The Jezreel valley from Mt. Carmel
Half way through the semester and its been a thrill.
Sorry everyone for not updating more, school and life is getting kinda busy now. But everything is great and i'm having fun, too.
From the last tim I posted till today, I went on a tour of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher with my Church of the East class, traveled around the Judean Desert for my Second Temple class, and coming back from a four day study trip around the Jezreel, Galilee, Golan, region of Israel. Here is some of my reports about the Galilee trip.
Roman Aquaduct at Caesarea
Day One of Galilee Field Study:
Mt. Carmel, Caesarea,
Megiddo
Today, the physical settings class
toured the northern section of Israel focusing around the Shephelah of Galilee;
from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea at Caesarea to Jezreel Valley. In the
morning our first stop was at the ancient port city of Caesarea. This city was
the main focal point of Roman influence and power on the land during the time
of Herod, which Herod, himself built. King Herod built this fantastic
engineering marvel to show the Roman emperor that he and his people are loyal
to Rome and that he wanted to make Rome see Judea as a friendly client state. We also learned that Herod wanted to build a
new Greco-Roman city on the coast in the middle of Joppa and Acco Ptolemais. He
did this building because this would cement his claim as ruler of the Judeans,
and to show Caesar that he is serious about ruling and holding Roman loyalty
high. The coast, though, is not a good site to see for the people of the hill
country. Even in scripture they fear the vast unknown of the sea; such as in
Psalm 107: 20-27, Isaiah 57:19 which states the sea is a wicked thing, and it
brings terrible things to this land. This fear of the sea also continues on to
the stories of Jonah, Noah, the parting of the Red Sea, and even in Revelation,
which describes there being no sea, which means no more wickedness. This port city is also where the story of Acts
9:31 takes place which sets the stage for the spreading of Christianity to the
“ends of the earth”. When Paul is
ordered to the palace that has a fresh water pool surrounded by the sea, where
the centurion, Cornelius of the Italian Squadron converts along with his family
to Christianity in this very pagan oriented and westernized city. This same
site is where Paul was to be trialed for his wrong doings by Agrippa II and the
high priest. Since he is in a Roman city and being a Roman citizen, he has the
right to travel for free to Rome for trial. Which he takes and this marks his
last journey, ending up on Malta. This site was perhaps one of my favorite
sites by seeing the theater, the hippodrome, and the remains of the palace.
However what really made it a favorite site were the above and covered lower
aqueducts. Being a history major who might specialize in influence and power of
Rome from republic to empire this trip was really fascinating.
Our class then toured on to Mt.
Carmel where we got to climb to the top where the Carmelite monks had a
monastery. At this place we took time to have a horizon look of the whole
region of the Jezreel Valley and the Shephelah of Galilee. We were able to see many of the physical
markers of the region; such as Mount Tabor, Megiddo, the Sea, valleys forming
the Joknean Pass and the Megiddo Pass, etc. This was also the site where Elijah
fought for God against the prophets of Baal, during the test fo the gods. It was interesting to learn to that both Baal
is seen as a god holding a lightning bolt, and prophets asked Baal to shot a
bolt down to start their wood on fire. The Elijah did the same thing only with
wet wood and God started the wet wood on fire using a lightening bolt from
heaven. From there we then visited the ruins of the city of Megiddo. I was
personally looking forward to learn about this site as being the future
battlefield of the Last Battle of the Ages, but I learned differently. The city
was a administrative, economic, and militaristic city but not that important to
have such a powerful title. Also this site is considered as being the cradle of
biblical archaeology and the laboratory of the modern research methods.
The Cardo of the city of Zippori (Sepphoris)
The Mona Lisa of the Middle East
Beth Shean (Scythopolis)
Sepphoris,
Nazareth Ridge, Scythopolis
Today was a
wonderful day from a cool brisk windy morning to a wonderful hot calm evening
in the Galilee region. Our first place
of visit was in the capitol of Galilee, Sepphoris. This city was the center of
Hellenization in the region and in Judea, and the arrival of many Greco-Roman
culture brought the even the synagogues to be built with pagan artwork such as
zodiac mosaics; that has graven images of people and animals. Some of the
mosaics in the floor of the 4th century synagogue are the two lions
of Judah, a menorah, rams horns, and also Sarah at the door of the tent. The
Mosaic artwork was an import from the West by Herod the Great who loved the
Greco-Roman culture. Herod only used three colored stones for his mosaics and
some of the mansions later on used even more of colorful stones, showing how
wealthy the people were in this city.
