Paradise

I hope all these quick site descriptions are helpful to have you picture the sites yourselves. On this day we began with Mt. Tabor the traditional site of the Transfiguration - a wonderful site with a large church on top. There is a triple dome at the very back of the basilica with Jesus in the middle. As you go forward there are stairs down to a mosaic room containing symbolic representations of Christ. At the opposing side of the Church there are also Domes to commemorate Moses and Elijah who appeared on the mount. Of course this shows Jesus as the thing to which the Law and the Prophets pointed towards. There was a monastery set apart which we did not go to. There were also ruins of many shrines there from past times. 

Directly after this a priest from this Chapel took us to the Church at Nain commemorating the raising of a widows only son at Nain found in Luke 7. The Chapel was simple but there were two large stirring painting of the miracle. Outside was unkept  but the priest informed us that the same monastery had recently been granted permission to construct a garden there. Near this chapel was a mosque with many Muslims outside whom we found out were having a funeral procession. That and Bro Huntsman's stirring personal stories and testimony concerning death brought this relatively short literary miracle to a forefront in my mind. Really its a very important miracle to show Christ's ultimate power over death. 

Next was Megiddo a good tel. This city used to overlook all of the valley of Jezreel and as such was an important hold for any period to maintain. They showed us the Canaanite worship areas. Some of the pictures of their figurines showing their ritual worship were cool. There was an interesting model which showed not only what was visible nowadays but also what was torn away to get to what is now visible. The name of the site in hebrew is Har Meggido where we get our Armageddon (Greek). So many battles occurred here that in Revelations (16:16) it is referred to as the site of the final battle. The reference therefore may be more typological. (This site is also reference in Zech 12 & Joel 3). To finish out this site we walked through and out of the water system. Which had lights coming out the handrails. 

Gan Ha-Shelosha - This is simply a "warm spring" site. It was raining here - which made it fun. As I did not have my swim suit I simply waded up to my knees. 

Upper Galilee 

These sites basically lie North of the Sea of Galilee. It was a beautiful day filled with walks through the forests there. It was all so green. And with Nazareth so close and really with many events relating to Jesus happening in this area - I couldn't help draw a connection with the beautiful scenery with the Gardens in Galilee being yet another Garden which our Lord could be associated with. 

The first site on this day was Hazor which was considered the head of the Canaanite tribes of the time. I got to walk through the ruins of the palace structure of the "upper Hazor" complex where the ruler Jabin likely walked. It is said that perhaps the Israelite utter destruction of the Canaanites were not so complete. However with Hazor Josh 11:11 explicitly states that it was burned to the ground. Which makes sense as I learned that palace used to have magnificent wooden flooring. Later after Isrealite conquest it was left largely unoccupied till Solomon had others build it up as a fortress to guard the north. As such there was a Solomonic gate (6 chambered) there which we could walk through. That being said really we can tell much of what is actually original and what is simply built up by the archeologists to give a better picture by a line of cement on the ruin/wall. So for instance the original wall may have been about calf height and archaeologists put it to thigh height. So it is intimately clear when there is a large wall that much of it is really original - I find that rather cool. Also at this site was a large hole which you can step down into by a series of steel stairs. It was a cistern structure. 

The next site was Dan and man was that cool. We walked through part of a trail of a National Forest to get there. We were walking along stones where it seemed nearly that water was literally coming up from between the stones to form a stream which fed into a larger stream. Brother Huntsman talked here about the Living Water imagery that Christ uses with the woman of the well. Not that there aren't beautiful places and gardens in Jerusalem but I saw in Galilee here that there are real forests and waterfalls. That Christ likely walked through these places always is a motivating factor for me to heighten my senses and try to remember every moment of my experience here. We came to Dan's high place which I got the feeling was just the sacred part of the city. The Northern Kingdom or Israel set up two altars when they broke away from Judah, one in Dan and one in Beth-El. They erected bulls (likely a more acceptable symbol relating to God than we can perceive in this modern age) there which they eventually worshiped in idolatry. Anyway so we saw where the altar used to be as well as where their temple complex was. Near this site were trenches from battles - when they were built and to what specific purpose I've no idea. A short trek down a path and we saw the Mud Gate which dates back to Abraham's time. Likely it's the closest site I'll come to relating to Abraham as he very likely walked through it when it was still Canaanite land and a huge city. This arch was not accessible for us to go up to but I could sense it's magnificence. A short walk from that site and we saw the Israelite city walls and gate. 


Next we went to Caesarea Philippi The site of Matthew 16:16  where Peter Declares his belief of Jesus as the Son of God. It was dominated by a rock cliff which is iconic of the whole Petros - Petra wordplay Jesus uses in His response to Peter. There is actually here cut into the rock and ruins to boot around there Temples and sacred structures of a Roman persuasion. There is a Temple to Pan there and to Nemesis.


Next was "Nimrod's Castle" a ruin castle built over a crusader castle. The ruin now is a Muslim castle. Anyway the main reason we went there it seemed was the beautiful vistas. I will never forget it. Truly it was beautiful. And overlooked many green valleys. Directly after this we stopped our bus during our trek and saw a view of Syria. And during this night we had a bonfire on the beach of the Sea of Galilee.

West of Galilee 

Our first site this day we saw in the hills - Chorazin which is a site that is not specifically allotted to a miracle and so undesignated miracles could have taken place here. It is specifically mentioned in Matt 11:21 as a woed city. There was a synagogue there from the new testament times and a remnant of "Moses' Seat" some sort of special seat in the synagogue.


The next site was Sepphoris where we first viewed a mosiac depicting the Jewish religion right beside the zodiac and other Hellenistic influences. There is the famous "Mona Lisa" of Sepphoris a mosaic piece which depicts an unnamed woman. As it is during Christs time with this site only 4 miles away it's possible while growing up he frequented this city. Also this is where the Jewish Mishna was written down.


Finally we stopped at Acco a Port city to the Mediterranean Sea. It was a city before the Crusaders but during that period it was named Acre and really became quite a stronghold for them. We saw their cafeteria area as well as a great port structure. We saw catacombs and tombstones. And went on a walk through the market there. 


That night we had a fireside devotional and bearing of testimonies


The Last day in the Galilee area was marked first by our packing up and leaving the site we were staying at for the duration of our time there. We then went to a graveyard near Haifa where two LDS missionaries are buried - they were both called to serve in Israel and both served in a German colony of Christians. There was a story presented to us of a miracle vision leading to a conversion here. Amazing - really amazing. 


We went to the top of Mt Carmel where or very near where Elijah had his confrontation with Baal. Some of the students acted out the account in 1 Kings 18 - we went to the chapel there and sang some hymns then went up to the overlook which gave a grand view of the Jezreel Valley. And Brother Huntsman pointed out the stream where Elijah is said to have personally slain the priests of Baal. 


The final site we went to is likely where Paul appealed to Caesar after being held for 2 years. This site is Caesarea - a port city which had a great Greco-Roman influence. As the Temple was Herod the Great's effort to impress the Jews the build up of Caesarea was meant to impress his Roman associates. So there was a small theater here. I walked and saw the palace structure which i saw had mosaic flooring. These things were on the beach front so I went to the water a bit. The beach was mostly sand but had a strip of mostly shell fragments. There was a hippodrome there and there really were some great views. There were ruins also of living quarters both from crusader and New testament time frames. It seemed to also be simply a pleasant shop area and many students bought some ice cream there.


So we got back into the bus and took off for the Jerusalem Center. When we arrived it was full of Christmas decorations and we had the Thanksgiving meal right there, which of course was a great feast. Man that was great! Love ya~