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.