Jerusalem - Mount of Olives

Over the years, I’ve read about the Mount of Olives, mostly from Biblical accounts of the events that took place there during the life of Christ, and I’ve seen many photographs taken by friends upon the return from trips.  It wasn’t until today that I finally received true perspective of this hallowed hill as I descended the western slope into the Kidron Valley with my bride and two children on an afternoon full of discovery in Jerusalem.  

Walking back and forth between the apartment and the Old City, we’ve seen the Mount of Olives many times, and the best view was from the Temple Mount looking out over the Golden Gate, but we were anxious to set foot on the historic slope.  We quickly hailed a taxi outside our building and asked the Israeli driver to take us to the top of the Mount of Olives so we could check out the panorama and then hike slowly down.  We noticed that he was taking a strange route to the top, and when I asked about it he said that the normal way was too crowded due to the Muslim day of prayer which takes place on Fridays, so he was taking a longer but less congested route.  Even though the drive was longer, the driver generously charged us the normal fee when he dropped us off in the circle at the summit.

Mount of Olives Summit

The skies were still mostly cloudy, and it was cool and windy at the pinnacle, but we didn’t notice due to the incredible views of Jerusalem looking back to the east.  Having seen a lot of bigtime mountains in years past, I would categorize the Mount of Olives as a medium-sized hill set among other medium-sized hills. The majority of photographs and videos showing Jerusalem are taken from this viewpoint with the striking Dome of the Rock right smack in the middle.  Looking down the hill into the Kidron Valley, the slope is covered with 100,000 tombs in the Jewish cemetery, which has been used for burials for over three-thousand years.  Before we left the apartment, we spent some time together reading the major passages from the Bible that described the occurrences on the Mount of Olives so they would be fresh on our minds, and we recalled several of them as we began our descent, which took place over a series of switchbacks surrounding the cemetery.  We had hoped to visit the beautiful Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene, but it was closed, so we trekked on to the Catholic Church of Dominus Flevit built to commemorate the spot where Jesus wept for Jerusalem.  To our dismay, this church was closed as well, but a groundskeeper saw us on the gate camera inside, opened the massive metal doors, and motioned us inside so we could have a quick walk around the grounds —this was a very cool thing to do, and we thanked him profusely.  The view from this church is famous, and we took several pictures before continuing our descent to the Garden of Gethsemane located next to the Church of All Nations.

We spent the longest period of the afternoon in this beautiful garden full of olive trees with massive gnarly trunks which are either eight-hundred, one-thousand, or two-thousand years old depending on the source one chooses to trust.  Along with the Mount of Olives itself, the location of the Garden of Gethsemane is a certainty, and regardless of the age of the trees, it is a beautiful place that inspires prayer, worship, and for our family, a long discussion about the events that took place here the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested.  We had a memorable time together in the garden, and it was very difficult to leave for reasons we couldn’t quite explain.

Garden of Gethsemane 

From that point, we were at the foot of the Mount of Olives, and we walked the busy road along the east side of the Temple Mount and got another good view of the Golden Gate as well as the Pillar of Absalom in the Kidron Valley.  That’s the thing about Jerusalem—so much happened here over the course of thousands of years, and just when we think we’ve thoroughly studied and explored an area, we find out that someone got anointed in a pool nearby or there’s an ancient well or tradition says Zechariah slept here, and countless other events.  It’s difficult to stay focused when we think we might miss something important, but in the meantime, we’re visiting the places and seeing the things we’ve read about for years, and it might sound like a cliche, but the experience is bringing the Bible to life for us.

