From the Great Sea to the Sea of Galilee

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 4^th 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.