2011 - 1st Journey, Days 5 & 6

DAYS 5 & 6  (May 1 & 2, 2011): 

Worship, then on to Jezreel, Gideon’s Spring, Bethshean, Bethlehem,
Mount of Olives, City of David, Garden Tomb.

Worshiping in Israel (specifically the city of Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee) is pretty much like worshiping anywhere else, except that EVERYBODY’S a visitor. The 39 of us on the tour met in a private room of the hotel and we all made each other feel welcome and comfortable. John Kilgore and Dave Cooper did fine jobs with the songleading and Lord’s Supper respectively.  Ferrell Jenkins (by now also affectionately referred to as “Pharoah Jenkins”) asked me to preach the night before so I put together a lesson we’ll call “I Was Blind But Now I See”. As I said, we all made each other feel like we were at home so everyone was gracious and thanked me for the effort.  Ferrell had chosen a particularly “geographical” passage to read from the New Testament and his presentation left us all appreciative of what we’d already seen and hungry for more. So, Day 5, Sunday, May 1^st therefore began with our hearts full of both appreciation and expectation.

The bus pulled out at 9:25 and headed north along the western shore of the Sea of Galilee (wonderfully beautiful) for just a little while before turning west and then south.

Mt. Tabor

We shortly later passed quite close to the “Witch of Endor’s” old haunts which we could see from the highway (1 Samuel 28). Exactly one hour after we left the hotel we came to the remains (and a magnificent view) of Jezreel.  I’ll leave it to you to look up all the passages which mention Jezreel in the Bible since there are 18 chapters which mention its name. Suffice to say we were all edified by Ferrell’s masterful overview of these events and our Israeli guide’s observations as well.

By my home state’s standards (Washington) there’s not much water flowing clear and clean directly from the rocks of “Harod’s Spring” but it was enough to slake the thirst of 32,000 soldiers in Gideon’s day (Judges 6-8) and was used to decide which 300 from the multitude would defeat the Midianite army camped across the valley by the Hill of Moreh (Judges 7:1) which we could plainly see if you just climbed up on the hill a few feet.  Here's a shot of the little river flowing away from the cliff face:

Bethshean was next and the Roman ruins spectacular.

We finished the day in Bethlehem where I posed beside one of the actual clay pots in which some of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

Day 6 also began at 8 am when we boarded the bus and drove straight up to the Mount of Olives and had our group photo taken. I can’t show you that photo but here’s what Jerusalem looked like not long after sunrise this morning.

We then spent four hours in a rather challenging workout of mostly climbing up and down stairs. It was certainly worth it though, to see the remains of King David’s ancient capital city and even sit on the steps of the Pool of Siloam.

After 11 pm now (in Israel) and I still have to buy some internet time and post this blog, so it’s goodbye for now.

Larry H