Pillar of Absalom

From the eastern wall of the Temple Mount, we began a steep ascent of Mount Zion heading for our last stop of the afternoon, the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu which means “cock’s crow” in Latin.  The area where the church stands is believed to be the location of the palace of Caiaphas, who was instrumental in the plot to arrest and kill Jesus.  It was in one of the courtyards of the palace where Peter denied knowing Jesus and the cock crowing afterward to remind him of Jesus’ prophecy of his denial.  There are ancient crypts below the church, and if indeed the palace of Caiaphas was on this spot, Jesus may have spent a long night in one of these crypts awaiting his presentation to Pontius Pilate the next morning.  The courtyard outside the church looked familiar to us, and we wondered if this location had been used to film one of the many movies about Jesus.  We spent the most time below ground exploring the small area of ancient crypts wondering if Christ had indeed been there long ago, and while we’ll never know, we at least have another association to call up whenever we study these passages of scripture again.

Courtyard

Another view of the courtyard

Crypt below the church

Possible holding cell

Byzantine cross engraved in the crypt ceiling

We arrived back at our apartment weary from hiking all afternoon but inspired by the incredible places we had visited and sights we had seen.  We hadn’t expected to see so much so soon in Jerusalem, but many of the major sights are close together and within easy walking distance from our temporary residence on Hebron Road.  We have a lot more time left here, and we’re excited that we’ll be able to see more places than we had anticipated.

Jerusalem - Western Wall, Temple Mount, Via Dolorosa

I wake up early most days, usually around 4:30, then doze on and off for a couple of hours before surrendering to consciousness.  I tiptoe around my slumbering crew, take a hot shower, make coffee, and sit down to write for a while in solitude as the sun rises on another day on the road. Early in the morning, the thoughts and ideas come more easily to me, and it’s a routine I’ve come to enjoy.  All of that came to a screeching halt yesterday as I opened my laptop to a dark screen that remained dark as the cave to the underworld.  After an hour of trying every trick I could glean from the internet, my computer was dead, and I was in the depths of despair.  I found the contact information for Jerusalem Computers, a company that specializes in repairing my brand of technology, and I set out on a solo journey to the downtown area while the rest of my crew prepared for the day.  

My taxi driver’s name was Moses, and he helped calm me down by offering a historical narrative of the city on the way to the store, and I liked his company so much that I took his number so I could call him for a ride back home.  The proprietor of Jerusalem Computers received his masters degree in technology in California and returned to his native land to open a business.  I learned that people from all over Israel come to him for computer help, and I was reassured talking to this young man who was confident, humorous, and an all-around cool guy.  Moses took me back to the apartment, and I had a spark of hope that my computer would be resurrected in the coming few days, but for now I’ll have to write on my kids’ computers on which we regretfully spent way less money.

The apartment was tidy, and my crew was dressed and ready when I returned, and Deena and I set an agenda for the day that would hopefully take my mind off my computer woes.  The temperature was in the forties, and there was still a stiff breeze, but the sun was making an occasional appearance from behind the clouds.  We bundled up and began our second trek to the Old City with the intention of visiting the Western Wall and perhaps the Temple Mount, which was open only for one hour in the early afternoon.  The first temple, built by King Solomon was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC, and King Herod built the second one after expanding the plaza on which it stood.  The Romans destroyed this temple in 70 AD, and the section of the Western Wall was the only structure left from the architectural support system of the plaza built by Herod.  The wall is now the most sacred site in the world to the Jewish people, and after walking straight through the Old City and a security check at the gate, we stood on the modern plaza overlooking the Western Wall lined with many praying people, men in one section, and women in another.  

Non-Jews are allowed to pray at the wall, an act to which Joseph and I felt strongly compelled; so we donned our complimentary kippahs and joined the rest of the men gathered there.  We met back up with the girls and joined the security queue for the Temple Mount ascension.  The line was not very long and moved steadily.  The Temple Mount encompasses the summit of Mount Moriah, where Abraham obediently journeyed to sacrifice his son, Isaac, and is now the site of the Dome of the Rock, a holy Muslim shrine and the most recognizable symbol of Jerusalem with its golden rotunda reflecting the sun’s rays.  During winter, the plaza is open only for one hour in the afternoon, and after the security check, we had about thirty minutes to explore and take pictures.  We spent most of our time there at the Golden Gate, which looks out over the Kidron Valley to the Mount of Olives where so many historical and meaningful events have occurred and anticipated future events are prophesied.  With dwindling time, we took a few pictures of the Dome of the Rock and descended the Temple Mount through the Lion Gate into the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.

