It's amazing what a good night's rest does for the body and soul. We awoke refreshed and ready to begin the second day of our tour. This was still a moment in which to pinch ourselves. We were actually in Israel. It wasn't a dream.
I pulled back the curtains of the hotel room, and the view from the 6th floor showed the Sea of Galilee stretching out in front of us. Only a street and the row of buildings on the other side of it separated us from the water. Seagulls were winging across the sea just like 2000 years ago. A fisherman had his lines in the water across the way. A couple of boats could be seen in the distance. Pinch again! The Sea of Galilee! Jesus and the disciples! Petey, Jimmy, and Johnny.
As we would learn at each of our hotels, breakfast was served buffet style. It was part of the package. And this wasn't a small room with a waffle machine, cold cereal, a fruit dish, and pastries. It was so much more. And just like Mom had told us, a large variety of breads--fresh and warm, sliced fruits, hot dishes that we might expect for dinner at home, yogurt, cheese, and I don't remember what all. Oh, yeah… and pickled fish.
Today was going to be another full day. It really surprised me yesterday how much could be crammed in. But of course, I'm not complaining. We wanted to see and do as much as possible, and with a little more than a week in Israel, we had to pack it in. Boarding the bus a little before 8 A.M., we were ready to head out for the first stop.
Our driver Judah on the left. Our guide Mickey on the right. Our bus in the background.
An interesting mix of people were on the bus with us. Our driver was a handsome Jewish man named Judah. With black hair, dark eyes, and olive-colored skin, he appeared to be from a long line of pure mid-east descent. As mentioned previously, our guide was from Russia, with white skin like ours, just as a lot of the Israeli Jews have. So many of them have migrated from European countries. As for the tourists, two were Filipino ladies who make their home in Canada, and five were Indians who have moved to the States from India. And then the rest of us pale faces were from all over the United States.
Our first stop was Capernaum, at the north end of the Sea of Galilee.
This was a fishing village, and the home town of Andrew and Peter, James and John. We visited the ruins of what is believed to be Peter’s home, the place where Jesus healed his mother-in-law. The foundations are still there, and parts of an ancient synagogue are nearby. When Jesus moved from the mountain town of Nazareth, he made this village the center of His public ministry. If you remember, this is the location where the paralytic was lowered through a roof to reach Jesus. You can read about it in Mark 2 and Luke 5.
While visiting Capernaum, we were given free time to walk around the ruins. Now, animal lover that I am, I forthrightly noticed a lovely tabby cat near the foundation of Peter’s house. Could it be…? Nah. Quite doubtful. But turning the imagination loose for a moment, I could convince myself that the cat was a descendant of Peter’s cat. This was a happy thought, and since the feline was resting comfortably, with an amiable expression on it’s face, I thought it would be nice to pet it. One small stroke on the top of it’s head, and I barely escaped with minor scratches! That ferocious cat doubled in size and turned on me like the miniature tiger that it was, and left me with the impression that bold Peter had indeed owned it’s ancestors. “Get thee behind me Satan!”, was all I could think of right then.
The cat at Peter’s house.
It seemed wise to leave the cat to it’s folly, and go for a little walk down by the water. Standing at the edge of the Sea brought to mind many of the beloved stories we’ve known since childhood. One could easily picture the disciples fishing, or Jesus walking on the water. And that waterside walk remains as one of the most special moments of the trip.
The Sea of Galilee
The next stop on the journey was not far away. The Mount of Beatitudes. The Book of Matthew records Jesus’ sermon in Chapter 5, 6, and 7. Of course it is not known exactly where this took place, but tradition and the Catholic church have decided where it should be, and there is a large and beautiful, ornate, domed church built on the site, overlooking a hill that resembles--if you use your imagination--a natural amphitheater. Tradition also puts this as the general area where Jesus fed the five thousand.
