Conflict central: Carmel and Megiddo

MAY 29—Mount Carmel and the commands a panoramic view of the Jezrael Valley. Since time immemorial this broad fertile plain has served as a pathway connecting Egypt to Assyria and hence to Mesopotamia. It’s been a great corridor of trade and, alas, the footpath of armies.

It’s been a scene of battle between local tribes and great armies of empires. It’s also witnessed the struggle of gods, none more memorable than the conflict pitting 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah against Elijah, prophet of YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

YHWH triumphs in the exciting showdown and the false prophets are put to the sword.

Further down the valley a fortress at a place called Megiddo once guarded a narrow pass. It is the crossroads of the crossroads. Today it is the site of a fascinating archeological dig, which features no less than 26 different layers of development. Here one can see a stairway whose stones were laid about the time of King Ahab. Elijah may have stepped on them

Elsewhere in the site are the remains of a gate set in place during the time of King Solomon. And there we walked 180 steps down into a remarkable shaft cut through solid bedrock to ensure a steady water supply.

Megiddo stood at a strategic crossroads. Countless battles have been fought in its shadow, and many believe there will another.

In Hebrew, the name is Har Megiddo, meaning Hill of Megiddo. Har Megiddo is also known as Armageddon, to which Christian apocalyptic literature refers as the scene of the final cosmic conflict.

A day in the Galilee

MAY 30—The Sea of Galilee is a pretty lake, not very large by Canadian standards but freighted with tremendous significance here in the holy lands. It’s a welcome geographic oddity in a land where lakes are largely unknown. (The Jordan River both feeds it and drains it. The lake is located more than 600 feet below sea level.)

The whole region is defined by the lake and simply called The Galilee. It’s the area where Jesus grew up and began his public ministry. The names of the places around here are well known to Bible readers. It’s familiar territory.

But we began our explorations in some places less trafficked by Christians, travelling to the mountain town of Safed where the Jewish mystic tradition (Kabbalah) was nurtured and brought to fruition in the 16th century. Poetry written in this town in those days remains prominent in Jewish liturgy today.Our next stop was Sepphoris (Zippori). This was the most important town in the Galilee region in the first century, and it’s just a very few miles from the village of Nazareth where Jesus grew up.

Strangely, Sepphoris is never mentioned in the Bible although it’s likely that Joseph plied his builder’s trade in the regional capital. And one of the women who followed Jesus and supported his ministry was the wife of Herod’s steward. Herod Antipas was based in the town.

It was a very remarkable place, blending a strong Jewish presence with Greco-Roman culture. Today a large national park protects and presents the fruits of many years of archeological excavations. Of particular interest are the phenomenal mosaic floors depicting scenes from Greek and Roman mythology, as well as a Jewish synagogue with its own curious mosaics.

The site is well known for “the Mona Lisa of the Galilee,” a beautiful woman depicted in small mosaic tiles. But the place is most significant for the role it played in the development of Judaism after the Romans destroyed the temple in 70 AD and the Jewish people were dispersed throughout the earth.

Many fled Jerusalem settled in the Galilee and pondered anew how to worship their God, the God of the Torah. The forms of their religion were ripped away. The temple was gone. The system of sacrifice was gone. The priests were gone. All that was left
was the oral tradition of the Pharisees, who tirelessly sought to interpret the ways of the Torah into the contemporary context.

Sepphoris became at this time an important centre for gathering these interpretative statements and compiling them in written form. Today these collected writings are known as the Talmud, the binding agent of modern Judaism.

Our final visit of the day was to Nazareth Village, a fabulously crafted re-creation of a first century Jewish village. The buildings were produced with minute attention to the state of the art at the time of Jesus. Sheep and shepherd wander the grounds. Olive and almond trees thrive.

There is an ancient wine press on the site, and a re-created olive press. A functioning carpenter’s shop is a key part of a tour that includes timely references to the parables of Jesus, who often drew parallels from his physical surroundings to make a spiritual point.

