bet shean, mt. tabor, nazareth

 after waking up to the sea of galilee outside our bedroom window, we were off on another packed day...

bet shean 

"house of security" 

a well-preserved roman city 

one of the new testament decapolis cities

located 20 miles south of the sea of galilee

six temples have been unearthed

amphitheater, colonnaded street, theater, bathhouse, forum (public square and marketplace), temples, and more

3rd AD rabbi said, "if paradise is situated in the land of israel, its entrance is beth shean."

bet shean was a really neat greco-roman site which allowed us to get a better understanding of the culture during new testament times. while there, we also discussed the greco-roman influence on paul's teachings.

biblical history of bet shean:

part of manasseh's inheritance (joshua 17:11)

bodies of saul and his sons were hung on its walls (1 samuel 31:8-13; 2 samuel 21:12-14)

one of the parts we loved most about israel is that you are able to actually be in and touch a lot of these sites. they are almost like a playground. in rome, the remains were really amazing, but they were often out of reach. in israel we noticed that many more sites allowed more interaction and exploring, which was fun for us!

^^^ this was inside the public bathhouse. townspeople would sit in between those bars and relieve themselves! they had two streams of water, one to carry the waste away and the other to rinse your hands. 

our guide modeling for us ;)

shop on the main street

^^^we climbed up to the top of a summit to the location of one of the temples to get a better view.

^^^ i mean... i just could not get over the beauty of israel.

 ^^^ lunch that day. i came to the conclusion that i could eat like this all day every day. some falafels and shawarma were better than others, but i loved almost everything we ate in israel. they serve salad for breakfast! how amazing is that??

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mt. tabor

6 miles east of nazareth

1,843 feet above sea level

 ^^^ great lookout here too

 biblical history of mt. tabor:

possibly the mount of transfiguration (matthew 17:1)

boundary between issachar and zebulon (joshua 19:22-23)

deborah and barak gather to defeat siserain the valley of jezreel (judges 4:6-17)

gideon's brothers were slain (judges 8:18-21)

peter, james, and john receive their endowments (doctrines of salvation 2:165)

calling and election (2 peter 1:16-19)

 ^^^ inside the church on mt. tabor, depicting christ with moses on the left and elijah on the right, and peter, james and john observing.

 ^^^ again, fun to be here around christmas time for all the nativities in each of the many churches we visited!

  ^^^ off to the side of the main chapel they had two mini chapels: one for moses... 

  ^^^ ... and one for elijah. i loved the artwork in this church.

 nazareth

located in the hills of galilee

1,230 feet above sea level

about midway between the sea of galilee and the mediterranean sea

hometown of mary and joseph

place of jesus' formative years

 ^^^ church of the annunciation

this church was established at the site where, according to roman catholic tradition, the annunciation took place. it was constructed in 1969 over the site of an earlier byzantine-era and then crusader-era church. the history of the construction and preservation of holy sites in israel was super interesting to me and i've had fun researching some of the sites a little more since we came home.

 ^^^ as the church of the annunciation, its focus is mostly on mary. the above picture depicts different scenes in mary's life. countries all over the world submitted murals or depictions of mary to be displayed inside the church or outside in the courtyard. those were some of the most amazing pieces, and so interesting to see all the different cultures depicting the same woman! unfortunately i didn't take any pictures there, but here is a picture of the japanese mosaic i found here: 

 ^^^ ceiling outside

 ^^^ the lower level of the church contains the grotto of the annunciation, believed to be the remains of the original childhood home of mary. 

  ^^^ 1st century graffiti 

biblical history of nazareth:

the annunciation by gabriel to mary and joseph (luke 1:26-38; matthew 1:18-25)

the place of departure of mary and joseph on their way to bethlehem (luke 2:1-7)

resumed residence after a hiatus in egypt (matthew 2:21-23)

first recorded sermon preached here (luke 4:16-30)

 close to the church of the annunciation, we also visited the church of st. joseph.

this church was built in 1914 on the site of an earlier 12th-century church. the caves, granaries and wells in the lower level were used by the early dwellers of nazareth. later, christians turned the site into a worship place. travellers who had visited the site in the 7th century pointed out that this had been the location of the "carpentry shop of joseph." later traditions identify the place as being "the house of joseph." below are the remains of an ancient jewish ritual bath.

before leaving nazareth, we stopped by the synagogue church. to my knowledge, it is not used as an actual church today, but was constructed to recreate the typical synagogue jesus would have grown up in. according to tradition, the nazareth synagogue where jesus preached stood in this spot. from the late twelfth century onward, pilgrims reported visiting a church on the site. 

