From the Desert to Galilee
The past three days have been a blur with virtually no time to write.
We are now in Tiberius next to the Sea of Galilee and finishing a “day off” to recover from days of driving and walking. Most sights were closed today for Independence Day in Israel, and a significant one at that. Today is the 75th anniversary of the establishment of modern Israel. So here is a summary of our past several days:
After a reasonably good night’s sleep in Arad, we had breakfast, loaded up and headed to Tel Arad just a few miles away. The line from Beer Sheva to Arad is the northern boundary of the Negev Desert. Tel Arad is directly south of Hebron, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem, which are all in the Judean hills, making it a prime location for a military outpost to defend the road to those cities.
The most dominant feature of Tel Arad is not the fortress, but the remains of a large (for that time) Canaanite city which flourished just up to the time of Abraham.
Most impressive to me was the way they captured water in this desert location. The city was like a bowl that funneled water into a catchment at the center bottom. Ingenious.
The fort at the top of the hill was from the time of David down to the exile. Interestingly, a mini-temple existed there with an altar and a sanctuary. It appears priests may have carried out sacrifices in parallel with Jerusalem, but on a very small scale.
From Tel Arad we went south to En-Avedat National Park, another “spring in the desert.” We hiked in a high-walled canyon for a half-mile or so. The highlight was seeing Griffon vultures lounging on the cliffs or soaring in circles above.
We lunched overlooking an enormous geological feature even further south, Makhtesh Ramon, which looks like a giant sinkhole in the earth, but is actually water erosion causing a huge cirque-shaped bowl. Impressive.
We turned back northwest toward Ashkelon on the Mediterranean coast, making one more stop at Tel Beer-Sheva (Beer-Sheba) where Abraham made a covenant with Abimelech over the use of a well in Genesis 21.
We were delighted by the city of Ashkelon (one of the five Philistine cities in the Old Testament—the others were Gaza, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron). Our lodging was a block or so from the beach and we ate a great meal at “The Jack” right on the beach (all of us bought t-shirts from there when we left and wore them the next day).
Monday we made our way up the “shephalah,” the low hills between the coastal plain and the Judean hill country. During the United Kingdom and later the kingdom of Judah, a series of fortress cities were built to defend the interior of Hebron to Jerusalem and Benjamin to the north. We visited three of these, Lachish, Tel-Mareshah, and Tel-Azekah. All three fell to Assyria and then Babylon.
Azekah, though, also looks over the Elah Valley, the place David killed Goliath. From the top of the tell, we could see (and visualize) how the entire event took place as I read the story in 1 Samuel.
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We had a little time buffer, so we found a nearby winery for some tasting. The Elah Valley, Sorek Valley (Samson’s valley) and Aijalon Valley are brimming with vineyards and produce some exceptional world-class wines. I would say that is a very biblical thing to do!
Our overnight was at Yad-Hashmonah, a small community just west of Jerusalem, with stunning views all the way to Tel-Aviv.
I had a decision to make. With two major Israeli holidays, one their Independence Day, my planned travel to Shiloh, Nablus (Jacob’s Well) and Samaria, all in the West Bank, seemed iffy at best. So we decided to by-pass that area and drive straight north near the Jordan River to Galilee.
Our first stop was Beit She’an, a huge archaeological site with a 5000 year history from the early Canaanite period down through the early Islamic period. When a wounded Saul fell on his sword and died, the Philistines hung his body on the walls of Beit She’an (at the top of the huge tell). The Assyrians destroyed that city, but the strategic location at the cross-roads of several trade routes made it ripe for rebuilding after Alexander the Great conquered the area. The city was named Scythopolis and in the Roman and Byzantine periods grew into a magnificent and very large city with temples, theaters, and bath houses. Most of the city center has been excavated, but it is evident there is much more. We walked the ruins for about two hours.
Our second and last visit for the day was Mount Tabor, the traditional site of Jesus’s transfiguration. On the way we passed near the Harod Spring where Gideon selected his 300 men, then Shunem and Nain, where Elisha and Jesus raised the dead, and Endor, the home of Saul’s witch.
Mount Tabor is a free standing mountain rising about 1,900 feet. The road switched back and forth up one side—we dodged about fifteen vans barreling down the hill to pick up bus groups below, then squeezed by another couple of cars on a one lane road near the church. The trip was worth the wait. The church at the top was beautiful as well as the view. Churches have existed there on and off since the fourth century to commemorate the Transfiguration. The current Roman Catholic Church has a main church focused on Jesus and two side chapels dedicated to Elijah and Moses. On the way down, we met a huge group of Eritrean pilgrims hiking up from the parking lot half way down the mountain, celebrating as they made their way up. Quite the sight.
Last night and today were quite interesting with fireworks and today multiple passes of military aircraft in formation to celebrate the day. The group wanted to do something, so I suggested we walk to Magdala, the home of Mary Magdeline. The site has been extensively excavated in the past several years and a synagogue from the time of Jesus was discovered. Jesus very likely taught there. The walk was three+ miles there so we had out daily exercise. The walk was worth it. The synagogue and rest of the site were a palpable connection to the first century. One unique piece (at least so far) of synagogue furniture was found probably for resting and reading the Torah scroll.
We also visited a beautiful church dedicated not only to Mary Magdalene, but all of Jesus’s women disciples. Sitting in the sanctuary gazing out over the Sea of Galilee was a tranquil experience of resting in God’s presence.
Even with the long hike, we felt very refreshed at day’s end.
An Invitation
Are you interested in learning New Testament Greek? I will be teaching an intensive course with 50 hours of live instruction via Zoom from June to August. Please contact me at jack.painter@gmail.com or go to https://www.rightonmission.org/intro-to-new-testament-greek for more information. I would love to have you!