On the Road...AGAIN

At this point in the trip the schedule was becoming tiring. We had to load the buses up again and depart Jerusalem on the way to Galilee. When we do arrive in Galilee we will find our kibbutzim (hotels) are right on the Sea of Galilee. They were amazing. There was a beach right next to the hotel which was nice but we didn't really have time to use it. I felt like the team was tiring and thought that it would be nice to have like an afternoon of rest. The constant rush was the only negative of the trip. but if we were going to see everything we needed this hurry. If I were running the trip, I might drop a couple of the Galilee sites and give everyone an afternoon off at the kibbutz.

On the way to Galilee we drive the bus to the top of a windy road and a tall lookout over the vast and dry Judean Wilderness. Jesus faced temptation here and seeing this place gave me an impression about how strong the temptation could be. This place had nothing. This place was lonely. If I were here I would be tempted for any kind of relationship even if it were with Satan. Luke 4 shows physical, power, and pride temptations. An interesting thought was offered: while Jesus can relate to our temptation we cannot relate to the strength of His.

We saw many ruins on the trip. To the point that at times they became repetitive. However, the coolest ruins we saw were at a site named Bet Shean. This is where Saul's dead body is hung out in 1 Samuel 31. Here we saw a huge excavated theatre complete with a toilet room next door. The toilets were stones that stuck out of the wall like gapped teeth. You sit in between these stones and pull up your toga and do your business. The city also had a strip of stores like a strip mall. It was destroyed by earthquake and pillars toppled over onto the streets. Other sites were destroyed by earthquake and Cesarea Philipi has a street that goes along and just collapses due to the quake.

We travel to the Gihon Springs which is a small site with a pond filled with stale discolored rain water. This was the site of Gideon choosing 300 for battle in Judges 7. We all talked about what this kneeling down and lapping water would have looked like.

When we arrive in Galilee we are taken to the top of Mt. Arbel which overlooks the city and the sea. The view is amazing. As we look out we are reminded that this is the major site of Jesus' ministry. He spent up to two of his three years of public ministry here. This is a small area and the name/fame/work of Jesus would have spread quickly across the sea and into other lands. Yet few cities remain from that time because Jesus guaranteed they would be cursed for rejecting Him.