When I first started planning our Israel trip, my original plan was to walk what is called the Jesus Trail. A four day walk from Nazareth to Capernaum on Lake Galilee. But the planning logistics defeated me back then. So instead we linked in with a tour that was doing a bastardised version of the Jesus Trail. Walking some parts of it and bussing back to accommodation. Which is fine. As we also didn’t want to spend the last week of our Israel trip knocking ourselves out. Now that we’ve been here, I can understand better how it all works. So if ever I can lots of time and money, I will come back and do the proper trail the “fair-dinkum” way!

So we’ve linked in with another tour group and bussed with them to our accommodation at Lavi Kibbutz. Once again, the kibbutz is nothing like I had imagined. This kibbutz is run by Orthodox Jews and was started back in 1949 when Israel was given independence. On a bare hill in tents with Jewish immigrants from England who had originally been Jewish children sent to England from Europe before World War 2.

Now it’s 750 people on 2,500 acres. A huge hotel and farm with crops and animals. Their biggest source of income is from making synagogue furniture in big metal sheds. Beautiful gardens everywhere.

They still run on socialist lines. Pooling everything – cars, salaries. One/third of their workforce work outside the kibbutz, but everyone gets the same allowance. Children from the age of three months are put in childcare so the mothers can go back to work. No exceptions. The mothers can visit them in their lunch times or to feed them. I’m very glad I wasn’t born in a kibbutz. I would find the lack of choices very difficult!

The older man who showed us round the kibbutz has been here for most of his adult life. None of his five children live here. His three sons are not religious he says. And his two daughters wanted a stricter form of Judaisim.

There are  256 kibbutzim (which I’ve learnt is the plural of kibbutz) in Israel, but only 16 are religious. And lots of them are now privatised.

Our accommodation is a room in a cabin set amongst the gardens. I think these cabins were probably for kibbutzniks. That’s what they call people who live in kabbutz.

This morning we walked for several hours to the Horns of Hattin and back. Part of the Jesus Trail.  We first had to walk through the Lavi Kibbutz farm. Lots of healthy and happy-looking cows. Past hay fields with tractors loading up the hay bales on to trucks.

The Horns of Hattin are a double-peaked volcanic hill. Nearby was a big battle in 1187 between the Crusaders and the Muslims which the Muslims decisively won and was the beginning of the end of Crusader presence in the region.

A lovely sunny day for a walk. Beautiful wildflowers and purple thorns growing by the road and all over the hill. Hundreds of white and orange butterflies fluttering around. Birds soaring high on the thermal winds. Philip saw a coney or rock-rabbit but it was too quick for me to get a photo. It disappeared into the pile of rocks.

Philip and I seem to be the fittest on this tour. We clambered all over the Hill when we got there, exploring it. Very rocky. And then down the other side following the Jesus Trail markers. Very steep and rocky and a bit of a challenge. After a while the path was taking us in a direction we didn’t want to go.

So we back-tracked a bit, climbed under barbed wire fences. Tried to avoid thistles and prickles. Not always very successfully. Trekked across harvested and hay-baled fields. Back to the kibbutz. To meet up with the rest of the group. It was such a fun little adventure.

After lunch, our group got on our little shuttle bus and drove to Zippori. We got to spend several hours wandering around the huge excavated ruins of a magnificent city set up on top of a hill. Inhabited by Jews, Christians, Greeks and Romans in its past.

Streets, buildings, a theatre, synagogue and churches, bathhouses. The roads are Roman and if you look carefully you can see the ruts from the wagons indenting the paved road.

But the most spectacular thing that I marvelled at were the floor mosaics. Beautifully detailed and colourful and some bits are still in place on the floors, having gone through a preservation and conservation process. Showing stunning artistic and creative, skillful execution. They definitely had a “wow” factor!

A Roman theatre probably built at the end of the 1st century. Jews weren’t supposed to go to theatres.

On top of the hill was a fortress built during the Crusader period, but built out of dressed stones taken from earlier buildings. This building has been used for various things including a school right up to 1949. Spectacular views from the roof. The mountains, the hills. the farmland valleys. The beautiful green of Galilee countryside.

After Jerusalem was razed to the ground by the Romans in 70 AD, the Jewish Sanhedrin Council eventually moved to Zippori.

The highlight of the Horns of Hattin was our adventure. The highlight for Zippori was the mosaics.

 

 

 

The Muslims can have Fridays off. The Jews have their Sabbath on Saturday. The Christians have Sundays off. So then I think the Bryants can have Mondays off! Which is today. We realised we needed a down time day. So we took it. A down-day.

We’re staying in Villa Nazareth, a small hotel in the old city part. With a small enclosed courtyard with pot plants. Next door to a children’s kindergarten. We peeked over the wall and saw little kids running around on green fake grass on a half-court soccer field. Laughing and squealing and singing.

So we spent the morning reading in the courtyard. Much cooler today. Blue skies with lots of scattered clouds. A cool enough breeze to put our jumpers on. A lovely relaxing morning.

At 10 o’clock there was a loud piercing siren wail. Like the sound of a fire alarm. Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. The siren was for people to stop and remember. Because we all forget so easily. Whatever happens in our lives. Unless we make a conscious effort to remember.

