Israel

Well I have blogged Southern Greece and 2 days of Israel so far and uploaded the pictures. I am slightly exhausted. But who knows if I will have internet again on this trip so I am taking full advantage of it! I know we definitely won't have it when we stay in the Bedouin Tents.

First site was Tel Dan. We got a new tour guide today whose name is also Yosi. Our first Yosi was a member of Masad at some point and in the Israeli army. We took a nature walk down to the excavated parts of the site. The Tel (which means ancient city) is over 50 acres big and they have only excavated about 3% of it. The border of Lebanon was about 50 meters from us. I wanted SO bad to run over and stick my toe in it but was told that wouldn't be a good idea since there were mines all over.

I Kings 12:25-30
25 Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel. [a]
26 Jeroboam thought to himself, "The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam."

28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." 29 One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin; the people went even as far as Dan to worship the one there.

So as you can see once Jeroboam and the northern tribes split off he didn't want them going down to Jerusalem to worship and trying to rejoin the Southern Kingdom. I've always wondered why Bethel and Dan and I learned today that it was because they were the northern most and southern most towns of the Northern Kingdom. The Israelites probably still thought of God and gods in general as regional (ie. The Egyptian gods, Babylonian gods, etc.) So the further away the people got from God's temple the less power he had which is another reason for the golden calves being placed at the most northern and southern points.
If you look at the pictures there is a replica of an ancient alter in front of the temple that would have held the golden calf. This is a replica of King Solomon's temple. The other opinion that isn't very popular but is still out there was that the area was instead a palace with a cult center.

Here is a bible verse that reference what I saw:
And Jeroboam ordained a feast... and he offered upon the alter...sacrificing unto the calves... and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel; and he offered upon the alter, and burnt incense." I Kings 12:32-33

Like I said we were REALLY close to Lebanon so I got to crawl through a bunker on my way to see the look out point over Lebanon. That really has NOTHING to do with Tel Dan but I thought it was pretty cool just the same.

We saw a couple other things such as the Canaanite Gate which was built in 3500 BC. Otherwise known as the Gate of the 3 Arches. And we saw the entrance gate to Dan from the time of the Israelite Kingdom.

Then went Boaz up to the gate... and he took 10 men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down. Ruth 4:1-2
And the king arose, and sat in the gate... and all the people came before the king.
I Samuel 19:8

Once inside the gates we saw the principle mentioned in the above verses. The King and Jury sat RIGHT inside the gate. I found this really neat to see something talked about in the bible right before my eyes. This wasn't a reconstruction and it hadn't been altered. This was something actually from the time of the Israelites where they would have come to be judged by their King they were so desperate to have.

We made a quick stop off at the Golan Heights and saw the Banyas Waterfall. There's not a lot to tell about this stop except that it was beautiful. Go take a look at the pictures

Next... Ceserea Philippi. Now if you're tired imagine how I'm feeling. I know I have it SO rough. I'm in Israel. But it's still exhausting! Ceserea Philippi was more of an area than a city. We saw what is called the Place of Pan. It was the center for pagan worship of Pan.

13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,[a] the Son of the living God."

17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter,[b] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] will not overcome it.[d] 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[e] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[f] loosed in heaven." 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
Matthew 16:13-20

We added an extra site in that we weren't supposed to get to see-- Nimrod's Fortress. It is named after the biblical hunter, Nimrod. It is at the foot of Mt. Hermon about 815 m above sea level. It was important because it controlled the road to Damascus. We went down secret passageways and dark spiral staircases where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Basically castles are a big-kid's playground

LAST stop for the day was a float trip down the Jordan River. We got there a little late but what do you expect after all we did. We split into pairs of 2 and set off down the river in kayaks. My roommate back at the Artemis, Kurstin, went with me. I asked her if she wanted the front or the back and before she could answer I said... WAIT. Have you ever done this before. When she said no I said you get the front. I'm steering. We ran through our fair share of bushes still. We went down a couple of small rapids and got throughly soaked. The water was freezing cold but once you got sufficiently numb it was alright. It made me think of Naaman who was told to dip 7 times in the river Jordan. I now understand why he was having issues with it... It's not the cleanest river in the world but it's not the dirtiest either. When we finally finished up most of us when to go play in the Jordan River. Now tell me... How many people get to say that?! When the guys finally showed up (they were behind because they had been waiting to ambush all the girls and throughly splash us) it turned a little into water tackle. If you're hair wasn't wet or you weren't coming up spluttering you hadn't been dunked enough. That will definitely be one of my favorite memories that I take away from Israel.

I rounded out the day with a swim in the pool, a soak in the hot tub, and a trip to the sauna. Life is GOOD! I'm looking forward to sharing the rest of Israel with you!

Love, Rebecca

Day 3 Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004786&l=4a3c3&id=1523040053

My first observation today was the Jordan River is TINY! At least the section we say today. We are supposed to go on a float trip tomorrow so I hope it gets a little bigger
First stop was Bethsaida. This means house of fish and was a village of fisherman. When archeologists first went looking for the city they couldn't find it because they were looking by the modern coast line of the Sea of Galilee. The current coast line is about 6 miles away from the city. It just is amazing to look at this city and know that Jesus was ACTUALLY HERE!

And he took (the apostles) and withdrew apart to a city called Bethsaida. When the crowds learned it, they followed him; and he welcomed them and... cured those who were in need of healing.
Luke 9:10

Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida, for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
Luke 10:13

Here are some other biblical facts about Bethsaida. Peter, Andrew, and Philip were all from here. It is also maintained that James and John, the sons of Zebedee, also lived here. This is the place of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes and the healing of a blind man.

