The Best Day in Israel!

We moved on to Bethlehem. The viewed the tiny town from the distance because the Palestinians ruled the town and it was too dangerous for us to go into the town. Separating us and Bethlehem was a field; the very same filed that the shepherds were abiding keeping watch over their flocks by night when the angels came to tell them of Jesus’ birth. This filed is also the place where David slew the lion and bear and where he wrote many of the Psalms found in the Bible. It was a very special place to visit and gaze upon and imagine Christ’s birth.

We moved on to the Mount of Olives. Here, we looked over the Kidron Valley over to Temple Mount where the Dome of the Rock sits. The Eastern Gate is closed off and it will “fold” open when Jesus returns to take His own. The Muslim’s do not believe in walking through graveyards. So, they have placed graves all around the eastern side of Temple Mount in hopes to prevent the Lord from keeping His promise of walking through the Eastern Gate.

The Muslim’s think that the Dome of the Rock sits where the Ark of the Covenant had sat. But the Bible says the Ark lined up with the Eastern Gate…the Dome of the Rock does not. There is, however, a small place called the Dome of the Spirits that does line up with the Gate. This small dome is unmarked and the bedrock is not cut into tiles like the ones around it. Temple Mount is thirty-six acres of solid rock and it is the most sought after piece of land in the world. Here is where Adam and Eve were created. Here is where Abraham was going to sacrifice Issac. Here is where the third temple will be built. Here is where Jesus will descend onto the Mount of Olives and walk through the Kidron Valley, through the Eastern Gate and into the Temple to rule are reign on the earth for a thousand years.

We walked all around on Temple Mount. There was “the eye of a needle;” a big door with a little door on the side. We walked through a very narrow hallway that ran along the whole Western Wall underneath Old City Jerusalem.

Next, we visited the Temple Treasures and personally saw the items that they have ready for the third temple; unfortunately, we were not permitted to take pictures. We did go to see the Menorah that was outside behind bullet proof glass.

Then, we visited the Holocaust Museum and again, we were not permitted to take pictures. Here, we walked through a dark room that was lit by “hundreds” of candles. Names and ages of children rang through the speakers in several different languages. Chills ran down my spine as the path got smaller and smaller as we walked. Then, when we reached the end of the passage, it opened up wide and gave a view of Jerusalem. This path symbolized how Hitler was choking the Jews near extinction but in the end Hitler lost and today the Jews are thriving. The “hundreds” of candles was an optical illusion of only five candles with the aid of some mirrors symbolizing their fight for life. We walked through the museum, all the while, names and ages of children rattling off. There was a round room of books upon books of all the names of the people that died in the Holocaust; a very done chilling place to just stare at.. Our tour guide did come with us because it was too much for her to bear. By the end, everybody was quiet, pondering on how cruel man can be to another man.

Onto Calvary! We saw the skull mentioned in to Bible. Unfortunately, where the cross stood is now a bus parking lot. Beside Calvary was a garden and a tomb just like it is described in the Bible. We walked into the tomb and well, I cannot describe the feeling. It was too much to take in. You could feel it! This was the place where Jesus Christ triumphed over death. This is where Satan lost. This is what makes Jesus Christ the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the One and Only Christ. This was the main reason I came to Israel, to find the tomb empty…

For our last evening in Israel, we walked down the streets of Jerusalem, past soldiers with their guns over their shoulders, past beggars, and past people who we had grown to love. We walked to the market where we bartered for most of our souvenirs. It was a neat experience and something I kind of wished we did in America.

That evening, we sat around the dinner table. The topic of our conversation was of prophecy and the places we had been. In all, my faith grew, new friends were discovered and a love for a country that has so much more coming for its future…

 Bethlehem

 Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives

 The Menorah. After the temple is built we will never see it again.

 The Western Wall. Men on the left. Women on the right.

 The Dome of the Rock. Built in 695 AD

 The Dome of the Spirits.

 The "eye of the needle"

 Calvary

 The tomb. The stone that rolled away was lost in an earth quake, thus the stones to the right.