After lunch time we decided because we had enjoyed the Nazareth Village experience with Oak Hall last week so much, we’d do it again! So we did.

On our walk to Nazareth Village it was midday. As we walked along we heard the sound of many bells ringing. We were walking by the big Basilica and could see the big bells swinging away with their merry sound.

We went round Nazareth Village with a smaller group. So I took more photos!

And you always learn something more when you hear it again anyway. We really enjoyed it again. This time we also got to eat lunch there. Eating produce from their garden. Delicious.

I’ve been thinking over our Israel experience.

It feels like I’ve been given another set of lenses through which to see the Bible and our spiritual journeys. Everything seems much clearer, more focused and more understandable. More relatable and relevant to our lives. And yet at the same time, the mystery and wonder of God is not diminished. But wilder. Wider and grander.

A wonderful down-day. For down time.

Last evening Philip and I walked to the nearby Tel Aviv beach cafe from our hotel. A crowded beach after a hot day. Lots of people in swimming, even though it’s very shallow calm water. The beach a mosaic patchwork of beach umbrellas, patio chairs and plastic chairs provided by the cafes along the beach. Blaringly loud music being played over loudspeakers – Israeli pop music.

The thing that appals and scandalises me – and I know this thought is very judgemental and self-righteous – is the way they treat their beaches. Rubbish strewn everywhere. No-one seems to put anything in a bin. They just leave it all lying around. For someone else to pick up.

We had a very ordinary meal as we watched the sun set slowly into the calm smooth Mediterranean Sea. There was no sunset colour at all. In the sky or the sea. Just the pale yellow sun slowly sinking beneath the horizon. And then everything turning to shades of grey.

This morning we packed up and walked a few kilometres to pick up our next bus. To take us to Nazareth, back into Galilee. We want to spend most of our last week in Galilee.

One thing that makes Philip and I very smug is the small amount of luggage we carry. We have just three changes of clothes each. Washing out our clothes every night. Sometimes it takes a bit of ingenuity to get it dry in time. We have even resorted to using hotel hair-dryers. We have a small backpack each and a small carry-on bag each. When we travel about and look at other people bowed down with the weight of their huge suitcases – and usually many of them – we have cause to be very smug indeed!

Just before we left on this trip, my sister reminded me that our grandmother used to say “Travelling mercies” as anyone set out on a long journey. Today was a day when we were very grateful for Travelling Mercies.

The bus was a small shuttle-size bus. To take passengers to Caesarea (north from Tel Aviv) on the coast and to a kibbutz near Caesarea, then north-east on to Nazareth in Galilee.

There were three German ladies on the bus and our driver could speak German, so he spent most of the journey of several hours chatting away to these ladies. We left late. The driver seemed to get very muddled about where to go. Several times he back-tracked and went off in different directions. Even I could tell we were sometimes travelling in the wrong direction. And I am definitely not known for my strong sense of direction!

He went very fast on the freeways, passing everybody else and leaving them for dust. So I’m making up that he was way over the speed limit. Even so, we arrived half an hour late in Nazareth. On some of the smaller roads, he hit every bump as fast as he could. Several times Philip and I were launched out of our seats. Just as well the bus had a high roof so our heads didn’t hit it.

After the kibbutz people were dropped off, we went on a long detour. I went up and asked him why we weren’t going to Nazareth. He waved his hands airily and told me, “I’m taking you all to drive past Mediggo. It’s not far away. And then I’ll take you to Nazareth. This is such a lovely nice road.” It was all rather bizarre really! Funny, in a surreal sort of way. Except that we were both very hungry as we hadn’t had any breakfast and it was now way past lunch.

And then he dropped us off in a street in Nazareth. He was supposed to take us to our hotel. But he said he didn’t know where it was. By this stage, I just wanted to get out. I would rather find the hotel for ourselves than trust it to him.

But first, lunch. Where he dropped us off was a nearby cafe. As we sat down to eat I saw the cafe was called:

It was meant to be!

And after a really nice lunch there, we didn’t have far to walk to find our hotel. It’s in the Old City part of Nazareth, completely renovated from once being a school.  Nazareth is an Arab town of about 80,000 people, renowned for its tolerance with Christians, Muslims and Jews living together.

We needed to go for a walk this afternoon. So just went aimlessly for a walk around the neighbourhood. Being Sunday and there being a lot of Arab Christians in this town, most shops and attractions were shut. I wondered in a town with Christians, Arabs and Jews, if the Christians shut up for Sunday, the Jews for Saturday and the Arabs for Friday, when does anything get done around here?

Nearby is a site for Mary’s Well which is reputed to be at the site where the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and  announced she would bear Jesus. It was a little unclear just where it was. Nearby was a Greek Orthodox church that had several trees hanging with big decorated Easter eggs.

We wandered a bit further and came across the huge Basilica of the Annunciation. Like a massive cathedral. This is said to be over Mary’s home in Nazareth. It’s a modern basilica – stunningly beautiful and architecturally amazing.

The soaring roof is made of concrete & looks more amazing than this photo!

