Thursday, March 1, 2007-Day 4
6AM-up and ready for another full day!! Then Micha & Walt saith together, “Let us go forth into the region of Dan and see the ruins of that heathen site”. And it was so.
On the bus by 7:30AM and on the road again. Can’t you just hear Willy Nelson singing softly in the background about being on the road again?
Today it was to see Tel Dan, Caesarea Philippi, Mount Hermon, stop on the Road to Damascus, the Mount of Beautitudes, Capernaum and Ein Gev all before lunch.
While on the bus Micha would use the mic to tell us this and that about the countryside, village, etc. we were driving by or about to see.
Tel Dan fits into the story during the Old Testament time of the Divided Kingdom. Once Solomon died his sons Jeroboam & Rehoboam ended up dividing the kingdom in two – into Judah and Israel. That caused a problem. Sacrifices could only be made in the Temple in Jerusalem but Jerusalem was now in another country. In order to keep his people home Jeroboam erected a golden calf altar there and told everyone this is where they needed to come. During excavation of that site the high altar area was found. We arrived at the site early and it wasn’t open so we took as many shots through the fence as we could until we heard “Family, come on and get on the bus.”
Then back on the road and all the way to Caesarea Philippi (another town that Herod the Great named after his son, Philip). This place was a center of pagan worship during the time of Jesus. It is very hilly and rocky and lush. Water flows through here and is one of the sources of the Jordan River. It was here then that Jesus observed the Greeks worshipping their gods and where he posed the question to his disciples: who do you say that I am? Mark 8:27-29. Walt chimed in here with a teaching moment and prayer.
Next we had a very interesting tour thru the Golan Heights and stopped “on the Road to Damascus.” The apostle Paul had his conversion experience somewhere on this road. Syria was ½ mile away and clearly visible. Damascus was only 17 miles away. Right above us was an Israeli radar installation monitoring the border while down below us was a U.N. Peace Keeping encampment. Lebanon was only a few miles away. It was a bit cold and windy here.
The Franciscan church at the Mount of the Beatitudes and their beautiful gardens was next. This is the site where Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” etc. (Matthew 6). All throughout Israel are sites that were tied to different Old and New Testament events. Micha told us to remember one important phrase - “If not here, near.” That simply means that sometimes the actual location of an event was a good guess at best so if it didn’t happen here it was near. The Mount of Beatitudes is a good case in point. No one has any clue where Jesus spoke these words but the Franciscan’s built a church here and made it so. Micha also had what he called a “scale of authenticity.” If this was “the actual place” something happened it was a 10 on the scale. Well the Mount of Beatitudes was a minus 5000. It’s a pretty site but not authentic.
Then to Capemaum, my favorite place of the day. This was where Jesus started his public ministry after being rejected in Nazareth. He often stayed at the house of Simon Peter. This house, or the foundation and walls of it, believe it or not are still standing and an eight sided (a side for each of the beatitudes) Greek Orthodox Church has been built over the site. The evidence that this is the house where Jesus did stay is very strong and believable, just to stand there and think about being in that place was humbling. It was also the only place we had rain on the whole tour. We also saw about 3 acres of Capernaum that have been excavated. Among the ruins is a 4th C AD synagogue that was built over the stones of the original location of the synagogue where Jesus spoke. Again a humbling experience.
This part of the tour was in the Upper Galilee and around the Sea of Galilee, which is 13 miles long and 71/2 miles wide and 30 miles around. It was here, or in the hills around here, that Jesus also fed the 5000 twice, walked on the water twice, chose his first disciples, predicted 2 large catches of fish, and appeared to his disciples after he had been resurrected.
We took a short tour of another kibbutz in the area and visited a small museum that had been opened for only a few years. It was in Ginosaur and where the "Jesus Boat” has been restored and is housed. This was a boat that was found when the Sea of Galilee was in a drought in 1986. It took 14 years to raise it, restore it, and place it in a $5 million dollar facility paid for by the Israel government that is on the bank of the Sea of Galilee. This boat (or what they found of it) is much like the boat that Jesus would have fallen asleep in with his disciples when a storm arose. It is 8 feet wide and 27 feet long and has been carbon-dated back to the time of Christ. Over 80% of the miracles of Jesus took place in this vicinity or on the Sea of Galilee itself.
Our stop at Ein Gev included a fish lunch and a short boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. The fish was St. Peter’s fish and was actually good. We were hungry about now and in need of a break.
The boat ride was special simply because of our location. Scripture tells us that Jesus took a boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee and that the people he had just left followed him. Well those people had a long trek in order to get there. I imagine that’s why scripture tells us the comment was made that it was too far to send the people home to feed themselves.
Tiberius was clearly visible on the other side of the Sea. That’s where we were to be staying tonight.
Spiritually, the next spot was a highlight. I joined a few others from our group and was baptized in the River Jordan where the Jordan flows out of the Sea of Galilee. We rented a robe and towel and readied ourselves. Then we went into the cold water of the river. Walt officiated and brought us all together. All around us were otyher groups of people being baptized. A group of Nigerian Christians had been touring to a number of the same places we were so we ran into them often. They showed up at lunch by the Sea of Galilee, now at the Jordan River site. We saw them on Masada, at Nazareth, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Dead Sea. The rest of our group gave watched and gave encouragement from the bank.
It was finally off to Tiberius which is on the west shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was built to honor the Roman emperor. It is 600 feet below sea level and on top of a cemetery. Jesus would not have visited here since he came from a priestly family line and could not enter it because it would make him unclean. We got into town earlier than expected so we went to the local hot springs. That felt good. Afterward it was back to the hotel for a bit of rest, dinner and hopefully a good night’s sleep.
And there was evening and there was morning – the fourth day.
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