June 4th: From Bible trivia to bathrooms

June 4th was the final day of our five-day swing through northern Israel. We weaved our way from the Galilee region through the Jezreel Valley, and by the end of the day we were back in Jerusalem. The day was exciting as they all were, but the sad feeling was starting to sink in that this was it. Once we got back to Jerusalem, it was time to take our final exam, do some last-minute shopping and sight-seeing, then pack up to go home. The picture you see here is of Beth-Shean National Park, our last stop of the day. Beth-Shean probably had the most intricate Roman remains of any place that we visited, but more on that later.


I think I have mentioned this before, or at least alluded to it, but this trip had a lot of “Bible trivia” associated with it. Like the famous Rorschach ink blot tests, you might look at this photo and see a simple clump of trees in the foreground. But it is actually the biblical site of Endor, where Israel's first king, King Saul, visited a witch who called the prophet Samuel back from the dead (1 Samuel 28—things weren’t going so well for Saul at the time). Okay, if you insist that it is merely a clump of trees, you are right. But it is so much more!


Likewise, this is a drive-by photo of the town of Nain (you can tell that I took it from the bus). This town is prominent in Luke 7, where Jesus raised a person from the dead there--the only son of a widow. It consistently amazed me that so many places where biblical miracles took place are today just normal old towns with houses, apartments, shopping centers and automobiles.


These are the ruins of the fortress of Megiddo. This is where King Josiah was killed when he went out to fight against the Egyptian pharaoh and his army (2 Kings 23:29). Josiah was a God-fearing king, and he was sort of the “last best hope” for the kingdom of Judah. After his death, Judah took its last downward spiral into disobedience and was conquered and exiled by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have a memory aid for this historical episode based on Elvis Presley’s “In the Ghetto” (my version is “In Megiddo”), but I won’t go into that now.


This is a photo of the Jezreel Valley, which is a large area mentioned many times in the Bible, particularly during the time of rulers such as Ahab and Jezebel. The thing I remember most about the Jezreel Valley is that it is about the only place in Israel that was very flat. Unfortunately we did not do much walking there.


As I said, we ended the day at Beth-Shean National Park. This picture is an overview of the remains of the Roman city. Notice the very steep mountain in the background. This would be the last major climb of the trip!


And a tough climb it was. Click on this photo to get a closer view of this steep mountain. Notice the size of the steps compared to the mountain. I would add that what you can't see in this picture is that it took many steps, maybe about 100, just to get to the area of the palm trees in the foreground. This was indeed one of the steepest climbs we did! And when I got to the top, I was rewarded by getting to see . . . you guessed it, more Roman remains! (And a wonderful view of Beth-Shean)


This is a Roman stadium at Beth-Shean, with my seminary Hebrew professor signaling victory at the top.


My final photos from Beth-Shean are ones that I just couldn’t resist sharing with you. During this trip we spent a lot of time talking about the events, culture, and lifestyles of ancient peoples. This included famous folks like King Herod as well as the everyday people. One thing we never talked about—up until now, that is—is, how did all of these people go to the bathroom? Well, at Beth-Shean, we got a glimpse into this piercing question, at least from the Roman perspective. If you click on this picture, you will see a close-up of a sign that explains the remains of a Roman-era public lavatory.


So here it is, an ancient public bathroom. Now, without getting into too much detail, you can see the “toilet seats” against the wall. Notice that they were not separated. Everyone got to sit right next to their fellow-citizen out in the open air, one seat per customer (actually, they would sit straddled on two consecutive seats, and that’s all I’m going to say about that). When finished, they would lean forward and make use of fresh water running through a narrow trough to clean up (you can see the trough in the picture), using some sort of sponge or leaf contraption.

Admit it, don’t you feel blessed now that you know this little tidbit about ancient history?

June 3rd (part 2): Walking in His footsteps

In my last Israel trip entry, I said that June 3rd was kind of a special day. It was the day we toured all of the towns around the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus did the bulk of His earthly ministry. This day included stops at the three towns where Jesus did most of His preaching and teaching: Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin (collectively known as the "Evangelical Triangle"). The photo you see here is a sign welcoming us to Capernaum, “The Town of Jesus.” Matthew 4:13 tells us that after His baptism and subsequent time of fasting and temptation in the desert, Jesus lived in Capernaum.