Several floors with beautiful artwork from all around the world. It also has some remains from Crusader and Byzantine churches on the site. And underneath some caves and grottoes which are reputed to be original Nazareth homes.

Bits of old Nazareth found in excavations under the church.

You could only glimpse those through wire grilles or  perspex panels. Pilgrims have thrown money or prayers written on scraps of paper at them.

Next door was a church called St Joseph’s church which houses an underground cavern that’s supposed to be Joseph’s carpentry shop where Jesus worked with Joseph. This church was built on the top of the remains of a Crusader church.

A carving I found in the grounds of the church of Joseph with Jesus.

 

And all too soon, the major part of our trip is over. Today is our last day with Oak Hall tour. We’ve got another week left in Israel before we leave next Saturday. It’s been one of those times when it seems weeks and weeks ago that we started the tour. And yet in another way, it’s hard to believe that it’s already over and surely we’ve just started? A major and intense learning experience. Tiring but fun. Full and densely-packed.

A hot dry wind blowing. The hottest day we’ve experienced so far. We packed up and left on the bus after breakfast. Heading back south-west to Tel Aviv on the coast. Most of the group are heading back to England or other parts of Great Britain. We went with them on the bus to Tel Aviv.

On the way we passed the high rounded mountain that is called Mount Tabor. Or the Mount of Transfiguration. Paul (our tour guide) read the story of Jesus’s time there on the mountain with Peter, James and John and their experience of seeing him utterly transformed and talking with the ancient men of Moses and Elijah.

Then we started travelling across the flat plains of the Jezreel Valley. In the far distance it’s ringed with mountains. But it’s long and very flat. It’s the biggest plain I’ve seen in Israel. Not that it is. I don’t know. But it’s the biggest plain that I saw. It’s called the Plain of Armageddon.

The yellow mounded hill is what’s left of the city of Megiddo

On the edge of this plain, before the mountains start rising again, is a sizable hill. Called Megiddo. Twenty-one cities down through ancient times have been built on it. It’s that slice of archaeological layer-cake again. Civilisations down through the centuries have built on the previous civilisations that they’ve overturned and over-run.

Looking from Megiddo back across the Armageddon plain to the far mountains.

Lots of people wanted to own it. It’s on a major trade route for the different countries. And whoever got to control it got to have a lot of influence. And a lot of taxes from the passing trade. So a popular place.

I’m not sure why now “Armageddon” in our culture has such overtones of dread and major conflict and end times. In movies and books. Maybe it’s a symbol for so many major wars and battles that have been fought so fiercely there.

King Solomon – the king of Israel who followed on after his father King David – controlled Megiddo in his time. Part of the uncovered ruins are his horse stables. Solomon was the Israelite king who copied and developed the new technology of chariots for warfare.

Solomon was famous for lots of things. Lots of wives and women. Lots of wealth. Lots of horses. But he still forgot about following God after a while.

In Solomon’s stables, at the horse troughs

At Megiddo the ancient kings (I forget which one) dug a long, very deep channel  down through the rocks to their water source so they could resist sieges from their enemies. But in the end, the various civilisations were over-run.

Whilst we were deep down the dark, narrow water shaft – which unlike Hezekiah’s tunnel – this one is dry except for a little puddle right at the end – our guide Paul read wise words from a ancient man called Job, “God said to the human race, “Reverence of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.”

Soon we rolled into Tel Aviv airport. Quick goodbyes to everyone as they headed for their planes back home. It’s a great way to know people quickly. I loved hearing their stories and about their spiritual journeys through life.

One of the things we’ve learnt since being here is that it’s much harder to travel around Israel on the Sabbath. Public transport stops. So it’s taxis for transport. Fortunately we were able to share a taxi from the airport to our hotel in Tel Aviv. We’re not far from the beach. But we’re a bit weary to venture out this evening. Tel Aviv seems dusty – probably with the hot winds – and crowded and noisy.

Tomorrow we head back to Galilee. Our original plan was to do lots of walking in the Galilee hills. But we may revise that. We’ll see. You never know what’s around the next corner. Just that we know that God will be there!

A round Canaanite altar at Megiddo

We’ve been staying at Nof Ginosar. In bungalow rooms on an Israeli kibbutz. And there’s a big hotel too. This kibbutz was started in the 1930s before Israel won their war of independence. There’s air-raid bunkers around the grounds.

Kibbutzs (I don’t know what the plural of Kibbutz is) were set up as Zionist socialist communities and many of them were more politically than religiously motivated. This kibbutz now earns its money in tourism. They don’t farm any more. At the back of the property are still the families living there with their children. But the bunkers would have been built in their times of war. Most of them are used for old storage. But there’s a big one that’s been turned into a meeting room for tour groups. We had our study and meditation time in it last night.

This sign is on one of the doors of the hotel. So we asked about it. It’s for Jewish guests to use on the Sabbath. It’s left open manually, so they’re not using electricity or doing work on the Sabbath. And on the Sabbath the elevator stops at every floor. So that Jewish guests don’t have to press the elevator button which consists of work. And you can’t do work on the Sabbath.