Need I say more?

Taking in the Moments

The following morning it was raining. We went to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was arrested by the Romans and taken to Caiaphas house to spend the night in the pit before His crucifixion the following day. There was a catholic church in the Garden called the Church of All Nations. Due to the rain we stayed under the front porch of the church and listened to Susan paint a story in our heads that took place in this very location two thousand years ago; donkeys braying instead of cars honking, the sound of soldiers coming, the moment that Judas Iscariot could not take back. Since we were standing under a porch instead of sitting in a spot in the Garden, I was struggling taking the moment in. There were several olive trees in an area beside the church. Susan told us that olive trees are the only kind of tree that does not grow rings as it gets older; they become hollow and shoot new sprouts. There was only one tree that was estimated to be around when Christ was in the Garden with His disciples.

          We were dropped off by the bus and walked the streets of Old City Jerusalem. We stopped at Saint Anne’s Church. Not sure what was so special about the location, but the acoustics in the church were incredible! Due to its shape of the auditorium, there was a twelve second echo after singing. We walked to the place where Jesus was beaten before He was hung on the cross. This location was below street level – as centuries went by, civilization had built on top of the old. There was a carving in the stone floor. It was a game that the Romans played when it came to crucifying their prisoners. The streets were ridged, giving traction to the horses so they would not slip on the stone.

          We walked to the bus, and then took a brief ride to Caiaphas house. This is where Peter denied Christ three times then the cock crowed, just like Jesus promised. We walked down steps that were placed in the pit. It was believed that the pit was used as a water cistern in the past. There was a small whole at the top, where Jesus was lowered through. This is where it got me. I traced my hands on a spot on the wall, imagining my Savior tracing His hands on the very same spot and thinking of me, an unworthy sinner and yet everything He was about to go through was for me. We sang hymns that echoed in the tiny pit.  

                                                   Olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane.

                                                                  Saint Anne's Church.

                                                           The Church of All Nations.

                                                      The hole Christ was lowered through.

                                                                   The floor in the pit.

Jerusalem!

We began ascending to Jerusalem, the Holy City, where Jesus Christ died and raised again, where He will come again. There was a camel at sea level that we were supposed to have the opportunity to ride, but the camel’s vaccinations ran out but he couldn’t get his vaccinations because the owners permit ran out and the owner couldn’t get a new permit because the camel’s vaccinations ran out. Anyways, the Lord knew best. There were camels everywhere eating by the side of the road. We came to a check point where officers question our bus driver in Hebrew. All of a sudden officers were running and shouting with their guns drawn. Apparently some car tried to go through the check point without stopping.

We drove past the Walls of Jerusalem that King David had built. There are twelve gates that lead into Old City Jerusalem. The Old City has a road that runs around the inside of the city. Everywhere else in Old City was only accessible by foot or bike. There were people everywhere walking the streets, mainly Muslims. It was so much to take in; this is Jerusalem where Jesus will reign for a thousand years.

There were two major architecture projects being built while we were there. One was an Am Track and the other was a bridge that was designed to look like David’s harp.      

We drove to our hotel, the Dan Panorama. Just a block behind us was the world famous King David’s Hotel. When we arrived there was a lady who personalized jewelry in silver and gold. Many of us bought necklaces with our names in Hebrew or rings with Bible verses in Hebrew. We were all tired and cold. Coming from the desert to Jerusalem’s “winter” season was quite the change. That night after the sun had set; we took a walk down the streets of Jerusalem.

                                         Camels with the edge of Jerusalem in the back ground.

                                                            The City Walls of Jerusalem

                                       The front enterance to our home for the next three nights.

Masada's Story

At Masada, Susan Marcus walked us through the ruins. Every part of this place had a story to tell. There was a home that was specially built for King Herod, but there is no proof that he was ever lived there. And since the king had to be carried everywhere by people, it is probably safe to say that he was never even in the home because the Snake Path would have been impossible. Kind of sad due to all the work that was put into this master piece.