Another day in the Galilee

MAY 31—This is a brief synopsis of a busy day visiting places frequented by Jesus around the Sea of Galilee. This is the area where he was raised, where he lived, worked and launched his public ministry. This is where he recruited his disciples, proclaimed his purpose and worked his first miracles. And it’s not a large area. The sites practically stack up on each other.

We began with a visit to the Yigal Allon Centre on the northern edge of the lake to see the ancient Galilee boat that was discovered in the area back in 1986 and carefully excavated and preserved. It dates back to the first century, and there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that this is exactly the type of boat that Jesus’ disciples were using in the Gospel stories.

Times have changed, and these days a small fleet of “Jesus Boats” provides tourists with a pleasant cruise on the waters where Jesus walked. As we moved away from the dock, a crewmember hoisted the Canadian flag to the strains of our national anthem. It was a touching moment, although we irreverently expected the puck to be dropped soon after.A better moment came when the captain shut down the engines and we drifted silently in the sea. Paul Spillsbury of Ambrose University did a great job reading and reflecting on some of the Galilee passages from Scripture. Then a crewmember demonstrated first century fishing techniques. He landed nothing, even though he did cast on both sides of the boat.

We landed in Capernaum, the place where Jesus lived as an adult. Extensive excavations reveal a bustling town with a fairly elaborate synagogue, a market area and lots of olive presses. Earthquakes have taken their toll, but a lovely Franciscan chapel now stands over the place thought to be where Simon’s mother-in-law lived and was healed by Jesus.

Not far from Capernaum is another chapel dedicated to the Primacy of Peter. It’s on the shoreline, reputed to be the place where Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him, and mandated him to “Feed my sheep” (John 21).

A short walk away is yet another charming chapel, this one commemorating the miraculous feeding of the multitude (Mark 6:30-44). The iconic mosaic of the loaves and the fishes is laid into the floor in front of the altar.Both of these chapels lie on the shoreline beneath the hill where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). The beautiful Church of the Beatitudes stands atop the mount. We took some time in silence in this sacred space. Then some of us braved the 40-degree temperatures to walk down the mountain and meet the bus at the bottom.

Our final stop of the day was at Yardenit, the baptismal site on the Jordan River most favoured by evangelical tour groups. It is a beautiful spot, lined with stately eucalyptus trees.

So, we’ve now seen two sites that claim to be the place where John baptized Jesus. Scholarly evidence seems to tilt toward Bethany Beyond the Jordan, down near the Dead Sea, as the actual site. But this place where the Jordan leaves the Sea of Galilee is more pleasant and certainly more congenial to the tourist industry.

A few final words

JUNE 1—The Journey to Two Holy Lands is drawing to a close. We’ll be getting up at 2:30 tomorrow morning for a two hour bus ride to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, which allows us three hours to clear security and be ready for our flight to London. We have a five-hour layover there, and then a long flight to Calgary. I make it home to Winnipeg mid-afternoon on Tuesday, June 3.

This blog has provided something of a chronicle of our journeys. It is far from complete. In fact, I’m staying at the hotel on the final day in order to rest and catch up on some reading and writing projects. So you won’t hear about the exciting places on the agenda for today from me.

We’ve gone a lot of places and done a lot of things in the past 30 days, and we’re going to be hard-pressed to remember much of it. But the images we collected and notes we took will certainly remind us of countless interesting insights and poignant moments. There have been many.

Throughout the summer we’ll be processing the incredible amounts of information and wealth of experience we packed into 30 days in Ethiopia, Israel and Jordan. To grow in understanding is our goal, and it’s safe to say that although we’ve come a long way, there’s a long way yet to go. Our knowledge base is much larger, and we are more keenly aware than ever of how much more there always is to learn.

I may or may not be posting a few more reflections on this blog site. I do plan to leave it online indefinitely. And sometime in the next few weeks I’ll probably flip it around so that it reads chronologically, rather than having the newest post at the top of the homepage. Enjoy it for whatever it’s worth to you. My prayer is that everyone who touches this venture in one way or another will grow in understanding.