There is a Muslim cemetery along the eastern base of the Temple Mount, and we walked through the tombstones to view the imposing exterior side of the walled-up Golden Gate before retracing our steps and continuing through the city.  As we passed through the Lion Gate, the vaunted Via Dolorosa was before us, and we began an interesting trek through the fourteen Stations of the Cross, which commemorate Christ’s journey from sentencing by Pilate to his death on the cross.  The Via Dolorosa cuts through the heart of the Muslim Quarter, and it’s a lively area bustling with groups of pilgrims and lined with churches, shops, and restaurants.  The first section is open to the sky surrounded by mostly ochre-toned buildings, and as the way continues, the street narrows as the ancient stone pavers blend with blocks placed in recent times.  The air is heavy with the sandalwood scent of burning incense mingling with the tang of spices from the markets and roasting meats from the restaurants.  The shopkeepers are pleasant as they greet pilgrims with the hope of meeting a potential customer.

The Stations of the Cross include instances described in the Bible as well as traditional occurrences all marked by bronze disks bearing Roman numerals and placed high on the walls of buildings along the way.  It just so happens that one of the best restaurants for hummus in all of Israel resides in a nondescript building along the Via Dolorosa, and we stopped to satisfy our hunger with fresh tomatoes, pickles, pita bread, and generous bowls of hummus sprinkled with herbs and spices.  With renewed energy, we continued all the way to the outskirts of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where something unexpected caught my eye.  Near the eighth Station, the Queen Helen Coptic Orthodox Church covers a vast cistern discovered by Constantine’s mother seventeen-hundred years ago when it supplied water to the Holy Sepulchre.  I found out that the cistern is well known for its natural acoustics, and for a small donation, one can descend deep into history by way of the slippery stone stairs worn concave and smooth over the centuries, and I couldn’t resist the pull of antiquity, so down I went.  I ended up at a huge black lake of water in a vacuous cave and sang a stanza of Amazing Grace and listened in fascination as my limited singing voice echoed around the chamber creating eerie, booming harmonics—it was awesome.  Fueled by serendipity, I rejoined my family and headed back out to the final Stations.

The last four Stations of the Cross are located in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which we had visited a couple of days ago, but this time we entered through an unadorned rear portal which led us past some small chapels dimly lit through thick incense smoke.  Again, the crowds were light, so we made our way upstairs and visited the areas where Queen Helen believed that Jesus was nailed to the cross and crucified.  The crucifixion area is covered with a huge gilded shrine strung with every bit of ornamentation imaginable, and the purported rock of Golgotha is underneath for viewing.  There is a low altar reachable by kneeling and ducking under a marble slab.  A hole surrounded by a brass disk allows one to reach in and touch the stone.  Well, I figured “when in Jerusalem” and reached in and touched the rock along with Joseph, who was equally motivated.  Having already visited the tomb shrine a couple of days ago, we left the church and began the walk back to our First Station apartment.

This was a full and fascinating day, and our activities certainly kept my mind off my ailing computer left lonely and dark in the depths of a downtown Jerusalem repair shop.  The history surrounding this city is so vast and multi-layered that it’s difficult to dissect and comprehend, but we’ve given it maximum effort and will continue to do so while we’re here.  Our time on the Via Dolorosa provoked the most discussion, and Deena and I talked long into the night with Joseph and Devney about the crucifixion.  While it’s clear that Jesus came for that purpose, and He was in control of every aspect, the account of His suffering hurts me deeply no matter how many times I’ve contemplated it, and I pray that my little family and I can walk in this world honoring that sacrifice.