From here we rushed down the Sea of Galilee. None of us tried walking on the water... Sorry. We took a ride on a replica of a boat that dates back to the time period of Jesus. It's called the Jesus boat. They demonstrated how the apostles and other fisherman of the day would have fished. The only difference is the type of material used to make the net. Instead of nylon they would have used cotton and instead of weights, small stones. We didn't catch anything so we cast our net of the other side of the boat and still came up with nothing. We got out into the middle of the sea and sang together. Every time I praise God in a place where I know Jesus was it is an amazing and unique feeling.
Anyway, let me tell you a little bit about the Jesus Boat. When they found it as they were digging it out they had to keep it soaked because when the wood dried out it turned to powder. When it came time to move the boat they coated the entire thing in polyurethane, dug channels to the sea and sailed it for the first time in 2000 years. I would have like to have been there to witness it. It was then lifted with a crane and transported to the Jesus Boat Museum.
Next site was Capernaum. The modern day spelling of the word is Capharnum. Matthew 4:13-- And He (Jesus) left Nazareth and went to live in Capharnaum. Here we saw was is traditionally thought of as Peter's Mother-In-Law's House. (Luke 4:38-- Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her.) The house was changed into a church but the original walls are still standing.
We saw a synagogue which was almost right next door to the house. It is called the "White Synagogue" and dates from the 4th century. It was built on top of the "Jesus-Synagogue".
5 o'clock comes all too early when you're in Israel so we finished up our day with a nature hike up to the Mt. of Beatitudes. The catholics bought up all the land surrounding where they though the "mountain" (more like a hill) was and built a church on top of it. We skipped the church and went to the place where it is more likely that Jesus actually taught from. The catholics even think the archeologists might have gotten it right because they are making plans to build another church in that location. Well if you don't get it right the first time try again... Like I said I find it really ANNOYING they construct churches on all of these sites.
We read through the Sermon on the Mount as we watched the sun set over the Sea of Galilee. I've heard that Sermon my entire life but it came alive for me in an entirely new light. If you haven't read it recently you should read it again. It's beautiful.

More to come... There are still 8 days left and LOTS to see!

Day 2 Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004785&l=db590&id=1523040053

I FINALLY finished blogging about Southern Greece... A little later than I would have liked but I felt SO guilty starting on Israel without finishing Southern Greece.
I am becoming an expert at navigating airports and going through customs. This trip had an additional component though-- Questioning. We went up in groups of 2 and were asked things like: How long have you known each other? How long have you know you were going to Israel? Who pack your luggage? When did you pack it? Who was in the room? Where has it been since then?
The airport in Tel Aviv is AMAZING! I wish our airports were that nice. There is a large open circular area with a "waterfall" that looks like it's raining down from the ceiling into a fountain.
I always give you a little update on the guy situation in every country so I wouldn't want to disappoint you. Alright... Quick re-cap. Greek men- UGH! There's occasionally a cute one but I've been highly disappointed. I've come to the opinion all the cute ones work in the police force. Egypt- The men were much cuter. Israel- I got off the plane and saw cute guys everywhere! That combined with the fact that Israel is SO clean compared to everywhere else I've been if forced to choose I would pick someone from here. Lol
Israel is BEAUTIFUL! I keep thinking of Jesus as a young boy running around this area and think... Lucky Duck! We went to Ceserea and Nazareth today. This area looks very similar to the hill country. It's very "Americanized" over here. We saw an ACE, Toys-R-Us, Burger King and of course McDonalds.
Our tour guide Yosi kept reinforcing that archeology, religion, and politics are very mixed together sometimes making it difficult to get a true picture.
At Ceserea the two most important remaining structures are a Byzantine Church and the remains of the Herodian Harbor.
The Harbor was built in 25 BC by Herod the Great and was the first artificial harbor in the world. We also saw the first artificial pool. This pool was constructed outside the summer villa of Herod the Great. When you look at the picture of the pool you will see a big rock. This is called Poet's Island and as the name suggests poetry was read here.
Herod was a real scum-bag personally but he was a fairly good king. Jesus was born under his rule and Herod is considered very important because he shaped the atmosphere Jesus was born into. Herod killed a lot of people including his wife, who was an Asmonian and her 2 sons. Because of this Caesar Augustus said the now famous saying-- It is better to be Herod's pig than his son.
Our last site at Ceserea was a roman theater. Yosi played his flute for us with a background composition similar to something that might have been played back in the day.
We finally ate lunch around 4. It was a pita and chicken which tasted almost EXACTLY like a breaded chicken sandwich at Wendy's. So I have now had "Israeli Wendy's."
By 5 it is dark here so unfortunately we saw the remains of ancient Nazareth in the dark. Israel also has an annoying habit of building churches on top of holy sites sort-of as a monument. Soooo... There aren't too many pictures from here but take my word for it, it was interesting!
We also went to church in Nazareth. There is a church of Christ there with about 50 people. It is very hard for them because they are disowned by their families. they are also persecuted. There were some teenage muslim boys who had come by and vandalized the church just the night before. You hear about these types of things happening ALL the time but being here and seeing it with your own eyes just brings it home in an entirely different way.
We spent the night at an AMAZING hotel. Scratch what I said about the Best Western being my favorite hotel. This one by FAR is. The beds are incredibly comfortable and there is a heated pool, hot tub and sauna. So while all of you are at work I have been soaking in the hot tub. Greece and Europe obviously doesn't believe in hot tubs but hooray for Israel believing in them!

Day 1 Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004784&l=72e38&id=1523040053