Back to the Galilee

Well, I must say I was not satisfied with the amount of time we got to spend in the Galilee so 3 of us rented a car and headed back north for the weekend, and I am so glad that we did. We went back to Caesarea again to explore the fortifications of the city some more.

(looking at the sea through the breached walls)

(Fortification wall at Caesarea)

(more of the wall. During high tide this would have become a moat. The block at the end to hold the water has been torn down)

We then headed north again up to Haifa, Acre, the Ladder of Tyre at the Lebanon border. We then drove along the border road to the Jordan River. Acre and the Ladder of Tyre were spectacular. Seeing the fortress at Acre that was left from the Crusades and walking through the great halls and fortifications that were built almost a 1000 years ago. This city was the last foothold that the crusaders held in the Holy Land. This is were the Templars and other Military Orders held the hope of reclaiming the land for Christians. Walking the walls that are built right down into the sea and watching the water break against foundation built long before the Crusaders ever set foot in the Holy Land and they are still there holding back the water with little sign of wear.

(walls of Acre)

It made me reflect on what the Bible talks about building our faith on a solid foundation that can not be shaken. These fortification that have stood the test of time, weather and sea for thousands of years and still stand strong against the waves of destruction pounding them daily is the type of foundation I see that as being.

The Ladder of Tyre was not exactly what I had pictured, but it was a very beautiful place.

(Ladder of Tyre)

The stone of the cliffs was really white and spectacular in the fading light of evening. As the sun began to set out over the sea you could see the small patrol ships of the Israeli Navy moving back and forth across the border watching diligently the northern boundary. We stood at the gates of the upper military guard station holding the road leading into Lebanon and you could feel the tension of an active watchfulness with tight attention watching the enemy beyond. Israel and Lebanon are still officially at war and you could see and feel the signs of that as the soldiers in towers watched the moves of every one who lingered close to the border gates on either side.

(standing at the entrance to the Israeli Base Guarding the Border)

We got a closer look at the border as we headed east along the fences of the border. The road came close enough to the border that we could see that the two fences came within 30ft of each other. Feeling rebellious the three of us felt the need to show our support of those defending the border and cast stone into enemy territory.

(casting stones northward)

As we moved of the border near the Jordan River we headed back south to the Sea of Galilee where we stayed the night in a hostel on the cliff looking out over the sea. We got up early and headed out for the Syrian border. It was amazing to us as we drove because last week when we came up as a class we looked down on this valley from a mountain to the west and saw a road and an abandoned village just east of it. The road was Israel, the village was Syria. Now we were able to drive along the road we had seen and take pictures of the buildings in the village that was abandoned.

After tempting fate and the Syrian border we arrived at the Castle of Nimrod, which was a Muslim stronghold built during the times of the crusades. It was held and construction was done by both crusaders and Muslims, and this is evident in the architecture and styling of the different building eras. Even though the place is named now after the biblical character of Nimrod the great hunter that is a recent naming.

(The keep of Nimrod)

We spent almost 5 hours climbing all over Nimrod before we made the decent out of the northern mountains down to Baniass near Caesarea-Philippi. We decided to head down to the falls that are part of the head waters of the Jordan river that we missed during our class excursion. It is amazing to see the headwaters and think of how dry the rest of the country is in comparison. These falls and rushing rapid that they flow into are such a contrast that it is easy to forget less than 20 miles from here there is open dry desert. The idea of an Oasis is very prevalent throughout the whole country and the importance of them. It is hard to picture an Oasis when you are standing in the green fields of Nebraska, but here it is clear.

(The Baniass fall close to Caesarea-Philippi)


(just thought I would throw this one in for effect of where we were)

More picture albums for you too look at:
Galilee 1
Galilee 2
Galilee 3

FaceBook Picture Albums

Generally I upload all of my pictures to a thing called facebook where people can look at them because it is a lot faster than uploading them to my blog, and they allot me more memory for my pictures than Blogger does. So I think I have finally figured out a way to let you all see the pictures I have uploaded to facebook. Click on the links below and it should take you to the corresponding album and you should be able to look through all the pictures I have taken an album at a time. it will show up as a bunch of pictures on the screen, but if you click on the pictures they will enlarge and you can file through them one at a time. The most recent ones are on the top and go in order of my adventures. Hope this works and enjoy.

