THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18
0:00 - 0:39
Today we leave Tiberias for Jerusalem. Along the way we'll explore Lower Galilee, the
Plain of Jezreel, Carmel, the coast from the border of Lebanon to Tel Aviv and on to the
hill country of Judah.
0:40 - 0:59
We climb out of Tiberias, go past Hattin to Golani Junction. Note the lay of the land here
in Lower Galilee -- broad flat east-west trending agricultural valleys separated by east
west ridges. Before turning left at the junction we'll explore a bit.
1:00 - 1:19
We continue westward into the Turan Valley. Ahead of us is Kfar Kanna, the traditional
site of Cana, site of Jesus' first miracle of turning water into wine. Increasingly,
archaeologists are rejecting the identification of the site. We'll see the currently
preferred site shortly.
Beyond Kanah is the site of Gath Hepher, home town of Jonah (2 Kings 14:25).
1:20 - 1:39
We swing around and see Sepphoris, "the ornament of all Galilee," as Josephus
called it. Herod Antipas made it his capital in 4 B.C.
https://www.bibleplaces.com/sepphoris/
The next valley over is the Beit Netofa Valley. Hannathon, at the head of the valley, is
mentioned in the list of cities in the tribal area of Zebulun.
1:40 - 1:59
The now-preferred site for Jesus' first miracle is Kanah on the north side of the Beit
Netofah Valley. On top of the ridge above Kanah was Jotapata. During the Jewish revolt of
A.D. 66 against Rome, Josephus was the general in charge of Galilee. He was captured at
Jotapata.
2:00 - 2:19
This northernmost east-west valley -- Bet Kerem -- sits at the base of the sudden rise --
approximately 2,000 feet -- to Upper Galilee.
2:20 - 2:39
Earlier we noted that here, in Western Lower Galilee the hills look like waves with their
steep face on the north side. It can be seen in the image here. In eastern Lower Galilee,
it's similar with the steep face of the hills on the south side. Neither is conducive to
north-south traffic ... except here where the two zones of tilting blocks meet. Here there
is no difficulty or obstacles traveling between the Jezreel Valley and Lower Galilee. This
is part of the International Highway between Egypt and Mesopotamia.
2:40 - 2:59
We are approaching the Jezreel Valley where so many Biblical events occurred. The vale
we're entering between Mt. Tabor and Givat Moreh is where the Midianites were encamped
when they were routed by Gideon and his three hundred. At Endor in the vale, Saul sought
out the witch to inquire of Samuel on the eve of his last battle. At Tabor, Deborah and
Barak rallied the Israelites to defeat Jabin, Sisera and their iron chariots.
3:00 - 3:19
Certainly, this is the view the psalmist had in mind when he wrote in praise to God,
"You created the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your
name."
Jeremiah, in prophesying the coming Babylonian destruction, referenced Tabor: "'As
surely as I live,' declares the King, whose name is the Lord Almighty, 'one will come who
is like Tabor among the mountains, like Carmel by the sea. Pack your belongings for
exile'..."
Between Tabor and the beginning of the Nazareth Ridge is the town of Daberath, perhaps
still retaining the memory of Deborah who saved Israel here.
3:20 - 3:39
In the story of Gideon, the Midianites -- a people who usually lived in Arabia south of
Aqaba -- had invaded. It was something like the seventh year they had done so. Why --
because there was an extended drought that made their marginal areas unable to support
them. There is a constant theme in the Bible of the conflict between the desert and the
sown. When drought and famine threatened, the desert tribes threatened the settled
agricultural areas.
Gideon and his 300 crossed the Harod Valley at night, climbed Givat Moreh and -- at the
signal -- broke their clay pitchers exposing their torches and gave the blast of the
teruah on their shofars as they poured down on the Midianites encamped at Endor.
Imagine the confusion ... waking up in the dark to the crash of the breaking pitchers, the
appoaching torches, the teruah -- 300 of them. It would have been terrifying. Listen for
yourself: https://youtu.be/skjcsu0D96Q
The confused Midianites fought among themselves in the dark, struggled to secure a camel
and fled down the Harod Valley, along the same road we drove through the Jordan Valley,
crossed the Jordan at Adam, ascended the Transjordanian plateau near Succoth, only to be
overtaken by the pursuing Israelites near modern Amman.
3:40 - 3:59
We've swung around again for another look at Tabor. According to Catholic tradition, Tabor
is the Mount of Transfiguration. It's possible. The three Gospels that tell of Christ's
transfiguration all agree it was on a high mountain. They all agree in that the last
identifiable geographic clue is the account of Jesus and his disciples at Caesarea
Philippi. That makes it tempting to suggest the real Mount of Transfiguration is in the
Upper Jordan, perhaps even high up on Mt. Hermon. But, all three gospels note that Jesus,
Peter, James and John went up the Mount of Transfiguration six to eight days later. So,
they could have been in this area. And Tabor had a history already as a sacred mountain.