This picture is of a fifth-century church built by Byzantine pilgrims that marks the location of the house of Simon Peter. We know that Peter had a house in Capernaum from Mark 1:29 and Luke 4:38. Also, in this immediate area, archaeologists have unearthed inscriptions from another house, dated to the late first-century A.D., that reference Jesus Christ, Peter, and the Eucharist (Communion, or the Lord’s Supper). It was likely a house church (that’s where churches met back then) that met just a few decades after Jesus lived.


In Israel, churches are often built on top of places of historical significance. At the location of Peter’s house, it has happened twice. A modern church is built over this fifth-century Byzantine church. The photo that you see is an overhead view of the old church from inside the modern church (obviously, looking through protective glass).


Here is a picture of a statue of Peter in Capernaum, complete with a freshly-caught fish at his feet. Not seen in this photo are several inscriptions underneath the statue noting the significant life of Peter.


Having finished our tour of the towns on the northern side of the Sea of Galilee, we proceeded to check out a few interesting places on the eastern shore of the Sea. The first was near a place called Gergesa. The Bible describes it as the region of the Gadarenes. The picture you see is of a steep bank dropping into the Sea of Galilee (it might not look terribly steep in the picture, but believe me, it was very steep). This is the probable place where Jesus drove a legion of demons out of a possessed man, and sent the demons into about two thousand pigs. The pigs then ran down this steep bank into the Sea of Galilee and drowned (see Mark 5:1-17).

By the way, I had always been slightly puzzled by this passage in that, I thought Jews did not tend, raise, or eat pigs. I asked about this. The professor reminded us that the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee was known as the region of the Decapolis (a term mentioned in the Bible). As the name suggests, this was an area of ten Roman cities. Thus the pig farmers were likely not Jewish.


This picture is of prominent mountains on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee, and is the most likely sight of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. This is deduced primarily from what we are told in the biblical accounts, i.e. these mountains were in a somewhat remote area, removed from towns and villages, and could support the amount of people referenced in this event (which was five thousand men plus women and children, perhaps fifteen to twenty thousand in all).


Our last stop of the day was at the remains of the Roman city of Hippus. Hippus was one of the cities of the Decapolis. The photo that you see is the main road of the ancient city, the “cardio maximus.” Every Roman city had one. It was kind of like “Main Street.”


Hippus had a lot of interesting Roman remains. In this picture you can see an example. But, what I’d also point out is the mountain top in the background. Hippus was a city that rested atop a mountain of a few thousand feet! I remember as our bus approached Hippus, I noted a large mountain in front of us, but I thought, “No worries, the bus will take us to the top.” But guess what? The bus stopped half way and we had to walk the rest of the way up! Believe me, after a long day of touring, the last thing I wanted to do was make another long, steep trek.

As I think back on my trip now, I can remember having this thought on several of our “final stops of the day.” This trip was mentally and physically taxing. By the end of some days, I just didn’t feel like making one last climb to another ancient city’s ruins. But you know what? In every case, that last stop of the day was well worth any climb. I saw some amazing things on June 3rd, and even though Hippus may not seem to compare to a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee or Peter’s house in Capernaum, nevertheless, I can’t tell you how amazing it was to see the intricate nature of this Roman city perched all alone atop this breathtakingly steep hill. I would have hated to have missed it. I would also have hated to have been the first-century “delivery man” who had to hike a bunch of supplies up that hill every day for the people of Hippus!

June 3rd (part 1): Put your hand in the hand . . .

I was in Israel for three weeks, and without exception, every day was amazing, awe-inspiring, awesome, plus many other superlatives. It’s hard for me to say that any one day was better or more fascinating than any other. But if I did speculate in such matters, June 3rd might jump out as special. This is the day that our class toured the towns bordering the Sea of Galilee, so we saw many places where Jesus taught, healed, and performed miracles—including the Sea itself! Because we saw so much this day, I have decided to split it into two entries. As you can see by this first photo, our day began with a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee.


