Farewell to Galilee...hello Jerusalem

Update from yesterday:  Isaiah caught a small fish from the Sea of Galilee, thanks to the piece of turkey (bait) his brother "borrowed" from he dinner buffet.

This was the Lord's Day, so immediately after breakfast we assembled in a very nice room for a period of worship before heading out to do more sightseeing.  Many of the preachers on our tour were pressed into service.  Greg gave the sermon and Tim made remarks when it was time for the Lord's Supper.  It was an uplifting service, and such a wonderful way to begin our day.  

After the period of worship we left the area of Galilee and took a road south.  To our left we could see the country of Jordan, Israel's neighbor on the east.  Barry said that from where we were Jordan was a "5-iron shot".

Our first stop was at Beit She'an, the city where Saul's body was hung on the wall.  Beit She'an is a tel and also there are many ruins from Roman times.  Several members of our group decided to hike to the top of the tel, and the rest stayed with Gus to tour the Roman ruins.  I was not going to make the climb, but at the last minute I decided to go.  Actually, it was not as difficult as I remembered it to be.  The sun was beating down, and I walked the whole way with my umbrella, which helped a great deal.  The tel-climbing women were vastly outnumbered by the men, so the three of us posed at the top.  The view from the top was worth the climb.  From there we could see all of the Roman ruins below.  Look to the left of the picture.

We drove past Mt. GIlboa where Saul was killed...before his body was taken to Beit She'an.  Then we visited the Spring of Harod where Gideon selected his soldiers to fight the Midianites by the way they drank water from the spring.  A group re-enactment was required.

The next stop was the ruins of Jezreel.  The view from the tel helped explain more about the valley below.  Also, since I had never been there I was surprised to find that Jezreel is on a mountain.  That is not obvious when we refer to the two-dimensional Bible maps at the church building.

We went through the security checkpoint that allowed us to enter the area referred to as the West Bank, which is under Palestinian control.  This area is known as Samaria in the Bible and is an area we had never been able to visit on earlier trips.  We drove from north to south in the hill country of Samaria.  It is really a "hill country" and most of the crops had to be raised on terraced areas on the mountains.  Again, this does not show up on Bible maps.

We stopped for lunch at Sebastia, which was known as the city of Samaria in the BIble.  Strangely enough, the owner of the little restaurant had a Alabama sticker in the window.  

Isaiah has been wanting to ride a camel, and in Sebastia there was a man with a camel right in front of the restaurant.  The man quoted $5 for a short ride, but when Isaiah offered him $3, he let him ride.

The town of Samaria served as the capital of the northern kingdom for 160 years and we took a hike to the hill that Omri bought.  The ruins showed where the palace had been located.  On the hike we commented on how beautiful the area was.

Our next stop was in Nablus (Sychar of the Bible) where Jacob's well is located.  Barry told us that Bible scholars were 99% sure that this site was actually Jacob's well.  Of course a church has been built over the site, but the priest was gracious not only to show us the well, but also tell us a bit about himself.  There were beautiful murals on the walls of the church building, and he had painted all of them himself.  He had dedicated his life to that effort.  

We all enjoyed posing by the well.

This was the area of Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, but the town has grown up so much around the mountains that it is impossible to get a suitable photo of both mountains.  

We arrived in Jerusalem about 5:45.  Dinner was at 6:30 and several members of our group left to walk  to the gate of the old city before dark.  It is time to rest and get ready for another busy day tomorrow,