The flight to Israel went without a hitch, though it was exhausting. A little more than 25 hours from start to stop, and just a couple of hours of sleep in there. But we all arrived safely. There are 22 in our study group, and we have a full sized modern bus at our disposal.
After a half night of sleep in Netanya (45 mins north of Tel Aviv) we were out the
door for a full day of touring up the coast. The focus was Old Testament
and Roman influence. We went in turn to Caesarea (very impressive, built
by Herod the Great), which was the Roman capital of the province at the time of
Jesus and Paul. The Romans could build!
Then on to Mt Carmel, where Elijah
had his showdown with the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). From the top of
that mountain, we could see all across the Jezreel valley - and see in turn 5
or 6 other places of major biblical events. F-16's were taking off from a
military airport, booming right over our heads. The connection was not
lost.
From there we went to Megiddo (Rev 16.6), the place some believe to be prophesied to be the place of Armegeddon. It is a 'tel', a mound, with some 30 layers of civilization being unearthed. It sits right on the crossroads of the major trade route from Egypt to Mesopotamia, which is the fact behind its strategic value over the centuries. The archeology around here at sights like that is interesting and impressive. Then we headed to Nazareth, the place of the annunciation, and the childhood residence of Jesus. It is now a fully Arab town, and you could immediately tell. In Jesus day it was probably no larger than 500 people. By 6 PM we were in Tiberius, and checked in at our current hotel, which is very nice. We are directly in the Sea of Galilee, and earlier tonight I walked out of my room, down to the beach and swam in it. Funny, but that is the sea Jesus walked on. I just swam. Hmmm!
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