The resort where we stayed was on the southeast shore of the Sea, so our early morning ride took us across to the north/northwest shore, where Jesus performed much of His earthly ministry. This picture was taken from the back of the boat. At the front, on the right side, you can see our professor, with a microphone, teaching us. This reminds me of just how jam-packed our teaching was. The professor rarely wasted time; she spent a ton of time lecturing, answering questions, and providing various wise tidbits on bus rides (and boat rides) all over the country. I can't say enough about what an excellent scholar and teacher she is. We never stopped learning.


This is a picture of the Sea of Galilee from the boat. Two things. First, in the distance you can see the Arbel Pass, the narrow ravine that leads into the Sea of Galilee region. You might recall that we previously were on top of that dangerously steep mountain. Second, amidst all the excitement of taking the boat ride, I remember taking a minute to just silently gaze out on the water. We were crossing over the water where Jesus walked! This was the sea that Jesus calmed! It was almost too much to take in. It’s one of those experiences that is so incredible that I sometimes think it must have been a dream.


When we got to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, we went to a museum to see a significant archaeological find. This photo is of a first-century boat discovered under the Sea of Galilee in the 1980s. The story of how this boat was recovered is an amazing one in and of itself, because it took quite an effort (hundreds of volunteers from all over the world) to keep the 2000-year old boat intact and preserved. There are various clues that pinpoint the age of this boat to the time of Jesus. Unfortunately, there are no initials carved into the boat, so there is no way of knowing whether Jesus or His disciples (some of whom were fishermen) owned or operated this boat.


On the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, we visited the three towns known as the “Evangelical Triangle”—Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. These are the three towns where Jesus did most of His teaching and preaching. The picture you see here is of a synagogue in Chorazin. Specifically, this is a prominent chair found in many ancient synagogues known as the “chair of Moses.” It was the place where the teacher would sit while teaching. You might recall that Jesus once harshly criticized the Jewish leaders when He taught, “The scribes and the Pharisees are seated in the chair of Moses. Therefore do whatever they tell you and observe it. But don’t do what they do, because they don’t practice what they teach.” (Matthew 23:2-3) Some of the students got their picture taken sitting in this chair, but after the professor had read those verses, I felt a little funny about it.


This synagogue also had stone remains with various decorations on them. The stone pictured here has an imprint of helios, the Roman sun god. This prompted an obvious, and very good, question: What is a decoration of the Roman sun god doing in a Jewish synagogue? The professor proceeded to explain that it is common in many cultures to have decorations that come from their society, and therefore some are of pagan, or at least unbiblical, origin. It seems kind of inconsistent with their sacredly-held religious beliefs, but it happens. It was at this point that I, ever the smart aleck, chimed in, rather loudly, “Hey, my church back home had six Christmas trees in the sanctuary last December.” Nobody laughed.


To round out part one of our June 3rd travels, I show a picture of the Mount of Beatitudes, named obviously for the location of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. I’m afraid the photo does not do it justice, for the Mount of Beatitudes juts out of the Sea of Galilee, forming almost a natural bowl-shaped mountain. This makes for excellent acoustics. In fact, I noticed that from several hundred yards up the mountain, I could hear music and laughter from one of the boats that was near the shore. Being there made it a lot easier to comprehend how Jesus could have addressed thousands of people without the need of a microphone. And, as was so often the case in Israel, being there made me ponder many of the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. When you think about it, that sermon has a very radical message.

June 2nd: The northern edge

Since I have been home from Israel, nary a Sunday goes by when I don’t give my wife a nudge in the middle of a sermon and whisper, “I was there!”—in reference to a Bible verse or other anecdote made by the pastor. I’ve been back for nearly four months, so now that I think about it, she’s probably getting tired of it. However, one thing that was so awe-inspiring about this trip is that I had the privilege to be at so many locations mentioned in the Bible. Some of these places were rather obvious, like the Temple in Jerusalem. But some were rather obscure. But in either case, I found all of these places fascinating just the same. On June 2nd we traveled to the north of the Sea of Galilee region to the extreme northern end of the country of Israel. We saw some well-known, and some not well-known, biblical sites.


