We’re off to Israel!!
We left on an 11 pm flight on Monday night after a thorough grilling from the El Al (Israel’s airline) security. We had been warned that their security was very tight & we were grateful & understand why, but it was still a pain. They questioned every member of our group before taking our tickets for the flight. We had an uneventful flight & arrived in Tel Aviv at 1:00 am on Tues. We each proceeded through the passport checks until the next to last person in our group. The security pulled her aside (for no particular reason we could figure) & took her to question her about herself & her family, etc. Not what you want to put up with at 1:30 am!! Finally, after about 20 minutes, they released her & we were on our way to our hotel. Check in at 3:00 am & fall in bed!!
Wake up Tues. at 8:30 to a nice breakfast. First we headed to Cesarea Maritima which is on the Mediterranean Sea. This is an ancient seaport city that Paul visited & it has been partially reconstructed but most of it is now under water. We saw the remains of Herod’s palace which was built right on the sea (including his swimming pool & gardens) & the ancient theatre, hippodrome, the remains of the harbor that was used to house hundreds of war ships, & the remains of several homes w/ beautiful mosaic floors! There is an old cistern there which is believed to be what was used to imprison Paul while he was there for 2 years & a stone w/ Pontius Pilates name engraved in it. (which is the only evidence outside of the Bible of Pilates name).
Next we were off to Megiddo which was an ancient city that was constantly inhabited for several hundred years & as the city was destroyed several times by various groups, it would be buried & rebuilt on, leaving the remains in layers. It included city gates built by Solomon & multiple stables for all his horses. There was a very sophisticated water system which included a tunnel that you can usually walk through, but it was closed on this day. Megiddo is high up on a tel (hill) & looks down on the beautiful, fertile Jezreel valley.
Our next stop was Nazareth, which was very exciting to our whole group. This was, of course, the childhood home of Jesus & it was so inspiring to be there. Nazareth was only a tiny village at the time of Jesus - probably less than 400 people - & very small in size. There is very little of the original left. We visited a tiny church building which was built by the Ottomans on top of the site of the original synagogue & also the very modern Church of the Annunciation which was built in the 40’s over the area believed to be where Mary received her visit from Gabriel. That is one interesting thing we’ve learned. In the 4th century, I believe, Helen, the mother of Constantine, Visited the holy lands & had visions of where, specifically, many of the important happenings in the Bible occurred. She decided to build a church building to commemorate that over the top of each area, so now there are very ornate church buildings (cathedrals) over or around each of the sites one would want to see when visiting here. I would prefer to see the site as it might have appeared at the time to be more realistic to me, rather than seeing it inside of an ornamental church building, but, unfortunately, that’s the way it is. She felt that many people would want to come worship at those sites, & therefore, would need the church buildings to do so. So - - there is a building over the place (a cave) where tradition says Mary received her visit from Gabriel, where Jesus is believed to be crucified, buried, etc. Just a little history lesson - hope I got it mostly right.
It was getting dark, but we wanted to visit Mt-. Precipice which is the only tall mountain around Nazareth with a sheer cliff. Because of this, it is assumed this is the mountain that the crowd dragged Jesus up to to throw him off of, but he ended up walking away right between them!! We got a couple of night photos of Nazareth from here. Also, from here - when it’s light - you can see Mt. Tabor (transfiguration site). This night we drove to stay at a Kibbutz (commune) on the Sea of Galilee!
After my first full day in Israel, I can tell it’s going to be an exciting & inspirational trip. While the sites really hold little meaning, it is very humbling to be able to actually walk in places that we know Jesus & the apostles walked. Our tour guide, Yoni, is relating it well to the Bible & bringing out things he knows will be important to us. It’s also exciting to see so many other people making the Pilgrimage here - we’ve met many people from all different countries - a lot of Americans - including a group of 24 from the churches of Christ in Nebraska!! There are several areas we would like to visit, like Bethlehem, but have been told that is just not safe right now for non-Muslims, so we won’t be going there. So far, we feel very safe here!!
Wednesday -
Didn’t sleep too great last night. Guess we were just too tired from lack of sleep the night before! Today will be an exciting day!!
