May 31st: Heading North

Before my summer blogging hiatus, which by the way consisted of me taking a few intensive classes down at seminary and getting my older son off to college, I had been chronicling my recent trip to Israel. I had gone through the first two weeks of the three-week trip. I want to finish “blogging the trip,” especially because the last week included our tour around the Sea of Galilee region in the north of Israel. So over the next few weeks I will dedicate some entries to completing the task of "blogging Israel." If you are new to my blog, you can check out previous Israel trip entries via the topic labels to the right.

After a weekend in Jerusalem where we recuperated from our trip to the desert and Negev, took an exam, rested, did laundry, took in more of the Old City, and went to the Baptist House for church, it was time once again to hit the road. We were headed north for a five-day study of the northern part of Israel. This region included port cities on the Mediterranean, Mount Carmel (site of Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal), the Jezreel Valley, Nazareth, and the Sea of Galilee region.

On our first day we spent a good bit of time in the port city of Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea (this is not to be confused with Caesarea-Philippi). Caesarea was built from scratch in the time of King Herod the Great (just before Jesus was born), because Herod did not have an adequate port under his jurisdiction. Obviously, there are huge economic advantages to having such a port, so Herod’s men created one for him.

What I found interesting about Caesarea is the amount of New Testament history there. The photo that you see here is the theater at Caesarea. This is where public addresses and concerts took place (and still do!). In Acts 12:21, Herod Agrippa I (Herod the Great’s grandson) addressed a crowd at Caesarea, almost certainly here at the theater. Of course, the chairs and canopy on the floor have been added in more recent times. By the way, when we were on the stage looking out at the theater, I saw an Israeli worker and asked if he had a guitar I could borrow. I would love to have played a little at that location . . . my own “Live at Budokan” moment . . . “We love you, Caesarea!”


This picture shows a replica of an inscription found at Caesarea that mentions Pontius Pilate. It is a significant archaeological find, obviously, since it is an extra-biblical (outside of the Bible) reference to this historical figure. By the way, as is the case all over Israel, the real inscription is in a museum, and a replica is placed at the site of its discovery.


This is the hippodrome in Caesarea, where chariot races took place. It was amazing to see the entire arena pretty nearly intact after two thousand years. Chariot racing, according to our professor, was the “NASCAR of its day.”


You might recall that in the latter part of the book of Acts, Paul had unjustly been punished and appealed to have his case heard before Caesar in Rome. This picture shows the beautiful harbor of Caesarea on the Mediterranean. Paul appeared before the local leaders (Herod Agrippa II and Festus) at Caesarea, then departed for Rome from this location.


As was the case with most major cities, Caesarea was built with an extensive aqueduct system so that fresh water could be channeled to the city for use by the population. This picture shows me in front of one of these aqueducts, with the Mediterranean in the background. [By way of reminder, I got to swim in the Med one night during our trip to southern Israel, and it was soooooooooooooooo nice.]


In case you were wondering how aqueducts work, here is a picture of one lengthwise. The water runs through these tunnels atop the structure. We got to walk inside one of these. No water there, just a bunch of sand, but it was very cool to walk inside of a first century aqueduct.


After departing Ceasarea, we continued north and spent a little time at an observation post at Mount Carmel. This was the site of the dramatic showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18 (If you haven’t read it for a while, I’d recommend it. It is not only dramatic but also very funny in parts.). In case you don’t recognize him, this picture is a statue of Elijah himself.


We came to the end of another long day of jaw-dropping experiences by checking into a monestary-hotel overlooking the port city of Haifa. This picture is from the front of the hotel, high above the city (notice how we were looking down on the tallest building). We were served a good dinner by the nuns there, and had a good night’s rest. We looked forward to yet another day of adventure, one that would take us to the town where Jesus grew up.