“This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon had imposed to build the Lord’s Temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.” 1 Kings 9:15 The photo you see here is the gate to the town of Hazor from the time of King Solomon. Yes, sirree, an actual “Solomonic Gate.” We saw many such gates in Israel (for instance, we also visited Megiddo and Gezer, mentioned in this verse from 1 Kings), and it never ceased to amaze me that we were looking at the actual walls built during the times of the Bible. Solomon built the town of Hazor as a fortress in order to defend Israel from would-be invaders from the north.


“Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” Matthew 16:16 Later on we visited the town of Caesarea-Philippi, several miles north of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had taken his disciples to this town to “get away for a bit” before His final journey to Jerusalem to be crucified. While alone with His disciples in this town, Jesus asked them a very pointed question: "Who do people say that I am?" The disciples had several responses. But then Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter, of course, answered with his famous confession.


In Caesarea-Philippi, we saw a large, heavy device (sorry I didn’t get a picture of it) that could be turned in a circle and leave an imprint in the sand. The imprint, which you can see in the photo here, commemorates the important interchange between Jesus and Peter in this town.


“The Danites set up the carved images for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the Danite tribe until the time of the exile from the land.” Judges 18:30 This verse in Judges tells us that the tribe of Dan, in northern Israel, worshiped carved images over the course of several centuries. The photo you see here is a cultic site in the town of Dan, one of the places where this false worship was conducted.


By the end of the day we had made it pretty close to the northern border of Israel. The photo here shows a white gravel road toward the top of the photo and a gray gravel road parallel to it in the foreground (harder to make out). Before 1967, the gray gravel road was in Israel and the white road was in Syria. The border is now a few miles to the north of here, but this shows you just how close we were to the border. It also reminds me of just how much of the country we traversed in this three-week trip.

When our day was done, we returned to the resort at the Sea of Galilee and took a nice refreshing swim. On this day I had seen places that had references back to three very different times—the Judges, Kings, and the New Testament. This, I think, gives you a good flavor of the layers and layers (and layers) of history that exist all over Israel. Anyway, after a swim in the Sea of Galilee and a great dinner, it was once again time to prepare for the next day and get some rest. June 3rd would be the day that took us to many places where Jesus walked—including the Sea of Galilee itself!

June 1st: Nazareth

“He [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.” (Luke 4:16)

On Tuesday, June 1st, we continued on our five-day trip through the northern part of Israel. As always, we made several stops. But the key stop of the day was Nazareth, the town where Jesus grew up. The first thing one notices about Nazareth is that there is one high mountain in the city that is very prominent. You can’t miss it. It is called the Mount of Precipice, and it was our first stop in the town.

The first photo is of a sign at the Mount of Precipice. I was surprised that it alludes to a tradition that Jesus jumped off of this precipice to get away from the crowds. What actually happened here is the episode in Luke 4:28-30. Jesus had been preaching in his hometown, and the folks did not like His message. So, they led Him to the “brow of the hill,” to throw Him over. Jesus, however, “walked right through the crowd” and left. When you are in Nazareth and look around the city, you can see that the Mount of Precipice is the only place where this episode could have happened. As for the sign, I don’t know why it does not directly correspond to the Luke passage. I will say that while in Israel, I noted several instances where “tradition” trumped what the Bible actually says. Good thing that doesn’t happen in our Baptist churches in America.


This is a photo of the modern city of Nazareth from the Mount of Precipice. In the middle ground, you can see two structures with green domes. This is the site of the Church of the Annunciation, the supposed site where the angel visited Mary to announce the birth of Jesus through her. Again, scholars don’t know if this is the precise site, but it was likely in this vicinity. We later visited this church.


Here is another photo from the Mount of Precipice showing the other side of Nazareth, which is the Jezreel Valley (the only consistently flat part of Israel that I saw). I think this picture does a pretty good job of depicting how steep the Mount of Precipice is.