On this property is also a little museum with one exhibit. Philip and I went to see it this morning. A few years ago, following a drought which lowered the shore line of Lake Galilee a couple of working fisherman discovered the remains of an old boat. Not far from this kibbutz. Archaeologists got very excited because the boat was found to be 2,000 years old. Here on the shores of Lake Galilee. It’s called the Jesus Boat and took them 10 years to preserve it. Because as soon as it was exposed to air the wood started to crumble to dust. It was amazing to see. Even if Jesus never stepped foot in it, there were people in his era who did. It’s a boat that was much used and often repaired during its working life before it was scuttled.

Before breakfast, there’s an option of a meditation time together that Philip and I like going to. But when we got there this morning, the room (the bunker room) was locked and the two tour leaders were missing. Our group ended up doing it standing outside. And just as we said “Amen”, Paul ran up. He’d not heard his alarm. But we’d managed fine without him. He works incredibly hard. No wonder he was tired.

After breakfast, our bus took us an hour’s drive through the high, rolling Galilee hills and mountains. Through the big town of Cana to Nazareth. Nazareth looks nothing like I had imagined. It’s a very big town of 80,000 people. A dusty, crowded, bedraggled city of concrete buildings everywhere. A mainly Arab town. We walked to the nearby Nazareth Village. An historically and archaelogically accurate recreation of what life was life in the first century, at the time of Jesus.

Carpenters like Joseph and Jesus worked with both stone and wood.

They started it on the side of a steep hill on land by the side of a Scottish missionary hospital. When they started working on it, they found that for centuries the land had been used for farming. They found an ancient wine press in their excavations.

The grapes were put on the flat top section and squashed with their feet, to then drain through the small groove you can see, down to the big hole.

They’ve transplanted old olive trees. And terraced the land, just like they would have done in the first century.

A farmer standing in his terraced garden and outside his watch-tower.

Our Nazareth guide made first century life come to life for us! Jesus’s life as a boy and man on this earth more gritty and earth-bound. Less ethereal and wispy and fuzzy round the edges.Jesus’s sayings and parables make so much more sense and are more challenging when you see the context.

They have local people dressed in costume and demonstrating things like spinning, carpentry , gardening, shepherding.

Women spinning and weaving

Reminded me of when we used to do “Journey to Bethlehem” for the community back in our Lakeside days at Christmas!

They follow the seasons. So we saw a field with wheat and tares (weeds) that will be ready for harvest soon. And they’ve got the implements there to harvest, thresh and winnow the wheat when the time for harvest comes.

Our tour guide standing on a threshing platform, and Paul holding a winnowing fork. The wheat field, with tares is behind them.

My biggest difficulty was trying to take photos without us tourists being in the way of the photo! So many of my mental pictures of daily life are wrong – either from children’s storybooks or my imagination. And Jesus talked often about daily life things. His words are now more vivid in my mind.

Today has been our warmest day by far. We’re back at the kibbutz accommodation and Philip has been for a swim in the swimming pool. I did think of going for a swim in Lake Galilee. But you have to walk out a long way and it’s a very stony, rocky bottom. So I haven’t bothered.

Tomorrow is our last day on the Oak Hall tour. Hard to believe. It’s gone by so quickly. Got to know some great people, being able to discuss life and spiritual issues and faith journeys easily. Both Philip and I feel ready to come home now. But we’ve got another week to go yet. I had crammed lots of plans next week. But we’re probably not going to do all that much now. This has been a very intense and exciting learning experience. Tiring too. Might need to recharge the physical batteries. This past fortnight has definitely recharged the spiritual and emotional batteries.

This is a synagogue built like in Jesus’s day. but the photo doesn’t show it well. The reality is very different to my imagination – and this photo!This is a plough. There’s a handle for ‘putting your hand to the plow’. The closest vertical pole is the plough stick. The two upside down “V’s” are the yokes for the animals. 

A tomb similar to what Jesus was laid in before he rose again.

 

 

 

 

Another wonderful day! I pinch myself – and know myself incredibly blessed – that each day is so varied. So interesting. So much to see and learn.

First off. I forgot to show you the photo I took yesterday of a coney – the rock rabbits. I showed you one a few days ago, but I bet no-one could see it. It was such an obscure photo! This one is better I think.

And I’ll tell you another “small-world” story that happened to Philip today. He was chatting to the Canadian young man who has been leading the devotional and study times. This young man knows Rosie’s best friend in Canada. They studied at the same college and were in the same tutorials together.

A “bus day” today. Heading north into Upper Galilee and the Golan Heights. Beautiful countryside. Richly fertile with intensive agricultural orchards. High, steep, rounded hills covered with green grass and wildflowers everywhere. I had no idea how beautiful Galilee is.

We stopped at Tel Hazor. Tel means a mound or hill and it’s where they do archaelogical excavations. A bit like a layer cake, slicing through the different layers deciphering and interpreting the different civilisations down through the ages.

Hazor is north of the Sea of Galilee and was a huge city and civilisation predating the times of Abraham, right through to after King Solomon’s time until it was destroyed by Assyria. It was a sophisticated, strong and advanced civilisation and was in a strategic location on key trade routes between Africa and Asia. Hazor is mentioned many times in the Old Testament.