We're also looking along the face of the Nazareth Ridge, rising about 800 feet above the
Plain of Jezreel at its base. Note that the steep side now faces southward.
4:00 - 4:19
In Jesus day, Nazareth was a nothing place. Today it is a sprawling city. Its Christian
character is becoming more Muslim. Traditionally, Mt. Precipice is the site where the
people of the town attempted to throw Jesus over the cliff.
4:20 - 4:39
We're looking at modern Afula, likely the location of Biblical Oprah, home of Gideon. The
Harod Valley is in the background.
4:40 - 4:59
Looking across the Harod Valley from Shunem to Jezreel. Remember, Elisha is staying in
Shunem and Jezebel is in Jezreel. And Jehu is on his way to rid Israel of the House of
Ahab.
5:00 - 5:19
Ready for a chariot race?
It just so happens that at the moment Jehu comes to carry out his coup d'etat at Jezreel,
Judah's King Ahaziah is visiting Israel's King Joram who was recuperating from wounds he
had received defending Ramoth Gilead (the same place his father Ahab had received his
fatal wound) in Transjordan. Jehu, newly annointed king per Elijah and Elisha's
instructions, leaves the battle field at Ramoth Gilead and returns to Jezreel where he
quickly dispatched Joram with an arrow. Ahaziah, seeing the treachery and his own danger,
jumps into his chariot and heads north along the eatern edge of the Plain of
Jezreel with Jehu in his chariot behind. The first seven miles are flat and Ahaziah stays
in the lead, but at Beth-haggan, the road begins to climb through a pass to the beginnings
of the hills of Samaria. The pursuers close in and mortally wound him, although he manages
to evade capture and makes it to Megiddo where he dies. Jehu then returns to Jezreel where
he orders Jezebel's servants to throw her from the palace tower to her death, fulfilling
Elijah's prophecy.
4:20 - 5:39
A quick sidetrip since we're so close ... Dothan.
It was here that Joseph -- that dreamer -- finally caught up with his brothers. They threw
him in a pit before selling him to a caravan of Ishmaelites who had come from Gilead on
their way to Egypt.
It was also here that Elisha and his servant were during a seige by the Arameans. When the
servant saw the city surounded by the enemy, he panicked. Elisha asked God to open his
eyes that he might see. "Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked
and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." Yes, these
hills very hills we can see today surrounding Dothan ...
5:40 - 5:59
Let's get back on today's journey by jumping back to Oprah/Afula. The road heads straight
for the Megiddo Junction. If we continued on this road across the hills ahead, we'd be
passing through the most strategic pass across the Carmel Range in the area. There was
another pass at Taanach, just off the left of the image. It was "at Taanach, by the
waters of Megiddo" that Deborah's forces defeated the Canaanite chariots when they
got stuck in the mud.
Just beyond that lake in the middle of the valley, you can see an area of white buildings.
They sit on a slightly elevated spot, undergirded by a volcanic sill -- an intrusionof
basaltic lava. The water drains quicker and the soil does not stay as wet, allowing
passage on relatively dry ground during the rainy season. The outlet of that lake is the
remnant of the Bible's Kishon River.
"The river Kishon swept them away,
the age-old river, the river Kishon.
March on, my soul; be strong!" -- Judges 5:21.
6:00 - 6:19
Here at the Megiddo Junction is an Israeli prison that will be relocated in the future
because 10 years ago the remains of the earliest church so far discovered in Isreal was
found beneath it. Legio was a Roman army site.
The pass here has so much history. One of the first battles ever recorded was that of
Thutmose III against the Canaanite kings in the 15th century B.C.. I'll give a link rather
than try to explain it, but note the strategic role the three passes -- Taanach, Megiddo
and Jokneam -- play.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Megiddo_(15th_century_BC)
It was here that Judah's King Josiah -- the last best hope of that kingdom before it was
destroyed by Babylon -- was killed in 609 B.C.. The geopolitics of the day were that the
fortunes of once powerful and fierce Assyria were on the wane. The Assyrians had already
taken the Northern Kingdom into captivity over a hundred years before. The rising
Babylonian empire was the new power. The Babylonians and Assyrians met in a decisive
battle at Carchemesh, in Northern Syria. Pharoah Necho of Egypt preferred a weak Assyria
to a vigorous, rising Babylon, so he headed north on the International Highway to join the
battle at Carchemesh. When he crossed the Megiddo Pass, here where it meets the Jezreel
Valley, Judah's King Josiah was there to stop him. In the battle that followed Josiah was
killed.
