It is often a sad joke when “The Great” is attached to anyone’s name. Pictures of some guy in a tuxedo pulling a rabbit out of his hat while waving a wand and grinning like the Cheshire Cat are not likely to increase my respect for the man just because he’s added “The Great” to a name like Blandini. But few (if any) have ever argued that Herod of Idumea was unworthy of his now two millenniums old appellation, The Great. He earned it fair and square even though he was a paranoid serial killer whose wife, three sons, and numerous others left this earth because of his delusional command. Still, “Great” he was and “Great” he’ll ever be in the ranks of those who design and construct such things as palaces, theaters, race tracks, water works, and temples.
Today, we saw why. Caesarea By The Sea contains all of these engineering marvels and more. It is, all in one place, a tribute to Herod’s ability to bend earth and sea to his will. First he built an artificial reef/breakwater/foundation complex by which he controlled the influx of sand washed all the way from the Nile River by the currents of the Mediterranean. Upon this he built a palace, produced a port where once there was none, and created one of the premier cities in all of the Roman empire, a gargantuan monument to commerce, governmental power and the pursuit of pleasure. “Great” seems entirely inadequate to describe what Herod pulled out of the “top hat” of his imagination.
And to think that such a place would be the venue for so many New Testament events! Acts chapters 9, 10, 11, 12, 18, 21, 23 and 25 all mention it. So, to quote one of my first teachers… “Read them all – it’ll do you good!”
Of course only the foundations, parts of the grandstands, and remnants of the once proud city endure to this day, but even these are impressive, to say the least:
Herod's Theater
The Hippodrome (Race Track)
Palace Bath
8 Mile Long Aqueduct (So Herod could have fresh water for his bath)
And then it was off to Mt. Carmel, the length of which we drove upon its very spine, observing sweeping vistas of Haifa, verdant rolling hills, and The Great Sea. After lunch we looked down upon the Kishon Brook/River in the immediate area where Elijah bested the prophets of Baal in the great contest we all remember so well (1 Kings 18). A prominent place in Bible history, it is mentioned in 15 other places throughout the Old Testament too.
A whiplash in time deposited us at the city of Megiddo where we listened to Ferrell Jenkins and our Israeli guide regale us with the history of this strategic place of many important battles across the ages.
And then, by 3:30 in the afternoon (seven hours after we had gazed upon Herod’s City by the Sea in all of its splendor, opulence and power) we came to the humblest of cities, Nazareth. Can any good thing come out of there? Yes indeed, both in the ancient past and today, for here we spent two very full hours in the midst of a re-creation of what it was like to live in Nazareth during the childhood of Jesus. An amazing place in its own right, we saw life-sized replicas of an ancient tomb, a winepress, a synagogue, a carpenter’s workshop, and the living quarters of those who walked where Jesus did 2,000 years ago.
Dave and Marge Cooper from our group had played a role in the support of this most enlightening place and were surprised when one of the staff singled them out for a moment of brief honor and gifts.
My oh my! What a day. What a place, this Israel.
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