May 9 - Northern Israel

Friday Guide: Schmulik Bus Driver: Roni (long o)
What a day! I don’t think anything in the rest of the tour could possibly top this! Schmulik called this the “second day of Bible Boot Camp.” It would be wonderful if every Christian could take a trip of this type to the Holy Land sometime in their lifetime. The Bible stories come alive, and the point of each sinks into our hearts as we walk where Jesus walked! Thank, thanks, thanks, to all of our family and friends who had a part in sending us here!!!
Schmulik gave us a new understanding of Jesus’ beatitudes as we visited the mount where Jesus preached.



Schmulik had us imagine that each of the thousands of banana trees on the hill were people and that Jesus was at the bottom talking to them. The acoustics are great here. The words about peacemakers and blessings for being oppressed and meek were given near Capernaum where a large group of people were insurrectionists whose one aim in life was to overthrow the Romans. They were looking for a military messiah to deliver them from the Romans. When Jesus healed and did other miracles in this area and then told them to tell no one, it was basically to keep them from misunderstanding his message and purpose. These insurrectionists in 60-70 A.D. were the reason for the great destruction of the Jewish nation and finally of Jerusalem as the Roman army under Titus and others moved to put down their rebellion.



An old Catholic domed building stands on the mount. Schmulik explained that Arab mosques are patterned after this building, which was built before the Islam faith even began. Schmulik also pointed out that at all our holy places, the Arabs think of someone to bury there or something, so they can call the area their own holy place.
An 110 acre area north of the Sea of Galilee, the Tel Nature Preserve, has been designated as a lowlands protected area because of the many kinds of wildlife living there, particularly the pelicans who migrate through here from Africa, and the flamingos, who also migrate through here. The government and the farmers are working together to give protection.
Adjacent to this area is the excavation area of the ancient city of Laish 1800 B.C./later called Dan and the dense foliage among the three rivers that form the headwaters of the Jordan river. This beautiful area was abandoned for the 19 years Syria controlled the Golan Heights. No one could work there, because the Syrians were shooting down on anyone and on the homes in the area for all that time. It's a good thing theArabs didn't have full control of this area, or their goats would have denuded it!
After Israel recaptured the Golan Heights, the beautiful area was developed again.



We walked through some rather tough, wet rocks through streams -- a beautiful peaceful area filled with the chirping of many birds. The totally pagan Dan is the setting for Christ’s question to Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” Among many other paganisms, Dan had set up a golden calf and inducted the Levites to serve as priests to this worship “in the name of the living God.” How often do I do something “in God’s name” which may be my thing rather than His? This paganism directly led to the North Kingdom’s being led into captivity. Only an aluminum frame is on this spot where King Jereboam erected a Golden calf and erected a building to house the sacrificial high places. Historical groups will not allow full restoration of a pagan image. The most interesting ruins in this area were the very early gates of the city of Laish 1800 B.C. built of mud bricks to avoid damage by earthquakes. Archaeologists were amazed to find arches in these gates. It had earlier been thought that the Romans invented the arch! These gates were built in the 18th century B.C. A bench used by the elders of the city is clearly preserved.
Dan’s gates and their meeting places were interesting, because so many Bible accounts refer to happenings at the city gates (such as Boaz dealing for the hand of Ruth.)
At Tel Dan, archeologists have found a fossilized tabvlet from the second half of the ninth century B.C. It contains an inscriptionm of Hazael, King of Damascus, boasting of his victory over the kind of Israel and the House of David. Finding the words "House of David" outside of Scripture is very important.
Jewish weddings are still held on Tuesday, because in the creation account for the third day, God twice says, “It is good.” This puts a double blessing on the Tuesday marriage, which is the probable date of the wedding at Cana.
The excavations at Capernaum were the most exciting of the day, because they are quite sure they have found Peter’s (mother-in-law’s) home, where Jesus lived while in the Capernaum area. Standing there imagining Jesus and the disciples interacting at that spot was breathtaking. The Capernaum synagogue is almost next door, and although the ruins are not on the one Jesus preached from, they are on the spot of “his” synagogue. Everything in Jesus’ day in Capernaum was made of the plentiful basalt rock of the area -- this is volcanic and active earthquake area along the fault line that runs through here down to the Dead Sea and on through Africa.
Excavated farm tools, including a mill stone and hand grinding tools, were displayed here.
An ancient Fisherman Boat from the first century A.D. was on display at an operating Kibbutz beside the Sea of Galilee. This is like one that Jesus could have used, and is titled “The Jesus Boat.” After viewing it, we took an absolutely marvelous ride on the Sea of Galilee.



All of us had tears in our eyes as the boat captain hoisted the USA flag, and we all stood and sang our national anthem with a tape he played. Halfway through, we hooked up with another similar boat and had a time of devotions and singing, led by Dr. Shore. Wow!
Schmulik told us not to use the Sabbath elevator (we’re on the 6th floor), because it is set to stop at every floor so that Orthodox Jews don’t have to work by pushing the button they need to make the elevator stop at their floor!!! He says they are not supposed to use electrical powered things, etc. But if they are walking by the elevator and the doors just happened to be open, and they walked in, and it just happened to stop on the right floor, that’s OK!
Peggy continued to show improvement througout the day, and was able to eat a good meal this evening.