Read 2 Kings 23 and grasp how Judah finally had a king who loved, served and obeyed God
fully. "Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to
the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all
his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses." They finally had gotten it
right, only to lose it all in a battle that should have been avoided. And order in Judah
proceeded to fall apart until Babylon conquered Jerusalem and destroyed Solomon's Temple
23 years later. There's a bitterness and sense of deep tragedy to it all.
That ominous sense of loss and calamity is echoed in the famous passage in Revelation 16
about a great final battle at this same place: "Then they gathered the kings together
to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon." Har Megiddo ... Hill or Mountain
of Megiddo. Napolean, standing here in 1799, said, "All the armies of the world could
maneuver their forces on this vast plain."
The tel of Megiddo was occupied for thousands of years. It's a great site associated with
the periods of Solomon, Ahab and others. The Solomonic gate, the stables, the water system
-- enjoy.
6:20 - 6:39
We're going to follow the road to the next pass across the Carmel Range at Jokneam. Note
the low hills on the south side of the road and the dramatic change when we reach the pass
at Jokneam.
Time for a little geology.
To simplify, there are three basic types of limestone in Israel/Jordan: the very hard
Cenomanian at the lower level, soft Senonian chalk at the next level and the hard Eocene
limestone. When the land is lifted up by tectonic forces, it becomes more susceptible to
erosion. Given time, the top layers erode away revealing that which was on the bottom.
Those low hills we passed were Eocene. That layer has not eroded away. The high mountain
at Mt. Carmel is Cenomanian -- it's top layers of Eocene and Senonian chalk are gone.
So, what about the Senonian chalk? Because it's so easily eroded, it is what is
responsible for the pass across the mountains here. It's also what made the pass back at
Megiddo. In fact, Senonian chalk plays that role in the landscape in many places here in
the land.
6:40 - 7:19
It was to the top of Mt Carmel that Elijah called the people. Whom would they serve --
Yahweh or Baal? Here he challenged the prophets of Baal to give it their best shot and
they failed. God answered Elijah's prayers with fire from heaven.
Now a bit about the significance of choosing this site. Carmel means Garden of God.
Remember that Baal worship was a sensuous nature-based religion. Baal Haddad was the god
of the storm in the Canaanite pantheon. Densely forested Carmel was precisely the kind of
luxurious environment associated with Baal worship. So, Elijah gave the prophets of Baal
the home-field advantage. And they were Jezebel's own prophets brought with her from Tyre
-- which we can almost see in the distance on the coast -- when her father's kingdom and
Ahab's became allied.
7:20 - 7:39
Jezebel's defeated and humiliated prohets were taken down to the base of Carmel, where the
Kishon flows through the narrow outlet, and killed. Note how the hard uplifted Cenomanian
limestone forms the tall cliffs. It does not erode away easily.
In the forground is Beth-shearim, site of the tombs of some of the most famous early
post-Temple rabbis, including Judah the Prince who compiled the Mishna. The tell is one of
the largest in Lower Galilee and has not been excavated previously but digging is
scheduled soon.
7:40 - 7:59
Another look at the Carmel. It points like a dagger out to the sea, with the modern city
of Haifa on it's northwest end.
8:00 - 8:19
We've swung around to look north along the coast of Asher. The coast is perhaps four to
five miles wide here. Haifa Bay -- with Haifa at the south end and Acco/Ptolemais at the
north end is heavily industrialized.
We don't have a lot of Bible stories from here. We know that King Solomon ceded control of
about 20 cities here to payoff the huge debt he incurred buying raw materials and hiring
Tyrian craftsmen to build the Temple and his palace. The Lebanon coast is generally
characterized by its mountains coming close to the sea. There's little arable land there,
consequently gaining control of this area would have been important for food production to
Tyre.
8:20 - 8:39
The Acco of the Old Testament was the Ptolemais of the New Testament. The Book of Acts
records Paul staying here with fellow Christians when he sailed along the coast.
8:40 - 8:59
At the north end of the Coast of Ashur an east-west ridge forms the modern border between
Israel and Lebanon. It is called the Ladder of Tyre.
9:00 - 9:19
We've jumped to Tyre. These are the Phoenicians. In the old Testament period Tyre was an
island. The lack of arable land and the many good harbors along the coast forced its men
to seek their fortune as sea, making them world-renowned sailors as they traded all over
the then-known world. Read Ezekiel 26-28. The island of Tyre is referred to as though it
is itself a ship of trade. The wealth of Solomon and Tyre was based on an alliance that
maximized the strengths of both their territoties and skills. The wealth of the House of
Ahab was based on a similar alliance. The alliance worked because they were not competing
for the same routes, resources and same territory. But the alliance with Tyre always
resulted in spiritual damage to Israel.
Alexander the Great put Tyre under seige
for seven month, ultimately conquering it by building the causeway that now connects it to
the mainland.
9:20 - 9:39
The Ladder of Tyre from Lebanon's side.
