galilee { 7 & 8 }

This was a free day and some friends and I chose to go to Tiberias in the morning, spend the afternoon exploring and then bike back to where we were staying on the other side of the Sea after lunch. I really enjoyed exploring the city and getting better acquainted with the people and their culture. Biking around the southern part of the Sea of Galilee was so much fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat. The part of the sea that we biked around was about 15 miles.

Our last day in Galilee...

This morning we had more free time, I chose to read out by the sea. I am very thankful for this time and I was able to reflect on our time here. All that I had seen and learned, sometimes we move so fast that I forget what I am doing and where I am at. I am in Israel, exploring the area that my Savior spend the majority of His life. Where He chose to do miraculous things, and give us a little more knowledge of God. WOW, my unworthy little brain cannot even begin to comprehend those things. I read a little in 1 Samuel, Matthew and Romans. These are all more than just little stories, they are part of a much bigger, greater story. I have said this before but there is just something about having a place to put with the stories that makes it come to life. God is SOO great!

We then headed to Beth-Shan. This is the biggest and most important city in the Decapolis. This was one of my favorite sites of the week because there are many remains and I could tell that it was a great city.

I greatly enjoyed this week, it has been memorable and life changing. One of my favorite parts of the week was reading Galatians in the morning on the bus. As we were driving to our first site each day our professor would read a chapter and talk about it with us. We have been very blessed with a faculty here that really care about each student; academically, spiritually and personally. Most of this week they did purely for our enjoyment, and I cannot say how greatly we have been blessed. I really appreciated this and learned a lot from it. I completely understand why they say that Galilee is 40% of the reason you come to Israel!

galilee { 5 }

We had a different perspective on this field trip from the other ones this week, our Archaeology teacher led us today through Northern Galilee so we focused more on archaeology and its implications to the sites.

 

Our first stop was Hazor, a city that Joshua conquered and King Solomon fortified. This was a huge site because of its location on the main road (you can see in the picture).

Dan was our next stop. This site is huge and many remains have been found here. We saw a Syrian gate from the Middle Bronze Age that is the best preserved gate in the country. It was originally named Laish but when the Danites conquered it they renamed it Dan. At this site the first extra biblical text that speaks of David was found, this is so important because up to this point many scholars thought David to be a heroic myth. 

We then made our way to Caesarea Philippi. We find this site in Matthew 16 when Christ takes his disciples here to privately talk with them and Peter proclaims that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. It is at this point in His life and ministry that He begins to focus on His death.

  Our next stop was Nimrod’s Fortress located on a hill in the foothills of Mt. Hermon. There is a fortress on this site from a later period but this is a possible site for the transfiguration in Matthew 17. When God showed Peter, James and John that Jesus truly was His Son.

To end the day we stopped on the Golan Heights, on the edge of the Syrian border. This is an area around the road to Damascus in Acts 9:1. Saul was on his way to persecute the Jews in Damascus and God speaks to him and changes his name to Paul. It is because of this event that we have many of the great books in the New Testament, and that through his ministry that the gospel spread to the gentiles. This story is so amazing to me, and another example of how God uses all people for His purposes. He took someone that was persecuting Him and His people and changed his heart. He used Paul to communicate His word to the world.

 

This night we went to En-Gev Fish Restaurant. They have three options on their menu; St. Peter's Fish, Pizza and Pasta. I decided to get the fish, after all this was a once in a life time opportunity! I was not expecting what they brought me, on my plate was almost the entire fish, except they had kindly removed the guts. We were told you could eat it all (except for the bones of course), but I choose to just eat the meat on the sides of the fish. I tried not to stare into its eyes as I ate a piece off the side. I must say that it was pretty good, but it still does not compare to my dad's fish! 

galilee { 4 }

This day we traveled around the north side of the Sea of Galilee, this was one of my favorite days. (I realized that I keep saying "this was my favorite", to be honest I absolutely loved all of Galilee and they all were unique in their own way.) The places that we went to on this day were all in the main part of Jesus ministry and have been well preserved.