        There were also several water cisterns that allowed the Jews to never thirst while the Romans had their water carried form many miles away. Marble was in style at this time, but marble could not be carried up the path, so they made imitation marble. There was a synagogue as well. All Jewish synagogues face Jerusalem. Here, in a side room, Ezekiel chapter five was found. As we walked around we noticed a pile of big round stones. I’m not sure how long it took the Romans, but they devised a plan to get up and in to Masada. They built a ramp of stones and sand. After the ramp was built they hoisted a battering ram up it and slowly knocked a hole in the wall. But by the time the 8000 Roman soldiers got into the town, it was too late. All 800 plus Jews – thinking they were the last Jews on earth – had slit each other’s throats. Beside each body lay a cup of water to show they hadn’t thirsted, some type of food to show they hadn’t starved, and a weapon to show they could have fought. The Romans, disgusted at “cowards,” turned around and went home. But the Jews had won. The children died before they could be used as slaves. The women died before they were abused. And the men died free.

        Today, Masada represents the Jews’ valor. Before any soldier can join Israel’s forces, he must march through the desert from Jerusalem, run up the Snake Path, (It is much safer today, but still very treacherous.) and finally be given his weapon and a Bible, vowing to protect God’s chosen people and country.    

                                                                   The imitaion marble

                                                         Mosaic tile for the kings house

                                                           The ramp built by the Romans

                                                 This is the room that the chapter of Ezekiel

Moving on to Masada

                                        On top of Masada looing over the Dead Sea to Jordan.

                                                                    The Snake Path

The next morning, some of us went down to the Dead Sea for a morning swim. The hotel’s private beach had a large area of the sea sectioned off; I think that way the tourists would stay in Israel. The country’s line went right down the middle of the sea, half Israel’s and half Jordan’s. The water was a little cool and felt like “baby oil.” There were little balls of salt on the floor and a few rocks that popped up from the floor, but they were not slippery. They were rough kind of like sand paper. Our tour guide told us that the Dead Sea is one-third salt and it is the lowest place on earth with the lowest point being 1,240 feet deep.  As I floated out, the whitish bottom dropped down below me and a slight fear came over me, “What if something comes up after m….wait! I’m in the Dead Sea.” This was one of my favorite places: swimming between Jordan and Israel, in the lowest place on earth, pondering on everything that I had just seen. After a shower, we loaded back on the bus and headed to Masada. There were so many stories and facts about this mountain that it was impossible to take it all in. I came home and did a little research on this mount. The Jews were in revolt against Rome and fled to the top on Masada and held off the Romans for many months. The Romans gathered stones and built a ten foot wall all around the fortress. Over 800 Jews were “trapped” on top of the safest place in the world at this time. The only access to the top was the Snake Path. In the daylight, the Jews could protect the path by rolling rocks down onto the soldiers that were brave enough to climb the difficult terrain, and climbing it in the dark was like committing suicide. They were safe and the Romans were baffled and drying up in the desert.

Descent to the Dead Sea

After Bet Shean we loaded on the bus for a long drive south. Leaving the lush terrain behind, we watched the hills turn into mountains and cliffs, and grass turn into sand. We were heading for the one and only Dead Sea. While we were driving, I noticed there must have been hundreds of green houses, the farther we drove I decided there were thousands of green houses and the longer we drove I finally assumed there were millions of green houses in this little country. Plus, there were millions of orchards; you name it, they grew it. Dates were very popular; each tree produced an average of 500 pounds per tree…did I mention there were millions of trees? The Lord has truly blessed this country’s agriculture. The closer we got to the Dead Sea the saltier the dirt got. Every twenty years, the farmers will “flood” the land to wash the dirt clean of the salt. In some areas, farmers dug down twelve feet and laid cement slabs down, put the dirt back and then planted their trees; this prevents the salt from coming up so they would not need to flood the earth. If they would not go to these extents, then the salt would burn the roots and the trees would die. We stopped briefly at a little museum and saw some of the actual Dead Sea scrolls.  Moving on, we arrived at our five star hotel that had its own private beach on the sea. That evening, we went down to go swimming but the water was to rough and we were not allowed to swim, so we waited until morning. In the meantime, the hotel had a normal outside pool and an indoor/outdoor pool of saltwater. We floated! It took great stomach strength to keep our legs underneath us. After we played around awhile, some of us went into the normal pool. It was so wired to go from sinking to floating and floating to sinking. We enjoyed a huge buffet for supper, one of the best meals we ate while in Israel. And tomorrow, a few of us would tackle the Dead Sea itself.  

