We got up, dressed and went down for breakfast. The bus left at 8 to
take us to our first stop for the day – Mt. Tabor. Driving through the
town of Tabor, we were told that it is a Bedowin town. These people
work like Westerners, or have wealth if they do not work. The town
looked pretty prosperous and we saw many very nice (new) homes. Jacob,
our guide explained that the Arab culture is not very trusting of
banks, so they may start building a house, and if they run out of
money, they stop construction until they have saved more money to
continue.
We got off the bus at a parking area and waited about 20 minutes for
the vans to take us up the switch back road to the summit of Mt.
Tabor. The road is one lane, so the vans have to be timed so they do
not meet ones coming down when vans are going up. At the top, we
walked into the gardens of the Church of the Transfiguration
(Catholic). This is one of the places that the Transfiguration of
Christ is said to occur. Jesus went up on the mountain with Peter and
John and he was transformed before their eyes. They also saw Moses and
Elijah. The nave of the church is dedicated to Jesus, with a beautiful
altar. The windows behind the altar had peacocks in the stained glass.
The architect also designed two small chapels (one on each side of the
church), one for Moses and one for Elijah, just as Peter said he would
to in Matthew 17:1-13.
After seeing the church and looking at the views of the Jezreel
Valley, we sat in an area of the garden and had a short service. We
read Matthew 17 verses, sang some hymns and had prayers. We took the
vans back down to the bus and then had about an hour's ride to our
next stop, which was Banias or Caesarea Philippi. This Roman town
(built by Herod and taken over by one of his sons after Herod died)
was located near the mouth of the Jordan River with a mountain stream
(from Mt. Hermon) running through it. There are ruins of several pagan
temples. One is the temple of Paneas (Greek god of nature). The ruins
of the temples were visible (one backed up to a large cave). Niches
carved into the rock (face of the mountain) were visible. Jesus went
here with his disciples to get away from the crowds in Galilee and
asked them "who do you think I am?" (Matthew 16:15-16). Driving to
this place we went through fields of crops and livestock. It is
located very near the Lebanon and Syria Borders at the very northern
tip of Israel. We saw mine field warnings along the side of the roads.
We also saw the fences along the borders.
From there, we went to lunch at a former Kibbutz. This was the lunch
that was supposed to be our St. Peter's Fish lunch, but it may have
not been exactly that. We ate at the Kibbutz restaurant (there is also
a hotel there) and they served a buffet lunch which included the fish
dish. After lunch we got our rain gear and towels from the bus (it had
started raining and walked about 200 yds. Through the grounds to a
small creek where those of us who were brave, took off shoes, socks
and rolled up our pants and waded across a small area of the Jordan
River. This was to remember our Baptism. The whole thing was a little
crazy with the rain and confusion of the moment. But most participated
and the rain stopped. We then got in a circle, read bible verses and
sang "Amazing Grace". (I missed most of the service because I had to
retrace steps to find Gerald and Charlie C. – who had decided to get
out of the rain back at the restaurant.)
Back on the bus, we dried off and were taken to see the historic 2,000
yr. old boat from the time of Jesus in Kibbutz Ginosar (on the Sea of
Galilee). The boat was found in 1986 and is now housed in a museum for
it. The boat has been preserved in a solution of heated polyethylene
glycol to keep it from "melting". It is 7 ½ feet by 26 ¾ feet long.
There are several types of wood used in the boats construction, but it
was mostly made of cedar. It is believed this boat is the type used by
Jesus and his disciples.
We then went back to the hotel to rest up before dinner. Several of us
attended the 6 pm Sunday evening church service at the Church of
Scotland (around the corner from the hotel). We made up about 80% of
the congregation that night! The service included communion and was
very nice. Back at the hotel, the group met and reflected over our
experiences of the day. Then we al went to dinner at the hotel. Gerald
and I met Sarah and Marsha at the Tiberias water, sound and light show
for the 9 pm show. It is a free show each night at 7, 8 and 9 pm.
Quite interesting and hard to describe, is all I can say.
Back to the room and to bed.
Monday, February 14, 2011 – Valentine's Day
We all met for breakfast at the hotel, then walked across the street
to put large items on the bus before we walked to the dock to board a
replica fishing boat for a ride on the Sea of Galilee. The morning was
cool and cloudy, but the ride was really unique and wonderful to be on
the same body of water we had read about so many times in the Bible.
