We started off in Qasrin Park up north of the Galilee. It is an ancient Talmudic Village and Synagogue made out of the ever present basalt (volcanic) rock. That rock is extra hard, and doesn't absorb water (more on that later). In using it for building it is most often uncut, so walls look like piled up stones. The village was authentically reconstructed, giving an accurate impression of village life in the second century AD and before. We looked carefully at an oil press (olive oil was used for light, soap, cosmetics, medicine, cooking and fuel). We looked at olive trees, and the process of grafting a branch in, and how after many years it is almost impossible to tell the grafted branches from the originals (Jeremiah 11; Romans 9-11). We had a detailed discussion of bread making and agriculture in the ancient world.
From there we headed up into the Golan Heights and northern Israel for the rest of the day. Along the way we noted again the volcanic geography and the basalt rocks throughout the fields and slopes, making life very difficult in this region. We had a lengthy discussion of much of modern and ancient history of the region, including the 1967 and 1973 wars here with Syria and Egypt, the impact of Shiite Islam on the current situation, the threat of Iran and the bomb, the peace with Jordan, and Syrian encroachment on the border area through settlements. We stopped and looked over the border with Syria and Lebanon several times.
We ate lunch at a Druze village. The Druze are an offshoot of Islam, and believe in reincarnation. Druze who have assimilated into Israel are some of their most fearless fighters because they do not fear death. These Druze, however, have a fear of returning to Syrian rule.
By now we are in the foothills of Mt Hermon, which towers over all the other volcanic mountains, but is itself not volcanic, but limestone. That means it absorbs the snows on its slopes (there was still some visible) and slowly over the years filters them. They emerge decades (perhaps centuries) later as springs of clear, pure water from the foothills of Hermon. We went to two nature Reserves in these foothills, Hermon Stream and Tel Dan. These are the water sources of the Jordan River, which flows from these foothills some 40-50 miles south into the Galilee, then out from the lower Galilee all the way to the Dead Sea. These springs were a primary fact in ancient wars and modern wars. The Syrians tried to divert the waters from the Jordan, part of the reason for the 1973 war. Whoever controls the water, controls the agriculture and the settlements and the population. The springs are large, surging out of the base of limestone cliffs, quickly turning into rushing creeks some 20-30 feet wide and 1 or 2 feet deep. Herod Agrippa had palaces here, and the ruins are being excavated. The water is snow-cold and wonderful to walk in, cooling you right off from the arid, hot air.
We walked up a lengthy stream path at Tel Dan to the source of another spring, which was weaving in and out of thick old trees and vines. Anywhere along you could fill up your water bottle from the stream without risk. The water, they believe, has not surfaced for over 100 years since it was snow on Hermon. Part of the reason they know this is that when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, the fallout put radioactive traces on all water sources around the world. 60 years later these springs still show no such traces, indicating they have been underground all that time and more. It is a place of great beauty and history and things to ponder.
We paused for a wonderful teaching on living water, on how the Israelites were never given this territory in the original promised land, but moved in ancient Dan to take it, and how that led to idolatry. In Jeremiah's words (ch 2 or 3?) they forsook living water for cisterns built with their own hands, that cracked and could not hold the water. A fatal mistake.
The excavations at Tel Dan included the ancient Temple set up there in opposition to Jerusalem (Judges 18.27-29). We saw the gates of the city which have been recently uncovered (2 Kings 23.8) and more impressively the very large altar (35 feet or so square, 12 feet or so high) that dominated this northern temple, a place where a golden calf was set up (1 Kings 12.28-29) in opposition to Jerusalem (some 180 miles to the south). The syncretism of Dan and its di
sappearance from history under the judgment of God is a bracing lesson of history.
On the way home, we stopped at a place that arguably could have been the site of the Transfiguration. And we paused to look at Crusader ruins. We also noted that all day we were on the 'Road to Damascus' that Paul would have walked. It was likely in these hills that he was converted. We were within 15 miles of Damascus in this area!
Well, at the end of the day, I was exhausted, and went to bed early without dinner. Far too much sun! Now I am up at 5 AM again, refreshed and alert and ready for the day ahead. Today will be more and more sun. We will be traveling down the Jordan Valley, slowly making our way to Jerusalem, with stops on the Jordan River, The Dead Sea, the Ein Gedi Nature Preserve, and the ancient site of the Essenes at Qumran.
I will write more from Jerusalem... What a remarkable experience to visit this special place that I have so long studied and imagined and learned from.