Bet Shean

 Bet Shean's main street

 The red cross that was uncovered.

 The baptismal. Notice it is beg enough to dip...not sprinkle?

 Walking on first century mosaic tiles.

 The mall.

     This is the medalion that was stolen.    

Bet Shean is located in the Jordan Valley it was a city that was inhabited during the first ten centuries or so. Here along a mountain is where the bodies of King Saul – the first king of Israel – and his son Jonathan were hung by the Philistines. This city was destroyed by an earthquake, coving it up and preserving it for many years. Archaeologists have uncovered the city and even reassembled some of the pillars of the main street. Down side streets, all of the pillars that were left on the ground were marked so if the archaeologists ever wanted to reassembled the pillars the puzzle pieces were put together. There was a mall off the main street. Mosaic tiles on the floor gave clues to what was sold in the little stores. On one of the store’s floor was a medallion of some queen in Egypt (I forget who) but when they uncovered this rare artifact it was stolen, making it the first stolen artifact in Israel’s history. They shut down all possible ways of transportation, but it had disappeared.  A few years later it was found in the Gaza Strip and placed in Jerusalem’s museum and a duplicate was made and laid in its place on the store’s floor. The people knew that this place was prone to earthquakes so they built their streets that would hold up against earthquakes. Every stone was a perfect rectangle that touched six other rectangle stones. This allowed the stones to hold up each other, and perhaps keep their sewer system, which was underneath the street, from spilling over. Also in Bet Shean there was a church that had a baptismal that was big enough to dip, not sprinkle. There was also a cross that was painted in a vibrant red that the archaeologist had uncovered. They did not touch up the color; just put a sealant over it to prevent fading. There were so many facts in this city many that I didn’t mention: like the Egyptian settlement on top of the mountain, the bath house and the bathrooms, and the mosaic tiles and marble floors that marked the centuries. It was a very neat ancient city that we had the chance to visit.

Special Places by the Sea

We started our day off by visiting the Mount of Battitudes. Here, there is a natural amphitheater found in the earth. This is where Jesus spoke to the five thousand. We left there and went to sail on the Sea of Galilee. It was so neat to know that my Savior walked on this body of water. The Galilee was not very big and surrounded by mountains it was easy to see why storms could blow in without warning. One of the crew members threw a net into the sea to demonstrate the way fishing was done two thousand years ago. They played music on the ship, they played the American national anthem, but when they played Israel’s national anthem they stopped the boat. We could not understand what the words were because it was spoken in Hebrew but it still sent shivers down your spine. We headed back to land and visited the museum that healed the Jesus Boat. A boat that they believe was from Jesus’ time. It was uncovered not too long ago when there was a drought and some little boys discovered parts of wood sticking up out of the mud along with some nails. After lunch we went to the town of Capernaum, the town of Jesus. This is where Jesus spent a lot of time preaching and healing. This is where Mary and Martha lived. It is also the place where Mary poured perfume on Jesus’ feet right before He made the journey to Jerusalem for His crucifixion. Unfortunately, the Catholics built a church, just inches above the walls of this special home. For supper, we stopped at the only horse ranch in Israel, a special treat from our tour guide (She knew I loved horses). The following day we went to visit the Gideon Spring where Gideon sent his army down to the water to drink. Going from ten thousand soldiers to three hundred, he surrounded the Philistines blowing horns and breaking pots. The Philistines woke up from their sleep and killed one another while the Israelites watched, never raising a sword, another miracle by God. After a few pictures we headed for Bet Shean!  

