We began our day today a a new site to me (actually operational as a archeological site for 5 years or so). We went to ancient New Testament Magdala. What an incredible dig this was! It’s the home of Jesus’ friend, Mary Magdala. And Magdala was a very important town in Jesus’ day–a very large city of at least 15,000 or so. We also discovered it was a very wealthy community–known for its fish production. The Romans actually called it ‘the house of fisheries’.
Also yesterday, we could not have done what we did today! Yesterday, the roads through the Golan Heights were closed. Today, however, they had them open and cleared from their recent snow storm. Yes, snow in Israel! Unbelievable. This is my sixth time to the Holy Land and I’ve never seen snow here before, much less this much. Thankfully, as we drove throught the Golan, it was about 60 degrees today, so things were melting nicely…
In coming out of the snow, we came off of Golan Heights to the ruins of Caesarea Philippi, or Banias (actually Panias in honor of the god, Pan). Matthew 16 speaks of Jesus walking through Caesarea Philippi, a place of worship of many gods, and asks his discicples who he is. This is the place of Peter’s confession, where he told Jesus that he was ‘the Son of the Living God’. And Jesus affirmed him… Some of us took some time to then fill our bottles with water from the mouth of the Jordan River … to take home … for baptisms. How special this will be for those who hear their child’s baptism water contains some water from the River Jordan, baptism place of jesus.
Worship Area at Caesarea Philippi (Banias)
Group listening to Malcolm’s lecture at Banias or Caesarea Philippi…
Before a stop for lunch, we went by Tel-Dan and saw a very old city gate that had been uncovered and was pretty well intact. We learned what a gatehouse was all about and what it meant when someone said the king was ‘sitting in the gate’. Finally, down around the corner was another gate, dating not only from the time of David, but from the time of Abraham. Yes, Abraham! And, from what we heard today, this is probably the best example of an Abraham-era gate found anywhere in the world…
Abrahamic gate at Tel-Dan
Toward the end of our day, we drove by Korazin, one of the cities Jesus cursed, and also Hazor, the capital city of King Jabin whom Joshua defeated in battle and Solomon’s northernmost chariot city (one of three). We ended our day hearing about one of Israel’s greatest exports–diamonds. Not sure how many purchased, but it was fascinating to hear that Israel is #1 in diamond cutting & polishing. This was the end of a very good day in the Holy Land…
Until next time, with blessing… Pastor Rom