After a very early morning wake-up call and quick breakfast, we left the Sea of Galilee region and headed southwest to the Mediterranean and Caesarea By The Sea, the seat of Roman rule in the region during the time of Jesus. Here, Herod the Great constructed his amazing palace with a fresh water swimming pool, filled with water carried 11 miles from Mount Carmel via a Roman aqueduct. And here, Herod constructed the first artificial harbor making this city an important link to the rest of the world. It is at Caesarea that the first Gentile believer, Cornelius, hears the gospel message and is saved. And it is the port at Caesarea that becomes the point from which Paul sails on all of his missionary journeys by sea thus enabling the fulfillment of the Great Commission to take the gospel to the world.
The theater at Caesarea
The theater at Caesarea
Remains of Herod's fresh water swimming pool
Aqueduct from Mount Carmel
A quick stop so that Lynn (and others!) can splash in the Mediterranean.
From Caesarea and the Mediterranean, we traveled up the coast to Mt. Carmel, a breath-taking spot where Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal when God rained down fire from Heaven.
Jim teaches atop Mt. Carmel
Next we took in the delights of a re-created Jesus-era village within the thriving city of modern-day Nazareth. What a delight to meet these wonderful Arab brothers and sisters in Christ who demonstrated a love of Jesus like our own. After showing us buildings authentically constructed and occupations as they would have been performed, they prepared a sumptuous feast for us of fire-grilled chicken and pita bread, soup, hummus, hyssop, olives, cabbage and apples with a fig dipping sauce. Yum!
An olive press
A carpenter
A Rabbi singing to open worship
Thoroughly sated, we headed south again to the Biblical city of Jericho. There we learned that West Bank politics have influenced the conclusion of modern day archaeologists who attempt to discredit the Biblical account of Joshua's defeat of the city after the Israelites first crossed the Jordan into Canaan. With a Christian archaeologist as a guide, however, we were shown incontrovertible evidence of the walls having fallen suddenly, Jericho's destruction by fire and its abandonment as a city.
Our lunch being prepared
Joel, a Christian archaeologist, proves his case
Biblical teaching in Jericho
A 400 year old sycamore tree, symbolic of the tree climbed by Zaccheus to see Jesus in the rebuilt town of Jericho
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