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.