Our first stop of the day was at a possible location for the “cove of the sower” where Jesus spoke to the multitudes from a boat on the Sea of Galilee. We tested out the acoustics in this cove and now know first-hand how Jesus was able to speak to so many at one time. Our teacher stood out near the water (at the tip of the "tongue" in the picture) and we stood in the cove up on a hill. When there were not cars rushing by you could hear him quite well.

Next we made our way to Capernaum, this is the town that Jesus made his home after Nazareth, he performed many of His miracles here. This city is uninhabited today, which I really appreciated because we were able to see ruins from Jesus time. The rock found in this area is basalt, which is black in color which is different from all that we had been seeing in and around Jerusalem. I loved that you could see things from Jesus time, it has been very well preserved. We sat in a synagogue that sets on top of the one mentioned in John 6 that Jesus preached in. You can tell that there are remains under the current synagogue because of the difference in color of the stone used, under the white stone is the black basalt. Another identifiable site here is Peter’s house, this is a probable site because of its location in the town, the size and also its shape.

As we made our way around the northern side of the Sea of Galilee we came to Heptapagon, which is the place of seven springs. Many think this is the location of Matthew 4 where Jesus called the disciples while they were fishing. This is thought because the warmer water would be an attraction to the fish and it is very near Capernaum, which was the fishing community and where most of the disciples were from. This is also a possible site for the story of John 21 when Peter was restored to Christ after denying Him three times.

Following this site we went to the Mount of Beatitudes in Matthew 5. This is where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. Once we arrived here the guys surprised us all by reciting the entire Sermon on the Mount. This was such a blessing and awesome experience. (yep all the guys on our trip are in this picture, plus our teacher, 12 guys and 21 girls) 

After this we went to Korazim/Chorazim. This is one of the three cities that Jesus performed many miracles, the other two are Capernaum and Bethsaida. All three of these cities had firsthand knowledge of Christ’s miracles and teaching, yet they all rejected Him. This makes me think of all of the ways that God has revealed Himself and His glory to us through even the simple thing of breath, and yet so many still reject Him today.

Next we went to Tiberius and took a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee to Ginnosar.We read of two events that happened on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus calming the sea and Jesus walking on water.

              “’Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?’” Mark 4:38-41

When we reached Ginnosar we went to a museum that now houses a boat from the time period of Jesus. In 1986 they found a boat on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and have dated it back to Jesus time period. This is most likely not Jesus boat but gives a good idea of what His boat did look like. It would have had a pole going up in the middle with sails on it. This boat would have fit about 15 people in it.

galilee { 3 & 6 }

We woke up early from camping and headed out to Montfort. We hiked down into the canyon to a spring. After playing in the water
and trekking through some tunnels we began 
the hike out of the canyon to a Turkish Fortress 
on top of the hill.

We had a spectacular view from the top of Arbel, overlooking the Sea of Galilee. It was so clear and we were able to identify 

many of the sites located around 
the northern end of the sea.














We hiked down Mt Arbel and saw some cave’s that were used by the Jews during the first Jewish Revolt against the Romans. It was amazing and very sad to know that people were living in these. Josephus gives an heartbreaking account of Herod watching a Jew send his family out of the cave as he killed them one by one.   

Since this is all we did this day I decided to include day 6 in with this day.


We hiked down Yehudiah to a waterfall and some cliffs, hiked along the river and down a ladder, through a pool and back up. This has been my favorite hike so far, it was so beautiful and for a second I thought that I was in Colorado.

 






























After our hike we went to the traditional site of Bethsaida, like many other places we have been in Israel, this is not the real site. It is most likely the site of Geshur in 2 Samuel 13. At the real site of Bethsaida is where Jesus healed a blind man, and fed the 5000 on a plain nearby.

Our last stop of the day was a the Jordan River. We blew up tubes and jumped into the river. Although I have never been on the Amazon River this is what I imagined it to be like, there were palm trees and other shrubs overhanging the river and tons of birds. The Jordan River is MUCH small than I had imagined it to be. It is like the White River and even smaller in some places. 

These were probably my favorite parts of Galilee, I am so thankful for all of the time that our teachers have put in to make this trip enjoyable for us!

galilee { 2 }

Our second day in Galilee we went to three sites, none of them are mentioned in the Bible but they are historically significant.