First stop is at Capernaum, which was the home of Peter. Capernaum was a small fishing village that Jesus spent much of his ministry time in. Much of the ruins from the 1st - 4th centuries are still here as this city is no longer occupied. It is just an archeological site. It was one of 3 cities in the area that was cursed & never recovered!! Here we saw ruins from 1st century homes including one they believe may have been Peter’s home as well as the 4th century synagogue (built over the previous 1st century one). There are also old wheat millstones & olive presses. This is the city where Jesus healed Jairus’ daughter & the lame man who was lowered through the roof. Just a short way down the road, is the site believed to be where Jesus delivered the Beatitudes to the crowd of 5,000. We stopped & sat on the side of the mountain & Vann read Matthew 5 to us. Further down, we saw where the apostles cast their nets on the other side to catch their nets full of fish!! Also here on the Sea of Galilee, is where Jesus walked on water! It’s just unbelievable to be in this beautiful place & know that Jesus & the apostles walked where we are walking. It was a wonderful day spent reliving many of the steps of Jesus & reading scriptures that prove to us over & over how real Jesus is & that history really does back up everything the Bible says. Our day ended with a quick trip up to a lookout at Mt.Arbel that looks over all of the valley by the Sea of Galilee, including Migdol, the home village of Mary of Magdalene. We visited a small museum which houses a 1st century fishing boat discovered in the mud of the Sea in the 1960’s & preserved in the museum. It is just the type of fishing boat Peter, Andrew, James, or John or even Jesus might have used! Our group took a short boat ride on the Sea of Galilee before heading to our hotel for the night up in Northern Israel in the Golon Heights.
Thursday- We started the morning off at the ancient city of Dan. It is one of the sources of the Jordan river & is mentioned in 1 Kings 12 with Jeroboam & the rebellion against Solomon. Here, 2 rocks were found that have the inscriptions of the only mention outside of the Bible, of King David. This was an interesting city that has been largely unexcavated & still has the remains of an alter & the city gates. Next we were on to Cesarea Phillipi which was named to honor Caesar Augustus. This city was built around several streams & was just beautiful! This city is the site where Peter declared “You are the Christ” & Simon Peter was renamed - “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church.”
Next we stopped at Nimrod’s fortress. Nimrod is a legendary character from the Bible. He bragged that he was so strong, he could beat God, so God beat him with one of the smallest animals - a mosquito. He sent it into his ear & the buzzing drove him insane, so he asked his doctor to cut off his head & replace it with a gold one to get rid of the buzzing. This fortress has mostly remains from the Crusaders period
Friday - We started this day off with a visit to Bet Shean which is the city in the Bible that Saul fled to & was killed. His body was pinned to the city walls after his death. This was a large city, & still has many of the ancient mosaic floors & columns, although many of those were toppled in an earthquake in 749. Here, we saw one of the first Roman Latrines, which were public restrooms used by men & women together. They consisted of a large room with stone slabs sticking out all around the edge of the wall with a 6 or 7” space between them. There was a stream of water running beneath. Not much privacy & not much santization!! There are also roman baths here which were used by everyone & included a hot steam room, warm room, & cool room. It was a pretty neat place, although it is getting tiring looking at ruins of cities.
Next stop was Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were found in 1947. This area had been inhabited by a large group of Essenes, a group of zealot Jews that lived in a commune setting in this area. They performed ritual cleansing multiple times each day & would have scribed the scrolls around 29 CE, around the time John the Baptist died. These scrolls were found in caves in the mountains around this area.
. This evening we stopped at the Jordan river for a swim!! It was very cold, so Vann & I just watched, but the girls & most of the students all braved the cold. Trent Yingling decided this night he wanted to be baptized, so that was really a special time. This evening we headed further south to the Northern Negev desert to our hotel for dinner. The wind is blowing it looks like the beautiful weather may be changing.