Golden Gate

Israel - Jerusalem

We were up early, and after a big clean-out-the-fridge breakfast, Deena and I crammed our gear and two sleepy children into the little silver Picanto and sadly drove out of Tiberias.  While we’re excited about spending seventeen days in Jerusalem, it was hard to leave Galilee where we made so many deep memories with our kids.  The GPS told us the night before that Jerusalem was about two hours away, but as we drove, the ETA kept getting later due to heavy traffic and construction delays on the major highways heading south.  After three hours of stressful driving, we finally started climbing the hills up to the city and entered the reality version of Mario Kart.  Thanks to Deena’s expert navigation, we stayed on the correct course while I dodged cars, scooters, and buses whose drivers didn’t seem to notice that there were painted lane markers on the streets, and I think we arrived in Jerusalem on the national “Honk Your Horn Wildly” day in Israel.  It was hairy for a while, but we managed to deliver the car back to the rental company in the basement of a parking garage off King David Street with a tank full of gas and a cab full of memories.  The majority of the roads in northern Israel were very good and clearly marked, and I enjoyed motoring around Galilee for ten days.

We emerged from the depths of the parking garage and stood blinking in the bright sunshine and then dumped our bags on the sidewalk wondering how we were going to get to our apartment. The GPS said it was a twenty-minute walk, so we were strapping on our gear when a taxi slowed down across the street and Deena had the presence of mind to wave.  After a few minutes of playing Frogger to cross King David Street, we were settled in Charles’ taxi heading to our First Station apartment while he told us about his guide services and validated his excellence by pulling out a Jerusalem coffee table book and pointing to his name in the acknowledgements while driving seventy kilometers per hour.  The cab ride was only forty shekels, and it was money well spent as Charles dropped us off and left us a card to contact him—we'll probably do that at some point.  

The pictures of our our apartment on the AirBnB website showed a nice place, but we couldn’t quite get an idea of the size, and we were resigned to staying in cramped quarters during our time in Jerusalem.  We found the key stashed by our host and to our delight, unlocked the door to a spacious flat with tall ceilings, white painted walls, and golden-toned wood floors.  We explored the sheets, towels, and basic provisions supplied by our host and wasted no time finding a grocery store right across the street and struck out to stock the larders.  We were encouraged that the name of the store was Super Deal, but I think the moniker referred to the store owners’ profit margin and not the consumers’ benefit as we dropped some serious shekels for only a couple days worth of food.  We spent the rest of the afternoon resting from our travels and watched a few videos about the history of Jerusalem before calling it a day.  Tomorrow we enter the Old City through the Jaffa Gate, and the adventure continues.

As per our custom, we slept a little later after traveling the previous day and got a slow, relaxing start to our first full day in Jerusalem.  We’re still trying to construct a final itinerary, but with almost three weeks here, there’s no pressure to cram everything into a short period.  Our kitchen has no coffee maker, moka pot, press, espresso machine or any other type of contraption that would yield a true-brewed cup of aromatic java, so I’m back to roughing it with instant and dreaming of the double espressos in Santorini with the rich crema on top...sigh.  After breakfast, we decided to get out and explore a bit, so we bundled up to combat the cool air and cloudy sky that prevented any warmth from the sun and started walking toward the old city.  Our apartment is located in an area called First Station, which is considered the hip place to be in Jerusalem these day—not a real perk due to the fact that I haven’t been hip since 1979, and even that’s stretching it a bit.  Otherwise, the location is perfect since we only have about a twenty minute walk to the Jaffa Gate and entrance to the Old City.

The area of the Old City is only about one square kilometer, and just about everything else we want to see in Jerusalem is near the old walls, so we’re hoping to walk everywhere possible.  There are a few places farther away like Bethlehem that we want to visit, but buses and taxis are plentiful, and if we can just eat crackers for a few days, maybe we can afford them.  We were panting after ascending the steep hill up to the Jaffa Gate, but our adrenaline level was high as we viewed the walls of the city which were rebuilt by the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman in the sixteenth century.  With the Tower of David looming on the right and thousands of years of history in front us, we crossed into the Old City for the first time.  There was a tourist office near the gate, and we loaded up on maps and brochures before taking to the ancient streets and wandering through the Christian Quarter by way of the colorful market.  

