Sunday, 05 July 2009

• From sea to sea to Sea - Driving tour of Northern Israel

  
  

  

  Above: Composite image of Sea of Galilee as seen from Poriya.
  

  
  Shalom.

  So a week ago, I met a couple -- Gene and Marylois -- who oversee a prayer house here in Jerusalem. They were heading back to the States for a few months but had a few errands to run in the Galilee. Gene invited Nancy and I to tag along, as well as another intercessor, Mark.
  
  We covered more ground than I anticipated. The map at right gives you a sense, but it's not labeled the way I'd hoped. You can click on the colored markers for a bit of info on points of interest. You can click here to see the map in a separate window or tab.
  
  Anyhow, we left the city due east. Then, just before we turned north, we saw the Dead Sea in the distance. We had lunch on the Sea of Galilee. Then, after crossing Armageddon, we dipped our toes in the Mediterranean. This will be a long one, so get comfy.
  
  First, a little geography and history. In 1917, Britain had set aside all of the Palestinian Mandate for a Jewish homeland. By the 1940s, most of it had been given to Arabs. Still, on May 14, 1948, the nation of Israel was born in a day and born into war, as its Arab neighbors attacked it straightway. When the dust settled in 1949, the dotted line is where the borders fell. There has been much shifting since then, but I say this to clarify that, yes, that most of the area within the dotted line is the West Bank. Yes, we drove through the West Bank. (For more information on the geo-political history of Israel, visit StandWithUs.org for a concise yet informative history lesson).
  
  Down from Jerusalem into the desert
  As if you needed a reminder, I am American born, and my travels within the United States are my point of reference. Still, I see it God ordained. A lot of what I saw during this ride, particularly in the West Bank, was familiar. The West Bank looks like Southern California. Think Palm Springs and the surrounding area (without golf courses and celebrities). Palm Springs has groves of date palms... and that seemed to be the primary crop on the Israel side of the Jordan Valley.
  
  Also, there is a checkpoint for those traveling west into Jerusalem and then leaving the West Bank on the north side. No biggie to me... I've been going through checkpoints since I was a kid. Granted, U.S. Border Patrol and the Israel Defense Force have different rules of engagement, but still.
  
  I thank God that I got to see this land in peace first. There is much evidence of the intifadas still left in the desert. The bus stops have huge concrete barriers in front of them, because terrorists were running cars into crowds waiting for buses. There is a road to Jericho completely barricaded with a mountain of concrete because terrorists were ambushing travelers there. But I digress.
  
  Almost immediately after leaving the City on a Hill going east, one descends into desert. This is the Judean Wilderness, where John the Baptist roamed and where Jesus was tempted. (Bottom photo at left is called by some Temptation Mountain, proposed as the high place from where Satan tempted Y'shua with the nations.)
  
  This is where the parable of the Good Samaritan is set. We drove down the road where robbers used to lie in wait in the first century... and where just a few years ago, Palestinian snipers and bombers also laid in wait.
  
  As you see on the map, we went around Jericho. It is an Arab city. Perhaps I'll visit another time, if the Lord leads.

  
  

  Where John baptized?
  We know that John the Baptist was working his ministry on the Jordan River in the Judean Wilderness (Matthew 3, Luke 3). Straight east from Jerusalem past Jericho makes sense. Even by car it takes a bit to get down there. That's why, Chuck Missler says, the Temple officials had sent representatives down to the river to see what was going on. The people weren't hanging out at the temple but were making the trek into the desert to listen to the prophet.
  

  John greeted the recon men warmly : "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, 'Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?'"
  (Matthew 3)
  
  So, there is a spot on the Jordan east of Jericho where some say Jesus met his cousin John for baptism. There is an abandoned chapel there. The site is in the border buffer zone, so it's usually closed to the public. We drove to the fence and were greeted by soldiers and a parks-and-rec representative. The parks guy did radio for permission, which was kind of him, but we were denied. And even when people are allowed to the site, they keep people from the water, lest they float over into Jordan. Check out this Jerusalem Post story from April 2008 about a group who traveled from Europe to bathe at this spot.
  
  Not long after we continued north on Highway 90, three white birds (above) flew over the road and over our van. All of us in the vehicle are mystics, in that we believe in the mystical (that some things "have a spiritual meaning or reality that is neither apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; involving or having the nature of an individual's direct subjective communion with God" - mw.com) But Nancy was quite ecstatic when she saw them. "Father, Son and Holy Ghost!" she exclaimed.
  
  Jordan River Valley
  Just as I'm researching and writing this post, I'm fascinated by the tectonics of the area. The Jordan Valley is actually in a rift. This is where the African Plate means the Arabian Plate. Yeah, earthquake country (isn't this why I left California? ) Also lots of implications concerning Bible prophecy, but we won't go there right now.
  