Paul, our study leader is brilliant at making ancient stones and the stories behind them come alive. Tying it all together into a cohesive whole and narrative that is easier to remember and put together. Instead of lots of random incidents you read about in the Bible. And then looking at a pile of rocks in front of you. How does it all fit together? There’s a flow to the events and the people of this land. But tragic to read of the rebellion of the people against following after God. Here he’s got Philip roped into being a part of his illustration for this part of the city of Hazor.

There’s a long water tunnel shaft – over 400 feet down – built through rocks. Built by King Ahab to keep the water springs inside the city if ever it was besieged. There’s still the original stone steps beside the modern archaeological  steel ones. The original chisel marks on the walls and roof. I walked down the steps to the bottom where there’s still a puddle of water. Much colder at the bottom of the shaft.

And here’s a trivial photo I took at the Hazor Tel. It mentions Perth, Western Australia!

We sometimes think of the Canaanite civilisation as a bit backward, but here’s a photo to show that they were using arches in doorways long before the Greeks or Romans. They used mud bricks for this building. It was the gate to the city.

And when they talk in the Bible about the kings sitting at the city gate, this is the base of what they sat on. And the round stones at the corner would hold a canopy for shade.

Then off in the bus to the Dan springs. One of the three springs from which the Jordan River starts. The rain and snow from nearby Mount Hermon percolates down through the limestone of the mountain, hits the basalt layer and rushes out through a hole in the ground. A beautifully clear, translucent pale blue-green stream. As you walk along in the nature reserve there, you hear the loud sound of the water rushing and gushing, heaving and tumbling over the rocks. And the tall green oaks and other trees overhead creating cool dense shade from the sunshine. The stream rushes off to become the Jordan River.

The source of the Jordan River, from under the stones on the right

Then a short bus ride to the nearby Herman Stream nature reserve. A picnic lunch under huge old mulberry trees.

The bus driver brought pita breads, tomatoes, cucumbers, hummus, cheeses and sliced Israeli sausage which is a vivid red colour. And you made your own. Delicious! Although I gave the Israeli sausage a miss. I’ve never thought it looked appetising!

Then a walk through the Herman Stream nature reserve. A look at the ruins of the Pan temple that was mainly after the time of Jesus.

Then a lovely walk beside the Herman stream which also starts as a spring and then becomes the Jordan River.

Beautiful old oak and other trees overhead, wildflowers blooming and the rushing, gurgling Herman stream in a hurry to become the Jordan River. We finished up at the Banias waterfall. Cooling, majestic, awe-inspiring. Created by a wonderful God.

 

Waking up this morning to birds. No crowing roosters. No barking dogs. No call to prayer. Just birds and quietness. Lovely.

First off is corrections. I told you not to trust any of my information! I’m having trouble with internet connection here and I couldn’t get to check my “facts”! So, it’s 1,000 gallons per minute at the Jericho springs yesterday. Not 10,000 gallons. Both of them are just big numbers! I have difficulty visualising both of them!

And I must tell you our two “small world” stories. When we went down to Beersheba the other week, I signed my name in the war cemetery book at the gate. Turning the page back to the day before I saw a name and address I knew! One of James’s best friend’s father-in-law and he also used to go to Lakeside back in the day.

Then the other day, I was chatting to a young girl on our tour who’s from Switzerland. Turns out that she spent a year in Melbourne and went to a Bible college there where she was in some of the same classes as Philip’s niece. She still keeps in touch with her.

After our breakfast this morning, we walked from our little bungalows on the shore of Lake Galilee down to the water’s edge where we boarded a boat for a ride on Lake Galilee to nearby Capernaum. Not quite a “Jesus-boat”. It had a motor, not sails and oars.

No storms or high winds. Beautifully calm, and the water a peaceful blue-green. Half-way there they stopped the motor. And in the quietness, Paul our tour guide read the narrative stories of Jesus on the lake. And then in the quietness we sat and reflected on it. Jesus did most of his ministry time in this region.

One of the boatmen also demonstrated how fishermen throw their nets. They still do it the same way. But with plastic nets now. And they don’t do it on Galilee because it’s all fished out. They are restocking it.

Lake Galilee is also shrinking. So much water is pulled out for agriculture that it’s having a drastic effect. I’ve noticed that there are lots of plantations everywhere on the hills of bananas and mangoes which have high-water requirements. Don’t know why they don’t grow more suitable plants.

Then the boat pulled into Capernaum, a centre for a lot of Jesus’s ministry. Lots of archaeological ruins of the village, some of them preserved for the tourists.

There’s the ruins of what they call Peter’s house. One of Jesus’s disciples. Turns out that there’s good evidence for it actually being Peter’s house. Some first century graffiti on one of the walls.

And in the ruins of the synagogue they’ve dug down to find the foundation walls of the synagogue that was there in the time of Jesus. And he taught in that synagogue. As we walked around the ruins, we saw a lady devoutly praying against one of the walls. And then scratching something on the old ruined walls. I was scandalised! If everyone did that on the walls, you wouldn’t be able to see the old original walls. I thought it was very thoughtless.

