Galilee, Day 1

I have just reterned from a 4 day trip to Galilee and you know what that means! Lots of new blogs posts. So here I'll attempt to post the impression report from my first day. Maybe I'll even be able to add pictures. :) It's a bit long, so feel free to skim.


October 25, 2008
As I sit myself down with a nice cup of tea at the end of a long day in the field, I find myself rejoicing, still, for this amazing opportunity. Every now and then it hits me again, how amazing this all is. (Side note: here at the Sea of Galilee we are below sea level, which means water boils at a slightly higher temperature. I’ve always wanted to make tea below sea level!)

Today I was thinking about Montana, as I often find myself doing. I’m sometimes afraid that I talk (and think) about Montana too much; I really hope I don’t annoy people with my Montana references. At any rate, that got me to thinking about the longest period of time I’ve actually been out of Montana. Pervious to this trip the longest I’d been out of the USA was 3 weeks. I’ve surpassed that! I think the longest that I’ve been outside my home state is two months, when I worked at a camp in Alaska. So, by the end of this semester, I’ll have been away from Montana for a record amount of time. It kind of made me feel like a hick. Most people go away to college or get married and move across the country, or move from state to state with their parents. I don’t really think of myself as a “home-body,” but the fact is, I’ve spent most of my life in a 200 mile radius. Of course, it’s been my dream for years to live and minister overseas (long-term). Perhaps this is a good start.

Today we started our field study at Caesarea. It was a beautiful day. A bit hazy, but not too hot and not too cold. It is a very different feeling place from Jerusalem, with good reason. The geography is totally different and they were built and inhabited for totally different reasons. Jerusalem looked to God (ideally); Caesarea looked to Rome. For the Jews, the “Uttermost parts of the earth” (mentioned in Acts 1:8) started at Caesarea. It was a different world. Today, as secular Jews played on the beaches there, while orthodox Jews remained in their synagogues in Jerusalem, it’s still a different world.

We were able to spend a little time looking over Caesarea. Never enough, but it was a start. We got to see the remains of Herod’s palace and watch little fish swim in what used to be a fresh water pool, right on the edge of the ocean. We sat and talked for a while in what is likely the remains (or on top of the remains) of the Praetorium where Paul was imprisoned. We got to see the theatre and the aqueducts (both evidence of Roman domination). How fun would it be to perform a play on that stage? Someday, when I’m rich and famous, I’m going to bring my drama students over here and we’ll perform in Caesarea’s theatre.
(Here's part of the Aqueduct and a view of the remains of Herod's Palace.)


Our next stop was for lunch at a little restaurant in/by a Druze village on Mt. Carmel. It was lovely. We had the choice of falafel or chicken (don’t remember the name…). I had the falafel. Then we got to put all sorts of yummy veggies and such on it. It was amazing.

Next stop was near the monastery on Mt. Carmel (the monastery itself was closed until 2:30). Because of that we didn’t have quite as wide of a view, but, on the other hand, it was so hazy we wouldn’t have been able to see anything anyway. Dr. Wright pointed out a few things from where we were and then we discussed the importance of Mt. Carmel.

Along with the Sharon plain, Lebanon, and Bashan, Mt. Carmel is listed in the Bible as a place of blessing and richness – always green, even in drought. Of course, it is most famous for the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

Baal, as I understand him, was the Canaanite god of fertility. He is pictured in a couple ways: riding on clouds with lightning (a god of storms and rain) and riding (or being) a bull (again emphasizing fertility). If Baal were to send fire from heaven, one would expect it to be in the form of a lightning bolt. One would expect him, having accepted that offering, to also end the drought and send rain. Strangely enough, this is approximately what happened (as far as we can tell). The only differing being that it happened when Elijah prayed to the God of Israel rather when the prophets prayed to Baal. Thus, we see here the LORD performing the actions that would be expected of Baal. According to Dr. Wright, at this point it seems likely that Elijah felt a “moment of ontological uncertainty.” Exactly who is this God he is serving? Is it another god like Baal but with a different name? Perhaps this is why, after such a huge success, he flees from the threats of a woman. And where does he flee to? Horeb. The mountain where God firsts declared Himself to the people of Israel. There, God doesn’t speak to him with the wind or earthquake or fire. God speaks to him in the “sound of thinnest silence.” In that time, God demonstrates to Elijah that He is totally and completely different from any other god. He can appear in different ways. He has power over everything other gods claim to control (like rain and lightening). But we must not limit Him to that. Perhaps that is what was going on.

On a somewhat ironic note, it rained on us on top of Mount Carmel.

The next stop was Megiddo. It’s always so exciting to go to places that we’ve discussed in Archaeology or other classes. We got to see the gates and the round altar and the water system. I think I’d seen all of those things before, for that matter, but it adds so much meaning to seeing them if you know something about them.
(This is the temple area at Megiddo. You can kind of see the round altar from, I think, the Early Bronze Age.)


We didn’t have a lot of time at Megiddo (another reason to go back!), so on the bus we discussed a bit the “Armageddon” mentioned in Revelation 16:16. Traditionally, it has been translated at “Har Megiddo” or “Mountain of Megiddo.” This is possible, but it should be noted that if that is correct, in all likelihood John was not referring to Tel Megiddo. A tel and a har are very different things and John would have known the difference. It could, though, be referring to the mountains around that area. Another possibility is that it actually meant “Har Mo’ed” which means “Mountain of Assembly.” Is it possible that John was alluding to Isaiah 14:13 and by “Armageddon” he really means Jerusalem? Today, Megiddo isn’t really worth fighting over any more. Jerusalem is.

Our final stop was on the Nazareth Ridge, the place called the “Jumping Mountain.” Possibly the place where they tried to stone Jesus? From there you can see the location of so many different Bible stories – Deborah and Barak, Saul and Jonathan, Elijah, Elisha, etc. We can be fairly certain that Jesus visited this hill as a child and that he knew these stories. What did he think about when he looked over the Jezreel valley? What did he ponder when he considered the site of so many Israelite victories and defeats? How did this affect his life? Interesting points to ponder.
(Here's Jesse, reading from Luke 4:16ff on the Nazareth Ridge.)


Now, having arrived at En Gev, with a good meal in my belly, I think I could just about sleep through the thunderstorm described in Psalm 29.

(And just for fun, here's a cool flower from the Sharon Plain. Could this be the rose of Sharon or the Lily of the valley?)