01:23]  And so Adam Zertal was very curious.
[00:01:25]  He said, you know, if this is such a huge structure, this is like three football courts.
[00:01:32]  This is really big.
[00:01:33]  If the Israelites invested so much energy in building these structures, they have to appear in the Bible.
[00:01:40]  So he's opening the Bible.
[00:01:42]  This is interesting.
[00:01:43]  He finds something, and then he goes to the Bible to better understand what it is.
[00:01:48]  And so he opens the Bible and he's looking for the worshiping sites of the Israelites at the time of Joshua.
[00:01:54]  And a name comes up, the word Gilgal.
[00:01:59]  Okay, we've all heard of, read the word Gilgal coming up.
[00:02:03]  We see that the Israelites are coming into the land of Israel.
[00:02:07]  And before conquering Jericho, they're circumcising at Gilgal of Jericho.
[00:02:12]  They're crowning King Saul at Gilgal.
[00:02:16]  And we always thought that Gilgal was the name of a place near Jericho.
[00:02:21]  But when you look at the Bible closely, you see that Gilgal appears in several places, several locations in Israel.
[00:02:29]  And so Adam Zertal said, this has to be Gilgal.
[00:02:33]  This has to be the place that's mentioned in the Bible.
[00:02:36]  And if I'm correct, then there's another Gilgal waiting to be found on the border between Benjamin and Judah.
[00:02:44]  If I'm able to find another enclosure like that, I will prove scientifically that my theory, that these are the biblical Gilgal, this will be true.
[00:02:56]  And so he takes satellite footage and he looks in the area of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin.
[00:03:05]  And at a certain point, he can't believe his eyes.
[00:03:08]  He actually was able to identify another enclosure, another footprint structure.
[00:03:15]  And that finally proved his theory that these footprint structures are Gilgal.
[00:03:23]  And he actually wrote a book about it.
[00:03:24]  It's called The Footsteps of God.
[00:03:27]  And what's interesting is that after finding this, and by the way, one of these structures is also around Joshua's altar.

=== Feasts as Footprints (03:41) ===

[00:03:36]  In other words, the Israelites, the reason why they built this enclosure is to sanctify a certain area versus the other places that are not holy, that are not important.
[00:03:48]  This is the only place where only the high priests could go in or the judges or the important people.
[00:03:55]  And So suddenly these insights are coming to Adam Zertal.
[00:04:01]  How do you say in Hebrew a feast?
[00:04:05]  You know, Passover, Sukkot, Pentecost, tabernacles, these are all the three feasts.
[00:04:12]  How do you call them in Hebrew?
[00:04:14]  In the Bible?
[00:04:15]  They're called Regel.
[00:04:16]  Regel means a foot in Hebrew.
[00:04:21]  Okay?
[00:04:22]  Now we understand why.
[00:04:23]  When the Israelites worshiped God during those feasts, they went to the foot to worship God.
[00:04:32]  Okay?
[00:04:32]  That was the foot.
[00:04:34]  Another thing, how do you say a holiday in Hebrew?
[00:04:37]  A holiday is a chag.
[00:04:39]  Chag means in Hebrew to circle.
[00:04:42]  And the footprint structures have a procession road around them, which shows that the Israelites, when they came to worship their God, they went circling around the foot structure.
[00:04:54]  So it's amazing that when you find an archaeological site from the time of the Bible, it doesn't just prove the Bible.
[00:05:03]  It also adds more understanding to our understanding of the Bible.
[00:05:09]  And, you know, every time that Derek and Sharon and I, when we bring groups to Israel, people don't just see the Bible come alive.
[00:05:18]  It gives them a better understanding of the scriptures.
[00:05:21]  Yeah, absolutely.
[00:05:23]  Deuteronomy 11, 24, every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours.
[00:05:28]  God's promise to Moses and Joshua and the Israelites.
[00:05:31]  And now we've got this series of footprint structures across the land.
[00:05:36]  And interestingly, I went and looked at a 19th century map of old city Jerusalem, the city of David and the Temple Mount.
[00:05:42]  It's shaped just like that.
[00:05:43]  Just like a sandal.
[00:05:45]  Yes, yes.
[00:05:46]  This was apparently.
[00:05:49]  And Adam Zertal tried to understand why are the Israelites building these footprint structures?
[00:05:55]  Where does it come from?
[00:05:57]  And he went to the Egyptian culture because that's where the Israelites are coming from.
[00:06:02]  And he sees that the foot of Pharaoh was a very important thing in the Egyptian culture.
[00:06:09]  It showed the Egyptian conquest of lands.
[00:06:13]  It showed the control of Pharaoh over the other nations.
[00:06:18]  And when you look at the book of Joshua, you see that the main theme is the Israelite conquest of Canaan.
[00:06:25]  So when the Israelites are building these foot-shaped structures, what they're actually saying is this belongs to us.
[00:06:33]  This is their way of saying it belongs to God.
[00:06:37]  These footprint structures are God's feet.
[00:06:40]  And when we read the Bible, we see that the Bible constantly says that the earth is God's footstool.
[00:06:48]  This is where God puts his feet.
[00:06:49]  Jerusalem, Mount Zion is the place where God puts his feet.
[00:06:53]  And so suddenly, after you visit these sites and you learn about the footsteps of God, when you read the Bible, you start seeing feet over everywhere.
[00:07:03]  The word foot suddenly has an important meaning.
[00:07:07]  If you want to see more content like this, like, share, subscribe, and go to watchjimbakershow.com.