Second Temple Galilee, Day 2

April 26, 2009

Today I got up relatively early to walk down to the shore of the lake. It was a beautiful morning, still and shining.  Some frogs were still singing, perhaps still trying to get their tiny tadpole babies to sleep.  No wonder Jesus loved being in Galilee.

After a quick breakfast we hopped on the bus and again headed into the eastern heights.  This time our destination was the famed site of Gamala - "the Masada of the North."  The site itself is pretty spectacular, a rocky and narrow hill, like Hippus with valleys on 3 sides and a narrow saddle on the 4th, looking down at the sea of Galilee.  There's a waterfall nearby, and eagles nesting in the cliffs.  

We clambered down the mountain and across the saddle to the remains of the synagogue where we paused to discuss site identification.  See, archaeological sites don't usually come with signs attached: "To the excavator:  Congratulations!  You've just discovered _____(name of site), mentioned by Josephus in _____(reference), and in the Bible in _______(reference)."  Instead, site identification uses a careful mix of references in ancient texts, modern toponymic connections, and archaeological finds to indentify a site.  Gamala, for instance, is described by Josephus much as I described both Hippus and Gamala, with the added detail that the hill of the city bore some resemblence to a camel's back.  He also includes some information about its location in a few texts.  Based on this sort of information, there have actually been a number of sites suggested as possible locations of Gamala.  One is Hippus.  Another, obviously, is the current site we were visiting, which currently bears the name "Gamala."  A third, though relatively close, is just over the border in Syria.  Hippus and Gamala have both been excavated, but the third site has not.  While at Gamala the archaeological evidence fits well with what we know took place there, it is not entirely convincing, at least to some.  My archaeology teacher finds it convincing, but then he is a Jew, and very pro-Israeli, and may have alterior motives for wishing to believe that Gamala is in modern day Israel.  It could be Gamala, but there are still questions and issues.  Perhaps they could be resolved by excavating the other site.  Archaeology: another reason to pray for peace between Syria and Israel.  How much we miss by not being able to go there!

After our discussion we had about an hour to climb and explore.  I went to the top of the hill which was covered by reasonably large boulders.  It reminded me of our boulder fields at camp.  I'd want to live there if I were a second temple Jew.  It's a beautiful area.  I'd rather prefer not to be there (or anywhere) when the Romans attacked, though.  Then we had the sweaty climb back over the saddle and up the hill to the bus.

On our way out we stopped at a Dolmen, which pretty much made my day.  The dolmens of Israel date to about the Intermediate Bronze Age (2200-1950 BC) and were probably used as burial structures.  We learned about them in archaeology last semester, so it was fun to actually see some.  

We made our way back to the other side of the lake, paused in a small town to buy some pita for lunch, and ended up by Jotapata (Yodfat).  After a quick lunch we hiked to the top of the hill where Jotapata had been located.  The basic geography of the city is just a variation on the same theme as Hippus and Gamala, though perhaps less dramatic than Gamala.  For those of you who have never heard of Jotapata, prepare for a short history lesson.  

During the first revolt of the Jews against the Romans (culminating with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD), Josephus, a priest from Jerusalem, was assigned to be commander of the Jewish forces in Galilee.  To make a long story short, he was at Jotapata when it fell to the Romans and he was captured.  He managed to ingratiate himself with the commander of the army and became their advisor.  For a  more detailed account you can read what he says about himself.  

So we spent a little time looking around Jotapata, exploring a few of the many caves, perhaps even the one where Josephus hid for a while.  Then we walked, stumbled, slid, and otherwise traveled down the hill.  At the bottom we followed a dirt road for a mile or so until it passed the hill of Khirbet Qana, overlooking the Netopha Valley.  

This is the most likely location of Cana, the place where Jesus performed his first miracle, turning water into wine.  It was a beautiful, clear day, and from the top of Cana we could see Nazareth, Sepphoris, Gath-hepher (home town of Jonah - 2 Kings 14:25), Hannathon, and even, in the distance, the rise of the Carmel Range.  This is the area where Jesus grew up.  He probably had relatives in Cana, thus explaining why he attended a wedding there.  This agricultural region of his youth is probably where he got the imagery for most of his parables.  

We walked down the hill and went further down the dirt path along the edge of the valley to where the bus met us.  It's kind of strange seeing wheat ripening in April when back home it probably hasn't begun to sprout.  From there we headed back to Jerusalem.

It was a good trip.  The smaller group was nice.  Much food for thought.  It was nice to walk and hike and see new sites.  The weather was pretty much perfect, which helped too.  Actually, it was just nice to be in the field (with Dr. Wright) again.  I've missed that this semester.   

Miracles

,Miracles, I suppose, are really a rather controversial subject. Certainly numerous things have been written on them -- skeptics trying to explain away recorded Biblical miracles, spiritualist trying to prove the existence of various random miracles, and everything in between.

I was thinking about miracles today, mostly because of a vague memory of Israel. I remember riding past a village or something and our tour guide explaining that this particular people group believed that the messiah would be born suddenly of a man. Now that's an odd miracle. And I was thinking that such a miracle does not seem like something the God of the Bible would do. Which made me wonder: are there some miracles that really are in some sense impossible? I don't want to put limits on God's power, but on the other hand, His nature does limit what He can and cannot do (He can't sin, etc.) It rather seems to me that having the messiah born suddenly of a man would kind of go against God's nature. Let me explain my reasoning.

I am admittedly a geek, but because of my scientific background, I do think of God as the Great Scientist. Not only that, of course, but he did create the world and holds it together. There's nothing we've discovered in science that He did not first invent and create. He made rules and put limits on the world, which are good and save us from chaos. I think He follows His own rules. Even in miracles. I don't mean to make miracles sound less miraculous because they aren't. Even if we knew all the rules by which the universe operates (which we don't) there would be no way we could apply them to make these miracles happen ourselves.

Let's take the virgin birth, for example. Mary had all the parts necessary for life in her body. For God to tweak one of her eggs just a little to turn it into a sperm, for example, would be all that was required. I don't know that we could do that today, but we definitely could see how it theoretically could be done. From then on naturally processes would be followed. This is drastically different from what would be required in the messianic birth referred to before. To have a man give birth at all goes against nature. For it to be sudden would require basically an act of creation ex nihilo by God. I don't think that's how God works (in fact, I know that's not how He worked in the birth of the messiah). Thus, I would call it an "impossible" miracle.

I'd go on with a few other examples, but I need to go to bed. Let me know if y'all have any thoughts. :)