This photo is of the city of Nazareth from outside the Church of the Annunciation. It was pretty, and, it was the only place on the whole three-week trip where I got lost. For some reason I missed the call for my group to return to the bus (several blocks away). I didn’t panic, but at the same time, it’s a little scary to be looking around for twenty minutes and not seeing anyone you know, with no idea of how to get to the bus. Fortunately, our professor came back to get me.


Later we went to a first-century Nazareth village. Here you see a replica of an olive press, an extremely valuable tool in the ancient world, as olive oil was used for many purposes (lighting lamps, cooking, anointing, etc.)


After our visit to Nazareth, we proceeded to the region of Galilee. To get there, we traveled through the Arbel Pass, a very narrow, imposing ravine. It was a dangerous route in ancient times, however it was a key connecting point in the roads of the day, so it was widely traveled. We went to the top of one of the sides of the ravine, which was perhaps two thousand feet high. My photo does not do it justice, but if you were to take one step over these rocks, you would take an unpleasant fall of a few thousand feet. I found it interesting that there were no safety rails up there, no warning signs, nothing of what you would see in America. You were on your own to be smart enough not to get too close to the edge.


We ended the day by checking into a very nice hotel/resort right on the Sea of Galilee, where we would spend three nights. What an incredible treat this was! Here is a picture of the sun setting on the Sea of Galilee on June 1st.


When I say we were staying “right on the Sea of Galilee,” I’m not kidding. This picture is taken from the back porch of my room (How about that? Our rooms had porches!). It was about fifty yards from the water. I can remember looking around and shaking my head in disbelief. “Am I really at a resort sleeping fifty yards from the Sea of Galilee?” I still can’t believe it.

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.

May 30th: Baptists? In Jerusalem?

After four days in the desert and southern Israel, we came back to sunny, warm, non-humid Jerusalem for the weekend to rest, study, take our quiz, listen to lectures, prepare our maps for our next trip, do laundry, explore Jerusalem, shop, etc. On Sunday, a group of us went to church in Jerusalem. This was the longest trek that I took outside of the old city wall (our hotel was in the Christian Quarter inside the wall). I was surprised to find a Baptist church in the city of Jerusalem, and pleasantly surprised at the refreshing time of worship that we experienced there.


The first photo that you see is the sign outside the church, “Baptist House,” and the second photo is of the inside. The service was in English, as most of the people there were either American Christians visiting Israel, or American and European Jewish Christians who have moved to Jerusalem. For example, the pastor is a transplant from New Jersey, and I also spoke with an elderly Jewish woman from Connecticut who moved to Jerusalem with her husband in the early 1960s. Moreover, I met an elderly Jewish man who was originally from Germany, who as a boy escaped to England during the Holocaust.

The service itself was much like what one would expect and be comfortable with in a Baptist church in the states—singing, praying, preaching, and the like. There was about 150 in attendance. One interesting tradition at the Baptist House is that all visitors had to stand, one by one, and introduce themselves. It was fascinating to see and hear where everyone was from, and why they were in Israel. We had a group of students from Julliard in New York City; I suppose some of them may become well-known musicians someday.

As church services go, I thought the Baptist House was great. I sensed a real God-honoring atmosphere there, and it was very meaningful to me to be worshipping with so many people from so many different areas, generations, and backgrounds. The funny thing is, after the service I got to talking to a gentleman who recently came to Israel from the Philadelphia area to coach basketball. I grew up in the Philly area, so we struck up a fine conversation, and it was not long until we found out that he had been having prayer meetings at the high school where I attended, with my cross-country coach (a Christian man who is still coaching after all these years). So, it’s a big world, yet it’s a small world.


With all the talking I was doing, my group got tired of waiting and left to return to the hotel. So, I was on my own to get back to Old Jerusalem, which was about a twenty-minute walk. I leave you with a few pictures that I took on that walk. The first is the emblem of Jerusalem (a lion) that was on the side of a building.


The second is “The Holy Bagel Café,” a name that I thought humorous. I didn’t eat there, by the way, so I have no idea how righteous their bagels are.


And finally, many of the streets in Jerusalem are named after famous kings throughout history—King David, King George, etc. I had no idea that one of them was King Kong!