We headed further north then, towards Lebanon and Syria, to the Tel Dan Preserve. In Jesus day, this area was the location of Caesarea Philippi, and the place where He asked the disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And after hearing the people’s speculation, he asked the disciples the same question. And we know it was Peter who confessed what we must all confess, “You are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God.” The story is found in Matthew 16.
We spent a fair amount of time here, and I don’t want to tire you with too many details. But let’s list them briefly. Here we walked a trail through a jungle, along the Dan Spring, a clear, rushing stream emerging from the base of Mt Hermon. It is part of the Jordan River headwaters. We broke out into the open, and crested a hill where we viewed the ruins of Jeroboam’s podium which was used for worshipping a golden calf. It’s sad to think how God’s people fell into idol worship and paganism, but it was also a reminder to look at ourselves, and not let things in our lives become gods.
Within view of the ruins were Syrian bunkers that overlooked the Hula Valley. We were encouraged to walk through the bunkers, so some us of did. And most of us banged our heads on the iron frames that covered the bunkers at regular intervals. Those lacking hair were able to show off their “war” wounds for the next several days.
Just to be clear, we were in the Golan Heights, land controlled by Syria until 1967. The bunkers were used by the Syrians to fire sniper shots at Israeli citizens in the Hula Valley below.
The trail circled us back around to more ruins. We stopped by the Middle Bronze Gate, that guards the ancient Tel of Dan. It is a large edifice constructed of mud bricks, dating all the way back eighteen centuries BC. It is covered by a canopy now to preserve the bricks from further deterioration.
You know, it took me a while on the trip to figure out what a Tel is. I heard the term at various locations, and assumed it meant city. Tel Aviv, Tel Megiddo, Tel of Dan. What it is, in case you are still wondering, or missed the memo like me, a Tel is a hill or mound that gets larger and taller with each layer of civilization. Remember Tel Megiddo, and the 26 known layers? Yeah. When one civilization crumbles due to war or earthquake, the rubble was leveled, and the next civilization built on top. Hope this helps.
Then we circled even further to the Grotto of Pan. This was a center of pagan worship. In the grotto, or cave, there was once a large spring flowing with an abundance of water. Babies would be thrown into this water as sacrifices. If the babies disappeared and did not reappear, they believed that the sacrifice was accepted by the gods.
Our next stop, took us further south and closer to the Syrian border. If I remember correctly, this was not on the planned itinerary. However, it was important to our guide, and an important place for the Israeli people of today.
In 1973, on a mountainside in the Golan Heights, a great battle took place. The Syrians were attempting to invade territory that Israel controlled since the six-day war in 1967. The odds were greatly in favour of Syria, but the Israelis won the battle, and have turned this location into a battle heritage site called Oz 77. There are still disabled tanks sitting around. What got me was that we were very close to edge of the demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria. In fact, as we looked across the valley into Syria, we heard some rumbling. Mickey informed us nonchalantly that we were hearing the war in Syria. But not to worry. They “are fighting each other.” They’re not sending any missiles into Israel.” He went on to request that we wait “a day or two before posting pictures of this site on Facebook.” He said it might scare our relatives to find out how close we were to Syria. But we trusted him, and knew for certain that he would not take us into a dangerous situation. Let me remind you--it is more dangerous to live in America than Israel.
And then we headed back west toward the beautiful Sea of Galilee. On a hill above the northeast shore of the sea, we visited the location of Bethsaida. The city no longer exists, but the ruins are here, and are currently being excavated by archaeological students. This was where Jesus healed a blind man, among other miracles. But he was not fully accepted here either. It is one of the cities he pronounced “Woe” upon, for their lack of belief. Matthew 11:21.
Looking across the hills from the ruins of Bethsaida, it is possible to see a little sliver of the Sea of Galilee at the north end.
That pretty much wrapped up our day. The sun was setting beautifully across the Sea of Galilee as we left Bethsaida, and the bodies were tired and hungry. It was time go back to Tiberias and call it a day.
And that’s all for today from Kidron, Ohio. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. So long.
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