Our wake-up call came at 6 AM and by 7:30 we had eaten breakfast, boarded the bus, and were headed for Hazor, which is the largest archaeological dig in northern Israel, and “incredible” is the best word to describe it. This tell includes 21 levels of civilization, so there is still plenty of work to be done there, if there are any future archaeologists reading this!
Our next stop was in the small town of Metula. (Get out your world atlas and look this one up.) It is NOT a Biblical site, but a very interesting spot. We had a photo taken of us with Barbara Jo and Norm while we were there. The interesting thing about the photo is that from Metula you can see right over the border into Lebanon, which is right behind us in the photo.
We made other stops…one at Dan (where Jeroboam I set up the golden calf for the people to worship in Old Testament times…read I Kgs. 12). Archaeologists have actually located the steps that led to the platform where the calf was! We walked up there ourselves, but (alas!) no golden calf where we could chip off a souvenir! That particular item has long ago been taken away by some invaders during some previous century! Then we pressed on to Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus promised to build His church in Matt. 16. While we were there, Ferrell read the Scriptures to us where Peter confessed that Jesus was the Son of God. It was easy to understand the reference to a “rock” with the huge rocky cliff directly behind the area where this statement was made. The photo enclosed illustrates that.
We drove to Birket Ram, a lake in an extinct volcano, and then made a stop very close to the border with Syria for a peek into yet another country. We drove to Chorazin, which was one of the cities chastised by Jesus…read Matt. 11:21.
The afternoon sun was particularly spectacular shining on the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights on the other (east) side of the Sea. I could not keep from including that photo along with one of the four of us in the late afternoon (It was almost too dark for a photo!). This one was taken from the top of Mt. Arbel…again you will have to look this one up. The bus took us to a parking lot and we hiked to the top for a spectacular late-afternoon view of the Sea of Galilee and the city of Tiberias below.
Whew! Another almost-too-perfect day! I wish each of you were here to enjoy all of these things with us. Tomorrow we leave Tiberias, and by nightfall we will be in Jerusalem. Doesn’t that sound incredible?
Enjoy the rest of the day God gave YOU, and “tune in again tomorrow, same time, same station” for an update on your friends who are adventuring in Israel!
I have throughly enjoyed reading your blog everyday. I am able to keep up with what my mother and sister are doing and it is exciting for me. I feel like I am there with you on this trip. Thank you for doing this for us!
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