Saturday- Yep, the weather is changing!! It is really cold & windy out this morning. We were scheduled to do a sunrise hike up Masada, but changed it to 8:00 (thankfully!). After breakfast, we packed up & headed to Masada. This is a huge flat-top mountain in the middle of the desert & on the edge of the Dead Sea. On the top of this giant mountain is a fortress that Herod had built & included 2 palaces, huge storehouses for food, multiple water cisterns & a water collecting system, a swimming pool, roman baths, & a whole lot more! It would have really been a wonder to see in Herod’s time! The story is that he built it to have as a place for escape if someone came after him. (Herod was getting really paranoid at the time). He brought his wife & mother-in-law here for 3 years & then Herod died shortly after & it was basically uninhabited until Jerusalem was burned in 70 AD & then a group of Jews fled there for protection against the Romans. When the Romans were conquering all that land, they tried to force them off of Masada, but since it was such a great refuge, they could not. The Romans had no way they could ever get to the top of it as they would be shot if they tried climbing up to the top, so they built a steep ramp (or their slaves did, that is) & built a large tower with a battering ram on it. Anyway, if you want the rest of the story, which is quite interesting, you can research it or watch the movie, Masada, to find out the rest of the story!! It is a fascinating story. We walked down the 800 some steps to the base & went shopping in the shops at the base. One thing about this trip, we’re getting plenty of exercise walking up & down steps!!
Our next stops were at a Nature Reserve, Ein Gedi, where we hiked (again!) up to some water falls & the girls got in & swam (again, it was freezing!) Thankfully, the day was clearing up & the sun shining by now!! We saw a few wildlife creatures including a hyrex & an ibex. Next stop was at the Dead Sea where we all decided to take a dip! Yes, it was really cold too, although I’m sure not as bad as the river. The Dead Sea has so much salt in it, you can’t sink if you want to! There is salt crystallized on the rocks all along the shore & it is very dangerous to get any in your eyes, so we just floated a bit & then walked down to one shore where there is lots of black mud & you can put it all over your body & get a little free spa treatment!! It has an oily feel, so it felt great on my dry skin, but didn’t do much for my swim suit!!
After a quick shower off, we headed to our “hotel” for the night. It was a Bedowin (nomads) tent - just like you’d see in the movies!! It was in a small oasis in the desert & they served us a delicious dinner of beef skish-kabobs, pita bread, rice, grilled veggies, & various types of sauces & salads. We ate sitting on the floor on cushions & ate with our hands. Afterward, they entertained us with singing & stories of Bedowin life. That night after settling in & checking out the camel corral, we had a bon-fire & devotional. It is so neat to be able to sing praises, out here under the stars & in the middle of the desert!
Our tour guide is named Yoni & he really likes to listen to us sing. He has come with us any time we have devotionals & joined in where he could. He is an Israeli Jew who considers himself secular - non religious- so this has been really different for him. Most people here have never experienced religion even similar to ours. He has been enlightening us about Judaism & many of the traditions & laws.
This night the kids all slept in a huge tent made of wool carpets & slept on padded cushions in sleeping bags. It got pretty cold, but there were heaters in the tent to keep them relatively warm. Vann & I & the rest of the faculty slept in cottages which were what I would say “simple” at best! Not much different than the tent except our mattresses were a little thicker!! It was a fun experience - the students loved it!
Sunday - The Lord’s Day. This morning we rose early to set out toward Jerusalem. Our first stop was at a place called Bet Guvrin or “the house of the Lord”. This is a really neat city built on land that is mostly a soft chalkstone land. The people hollowed out the stones from the land making very large cellars that served as water cisterns, storerooms, rooms for grinding grain or olive oil, or dove houses. Then they would use the stone to build their houses on top of the land! It was a really fascinating area!!
Next stop was for a very quick lunch at the mountain where the Israelites were camped out when David slew Goliath. We saw the beautiful valley where Goliath taunted the Israelites. We made it the rest of the way into Jerusalem around 1:30.
Our first stop was at the Garden of Gethsemane where we had arranged to have a communion service. It was a very touching time to be celebrating the death & resurrection of Jesus in the same place he had pleaded with God to spare him of this pain. The Garden is full of olive trees & you can sit in it & look up to see the walls of Jerusalem. I tried to imagine Jesus being in the city up there & the path he might have taken to come down to Gethsemane.
Our last stop was very briefly at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum. We could have spent a whole day there & still not seen it all, but it was very interesting & nicely done. We headed out to check into our hotel, the Jerusalem Gold, which will be our home for the next 3 nights!! Whew! Stay tuned for more to come!