A Full Day of Tourism

Moving on to Mount Hermon we stopped at a tourist stop and watched a movie about the war in the 1960s. The movie was about twenty minutes long, spoken in Hebrew with English subtitles. It consisted of actual footage of the battle and testimonies from the Israelite soldiers. The battle involved forty Israeli tanks verses five hundred Syrian tanks. They fought through the night but the Israelite soldiers had no night vision equipment and had never trained in the dark. However, even with the overwhelming odds, Israel won. God is still watching over His chosen country. We ascended to the top of Mount Hermon and gazed over the Valley of Tears where the battle had taken place forty years earlier. Some of the other tourists were complaining about taking the time to visit a place that really had nothing to do with Jesus and His life on the earth. But I loved this visiting parts of Israel’s recent history, especially the testimony of God’s power and I noticed myself falling in love with the country and God’s people. From the mountain we could see the Road to Damascus, where Paul walked and where the story of the Good Samaritan took place. After a relaxing lunch, we went to a high place where thousands of years ago the people worshiped the pagan god Pan. The Bible refers to this place as “the gates of hell.”  It is a spring. The water comes out of the mountain and flows into the Banias River that is one of two headways to the Jordan River.  This high place was where the people sacrificed their children the Pan god. Talk about an eerie place. We walked a little ways to a town that archeologists have uncovered called Laich. Here they have uncovered a gate where Abraham had to walk through on his journey to the Promise Land.  So many  incredible places all wrapped up in one day!

"I'm in Israel!"

We proceeded to the Mount of Precepts with the Jezreel Valley to the south and Nazareth to the north. Nazareth, Jesus’ boyhood town, was a well developed city. Back in Jesus’ time the town might have had twenty families or so. This is probably why He was scrutinized for being form Nazareth; it was a “nobody’s town”. We descended the mount to our hotel for a relaxing evening on the Sea of Galilee. We were on the south end of the Sea, I think it was the prettiest location on the Sea with the Gohlan Heights to the east. The next morning was Saturday, Sabbath day, so there was no one on the roads. We drove past the only cliff on the Sea, thus the key location of where Jesus had cast the demons into the swine and the swine ran off a cliff and drowned in the Sea. We kept repeating to ourselves, “I’m in Israel. I’m in Israel!” We ascended the Gohlan Heights, a twenty-five mile flat platto of little towns and farming fields. Susan guided us to a cliff that over looked the oldest synagogue in the world – the Sea of Galilee was beyond. To the north of this cliff was a waterfall and a bird cage where buzzards were being raised and released to soar over the Gohlan. We left here and headed to a historic battlefield. We drove right beside Syrian’s border where for forty years the borders were peaceful between the two countries until recently.

We moved down from Mount Carmel into the Jezreel Valley. There were many fields rich with agriculture. Oozi, our bus driver who did not know any English, took us to Megiddo. The city was ancient ruins having twenty-five layers of civilization, but archeologists removed the top nine layers in most areas. On the sixteenth layer was Solomon’s city. We walked down streets and saw steps that Solomon himself walked. We saw a Karat tree. This tree inspired the diamond karat weight because its seeds weigh exactly one karat. In Megiddo we moved to the cliff and once again, cast our eyes over the Jezreel Valley from a different view. The people were so small, cars were driving down the roads, farmers were busy in the fields, and planes were taking off from the military airport. It was so much to take in. Our tour guide, Mrs. Susan Marcus, took us to a water cistern that was accessible from inside the city.  When Solomon was king there was peace all over the land, thus, it was safe fo the women to walk around the outside of the city to get water.  The water cistern in Megiddo at that time was only accessible from outside the city walls. When Jeraboam was king, the peace ended. Jeraboam devised a way to get to the water from inside the city. In just two years, he had dug through 60 meters of solid rock to get to the same well. We walked through this tunnel and it was large and the walls were very smooth. Its remarkable that people back then could have such ability.