As we left the dock, the crew raised the American Flag and played a
tape of the Star Spangled Banner (we all stood and saluted and sang!).
Then some Christian music played as we went out into the Sea. The Sea
of Galilee is about the size of Lake Tahoe. When we got out into the
middle of the lake, the boat was stopped, and we listened while Hunter
read the verses about Jesus stopping the storm on the Sea of Galilee.
Then we had moments for quite reflection.
After that, the crew showed us some things they had for sale
(including a CD they had made) and we listened to their CD for the
rest of our trip across the lake. We landed where the boat museum was
and got on our bus to go to the Mount of the Beatitudes. This is on
top of a hill looking down on the Sea of Galilee. There is a church up
there to mark the place with beautiful gardens all around it. The
Church is octagon shaped with a beautiful dome. These nine things
symbolize the nine Beatitudes. We sat in a small garden and took turns
reading verses from Matthew 5. Then we had time to look at the
interior of the church and the gardens and down on the sloped area
where Jesus preached.
Our next stop was the church marking the place where the miracle of
the loaves and fishes took place. Inside the church is an ancient
mosaic showing the loaves and fishes from an earlier church at that
site (5th century). There was a mass going on while we were visiting
this church. In the courtyard was an old olive press and an olive
tree. This church is built on a rock that Jesus blessed the loaves and
fishes before they were shared with the 5,000 people. It is now a
Benedictine Monastery.
Below this site is another church and gardens marking where Jesus
served the disciples a fish dinner and told Peter he would build the
church upon a rock (Peter). This one is right on the water and the
oldest church we saw so far today. It is called the Church of St.
Peter's Primacy at Tabgha.
We then traveled to a city that Jesus used as his headquarters in the
Galilee area, Capernaum. Here, we saw (under a church) the ruins of
the house of Peter. Near that is the ruins of a Synagogue. The ruins
are from a 4-5th Century Synagogue. You could see under the walls of
this Synagogue, the foundations of the Synagogue from Jesus's day.
Jesus taught here (Mark 1:21). We also saw another ancient olive press
here.
We stopped by the side of the road for a quick giro sandwich (called
something else in this part of the world). The guy in the shop ran to
the restaurant next door for help when he saw our long line. We found
out that in the part of the world, an "oriental restaurant" is not a
Chinese restaurant – it is a "near East" restaurant. In other words,
it is typical food of this area.
From lunch we drove to Nazareth, which is inland and at a higher
elevation. We passed through Cana on the way (site of the wedding and
wine miracle). Nazareth is now a large city of about 600,000 people
(vs. about 3-400 in the time of Jesus). It has the largest population
of Israeli Arabs. It is the home of the Bartholomew. We passed stores
all decked out with Valentine's Day merchandise.
Our first stop in Nazareth was the Church of the Annunciation (where
the angel Gabrial appeared to Mary). This is a modern church and it is
decorated with mosaics from all over the world (by countries). Under
the church you can see the area where the grotto was the Mary lived
in. The church is beautiful and on two levels with an unusual dome.
Our next stop was a short distance away to the Church of St. Joseph
(built over the carpentry shop of Joseph, Jesus's father). You could
go down below here also and see the ruins of the house that was once
there. Joseph was probably a wood carpenter or a marble mason, or both.
We boarded the bus again and rode to a very interesting "exhibit"
called Nazareth Village. This is a mock up of sorts of what Nazareth
looked like in the days of Jesus. We started with a tour through
several room (with a guide) explaining things about how people lived
and what the religious and political atmosphere was like in those
times. We saw a replica of a cross an had the execution by being
crucified explained (this was a political form of punishment).
(Religious execution was stoning.) Also the terrible things done by
the Roman soldiers to the people.
Then we stepped outside into a field of terraced farming, sheep and
goats, and donkeys. All with shepherds and other workers in authentic
costume. There was a wine press and areas for the animals. We then
went into a carpenter shop to watch a carpenter use the tools of the
day. An very interesting exhibition of how cloth was woven from the
wool to the finished product, a typical kitchen, house, etc. was
shown. This really brought to life what we had been trying to imagine.
Many of the sights are in the middle of urban areas now and it is
hard to separate the new from the old in those sights.
After this, we went back to the hotel to pack because we are leaving
the Scots hotel tomorrow and will be traveling to the Dead Sea.
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