Tower of David

We headed in the direction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which we thought we might visit on our first day if the crowds weren’t too heavy.  This church is one of the most popular destinations in Jerusalem for modern-day pilgrims and was originally built by Emperor Constantine in the fourth century after his mother, Helena, found what she believed were the locations of Christ’s crucifixion and burial.  The church encompasses these two sites along with the area where tradition says that Jesus’ body was prepared for entombment.  We came to the small square at the entrance of the church, which is subtle and nondescript, resembling an old warehouse more than a hallowed pilgrimage site.  One the second level of the entrance under the right-side arched window is the famous wooden ladder that has been in place for three hundred years testifying to the discord between the six Christian denominations which have claims to the church.  Unless there is total agreement between all groups, nothing on the grounds can be moved, cleaned, or fixed.  Even opening the front doors and locking up at night is a big deal with weird pointless rituals taking place to appease everyone.

There were groups of pilgrims present at the Holy Sepulchre, but the building was not crowded at all, and we took our time walking around the church viewing all the religious art and shrines placed by the different denominations.  We saw the rock purported to be Golgotha, and eventually wound up in line to view the area of the tomb of Christ.  We overheard a guide saying that two-hour queues are common to see the tomb, but thankfully we made it inside in about fifteen minutes.  There is not an actual tomb to view, only a marble shrine placed over the location, and it’s a small area with room for only five or six people to enter at one time.  We shared the room with one other man who got on his knees, spread out a bunch of pictures and trinkets on the marble altar, and began to pray.  We took a quick look around and left to make room for more pilgrims.  At the end of the exit walkway, a couple of long-bearded, black-frocked priests were laughing and pushing each other playfully, the only sign of mirth or joy we witnessed in this strange, dreary place.  At some point during our time in Jerusalem, we plan to visit the Garden Tomb, which is another possible site of Jesus’ burial.  We’ve done a good bit of research on both areas, and I’ll reserve my comments on the whole matter of location after that visit.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Check out the ladder under the window

We walked slowly back to the area of the Jaffa Gate and enjoyed a delicious lunch of falafel pitas stuffed with crisp vegetables and a spicy sauce.  After a brisk stroll back to First Station, we unloaded some more shekels at the Super Deal and bought supplies for a taco salad supper, which we considered an interesting blend of cultures, and spent the rest of the evening watching more historical documentaries while making plans to visit the Israel Museum.  The weather is supposed to take a nasty turn, and we hoped to spend the next day indoors viewing the archeological treasures housed in the archives.

The windows and doors of our apartment shook and rattled all night as fifty-mile-per-hour wind gusts ushered a cold front into central Israel along with driving rain and temperatures in the upper thirties.  While we’re thankful for the incredible weather we’ve enjoyed for the majority of our four months on the road so far, it’s going to take some adjusting to get used to more consistent cooler conditions for a while.  We ate breakfast the next morning and watched the wind blow the rain sideways across Hebron Road in front of our building, a sight which cemented our decision to visit the Israel Museum on this day.  We took our time getting ready and ran outside to grab a taxi between rain showers—an easy feat since taxi drivers here pass by every twenty seconds and honk at pedestrians in a reverse taxi hailing act.  Fifteen minutes later and 160 shekels lighter, we walked through the turnstile of the Israel Museum and spent the next five hours in one of the best historical and artistic archives in which we’ve set foot to date.