  The valley is quite beautiful and it is fruitful. We passed many date palm groves and some banana groves. On the Jordan side one sees cultivation of all types. I could not find in a quick search what is grown there, but our guide said this valley is Jordan's most agriculturally prolific.
  
  Highway 90 rides the border fence a lot of the way. In the distance it was very easy to see the Mountains of Moab, where Moses and Aaron died, where Lot and his daughters fled the destruction of Sodom. God promised that land to Lot's descendants, and so when Joshua is marching toward Canaan, God orders him to leave Moab and Ammon alone. (See the books of Genesis, Numbers and Deuteronomy).
  
  The remnants of war and of empire
  There are many ruins in Israel... some ancient and some recent. Our guide took us to two interesting places.
  
  First was the city of Beit She'an. Beit She'an was once that capital of the Decapolis, 10 Roman cities established as retirement communities for Roman soldiers. At the time, Beit She'an was known as Scythopolis. Here we stopped for a quick look at an aquatic amphitheater. If you zoom in into the city on the Google map and glance up just north of my marker in Beit She'an, you will see that there are many ruins marked. Wikipedia also has images of the ruins we didn't have time to see.
  
  A little further up the road, we drove into the kibbutz of Gesher. Gesher is the Hebrew word for bridge. There is a bridge here that was destroyed by the Israelis during the 1948 War for Independence when the Jordanians tried to cross over. The humble dwellings in the area still bear evidence of shelling and rocket fire from the 1967 war.
  
  Gesher is a tourist friendly spot. There are tours of area landmarks and more. Check out www.naharayim.co.il.
  
  Yardenit
  After following the river much of the way, the river took a left and went under us. We, too, went west, to Yardenit, a baptismal site on the Jordan River.
  
  This is an interesting place. It is still the Jordan River, but it is safely within Israel's modern borders. There was a plaque trying to make the case that Jesus was baptized here, but the Gospels tell us John was in the desert. Galilee is not quite a desert, not like Judea.
  
  It is a tourist trap, to be sure. Tourism does, after all, keep the wheels turning in Israel. The neat thing about this place is that it offers Christians a safe, accessible place to baptize in the Jordan.
  
  Kibbutz Kinneret runs the site, which was founded in 1913 by East European immigrants, according to their website.
  
  The main attraction, at last
  First we ran up to the town of Poriya to complete the errands that had prompted this trek. The first photo on this page, the panoramic of the Sea of Galilee, was taken from there.
  
  This is the lake Peter, Andrew, James and John fished. This is the water Jesus walked on that stormy night.
  
  The lake is the second lowest body of water on Earth (Dead Sea is first), and the lowest freshwater lake at 690 feet below sea level, according to Wikipedia.
  
  After pictures and errands, we headed into Tiberias for lunch.
  
  There we sat on the boardwalk and had St. Peter's Fish for lunch. Nancy had a whole fish, seen at right. It made a prettier picture than my fillets. The best part, probably because I was hungry, was the first course of hot pita bread, hummus, Turkish salad (tasted like a cumin-heavy Tex-Mex salsa), pickled olives and cucumbers. Kinda wish I'd taken a good shot of the spread, but did I mention I was hungry? So hungry, in fact, that I took just one shot of that lovely fish at right, and it came out blurry... but Photoshop's watercolor filter cured that right up.
  
  Heading home
  Our driver decided that we'd take another route home. As you see on the map, we made a big circle. I encourage you to click the markers on the map to get a feel for where we were. This post's gotten long enough, so I won't detail all that. But we passed Nazareth, En Dor -- where King Saul consulted a medium, Nain -- where Jesus resurrected the widow woman's only son, Megiddo -- the plain where the nations will attempt to literally wage war against God (silly, I know) only to be crushed spectacularly.
  
  Then we got a treat I was not expecting. Gene, our driver, took us to Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea. This is where Philip preached, Peter met Cornelius, and Paul was held by Felix for causing a riot (see the Book of Acts).
  
  There are Roman ruins on the beach. Yeah! They say you can walk the beaches and find small artifacts, pottery shards and the like. Part of a third century aqueduct still stands much like it did a millennium and half ago. Wow! When I write it that way, it sound like a long time ago!
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  The beach was busy with waders, surfers and sunbathers. We didn't linger long, because we were already way past our estimated return time.
  
  We joined the evening traffic back into Jerusalem. The setting sun lighted the buildings as we approached. "A city on a hill cannot be hid." Nope, it can't.
  

  
  
  

  
  You can see a handful of more photos from the road trip on Flickr. Thanks for reading, especially if you made it down here.
  
  

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