Galilee 5
Galilee 4
Galilee 3
Galilee 2
Galilee 1
Southern Israel 4
Southern Israel 3
Southern Israel 2
Southern Israel 1
Samaria
Sabbath
Benjamin Plateau
Jerusalem Approaches
Out and About 2
Out and About 1
Out to Olives 2
Out to Olives 1
Welcome BBQ 2
Welcome BBQ 1
Jerusalem 3
Jerusalem 2
Jerusalem 1

Galilee - Dan

you can see the water running out of the stone

here there is a little bigger flow

another place with just a small flow

here you can see all the small slows gathering into a proper stream

and the rapids begin

Ok so I lied the last post is not going to be the last post about the Galilee trip. Dan was an amazing place and I just could not not talk about it. It is where the headwaters of the Jordan begins. There is a spring that pumps out over a thousand gallons a minute that bubbles right out of the rocks. It is an amazing site to watch the waters rise and come together and turn into rapids as it flows down towards the Sea of Galilee. I really wish we had time to join the rafters heading down the Jordan. There is supposed to be class 6 rapids on the way to the sea of Galilee.


The Tell at Dan was pretty cool also. there is a huge, or assumed to be, alter that was there; as well as a synagogue and a small housing area that has been reconstructed that really let us see what it was like to live in that time. It was impressive to see how small the houses really were and how many people it is assumed that lived in them. We were told that three generations was the normal in a single home. The parents, the children, the male children's wives, and their kids would share the house.


Caves carved into the wall for idols

our own idol

We also headed up to Caesarea-Phillipi and saw the place where it is believe Jesus spoke with the Disciples and called Peter the rock and spoke of the gates of Hell. There is a pagan alter up there that some believe was called the gates of Hell and they believe this is the rock upon which Christ was going to build His church. Take that as you may, but it was an interesting site

Galilee - Borders

the little white truck driving across the middle of the picture is in Lebanon

The green is the end of Israel and the brown is Lebanon

The white building in the middle is the no mans land on the Israeli side and the village, that is abandoned, in the trees marks the Syrian side.

better picture of the village


The last place I will talk about were the border incursions we made on Lebanon and Syria. Ok not really, but we were close enough to the borders that we could see people clearly standing on the other side. I was hoping to get close enough to through a rock into one of them, but I couldn't throw quite that far. But we did get to play in the trenches dug by the Israel Defense Forces during the war when they took the Golan Heights and defended them.

Galilee - Zippori

Another of the places we stopped on this 4 day trip was Zippori. It had the most spectacular mosaics we have yet seen. It says they used over forty different colored stones to make the mosaic floor. They call it the Mona Lisa of the Galilee and with the pictures it is not hard to imagine why. for those who don't know, which maybe one or two, a mosaic is an image created by using small pieces of cut stone. The stone is not painted it is solid all the way through and they take a long time for small ones. This one is the floor of a dining room in a private residence and would have cost a fortune to create but is absolutely phenomenal. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. This was also the site were the Crusaders gathered to head out to the Horns of Hittim where they were defeated by Salahadin and lost most of the Latin Kingdom. The Templars held Acco and several other sites for a few more years after that, but that was the beginning of the end for the Crusaders rule over the holy land. After standing on the top of Mount Arbel looking down on the field before the Horns of Hattim, and for those of you who have seen the Kingdom of Heaven movie, it is easy to understand why the crusaders lost. The Moslems held the only springs in the area and the Crusaders had marched more than a day through the heat of the desert with little or no water to meet a refreshed and ready army that outnumbered them more than 4 to one.

Galilee - Caesarea

I am back!! I have just returned from a four day trip through the Galilee. We started out in Caesarea, traveled up through Hazor to Dan and saw the Lebanese border, it was a little far to throw a rock into Lebanon but not by much. We then moved out onto the desert plateau moving towards Damascus to the closest volcanic dome to the Syrian border to the east and then down along the border to Beth She'an over to the Jezreel Valley and several other sites in between. Caesarea was my favorite site that we visited. It was an amazing feat of engineering, drive, and insanity all wrapped up in this little island of stone out in the sea. Acco is the only real natural port on the Med that Israel has, but Herod the Great was not satisfied with that. He decided to build a harbor so that he could have more control over trade and routes through Israel. So out of a flat shallow coast line Herod built a port harbor big enough for major trade vessels from Rome to come. They did it by filling barges with large rock taking them out from the coast and sinking them to the bottom of the sea. Then, with the newest invention of the ancient age, underwater wet cemented them into a harbor wall under the sea. It took several years to complete, but when they were done Herod had a magnificent palace stretching out into the sea and a deep sea port to harness the trade routes to and from Rome. It was an amazing place.