 ^^^ since it was christmas time, it had a lot of decorations which definitely made it feel a lot less like an actual synagogue, but it was still neat to see what it might have looked like. :) 

we read about and discussed christ's first recorded sermon preached here (luke 4:16-30). i was particularly struck by verse 24, when he said, "no prophet is accepted in his own country." due to unbelief, only a few miracles were performed here by jesus. that verse just struck me as a little sad while i was sitting there in that recreated synagogue, and made me think about my own life and the lives of others. sometimes it can be hard to grow or break away from your own background or reputation established in your hometown. 

okay - one last picture because this was our best meal our entire time in israel (can you tell food is important to me? :)). our bus driver was this amazingly gracious man. turns out, he is the shiekh of the northern bedouin tribes of israel. he invited all of us to his house that night to eat dinner with his family. his wife also owns a catering business, so this meal was amazing. his family was so kind to us and it was so nice to be in someone's home that evening. mahmud, our driver and the shiekh, showed us the room where he has tribal councils when there are conflicts or decisions to be made. as a shiekh over the northern tribes, he is responsible for more than 10,000 people. we loved mahmud and this night! those little footballs on my plate were filled with scrumptious meat and i want to learn how to make it so badly.

props if you made it through this post - it was exhausting for us too!

see if you recognize some of the places now... :)

mt. carmel, megiddo, and staying in tiberias

picking up where we left off in caesarea

then we were up, up, up to mt. carmel (hebrew for vineyard of god). mt. carmel is on a 13-mile long mountain range, with the highest point at 1,810 feet. this area was so lush and green because they get a lot of rainfall. here, we read and discussed elijah's contest with the prophets of baal.

elijah

the lookout was gorgeous. i have so many videos from this day and next just from the window of our bus - i couldn't get over how beautiful and lush this area was! as we climbed to the top at mt. carmel there was a group singing and it was so beautiful. 

mt. carmel is also where abigail intercepts david when he is coming to kill her husband, nabal.

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from there, we rushed off to megiddo. 

a very key city, this was the location of many battles. in revelation, ezekiel, and zechariah, it is prophesied that this is the place of armageddon. it is built upon the ruins of several cities, going back to 4000 B.C.

^^^ just inside the city walls, the space to the left was a fortification where troops could stand and be protected, then march out to defend the city. they had a few of these just within the city walls.

this ancient city was pretty awesome. we saw the fortifications from the time of solomon, and went underground to where they had an amazing tunnel leading to their fresh water. they created the tunnel leading outside the city walls so they could still access the fresh water spring when the city was under siege. those women and girls must have been really strong to carry those buckets of water up and down so many times a day!

 biblical history of megiddo:

joshua slew the king and took the city (joshua 12:7,21)

city possessed by manasseh (joshua 17:11; 1 chr. 7:29)

solomon fortified the city as a "chariot city," with facilities for 450 stables (1 kings 9:15)

ahaziah, king of israel, was killed here by jehu (2 kings 9:27)

josiah was slain in a battle against pharoah necho in 610 BC (2 chr. 35:20-24; 2 kings 23:29-30)

silo

we were so worn out after our first day, and were thrilled when we pulled into our hotel at tiberias.

^^^ yep, see our little blue dot? we were right on the sea of galilee! we had our own little bungalow with a view of the sea right outside our window. 

^^^ matt's dream come true - twin beds pushed together with their own separate covers.

 ^^^we took a little stroll along the water right as the sun was setting. i couldn't get a good picture to capture it, but this was a moment i always want to remember. the sky was so dark, and the sun setting just glowed like it was on fire. it was beautiful.