Day Two

Today we are off to an early start and our main objective will be Mount Carmel where the 450 prophets of Baal and Elijah had the big face off. Then we will continue down into the Jezreel Valley to Megiddo. While we are there we will visit one of King Solomon's fortified city kingdoms (1Kings 9:15; 10:26) and an impressive ruin of 20 levels of civilization. After that we will be proceeding to Nazareth and visit a Nazareth Village describing life from the time of Jesus. From there continuing via Arbel cliffs for a majestic view of the Sea of Galilee then on to see the home of Simon Peter in Capernaum where Jesus chose to center his ministry (Luke 4:16-32).

Today we met our guide Aaron and Nissan is still driving. Before getting to the mountain we planed to stop at a church for daily devotions. As we were ascending we noticed that a fire had ravaged the local area. Apparently there had been a large forest fire and many trees were lost as well as the lives of several people.

Our morning devotion was spoken by David, Pastor Keith's son and followed by a visit to the church roof overlooking the Jezreel Valley. From here we could see for miles due to the change in elevation.

As we travelled we also had the fortune of seeing Bedouin goat herders as well as a Druze town. Our guide told us that they are the most common local resident on the mountain. Megiddo was our next stop and the heights of Menasha. Megiddo by the way is a reference to Armageddon. We also learned our first Hebrew phrase today, which was Thank you or TODA RABA (תודה רבה).

It took us 1 hour to get to the heritage national park in Megiddo where we were going to visit our first Tell. I know what you are thinking what is a Tell. A Tell is a site were cities were built on top of another city, most tells are at least 3 to 4 societies deep. This leads us into the second question why build on top of another city. I can hear Aaron's voice now as I type this answer, that cities were always build in the same sort of strategic geographical areas. Most cities and therefore tells are found on a hill, near a water source or spring and usually had at least one side as a very steep un-climbable slope. The chariot city; built by King Solomon was the same, and from the hilltop we could see Mount Tabor, Mount Carmel, Mount Jorbram, Samaria and the valley of Armageddon.



Like most cities it was built near a natural spring which had a hidden underground enterance from the city in order to have water available during times of war. We traversed the tunnell which had 183 steps going down and followed by 88 stairs going up. The tunnell to the hidden spring was hand carved rock and took years to excavate. We also saw a large cistern which was around 50 feet deep and 25 feet wide with a circular stair case on the inside built for storing grains such as weat and barley. We could tell the the cistern was not used for water by the absense of plaster over the rocks.

After our exploring in Megiddo we were then off to visit Nazareth which is a city comprised 70,000 people of which 75% are Arabic most of which are Muslim and also Israeli citizens.

Here we learned what is was like to live as a Nazarene. We discovered here that olive trees are very hearty and live up to 200 years plus and had the ability to survive floods, dry spells, and heavy winds. Most of the road ways that were eventually built were first traverse by charts driven by donkeys. Farming in this area was done using a terracing system where stones formed the walls, a pourous layer formed the base and then growing soil placed over top. In an area with such drastic changes in elevation this was done in order to combat erosion. Nazareth is a part of the lower Galilee and the workable soil accumulates in the valleys and is then cultivated.

While we were in the village we also saw an original wine press carved in stone that was over 2000 years old. We were told that wine had to age atleast 40 days before consumption.

Now at this stage of the trip I have to mention that some of our schedule had to be changed up either due to weather or availability of the site and time. Visiting Ancient Tzippori was our nest stop. Sepphoris first mentioned by Josephus Flavius as the most important city in the Galilee is also know as the "glory of the entire Galilee." It should also be know that this city prospered because they never revolted against the Romans during the revolution and therefore were spared.

Much of the city is still intact because of this. Like most Roman cities it has two main streets, the Cardo (Travelling North & South) and the Decumanus (Travelling East & West). These roads were a feat of engineering and were made up of limestone, they were also built for comfort and smoothing the ride for chariots. As you can see below the stones we set at and angle in order to accomplish a less bumpy ride. So that at all times at least three wheels would be on the ground and not in the valley of the joint.



After a long day we finally headed to our second hotel in Tiberius a city with a population of 65,000, which was established in roughly 19 AD and was once the home of the Sanhedrin.  Tiberius, which can be found on the Sea of Galilee, is approximately 212 meters below sea level. The Sea is approximately 20km long by 6km wide and 55 meters deep. As we entered into our hotel we saw many mosaic tiles and carpets. Here is our second hotel room.