Walking the Bible #1 of 3 - Jordan & N.Israel(Sea of Galilee)

I got home 10:00 p.m. Monday night after 16 1/2 hours of flying from Cairo Egypt to Amman Jordan to Chicago to New York. We were grateful for a safe and abundantly rich trip in every way: spiritually, physically and relationally. Rev. Miller and I were part of a Biblical Study Tour led by Rev. George DeJong who is Pastor of Holland Heights CRC in Holland MI and founder of "Under the Fig Tree" Ministries. Unlike most Holy Land tours George reminded us 5 times a day that we are NO TOURISTS but INVESTMENTS. God is investing in us for us to invest in others.  We flew into Amman Jordan and although Jordan is not usually considered "the Holy Land" is is as much part of the
Biblical text as Israel. Click HERE to see a map? The valley we are standing in here is about where Abraham would have first come through on his way to Canaan.  

Jabbok River

 The somewhere along the Jabbok River is where Jacob wrestled with God on his way back home about to meet his brother Esau.
In addition the trans-Jordan tribes of Reuben, Gad and East Manassah are in current Jordan & Syria.  We spent our first morning at the ancient city of Jerish This is one of the 10 cities of the Decapolis which in Greek just means Ten Cities. There were Greek/Roman cities that exerted much influence during the time of Jesus. Although Jesus did not go here were are told that the man he cast the many demons out of into the pigs went witnessing in all the cities of the Decapolis. Understanding these cities is important in

 understanding his challenge to be a witness. All these cities were located because of Fertility of farms, water and trade routes. Some were founded by Alexander the Great in the 3rd Century BC and built up during the 1st Century Pax Roman so they had Greek & Roman influences. All the 5 key components of MarketplaceEconomics, Education, Areana/Sports, Temple/Worship, Theater/Art. The Greeks & Romans were polytheists and believed in many Gods. Below are just to of the temples to Zeus and Artemis who was also goddess of the Ephesians

Zeus Temple

Artemis Temple

 George would do in depth Biblical teachings in each place we stopped in the Rabbic method which means asking the Biblical text questions. Why is the Lord telling us this? Why is this important to know.  What I found profound was how pagan the culture was at the time that Jesus came but also how connected the world was through the Roman Roads when he came. Every temple had a design similar to the Jerusalem temple with an outer court, inner court, priests court, holy place and holy of holies where the stone god would sit.
After crossing the border from Jordan to Israel we went to the top of Mt. Gilboa overlooking the Jezreel Valley south of the Sea of Galilee. This is the place where Saul fought his last battle against the Philistines before he was killed. It was also they place that he went to the witch of Endor instead of calling on the Lord for help. What was profound was seeing that to get to the witch he had to go in disguise right through the enemy lines to the other side of the valley. We considered the things we do to try to manage things ourselves instead of going to the Lord.

 That night we spent at the En Gev Kibutz on the Sea of Galilee. Kibutz's make money through dairy farms, fruit farms, fish farms as well as hospitality as resorts. I took a swim in the Sea of Galilee and found it profound reflecting on all the time Jesus spent there.

The next morning Rabbi George got us all on the bus to take us someplace for devotions. By the way, the rabbinic method of teaching also means that you "follow the rabbi" without asking questions. So every day we had no idea what we were going to be doing. We just followed the rabbi on to a boat for a sail on Sea of Galilee, stopping in the middle for devotions and teaching. 

 Later that morning we went to the top of Mt. Arbel. This is know as a "deserted place" and may have been one of the places Jesus went to pray. From the top of the mountain you can see the whole Sea of Galilee. A goat herd wandering around and as we sat in a stone quarry on top George taught us about the ancient "tectons". This greek word is translated as carpenter in our Bibles but can also be "stonecutter". Since there is very little wood in Palestine but much stone he made a case that Jesus father Joseph was a stone cutter and may have even worked there. We also reflected on all Jesus taught about stones!  To keep things interesting and let us experience

 walking like Jesus walked all who wanted to hike down could.
One the way down we also visited an old Crusader castle built into the cliff walls.

Mt. Arbel viewed from the bottom

 After lunch we went to the ancient city of Hazor north of the Sea of Galilee. This was the last Canaanite  city the Joshua conquered at the end of his life. What was profound was the Asherah Pole that was still standing. Asherah was a fertility goddess and the pole....well, you figure out what it looks like.  How could it be that so soon in the promised land God's people were already leaving the idols and idols poles like this still standing.

Asherah Pole

King Ahabs water shaft
 Years later King Ahab built this city up and dug a deep well for water. You can still see the ancient steps that they walked and actually walk down to the bottom of the well.  

 The next day we visited the cities around the Sea of Galilee where Jesus spent alot of time. Capernaum and Chorazine. There are still Jewish synagogues preserved there which would have been very similar to the ones Jesus worshiped in. The Moses seat is where one sat before they would read the Scriptures. Remember when Jesus read from Isaiah 61 at the beginning of his ministry?

Moses seat in synagogue

Olive tree

In the afternoon we visted the ancient city of Zippori. This was origionally built as a capital by one of Herod the Great's (the Herod who killed the babies in Bethlehem) sons. Again we experience huge underground cisterns that were made to capture water during the rainy season. In this kind of country it all about water. This city was built of stone with much Egyptian mosaic art as well. It also has a Greek theater and is only 6 miles from Nazarath. Could it be that Jesus worked in this city with his father and learned about the Greek actors - hypocrites- here by watching them.

View of Nazareth from Zippori

Sea of Galilee

Jordan River

 The Sea of Galilee is fed from springs high in the mountains of Northern Israel on Mt. Hermon. Here it is where it flows south out of the Sea of Galilee on the way to the Dead or Salt Sea.

More to come tomorrow on Jerusalem & the Judea & Jordan wilderness around the Salt Sea.