It’s the black row of stones at the bottom that are from the synagogue of Jesus’s time.

Then back on the bus and further back up into the hills to Chorazin, another village that we have a record of Jesus teaching in. These ruins are made of black basalt stone blocks, using the local stone. It’s of volcanic origin.

An olive oil press at Chorizin

We walked half way down a steep hillside and sat under a shady tree and looked out over Lake Galilee down below us. Pretty wildflowers and thorns and dried out grasses around us. Paul, our tour guide read out the teachings of Jesus’s teachings, the Beatitudes. Challenging and controversial then. And still just as challenging and controversial to us today.

We walked right down the hill to the shores of Lake Galilee where we again sat down on the stony beach while Paul read the narrative story of the reinstatement of Peter as a follower of Jesus and leader of his church. I picked up a few small pebbles from the beach.

Then off in the bus again to the archaeological digs of the village of Bethsaida. It’s still an active dig, but they weren’t there today. It’s not easy to get into it, but our bus driver had some pull with the guards at the gate.  Bethsaida used to be on the shores of Lake Galilee. But there’s been earthquakes and formerly-navigable marshes have been drained and now it is much further away. It’s the original home of Peter and Andrew, before they moved their livelihood to Capernaum. They’ve found a fisherman’s house in the Bethsaida ruins too. Because there’s lots of fishing implements in the house.

But before it was called Bethsaida, it used to be Gershun. Centuries before. Where there are stories of King David and his son Absalom in the Old Testament here. It’s not as organised or “touristy” as a dig.

We crossed the mighty Jordan River. Actually, it’s not mighty any more. Blink and you miss it, now. We stopped by the side of a hill in the region of the Gadarenes where Paul read the narrative story of the man possessed by many demons being healed by Jesus and the pigs rushing off into the sea to their death. A strange and puzzling story. This area is in the Golan Heights. Another controversial area for Israel and this region.

Then we headed back to our accommodation that’s run by a kibbutz. And the biggest buffet meal I’ve ever seen for our dinner! I should have two more stomachs just to fit in small samples of everything. There’s so many Americans staying here. The Americans aren’t in Jerusalem, they’re here in Galilee!

And I’ll finish off with a photo of wattle. Growing everywhere in the hills. They were a pale yellow colour, rather than gold. I wish I could send send you the wonderful scent too. There’s nothing like the scent of wattle!

 

 

Time to pack our bags this morning. Our time in Jerusalem is finished for now and it’s time to head off. But after I’d finished packing my bags I couldn’t find the pouch with my passport and credit card. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d used them. And I couldn’t find them anywhere. It was nearly time to board the bus. Philip and I unpacked our bags and went through all our luggage three times. Pulled all the bedding apart. Searched high and low for nearly 30 minutes. I was starting to feel panicked and distraught as time kept ticking by. Going through worst case scenarios in my head. As a last gasp effort I pulled the little single bed in the corner away from the wall. And there it was! It had fallen down to the floor. We both let our breath out and gave grateful thanks to the Lord too!

Our bus took us down to Jericho. You always go down to Jericho. We stopped at a lookout on the way there. Looked out over the undulating, high, yellow-brown, desolate wasteland that is between Jerusalem and Jericho. I got a richer understanding of the Jesus’s story of the Good Samaritan which takes place in this region. It was probably also the area where Jesus had his temptations. You can certainly understand why turning stones into bread would be a temptation out there.

The line of trees is along the road from Jerusalem down to Jericho.

There were also a couple of Arab vendors with their goods. I always feel guilty that I don’t buy anything from them. Because theirs is a precarious and hard life. But I don’t need any of what they’re selling. And I don’t have room for it either. But it doesn’t really lessen the guilt pangs.

Drove into Jericho which claims to be the oldest city in the world. (It’s also in the West Bank.) They have excavated city foundations from 10,000 years ago. It’s not the oldest continually inhabited city. That belongs to Damascus. There was a huge gap of many centuries in Jericho’s habitation.

At the bottom left are the 10,000 year old city foundations.

It’s quite a big town and many date palm plantations. There’s a greenness to Jericho because it’s on the Jordan River valley in contrast to the Judean wilderness you’ve just travelled through. There are water springs in Jericho that gush forth 10,000 gallons per minute – all year around.

The excavations are right in the town. Not a large area, but fascinating. There’s evidence of many cities of Jericho that have been conquered and built upon.

Two walls from different eras

But none that seem to correspond with Joshua and the people of Israel. Several theories are advanced apparently. But this is the one that I liked best.  I haven’t heard it before. And just because I like it doesn’t make it correct – as you all know! But when Joshua and the Israelites conquered Jericho, the city was completely demolished and the walls completely dismantled. With the many flash floods that happen with the Jordan river frequently, the rubble was eventually swept away down the Jordan River valley. Most other conquerors rebuilt the city. But Joshua cursed Jericho. And the one unexplainable thing is why Jericho was uninhabited for so many centuries. Because it is in a highly desirable location. Anyway, food for thought!