We spent the most time in the massive archaeology section, which houses exhibits from many civilizations surrounding the Middle East for a span of fourteen thousand years, yep that’s fourteen followed by three zeros.  It was exciting to see many artifacts taken from sites we visited in Galilee, and having the fore knowledge of location helped our perspective in the rich timeline of Israel’s history.  There were statues, frescos, mosaics, coins, and tools of every type in addition to scripts carved in stone—all linking archaeological facts to Biblical accounts.  We finally got to witness the original Pontius Pilate stone from Caesarea which was displayed between the ossuary of Caiaphas and the heel of a crucifixion victim with the nail still stuck in place.  One of my favorite exhibits was two small silver scrolls inscribed with the priestly blessing from Numbers—the oldest biblical script found in an extra-Biblical document and precedes the Dead Sea scrolls by at least four-hundred years.  The museum was packed with stuff like that, and it was all fascinating to behold.

Priestly Benediction

Pilate Stone

We spent the last hour of our visit to the main part of the museum in the fine art section and saw many works by our favorite impressionists like Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, and Van Gogh.  While all of the archeological exhibits were incredible, the one display in the Israel Museum that had me spellbound and will forever haunt me was a painting by my favorite Old Master, Rembrandt Van Rijn, titled St. Peter in Prison.  We had to be back at the entrance to the museum for a guided tour, and I had to tear myself away from this masterpiece which I hope never fades from my memory.  Peter is portrayed as an old man kneeling in captivity with a look of despondency on his face and his gnarly workingman’s hands clasped in prayer in his lap.  He is illuminated by a shaft of light from above while the keys to the kingdom are beside him on the floor.  Through the use of light and shadow, Rembrandt was able to depict human emotion and spirituality like no other, and this painting was the best example I’ve witnessed.

St. Peter in Prison

We wrapped up our visit to the Israel museum with a free, hourlong tour of the Shrine of the Book, a special building on the grounds of the museum constructed to house the Dead Sea Scrolls.  The docent who gave the tour was excellent, and he gave our group tremendous insight into Jewish history from the time of the the actual writing of the scrolls and the Essene sect responsible for their creation.  We saw the famous Aleppo Codex and other rare, historical texts which our guide explained in detail.  After the tour we had some time to wander the shrine and view many sections of the Dead Sea Scrolls including the famous text of Isaiah, which was discovered in its entirety.  On our way out of the shrine we saw the nano Bible, which is no larger than the head of a pin and contains the entire Bible. It has to be magnified ten thousand times to be legible.  What an incredible day filled with learning about history through a most compelling presentation.  It was dark by the time we got back to the apartment. We got out of our taxi and ran to the door in the cold rain, which was well-worth braving on this day in Jerusalem.

Nano Bible

Israel - Banias, Bet She'an, and Nazareth

As we drove north, the frosted ridge of Mount Hermon looked pasted on the sky as the color of its slopes matched the dusty haze of the horizon, and beyond the summit on the other side, the countries of Syria and Lebanon continued into the northeast.  We weren’t going that way, but our destination of the Hermon Stream Nature Reserve was taking us to the northern region of Golan about two hours away from Tiberias.  We started out early due to the distance, because we wanted to have plenty of time for hiking and stopping on the way home for groceries before the start of Shabbat.  The air was cool, and the sun was bright in a deep blue sky as we pulled into the Hermon Stream parking lot, and we spent a few minutes studying the park map before picking a trail from the many options which included some archaeological sites we wanted to visit.  

After Alexander the Great conquered this area in 332 BC, the local population adopted Greek culture, which included the worship of the Greek gods. Pan was the focus of adoration in the settlement by the Hermon Stream.  There is a large rock cliff towering over the springs here, and the citizens built intricate temples for Pan worship right into the rock and carved out elaborate niches in which statues of the god were placed.  Right next to the rock, the springs flowed into an underground cave which was considered the gateway to the underworld, or Hades, and sacrifices were placed there for hopeful acceptance by the gods.  Pan was a god of nature and fertility, so the rituals associated with his worship were exceedingly nasty, and eventually the settlement became known as Paneas, or Banias as the Arabs pronounced it.  Herod the Great’s kingdom extended to this northern region of Galilee which his son Philip inherited after his death in 4 BC.  Philip fortified the city of Paneas and renamed it Caesarea Philippi.  