Sepphoris – This was one of the only cities that was not destroyed by the Romans in the 1st Jewish Revolt, they had made a treaty with the Romans. Although the Bible does not mention this site it is thought that Jesus possibly came here while it was being built because he was a carpenter.

Akko – A city located right on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, it is roughly 4500 years old and has an old city much like Jerusalem. We got to experience this city through the eyes of our unique tour guide, unfortunately about 90% of the things he told us were false.

Rosh HaNiqra – A very unique spot located on the border of Israel and Lebanon, there are caves and taverns here that have been carved by the huge waves of the Mediterranean Sea.

This night we camped on the Mediterranean Sea at Akhiv Beach, this was one of my favorite nights. This is the second time that we have been camping here in Israel, the first was at En Gedi by the Dead Sea which was scorching hot but still extremely fun. This night, out of the 53 days that we have been here, it decided to rain. We had a great evening of food, games and talking and right around the time we all decided to go to bed it started raining. Many people found shelter by a building and a few of us stuck it out and it was a fun experience, aside from being a little damp. I have always loved camping but I am finding out how much fun it is with 33 people and on beaches instead of the mountains.

galilee day 1

Saturday started our week long journey in Galilee, it was an amazing and life-changing week to say the least. I have so much to say and many pictures to share so I will be updating this blog throughout the upcoming days to share all of it.

Our first stop was Mukhraka, a mountain in the Mt Carmel Range. We could see many things from up here, the Mediterranean Sea, Jezreel Valley, and a possible site for 1 Kings 18. God sends fire from heaven and proves that Baal is not a true God. Reading this story at this site gave me chills, thinking of fire coming down from Heaven after a day of waiting for Baal, Elijah gave them benefit after benefit yet they were never able to pull through because there is only one true God who is capable of doing this and so much more.

Other sites we visited this day were

• Megiddo - A huge site that King Solomon fortified, we could see evidence of him having many horses, wives, silver and gold.

• Jezreel - The desire for more wealth caused many deaths and we see the fulfillment of Prophecy by Elijah, 1 Kings 21. 

• En Harod - Where Gideon choose his 300 men, one of my favorite passages because it shows that God often chooses to use the lowly and weak to humble and bring His people back to Him, Judges 6.

                   "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God." 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

       
How encouraging this is, if you make yourself high, God will humble you, and God uses all people to bring about His will for His divine kingdom.

• Nazareth - The boyhood home of Jesus, we stood on top of a cliff that they possibly took Jesus to throw him off after they had rejected him, Mark 6:1-6.

 Even after just one day I knew that I was going to love Galilee, it is very beautiful and definitely my favorite place we have been. Can't wait to share more with you!

On the way to one of our stops we were able to stop at a rolling stone tomb from the 1st century, one very similar to the one that Jesus was laid in. It was much smaller than I had imagined, my teacher actually said that the stone here is actually bigger than the average. 

firsts

This weekend was probably one of my favorite weekends so far. We went to En-Gedi which is right on the shore of the Dead Sea. Here we had a fun filled weekend and many firsts.

swimming in dead sea - We waded into the water and it was one of the weirdest feelings that I have ever felt. It was very difficult to keep your feet under you and you could easily keep your shoulders out of the water because you just float. The water felt very oily because of the high salt content, just for fun Nicole and I dipped our finger in the water and put a drop on our tongues, it was like salt water times 1000!

mud baths - Right on the shore of the dead sea you can go rub mud all over yourself, the guys got to experience their first spa treatment and loved every minute of it, I think even more than the girls.

 
being below sea level - the Dead Sea lies 1380 ft below sea level, it is the lowest point on earth. So much oxygen here but it was close to 105 degrees. 

camping next to a sea - After swimming in the Dead Sea we set up camp right on the beach and had a great dinner, time of fellowship, and time in the Word. We read some Psalms that David wrote while He was in the wilderness at En-Gedi and being pursued by Saul. One of my favorite things to do here, is read the Biblical events in the places that they happened, I have a whole new understanding for many passages in the Bible and it is all so vivid. I have never been camping and been able to sleep in shorts and on top of my sleeping bag, but since it was so hot here that is what we did, one down side to this was being woken up at 5:30 AM by the bright sun and the most flies that I have seen in my entire life. Waking up this early turned out to be a good thing because we were able to get going to our next thing early and in the "cool" of the day. 

hiking a mountain in the desert - We loaded the bus and headed to the Nahal Arugot. We hiked to a waterfall and swam around, just before we headed up the mountain to our right that was around 1700 ft tall. This was a challenge and the highest mountain that I have ever hiked, but once we reached the top it was the best feeling. A friend read Psalm 63 once we reached the top, and the words rang so true and I could sort of relate to David. 