The use of the pagan art was not as much of the people becoming pagan
its more of that they like the color and patterns, as well as assimilating into
the Hellenized world. Which is similar
to Christians today using evergreens as Christmas trees. In the city there was
a Roman theater that looked to the North with the background being the Natophe Valley
and Mount Hermon.
We then traveled
to the Nazareth Ridge where we did a horizon overlook of the whole Jezreel
Valley all while a Roman Catholic celebration was happening and our group was
in the strong wind on the rocky outcrops of the Jumping Cliff before lunch. We
discussed the historical and Biblical events that occurred in the and around
the Jezreel valley. This included some figures of the Bible such as Jonah, King
Saul, Gideon, etc. What got me curious
was the connection of the Old Testament prophets and royalty being created
again and in a better form by Jesus Christ, for him to fulfill the
prophecy.
The class then
traveled to Scythopolis or also known as Beth-Shean. This was my favorite site
of the day, with great Roman, Greek and even Egyptian history and structures in
this concentered area. The city was
taken by the Egyptians under Thutmose III and made it his capitol of the
Palestine province. From this rule Egypt had a huge influence here and Palestine
was the land between for the many trade routes; and so the Egyptians want the
city for this reason. Also I learned that in the region of the Jezreel Valley
King Saul and his sons fought against the Philistines near Mount Morah; the two
armies fought and the Israelites fled with their king and princes dead. Later
the Philistines took the bodies of the Saul and his sons to have them be hung
at on the walls of Beth-Shean. But this region was fought over, over the many
years. Going from the Egyptian hands, to Assyrian, Greek, and Roman as a highly
valued trade center. During the Greek and Roman period this city was known as
Scythopolis. The city was remade into a Greek colony from Alexander the Great’s
troops after the war, and was then taken by the roman general, Pompey, which he
then incorporated it into the district of Decapolis (the ten cities district),
these cities were the most Greco influenced Levantine cities of the Roman
Empire. What was really interesting was that this city is the city of Galilee
of the nations and that its been inhabited for the last 4000 years.
Gadot Lookout, Hazor,
Dan, Caesarea Philippi, Banis Waterfall, Mount Betal
The third day of our Galilee Field
Study trip, the group first visited the Gadot lookout which was a site of a
Israeli- Syrian tank battlefield, all around the site and everywhere in the
Golan region there are still active mine fields and in the background we can
see Mount Hermon with its snow-capped tops. The site that is the memorial of
the battle still has the dugouts, the bunkers, and the tank barriers along with
a tomb of the soldiers. From this place of honor and valor for ones country we
trekked on to the ancient Golan city of Hazor. During the time of Joshua this
city was part of the a confederation of equally-sized Canaanite cities;
spanning about 200 acres total with the upper city being 20 acres; a huge site
this city was. This town was considered a society that is consistent to other
Mesopotamian cities, being the southernmost of the northernmost trade cities on
the routes. The main trade for the people in Hazor was the metal tin and
copper. These two metals were the key ingredients to make bronze for weapons,
ornaments, and bowls. The trade happened from the port of Acco through the
Jezreel Valley to Hazor then onto Damascus. Because this city was in the middle
of the two “cat” powers of the time in the Land Between, this region tends to
pull people apart and where the different nations meet, causing friction, even
war. Then in the 1950s the famous general archaeologist Yigal Yadin excavated
and discovered this huge Canaanite city, ad is now one of the site where
archaeological trainees go to practice.
Going on up north to the city of
Dan, the class and I learned that this city was smaller than Hazor and it was
more or less a frontier town. The town was originally named Laish, being a
Canaanite town and the tribe of Dan took it for they didn’t like the openness
of the coast in the Sharon Plain, so says in Judges 18:9. So the tribe of Dan
was supposed to be in the Promised Land but they didn’t like it so they moved
to Canaan. The site is known for the story of Abraham rescuing his nephew, Lot.
At the site where the city of Dan/Laish
was there was a stela found that is a victory stela that states the defeats of
the kings of Judah and Israel, and also the mentioning of the House of David or
also known as the name of God and the kingdom. This was also the major site of
negotiations after a war with two factions, and basically whoever won got to
force the loser to open up their land to foreign traders and their markets of
products from other lands.