Ordinary

Ok, so for those who have been checking I am sorry for not updating sooner, but there is really nothing out of the ordinary to report until now. Out of the ordinary seems an odd phrase to use, because I am studying in Jerusalem so everything should be out of the ordinary. It is amazing how even the extraordinary things in life can become normal or seem ordinary when you are in them for an extended period of time. This past week or so since I have updated has been me going to and from class, going to the Domitian Abbey for coffee, gone out a few times into Jerusalem for lunch or a little shopping. Normal everyday activities until I sit and realize that I am in Jerusalem and think how can I see these as ordinary activities? Even thought these are normal activities shouldn't the place that I am doing them in make them more than just ordinary? Well, I must admit that when I am out running errand it hasn't seemed to matter much except when I struggle trying to find my way or figure out how much something cost. I am disappointed a little in myself that I could become so comfortable with the surroundings that God has blessed me with and am not in awe every moment of every day.

Desert Wandering

Well, this is the first chance I have had to update you all on what has been going one. We took a three day trek through the wilderness and desert of southern Israel. It was a three day Field Study for my Physical Settings class and I must admit that I am exhausted. We left at 7 am Friday morning and just got back in late Monday night. We traveled from Jerusalem down to the Mediterranean Sea at Ashkelon, through the wilderness desert to Arad, then south down Mapiq Ramon (a giant depression on the top of a mountain in the south) through many canyons and over several mountains; then down to the Dead Sea at Masada and hiked to the top by way of the Roman siege ramp swam in the Dead Sea at En Gedi, and then hiked up the mountains around Qumran to visit the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls where found. Ok so that is a quick over view of what we did in the last three days. I will give more specific updates and more pictures as I get to sort through them and can recover a little from the trip. I just wanted to let you all know that I didn't disappear. I pray things are well with all of you and if you get the chance I could use your prayers for strength and to be open to what God is trying to teach me here. Thanks

(Standing in front of the Mediterranean Sea)

(Laying on the alter found at Beer Sheva)

(Standing in the Holy of Holies at the remains of a temple at Arad)

(An overlook from the gravesight of Ben Gurion (an Israeli Hero and first Prime Minister))

(Floating in the Dead Sea)

Wednesday Oct 3

Today I got my first taste of what segregation really feels like. I started volunteering at a place last week the deals in the reconciliation between Israeli and Palestinian Christians. It is a little over two miles from the JUC campus so last week I rode the Israeli bus back after I got finished. This week I decided to try and ride the Arab bus that runs right past the lower level of the school, it is also cheaper at 3 1/2 shekels instead of 5 1/2 for the Israeli bus. To shorten the story a little I ended up walking the entire way because none of the Arab buses would stop to pick me up. For those that don't know about it, because of all the bus bombings and things that happened in the past the Israeli bus service refused to carry Palestinians on the buses. Because of that and a few other things I guess, an Arab bus service started around Jerusalem to cater to those who don't look like Jews. Well, I guess I look enough like a Jew because none of the Arab buses would stop for me. It was not a pleasant feeling knowing that I was refused a service based on the color of my skin, and it got me thinking more about the conflict that has been raging throughout history on people judging the abilities and status of other simply by the way they look, and in other cases what family they may have been born into. Since this is really my first time of receiving this type of judgment I really didn't know what to think about it other than to know that it felt unpleasant.