               "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water."

I have never wanted water or shade so bad, this is a great reminder of how we should thirst and earnestly seek after God, because He is the only true source of life.

thoughts

After a period of silence I am back! We have been very busy here, from field trips, classes, endless hours in the library, and fun/random adventures, we just keep going. I apologize for not keeping this up to date but I now have a plethora of information to share with you!

                                           *Looking out over the N. Arugot near Tekoa
I am now understand why they tell you before coming to IBEX that it will be the hardest and most challenging semester of your college career. Being a business major I thought it would actually be an easier semester than I am used to, but it has been similar in difficulty. In the sense that there is very much work to be done yet we are not around enough to give it all of our attention. It has been very challenging in many ways, my faith is being challenged and strengthened, my health is being challenged and strengthened, my knowledge is being challenged and many, many other things.

One amazing thing that I am learning that I want to share with you is what an amazing, sovereign, good and powerful God we serve. Through many situations and circumstances He has reminded me that this is not my home and to not get to comfortable, He is in control of every situation and is surprised by NOTHING. He is good, He only has the best in store for you, although it may be through situations that we do not understand. He is the giver of peace and only in Him can we be completely safe and content. Speaking of peace, while on our recent field trip we were at the Mount of Olives we read the account found in Luke 19:41-44 where Jesus weeps over the city of Jerusalem. He is weeping because they do not understand where true peace comes from, and he foretells about the destruction of the temple. All through Israel’s history and even up to today they have been searching for peace, but only true peace can be found in Christ our Savior.

We had the amazing opportunity to have Zvi Kalisher, a holocaust survivor, come speak to us. His story is incredible, through all of his struggles God saved him which makes his testimony even richer. Through all that he went through he knew that he shouldn’t still be alive and had always wondered what was keeping him alive. He has written a book and I would highly recommend it.

Church here has been a huge blessing and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this congregation. I have still not gotten used to the idea of church on Saturday, but one thing that has grown on me is singing in Hebrew. I even catch myself throughout the day singing songs that we have learned either in class or at church.

Here are some thoughts on a few of the places we have been:

Bethlehem – one of our stops on our last field trip. This was our first stop in the West Bank and experiencing all of the political situations. One word to describe it: intense. Everything is very tense and I felt like I couldn’t breathe there. This was probably the saddest place we have been to.

Mount of Olives – Many things have occurred here in the past including Jesus decent into Jerusalem, where He came to pray with the disciples, and the ascension. But while we were on the Mount we read a few passages that speak of the future, being there and reading them were incredible!

                    “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.” Revelation 1:7 

                    “On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains... And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.” Zechariah 14:4-5

I just stand in awe and excitement thinking of His return!

         
                                                                             *Jericho and roommates

Jericho – The amazing thing about this site is that the archaeological findings match the biblical references perfectly. This is one of the few sites that I have seen since being here that does not have a church over it, or that has not been rebuilt by others. The actual Tel of Jericho is preserved very well and sits within the current, larger city of Jericho. We were able to see how the walls came tumbling down and allowed them to go “up into the city”, there are burn lines within the city, and they also have found large amounts of grain inside the city showing that the Israelites did exactly as God said gave this city in its entirety to God. There are many passages in the Bible that you simply cannot explain away, I believe this is an incredible illustration and testimony to the truth of the Bible.

And here are some highlights:

• Riding a camel in Jericho
• Day in Jerusalem with roommates
• Adventures on the Moshav
• Swimming in the Mediterranean Sea
• Visiting a Sukkot fair

A new favorite here is the Shuk, which is the open market in the New City of Jerusalem. Here there are tons of vendors with all of the fresh and dried fruit, nuts, and goodies you could ever want.

Well here was a little taste of my past few weeks, I hope to write again soon!

Colossians 1:27-29