Going a father north to the Hellenized
city of Caesarea Philippi; was first a Canaanite site then it, got Hellenized
by the Greeks after Alexander the Great in 326 BC. From this point on to the
Roman era, the city was holy site for the worshippers of the Greek god Pan (the
god of sheep, flocks, forest, music, etc.). King Herod’s son, Philip the
Tetrarch, built up the city in the 1st Century BC in a Hellenized fashion. He
did this engineering feat to honor the new Roman power, and its emperor Caesar
Augustus. In Matthew 16, Jesus was teaching around the Sea of Galilee and heads
up to this region, where there was tension. He knew people were worshipping
idols there. And this is the spot where Peter says to Jesus, that Jesus is the
Christ; the son of the living God, and for this great faith Jesus blessed Peter
by making him the rock of Christ’s Church.
We then took a nature hike around the waters of Banyas, which was very
beautiful and peaceful with the noise of the rushing water and the songbirds.
Afterwards we head to Mount Betal where we discussed the horizon overlook from
and old Israeli military post, which looks out to the border of Syria. This view
was so cool that earlier today at Dan we got to see the border of Lebanon and
later today we were looking over the border of Syria.
Sea of Galilee,
Jordan River, Capernaum, Korazim, Cliffs of Arbel
In the early morning of our last day in the Galilee region,
we were surprised that for out lecture on the Sea of Galilee we were actually
going to have class on a boat in the middle of the lake. This was truly
awesome, to be able to swim, walk around and now sail the same body of water
where Jesus was, and where he “fished for men”. On the boat we learned that the
lake is 12 miles long by 8 miles wide, which seven springs feed into the lake,
that also brings the fish to the lake, for spawning. The lake was and
international body of water during the mid-twentieth century and was also a
border of the Gaulantines and Philip the Tetrarch in the Herodian Period of
ancient Israel. The sea is a settling place for both strict and devout Jews and
also Hellenized and Baal worshipers. This location with the different people
groups and religions is the same place where Jesus made five of his twelve
apostles the ‘fisher of men’. During the
time of Jesus, the Sea of Galilee’s main industry was anything relating to
fishing – fishing, net making, boat building, sail making, etc. Which can give
us modern people an understanding of people fishers of men, through every
profession and all the time in our life. While on the boat we also learned
about he three different nets the men used to fish. They were the cast net,
dragnet, and the trammel net. This was interesting know how the ancient society
worked in many ways to harvest the fish for their trade, profit, and
livelihood. We then got off the boat and took a short stop at an old bridge
where we took pictures of the Jordan River; I was excited to get some river
water. I also wanted to be baptized there but we didn’t have enough time to do
this.
So we
headed on to the lake city of Capernaum, which not considered as a Hellenized
polis of the Western pagan views. The city ruins are known for its elaborate
synagogue that was in service around he 300/400s AD, the society held tight to
its customs even though being on a trade route from the Coast to Damascus, also
being known as a border town of the Galilee region. This city is know for being
the Home of Jesus and Peter while in the Galilee area, this city and the
surrounding area was a very religious city that Jerusalem centered; in a
predominantly Gentile area. The parables that Jesus taught the to the people
and his apostles were all about the region involving building, healing, and
also fishing; this meaning he was in the region of Galilee for these teachings.
From the
city of Capernaum we went to Chorazim, which was mentioned in the Books of
Matthew 11:20 and Luke. This was where
Jesus went to the people to have them repent and do other miracles. We learned
that Jesus must have stopped here a lot and had denounce this town as being
worst than Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon. There is a notable ruin in the city tell,
that is known to be the synagogue. This building was very elaborate and had
very highly skilled craftsmen build it; with three doors like the Roman Temple
does that faces Jerusalem. WE then walked over to the ruins of a insula which
is the isolated housing unit of the ancient times. It was mostly used form slum
housing but was likened by the Jews; this kind of building is where the Biblical
phrase “In my Father’s House there are many rooms”. From this non-repentant
city we had some free time to enjoy a climb on the cliffs of Mount Arbel. This
was an amazing site from the top looking down and seeing the Sea of Galilee and
much more that we discussed in our Galilee Field Study trip.
Tomorrow (Saturady) is Student Activity Day, where the school gets to go to Gan Hashlosha. This place is in the Galilee region where it was voted one of the top 20 global vacation sites by TIME Magazine. The place is known for its waterfalls, and hot springs. This will be a great day to relax, and I am looking forward to it.