We started our hike in front of the of the temples of Pan and checked out the ruins of the temple right beside the cliff which was built by Herod the Great and dedicated to Augustus Caesar in order to make sure all the gods were appeased and his allegiance to Rome was substantiated.  From that point, we ventured into the woods and walked for several kilometers along the swiftly flowing Hermon Stream, and the leafy terrain reminded us of hiking through the woods of North Carolina.  We stopped for a while at the three-hundred-year-old flour mill which was still capable of operating due to its design and excellent construction.  A short distance later, the woods opened up to another major archeological site in the reserve, the palace ruins of Agrippa II, who ruled during the second half of the first century and made Caesarea Philippi a city of luxury by adding temples lined with statues as well as his opulent residence.  We had full access to the palace ruins and stayed for a long time checking out all the rooms and underground passages which support the modern roads overhead with the ancient arches.  After trekking on a dusty trail through an open area surrounded by low scrub, we finished our hike at a tower that showed many centuries of layers with varied building styles before enjoying a picnic lunch in the shady recreation area—thankfully, no feral cats were around to beg for food.  

Temple of Pan with cave to the underworld

Herodian blocks, Crusader blocks, Ottoman dwelling

Agrippa's Palace

Indiana Painter and the Palace of Agrippa

Hermon Stream

Ruins of Caesar Augustus Temple

After lunch we drove a couple of kilometers down the road to the second part of Hermon Stream Reserve, which includes a hike to Banias Falls, the largest waterfall in Israel.  It’s possible to hike from one section of the park to the other, but with Shabbat approaching we didn’t have the time for another long trek.  From the parking lot we took a short, steep trail down the hillside through dense tree cover until we reached the river which rushed noisily over large boulders.  Just around the bend of the trail the river opened into a large blue-green pool in which the glorious Banias Falls cascaded like a pearly curtain draped over the top of the rocks.  I had no idea places like this existed in Israel and thought the majority of the terrain was arid desert.  While I’m sure there’s a lot of desert to the south, the northern region is surprisingly green with plenty of swift streams.  We hiked back up to the car, drove back to Tiberias, and somehow made it to the grocery store before it closed for Shabbat.  We had an amazing day combining nature, history, and a Bible story, and now I have a lot of questions running around in my head.

Matthew’s Gospel tells of Jesus feeding the four thousand near the Sea of Galilee, and he has a run-in with the Pharisees and Sadducees which leads to a teaching moment with his disciples.   From that point they come into the district of Caesarea Philippi and Jesus reveals who he is in the famous passage from chapter sixteen.  There’s no record of their journey north to the city, but it’s sixty kilometers away from Capernaum with a lot of mountainous terrain to navigate.  Google Maps says it’s a twelve-hour walk, but that’s on paved roads averaging a consistent five kilometers an hour - that’s a hefty pace even for a bunch of dudes who were used to walking long distances in sandals with no shock absorbing insoles and moisture-wicking socks.  I’m thinking that it took at least a couple of days to get there, and why would Jesus take them on such a long journey to a place where hedonistic behavior ran rampant?  He had to have a specific reason in mind, and perhaps they were standing near the temples devoted to Pan and the water flowing through the gate to the underworld when Jesus proclaimed, “…on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  Just as the drive back to Tiberias was a thoughtful journey for me, the walk back to Capernaum for the disciples must have been completely life changing.

Banias Falls

The next morning, we drove south for the first time since we’ve been in Galilee, and our destination was the Bet She’an National Park about an hour away.  After getting used to the commanding northern view of the Sea of Galilee, it was strange seeing the water taper of to a point in the south as it continued into the Jordan River.  We drove through a narrow valley with mountains to the east and flat lands full of scrubby vegetation to the west—it looked a lot like driving through Nevada.  The site at Beth She’an is considered one of the top five national parks in Israel, and we had done our research on the place, but nothing could have prepared us for the magnitude of the ruins we saw there.  