Back on the bus to keep travelling north through the West Bank. A huge problematical area. The green wide valley through which the Jordan River must have flowing. Even though I couldn’t see the river. It’s very narrow there. It’s the dividing line between Jordan and Israel right down the middle of the river. There’s an electrified double fence with sensors all the way long the shore line.

The fence between the West Bank and Jordan

We travelled a long way in the bus today. Compared to other days. Philip and I have both sat next to interesting people and hearing their stories of their spiritual journeys.

When we got to the border of the West Bank at the checkpoint, two soldiers got on the bus with their big machine guns and walked through the bus checking everyone’s passports. I was very glad I’d found my passport this morning!

Mid-afternoon the bus turned off – at the kangaroo sign. I’m not sure why the kangaroo sign was there.

But it was a national park where we were stopping for a while to have a swim in some warm springs there. A green oasis park with lots of people picnicking and in the holiday spirit. A long blue-green series of natural pools. We were told they were warm springs. The temperature of the water was 23 degrees, which is just a smidgen warmer than Perth waters. So I wouldn’t call them warm springs. They were “refreshing”. But the Brits all thought they were warm.

At first I wasn’t going to bother swimming. Mainly because I didn’t have a towel. But then I realised that I’d never be this way again. And that I need to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way. Swimming in warm springs in the Galilee region. Of course I must do it! So I did. And it was very refreshing. When I was ready to get out, I swam to the edge of the pool, pulling myself up on to a natural rock ledge by the pool. Suddenly something was nipping my feet. I got such a fright I nearly launched myself clean out of the pool. It was fish in the water. There’s lots and lots of them hiding under the rock ledge and they come out to nibble. There were people there with their feet dangling in the water so the fish would nibble their feet. Philip found a waterfall spilling over into another pool and lay under it so he could have a waterfall-pummelling massage of his back. We both really enjoyed the swim.

Soon after we turned a corner and saw glimpses of blue water – Lake Galilee. It’s so much bigger and wider than I’d imagined. We drove around it to its northern edge, through the town of Tiberius. Which is the only town left on the Lake these days. To our accommodation which is run by a kibbutz. It’s more profitable for kibbutz to run tourism hospitality than grow crops and farm these days apparently.

The view from the dining room with Lake Galilee between the gum trees

We’re here for a couple of days, staying in really comfortable little bungalow rooms, with Lake Galilee just a stone’s throw away. Today has been a slower pace. But still full of interesting, provocative and fun things to see, hear and do. And we’re both really enjoying the meditations and Bible studies every day.

 

Today we headed off by bus and drove south east from Jerusalem. Here there’s very little rainfall and it’s called the Judean Wilderness. High, very high, rugged, scraggy, rocky, stony mountains. Barren landscapes. A desolate-looking wilderness. No sign of greenery anywhere. And the road goes downhill all the way to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on our planet. (The Dead Sea, by the way, is shrinking by one metre every year.)

First stop was Masada. A fortress high on top of one of the mountains that overlooked the Dead Sea. And on the other side are the mountains of Moab where Ruth (in Bible) came from. Here at Masada, Herod the Great built a huge luxurious fortress palace. And they’ve done lots of archaeology work here. But it’s probably most famous for the heroic last stand of the Jewish Revolt against the Romans. Where 1,000 Jewish rebels held out against the Romans until the Romans successfully broke in, only to find that the Jewish rebels had committed suicide rather than become slaves of Rome.

So it seems such a sad place. A desperate place. Probably the only “happy” person would have been Herod when he lived there. But he can’t have been a really happy person because he knew everybody hated him. And he had to continually plot and murder to keep his throne. He even killed his wife and some of his sons. (Herod lived there before the Jewish rebels.)

Masada sits high, high, high up on the mountain top. But we go up – and down again – by a smooth cable car. Down – way, way down – far below – you can see some hardy people decide to walk up the narrow snaking path to the top. The path takes you about an hour and half to walk. Being with a tour we had to take the cable car. And we were there in matter of minutes.

Then we drove a bit further north with the blue Dead Sea on our right to a little oasis called En Gedi. As we drove there in the bus, Paul our tour guide read from the Bible some narrative stories of events that have happened at En Gedi. Amazing stories in a wild landscape. David and Saul, Joshua, Ezekiel.

Here, in a v-shaped valley between two high brown rugged mountains a spring gushes out of the mountain, falling into a waterfall and a narrow stream along which green trees and rushes grow. It’s a popular tourist spot, lots of people enjoying splashing in the cool flowing water.

If you look very very carefully in the photo above – at the foot of the tree is an animal called a “coney” in the Bible. A bit like a bigger quokka without a tail. David wrote about them in Psalm 104. They live in the En Gedi area. It moved too quickly for me to get a better photo.

We climbed to the top to see the water gush out of the springs. The stark contrast between the barrenness of the wilderness and the refreshing, coolness of En Gedi. A beautiful spot.

Then driving north to the northern edge of the Dead Sea to the settlement ruins of Qumran. Where in 1947 the famous Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in caves. Here at Qumran are the ruins of a community group of a Jewish sect called the Essenes who seemed to have written these scrolls centuries before Jesus. Some of these scrolls were Old Testament books. But lots of other ancient stuff too.