9:40 - 9:59
Haifa and the tip of Carmel. This appears to be the "Nose of the Gazelle's Head"
mentioned in an account of an Egyptian military campaign that came by sea to put down a
Canaanite rebellion in 2300 B.C.
10:00 - 10:19
Flight along the length of Carmel
10:20 - 10:39
Back to our road and the Jokneam Pass
10:40 - 10:59
The Coast of Dor narrows to just one or two miles as it approaches the tip of Carmel.
Here, in the Carmel Caves, archaeologists have found extensive Neanderthal remains. On the
coast at Atlit is the harbor where most of the Crusaders who came to the Holy Land by boat
arrived and departed. Israel's very straight coastline isn't given to harbors,
consequently the Israelites were not great sailors.
11:00 - 11:39
Dor was an important port. Solomon's son-in-law was placed over the district that included
Dor. Dor, like Atlit and Joppa, existed as ports because of a series of three long ridges
that run the length of the coast. They're made up of a mixture of sand and limestone
called kurkar. They form a hard rock that can leave a rocky cove when partially eroded by
the sea.
11:40 - 12:39
Caesarea Maritima was Herod the Great's Romanized city on the Mediterranean. He named it
in honor of Caesar. He named his harbor Sebastos to honor Augustus. He brought fresh water
to the city from Carmel via aquaduct. He used the new technology of underwater cement to
construct his magnificent harbor. The ampitheater was the scene of an event recorded in
Acts 12. Too much to tell, but the guide will cover it.
One thing you may want to consider while here. If you are a Westerner, it's a fair
assumption that the long path by which the Gospel came to you over 20 centuries and
multiple continents first left this land in a ship that left this harbor.
12:40 - 13:39
Time to hit the road for Jerusalem.
We are in the Coast of Sharon. In antiquity, the next 20 miles -- all the way from the
coast to the base of the hills -- was forest, thickets and swamp. I've only found one
Bible reference to one town in the interior of the Sharon in the Old Testament era. It we
were traveling in the time of Solomon we could not take this route.
It wasn't until the Romans came that the Sharon began to grow in population. Roman
engineers cut drainage channels through the kurkar ridges that were keeping water from
reaching the sea. The forests were largely confined to low hills in the Sharon. There were
still extensive forests going from the slopes of Carmel all the way to the Valley of
Aijalon as recently as 125 years ago.
The Prophet Isaiah referenced the lush vegetation of the Sharon and Carmel when he said
the desert of the Arabah would bloom like a rose (or crocus).
The road we're traveling is the road Peter traveled -- in reverse -- when he went from
Joppa to Caesarea to share the Gospel with Cornelius, the first gentile convert.
14:40 - 15:19
We're turning inland at the broad valley formed by the Yarkon River.
The Yarkon is the only perennial stream flowing to the Mediterranean in Israel. In
antiquity, the swamps here and in the Sharon forced the International Highway inland from
the Joppa area to the base of the hills for anyone traveling north.
15:20 - 15:39
The Yarkon originates in a powerful spring at Aphek. This is the point at which the
northbound International Highway is forced against the base of the hills.
It was here, in the time of Eli the priest, when the Tabernacle was located at Shiloh,
that the Israelites were encamped at Ebenezer and the Philistines at Aphek. In order to
guarantee victory, the Israelites brought the Ark from Shiloh to carry into battle. They
were decisively defeated and the Ark captured by the Philistines. A runner took the tragic
news to Shiloh.
Several years ago, someone measured the distance from Ebenezer to Shiloh and discovered it
was 26.2 miles, the same as that from the site at Marathon, Greece, to Athens, run in 490
B.C., 600 years after the a Hebrew runner delivered his news. So, now there's the annual
Bible Marathon along this route each year.
http://www.biblemarathon.co.il/en
It was also here that the five Philistine kings came together before continuing on to the
Jezreel Valley to fight King Saul. David, who was serving as a vassal of the King of Gath
was forced to return back to his city near the Negev because fout of the kings did not
trust him.
In the Book of Acts, Paul is arrested in
Jerusalem by the Romans and needs to be taken out of the city because of a plot by some of
the Jews to kill him. He's taken to Caesarea where he is kept in prison. On the journey
between Jerusalem and Caesarea, Paul and his Roman guards stop over at Antipatris -- then
the name for Old Testament Aphek.
15:40 - 15:59
Headed to Jerusalem
16:00 - 16:19
Modiin was the home of the Mattathias the Hasmonean at the time the Syrian Greeks ruled
the land. An attempt to force him ti offer a pagan sacrifice led to him and his sons
leading the Maaccabee revolt.
16:20 - 17:20
At this point we're on the same road we first followed from the airport to Jerusalem, so,
no use repeating what's already been said.
It's been a long day ...