Wednesday, June 27 -- Galilee Part II

We load up in the bus. Eric Gustafson is a little on the edge. Deb Kielsmeier leads us in prayer for the day and especially for Eric. Our first stop is the Tel of Hazor. This was a major city in the Middle Bronze Age (Abraham). It has both an Upper City and a Lower City. The upper section has palaces and a fortification, while the lower has temples, standing stones and houses. By the time of Solomon the lower section had been abandoned. It has strong historic records. So much so that it is believed that there should be a library of cuneiform tablets buried in the city. A couple tablets have been found but they continue to dig hoping for it. We examine the Israelite structure of a wealthy home that was moved off of the sight of a palace that lay below it. We saw the innermost room of the house where only the family would be invited. Cindy explained how olive oil was made. We saw the area of the house where the family would stable the animals, which is probably similar to the place where Jesus was born.
Cindy read Joshua 11 where we learn of Joshua’s Northern campaign which focused on the King of Hazor gathering together a huge number of kings together to fight the Israelites. The logistics of the battle are difficult to understand because the location of the place where the kings pow-wowed would not allow armies of any size to gather.
We got to see the tower that Ahab built as well as walk into the cistern that he developed. We saw the last of the Solomonic gates listed in I Kings 9:15.
It was terribly hot and as we let Hazor Jan Nordell told us about the strange Century plants that we saw along the road. After 100 years these plants flower and then die. Thankfully the bus is cool as we move on.
We arrive at Tel Dan which has the largest spring in the Middle East. This spring pumps out 2000 gallons/ minute. The area is a nature preserve. Lush and green with the songs of birds filling the area. The ancient city is made of smooth stone. We get to see another Middle Age Gate that is arched much like the one in Ashkelon. During that time it was named Laish. When Abraham was pursing a coalition of kings who had kidnapped Lot and his family he would have passed by Laish possibly getting provisions and information. Later when the city was renamed a large Gate complex was built. We see the entire complex of rooms and courtyards. The city gate was key for judicial decisions, begging for alms, taxes, selling of goods. A stone was found with an inscription that noted the house of David, which provides concrete testimony to the greatness of King David.
Cindy read to us the story of the High place that Jeroboam constructed when the northern kingdom split from the southern kingdom after the death of Solomon. Cindy noted that later on the phrase that is used over and over of evil kings is that they “walked in the sin of Jeroboam.” Many people propose that the sin is syncretism, allowing Yahweh worship and other kinds of worship to be occurring simultaneously. Cindy had another hypothesis because Solomon too introduced syncretism and is not remembered for that. Her latest hypothesis is that the sin of Jeroboam was that he is writing God out of the history of the Northern tribes, and now is taking the place of God. He is making a kingdom for himself and is not treating the people like they are equals with him. He is unwilling to live as a peer leader, and wants to be the definer of the national identity. We sat looking at the High Place that he had constructed in Dan and listened as Cindy read Jeremiah’s prophetic descriptions of how ridiculous the worship of other God’s was. We hopped the bus and headed for Caesarea Philippi.
When we arrived, Cindy set us up on sight to talk about the gush of water that came out of the cave that was suppose to be some kind of entrance into the underworld. The main worship was for the god Pan who was half goat and half man. The worship was intensely sexual and involved human sacrifice by throwing people into the cavernous spring. The worship area did cover many Gods. Here people were trying to get the god’s to do what they want. Worship is about control. Debbie Ducar led us in a devotional about this place taking us to Matthew 16 where Jesus comes to this place and asks his disciples who people say he is. This is the place where Peter made his great declaration. Debbie explained that part of the power of what Jesus said was that God was a living God, not a god who died with the winter season and had to be coaxed into resurrection. She also told us that the gates of Hades is what this spring was called, so Jesus was referring to the pagan worship that was going on right in front of the disciples would not prevail against God’s church. She also offered us a thought about what did Jesus mean when he said “upon this rock, I will build my church.” Debbie said one idea was that upon this community, the disciples, is what God would build his church. We felt the power of Christ’s declaration as we recognized that our community was part of the way that God was building his church too. Debbie closed us in a prayer of gratitude.
After lunch, Cindy invited us to go on a hike back into a waterfall. Several decided to go while others explored the park further or enjoyed the air conditioned bus. We hiked the tail back into the park where the Spring of Hermon lies. We saw ancient rock walls, verdant smooth-barked trees making living arches over the path along a rushing stream. We walked over stones and rock ledges winding and twisting deeper into the woods until we came out into the open where a huge amount of water plunged 10 meters into a sea foam green pool that was the color of the Roman Glass jewelry we’ve seen.


A cool damp breeze accompanied the water outward to dry thirsty pilgrims who pause for gasps and pictures in the cool shade. We hiked up a set of stairs and loaded onto the bus hot and tired and happy.

We traveled to one more site. Up a winding road we headed to the Golan Heights where Cindy filled us in about the Yom Kippur War and how the borders changed. We looked at Syria and where no-mans land is located. We wandered down through the bunker and just wondering at the conflict between Israel and her neighbors.
After loading back on the bus, we returned to Ein Gev. There was some swimming and much showering, and then dinner together. All in all the evening was a pleasant close to a busy day.