We could see the holes in the mountains of the caves. But didn’t have time to hike up to them. We were able to explore the ruins of their community. The Romans came through and wiped the Qumran community out. The Judean wilderness is a magnificent, wild and terrible place.

Then a short bus ride to a Dead Sea “beach”. Complete with kiosks, change rooms, beach umbrellas and lots of beach goers. Changed into our bathers. But this is the first Israel experience that didn’t live up to my expectations.

The bottom of the Dead Sea is thick, gooey, slimey, black mud that sucks at your feet as you try to walk into the water. There’s boulders that you can’t see because of the muddy water. And so you trip over them. Deep holes that you can’t see and so you stumble over. The water does buoy you up. You’re supposed to stay on your back as you shouldn’t get the water on your face or eyes. But I kept feeling like I was going to roll over.

So I’m glad to be able to say that I’ve swum in the Dead Sea. I can’t say that I “enjoyed” it. It was an interesting experience. But I doubt that I’d choose to do it again!

We all left our hotel in the gray light before sunrise, walking to the nearby Garden Tomb.

A beautiful garden with trees, flowering plants and shrubs and meandering stone paths leading to a  small open area in front of a rock-cut tomb set into a high wall which may, or may not be Jesus’s tomb. It’s a beautiful place to remember and celebrate his resurrection this Easter day.

There were probably about 1,000 people there, sitting on chairs on terraces, open spaces and paths around the garden. They had some screens and loudspeakers scattered around the garden. Philip and I stood for the English-speaking church service. Philip could see a screen but I couldn’t – a tree blocked my view. But we all had song sheets.

Wonderful music and full-throttle singing with everyone joining in. Celebrating the joy of a Saviour who is alive and no longer in the tomb. Some prayers, readings and a speaker. We couldn’t see an actual sunrise, but I could see the sun lighting up the green branches of a pine tree near me as the sun rose higher in the sky. A wonderful service. A highlight of our trip so far.

 

After breakfast back at our hotel, we headed off for more adventures. First off was our visit to the City of David. I thought I knew my history and Bible fairly well. But I know hardly anything.

The city that King David captured from the Canaanites or Jebusites (about 1,000 BC) was a small city on the spur of a hill below where the main centre of Jerusalem is now. Near a spring that constantly flows and was the water source for this city of Jerusalem. They’ve excavated the fortifications of the Jebusites’ city wall (1400 BC) and King David’s wall foundations. They’ve also found houses from the time of the prophets of Isaiah and Jeremiah.

Paul, our tour guide explaining the ancient stones.

An ancient toilet seat was found and the remains show the people were reduced to a starvation diet when the Babylonians came to destroy the city. (587 BC).

Can you see the square block with the hole in it? That’s the toilet seat.

And they’ve found walls from Nehemiah’s time. I have no idea how archaeologists date all this stuff!

But the most amazing thing we experienced was splashing along a narrow channel called Hezekiah’s Tunnel. Constructed by King Hezekiah when Jerusalem was threatened with an Assyrian invasion. They cut a tunnel through sheer rock for 533 metres and by using the 30 cm altitude difference between its two ends, which corresponds to a 0.6‰ gradient, the engineers managed to convey the water from the spring to the pool. Archaeologists found an inscription that says the tunnel was excavated by two teams, one starting at each end of the tunnel and then meeting in the middle! Isn’t that astounding?

Talk about skilled engineering! It’s the myth of chronological snobbery (as C.S.  Lewis called it). That we, our ideas, our skills, our inventions are getting smarter through the years and the centuries.

So the tourist thing to do is wade through the cold water of the tunnel, using a torch. The water level varies from mid-thigh to mid-calf. It never feels like you’re walking downhill but the water rushes smoothly along. The tunnel is narrow. Sometimes the roof is high and sometimes so low you have to stoop down. The most amazing feeling as you’re splashing through the water to be touching chiselled walls that are thousands of years old. Still bearing the marks of their tools as they worked.

This tunnel then opens out to the pool of Siloam. (Also mentioned in the Bible.) You can see Philip standing on the steps of the pool of Siloam. The steps are all that’s left of the pool.

And then walking down a short street nearby – in a tunnel – that was part of the street that Jesus would have walked down on his way to the pool of Siloam. History made so alive.

There was more archaeology to be explored. Some of it Philip and I had already explored last week. But much better explained by our guides. I really appreciated his explanations of the different temples of the Jews and how it relates to us as Christians now.

On the way back to our hotel, we detoured to go past the important Jewish Western Wall. Also known as the Wailing Wall. Very crowded there too. But I wanted to touch it. Just so I could say that I had. So I was able to wriggle through and did touch it. I was in the women’s section and so many women, of all ages, deep in prayer and contemplation. After you touch the wall, you have to back out. You don’t turn your back on the wall. I guess that’s a sign of respect.

An amazing day! Celebrating Jesus’s resurrection with so many other people from around the world. Exploring and seeing history come alive. History that has had such a reverberating impact down through the millenia, the centuries, the decades, the years.