To add to it a little while I was at Musalaha, the ministry I volunteer at, I got the opportunity to watch a video they produced about one of their connection retreats. this is where they bring younger, mostly upper teen, Israeli and Palestinian Christians together in another country to talk about and build connection and friendships together. It was an amazing story of two young girls who became friends during this retreat and how they were working to try and keep that friendship going once they both returned to Israel. But what got me thinking is when the Palestinian girl tried to go visit her Israeli friend and the guards at the Checkpoint at the wall would not let her pass. If any of you don't already know Israel is building a 25 foot wall all around the west bank area. Looking at it really reminds me of the Berlin wall. Is is very high thick and gray. It stick out lick a sore thumb against the brown desert geography of this land. The first time I saw it I was amazed because I had never heard anything about them building this wall; and if any of you are familiar with the border that was drawn for the west bank Israel separation it is a very long wall. Well, for Israelis it is very easy to pass through these checkpoints that are along the wall. Most of the cars with Israeli registration have a yellow license plate on them and are basically waved through. Cars with Palestinian registration are often held and backed up for quite a distance at every checkpoint we have been waved through so far. But back to the video I was watching. When the girl was turned back at the checkpoint she called her friend and told her she couldn't come and visit because they would not let her pass so her friend decided to come to Bethlehem and visit her. She had never been through a check point herself and didn't know now if they would let her through, but she walked right through the checkpoint and not one of the guards even really looked at her. Well I can say that I have been in that place, all the times we have been through checkpoints going into or out of the west bank area we are not even stopped for an id verification. There are a few students on campus that travel down to Bethlehem Bible College twice a week for Arabic classes and the bus that takes them there has to stop at the border and drop them off because it is not allowed to cross over because it is an Arab licensed bus. But now for the first time I have gotten a hint of what it is like to be looked at and restricted because of how I look. I felt a little better as I was returning home because I caught an Arab bus pulled over to pick up someone else and jumped on board. I paid my 3 1/2 shekels and sat down, but I could feel every pair of eyes on the bus looking at me. I was the only one on the bus that was not of Arab complexion and I felt that they were all wondering why I was on their bus. As I pushed the button to stop the bus the driver looked into the rear view mirror with a quizzical look on his face, because I was getting off in a very Arab part of town, but it is the closest stop to walk back to school. I also felt all the eyes on the bus again watch me as I got off and began to walk through the streets toward the hill leading back up to Mt. Zion and the protective walls of JUC. I must admit that it was a little unnerving at first as I stepped onto and off of that bus, but I am determined to continue taking the bus as long as they let me on them it is a lot fast than the 40 minutes it took me to walk there this morning.

Samaria

Today we took a tour around Samaria in upper Israel. The land of the Israel after the nation separated into Judah and Israel; where Assyria conquered and deported the majority of the population and those who remained behind intermarried with other peoples and became rejected by the Jewish people when they returned from Persian captivity. We got the chance to meet with a priest of the Samaritan people. There are only about 600 left according to hill scattered between two cities here in Israel. One on the side of Mount Gerizim, and the other is in Tel Aviv. They still continue to practice animal sacrifice at Passover and believe that they are the true people of promise and God’s chosen.

(The Samaritan alter and sacrifice area)

I learned that during the rule of Alexander the Great over Palestine that he built the Samaritans a temple of their own on top of Mt. Gerizim to rival that of the Jews down in Jerusalem.

(ruins of the temple and Byzantine Church)

They also believe that Mt. Gerizim is the most holy place. It is were Abraham first heard the promises of God, where the Garden of Eden was, the mountain where Joshua brought the nation of Israel and read the blessings of God from, Mt. Moriah where Abraham came to sacrifice his son. Gerizim is the location of all these events according to their beliefs and so it is there and not Jerusalem that is the Holy City of God and is the Mt. Zion talked about in the Bible. They also only hold to the first 5 books of the Bible, the torah, as being the word of God.

We also got to spend time in a Israeli settlement in the west bank area that over looks the valley between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal, which is the place where Joshua brought the nation and divided them into two groups and sent one up to the top of Ebal, and the other up to the tops of Gerizim.

(Gerizim over left shoulder Ebal over right)

From the tops of the mountains facing each other they called out the blessings and curses of God upon the people and the land God had brought them too (Deut. 11:29; Jos. 8:33-34). In the valley between these two mountains is where Joshua read the torah to the people and they consented to obey the law of God and affirmed their oaths to Him. It was an amazing view and it was interesting to hear from one of the residents about his views on the West Bank area, the wall Israel is building around the west bank to separate the Palestinians from the Israelis.

Our final stop for the day was at the ancient site of Shiloh. Where the tabernacle was taken and set up once the land was conquered (Jos. 18); where the Arc of the Covenant was at before it was taken by the Philistines after Israel went out to battle them and lost. It is also where Eli, the High Priest and teacher of Samuel, died when he heard that the Arc had been taken and both of his sons had been killed in the battle. It is where the kings came up to and where the sacrifices were made for the nation before the temple was built down in Jerusalem. They have a small replica of what they envisioned the tabernacle to have looked like, as well as all the alters and implements for use in the tabernacle. They have a small replica of the Arc as well.

Near the site where they believe the tabernacle stood they are in the process of excavating two churches with amazing mosaic floors.

There are also remains of a massive oil press and wine press that are believed to have been used to produce the oil and wine for the service inside the tabernacle. We also got to reenact the story of the battle between The Sons of Israel and the Sons of Benjamin for the wicked deed they committed (Judges 20-21).

It was a very long and intriguing day and the country, although still very dry and brown, was spectacular. I wish I was able to stay around till spring when the heavy winter rains have come and replenished the land and everything turns green and brilliant colors from all the wild flowers.