Bet She'an

After we paid our admission fee, we walked through the turnstile, and stared open-mouthed at Ephesus again.  While not as large as the ruins on the Turkish coast, this ancient site is every bit as beautiful and rich in history.  There is a huge tell at the back of the site which contains twenty layers of archeological evidence of civilizations dating back seven thousand years, and Joseph and I climbed to the top for an amazing view.  The ruins are left from the city of Scythopolis, which was devastated by an earthquake in 749 AD, and over the past several thousand years, the city had been ruled by the Canaanites, Israelites, Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans.  King Saul of the Israelites and three of his sons including Jonathan, were slain on Mount Gilboa fifteen kilometers away, and the Philistines brought the headless body of Israel’s first king and fastened him to the city wall here at Beth She’an in an act of ultimate humiliation.

The majority of the ruins we toured at the site were from buildings constructed during the first century including a theater, bathhouse, agora, several temples, and streets lined with columns and inscribed monuments.  There were floor mosaics in almost every building still rich in detail with depictions of gods, flowers, and animals.  Amazingly, visitors here have almost complete access to the ruins allowing for maximum exploration and photography.  The park brochure outlined an excellent self-guided tour which we followed for a few hours until we completed an entire circuit of the complex.  

View from the top of the tell

Theater stage

pillars beneath the bath floors

Three guesses - what is this place?

Colonnade

Earthquake damage

Mosaic lion

Mosaic zebra

We ended our time here with a picnic overlooking the ruins with the giant tell looming in the background packed with thousands of years of stories.  On our way out of town, we stopped at the ruins of the second-century Roman amphitheater so I could find a geocache placed there, and Joseph and I discovered it hidden in one of the rooms that held the lions and bears back in the day.  As we crossed back over the Jordan river, there was a big group of men loaded with gear and kayaks preparing for a trip downstream, and we noted how cool it would be to say that you’ve paddled the Jordan.

Picnic at Bet She'an

Our last full day in Galilee was Sunday, and we wanted to attend a worship service, so we boarded the Picanto and drove about thirty minutes to the town of Nazareth and spent the Lord’s day with the believers at the Local Baptist Church—yep, that’s the name.  We found two churches in Nazareth, both with services starting at 10:30, and both located near Mary’s well—no other address, just near Mary’s well.  We sent email enquiries to see if they had services in English, and the pastor from the Local church responded in the affirmative and extended a warm invitation.  Pastor Andrew told us that the services are in Arabic, but they provide headsets and English translation for visitors.  Jesus grew up in Nazareth, which is is a predominantly Arab town now, and while I’m sure he wouldn’t recognize the place after two-thousand years of growth, he would certainly appreciate all the free parking near the town square on Sunday.  

We figured we would just find Mary’s well and start walking and, Lord willing, hopefully find the Nazareth Baptist School in which the Local Baptist Church worships, and we did!  We walked into the courtyard and followed the sound of the worship band rehearsing until we found the school’s auditorium which doubles as the sanctuary on Sunday.  The room was bright with white painted walls and a stage at the front with a large wooden cross positioned before a pleated purple curtain.  There were a lot of people there, and they welcomed us warmly and outfitted us with transmitters and headsets for the service.  The worship band was outstanding, and they led the congregation in singing songs written in Arabic but translated in English as well.  Pastor Andrew delivered a stirring sermon from the second chapter of Philippians concerning Christ’s incarnation, and we enjoyed being a part of this group of Arabic believers.  After the service, we munched chocolate chip cookies and talked for a while with a pastor’s wife who was from Michigan, and she gave us a good tip for a place to eat lunch near the square so we could view the huge Christmas tree.  We drove back into Tiberias one last time with our familiar view of the Sea of Galilee, and it was a bit melancholy knowing that tomorrow morning we have to leave a place that brought us closer together as we gained rich knowledge about the life of our savior in northern Israel.

Local Baptist Church

Christmas tree in Nazareth