Visiting the Holy Land is about literally following Jesus’ footsteps, but the land of Israel and the history of the Jewish people capture our attention as we travel through the crowded narrow streets and rocky countryside. The Mideast was the crossroads of the ancient world, bringing diverse tribes and traders to the mild climate and varied topography. From the Mediterranean coast and fertile land to the mountain ranges to the vast deserts to the lovely Jordan valley and Sea of Galilee—all within a few hundred miles—the land calls to us. Our first days were in Bethlehem and Jerusalem atop the Judean Mountains. The land is surprisingly thick with rocks. The mountainsides have been terraced with the rocks for thousands of years to prevent erosion and to hold the fertile soil for olive trees and crops. Construction and renovation seems to be happening everywhere. So is litter.
The Syrian-African Rift reaches from Syria in the north
all the way to Africa and is the result of a tectonic plate shift pulling the
mountains apart leaving the rift containing the Jordan River north and
south of the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea.
Galilee is a fertile valley with mostly agriculture—olives, dates,
bananas, pomegranates, mangoes and other food crops. Historically it has had a strong fishing
industry, and a fresh tilapia lunch proved how tasty Galilee fish are.
Date palms and other produce gardens
Pomegranate tree
Israel’s Holocaust Memorial at Yad Vahsem in Bethlehem
gripped my heart. The Children’s
Memorial reflects flames infinitely in a dark complex of mirrors as you listen
to the names and ages of some of the 1 ½ million children who died. Unbearably sad. The main museum traces the rise of the Nazi
death goals and wider persecution in other places. A picture of bodies and logs ready for
burning crushed me. The Hall of Names
features photos and names of those who died.
The Garden of the Righteous is planted with a tree for
each non-Jew who risked life and livelihood to save Jews during the Holocaust. Otto Schindler’s tree is right behind the
marker.
We were not really worried about political unrest, but an
incident a little too near did make us a bit nervous. We had seen signs warning of land mines planted by
the Syrians. We had heard gunfire near our hotel one night. But then one morning we heard that a Syrian bomb injured four Israeli
soldiers in the Golan Heights near the Syria border. We were at Galilee and supposed to go to
the northern part of Israel in the Golan Heights that day. Instead we stayed in
the part near the big lake and skipped the northern parts. We could
actually hear artillery fire which our tour guide Johnny said was about 30-40
miles away. Israel did some air strikes, and we saw a small military
convoy heading north. Johnny was not concerned. "We are
used to it. It happens all the time."
Bullet marks outside the Zion Gate in Jerusalem
Israel is the most threatened country in the Mideast, so
it is perhaps understandable that it reacts so defensively and takes inordinate
care of its borders. We had a moving
service at the Jordanian site on the Jordan River marking Jesus’ baptism and
sang “Amazing Grace” with great feeling. Pastor
asked that we remember this as we faced possible frustrations crossing back
into Israel. Lunch was planned for
Jericho in Israel after crossing over at 1:00.
Three and one half hours later we were starved and cranky. We waited in the bus for long delays. We stood in lines endlessly waiting to
deliver bags to be screened, to go through too many passport checks to count,
to have carry-ons screened, to go through body screens, to collect our bags again. I asked one official checking my passport
what he thought I could have done in the 25 feet since the last check. Then I told Don to shut me up. You don’t want to cause trouble with these
people. But we did remember the morning’s
grace, and several times on the bus amid frustrations, we broke into song: “Amazing Grace.”
Israel in the Past
The people said to Elisha that the city of Jericho was a good place, but the water was very bad. Elisha asked for a new bowl with salt in it. He threw the salt into the spring and announced, "Thus says the Lord, I have made this water wholesome."
Model of the old city
Located in northern Israel but south of the Sea of
Galilee, Bet She’an was settled five millennia BC and was occupied for
centuries mainly on top of the hill. The
Israelites failed to conquer it as they occupied Canaan. When King Saul was killed at Mt. Gilboa, his
body was hung by the Philistines on the walls of Bet She’an. Later David conquered the stronghold, and Solomon used it
as a regional headquarters. The city was destroyed by the Assyrians around 732
BC. After the Roman conquest the city
was rebuilt below the tell as one of the Roman Decapolis regional capitals on a
crossroads in the empire.
Some of our group climbed to the top of the tell (mound
of civilizations built one on top of another).
To move very large, shaped stones, builders fastened them between two wheels with the stone as the axle and then set donkeys or slaves to pull them.
The public lavatories had a stream of water flowing under the stone seats to wash away the waste.
On the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert above the Dead
Sea is the lush oasis of four springs called En Gedi. It has been famous for its dates for
thousands of years and for an ancient persimmon used for perfume. Hebrew
settlements were in the area from 3000 BC.
When King Saul felt threatened by David’s popularity and wanted
to kill him, David fled to the cliffs of En Gedi. Saul pursued him into the hills. Saul went into a cave to relieve
himself, not knowing that David and his men were hiding deep inside. David crept up and cut off a piece of Saul’s
robe. Later he called to Saul from atop
the cliff and showed the king that he could have killed him but did not out of
respect.
This pool below the waterfall, so strange to see in the desert, most likely was used by David when he hid out here. We watched children splash with delight in the pool, a rare treat in this part of the world.
Qumran
The ruins of Qumran and its caves on the steep cliff
faces are above the northwestern edge of the Dead Sea. 
Qumran means two moons, the second being the one reflected in the flat water of the Dead Sea. It was settled by Hebrew people for centuries. The Essenes were a break-away sect of Hebrews who lived there for about two centuries until the Roman conquest in 68 AD killed or dispersed them. They were ascetics and called themselves the Sons of Light. They referred to the religious leaders in Jerusalem as Sons of Darkness They lived austerely, involved mainly in religious activities, ceremonial purification, and self-reliance. Their main occupation seems to have been copying the scriptures and other books. They hid these for protection in jars in hard-to-reach caves which were preserved through the centuries by the dry climate. Bedouin shepherds found them in 1947 and sold them to an antiquities dealer named Kando in Bethlehem.
We visited the Kando antiquities and jewelry shop in Bethlehem. The store is now run by the grandson of the man that had encouraged Bedouin shepherds to be on the lookout for antiquities in the desert and who then bought the Dead Sea scrolls from those shepherds. Kando still has one intact clay jar that the scrolls were found in and more fragments in a Swiss bank vault. Fascinating place.
Caesarea on the Sea
Caesarea on the Sea is a beautiful place on the Mediterranean that was settled and occupied by the early Phoenicians, then the Romans as their regional capital for centuries, the Mamelukes, Crusaders, Ottoman Turks until WWI, British, Arabs, and finally Israel. Peter baptized Cornelius the Roman centurion and his family here. Paul was imprisoned here before being sent to Rome where he died.
The Roman aqueduct that served Caesarea brought fresh water 12 miles from Mt. Carmel. There was a lovely beach, enabling us to wade in the Mediterranean Sea which we have never seen before.
Jerusalem
The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem's Old City was moving prayer experience. Men and women go to separate sections of the wall. We put a hand on the wall and prayed for those close to us and put their names on slips of paper which I stuffed into a crack in the wall. Hasidic Jews put their prayer book against their faces and rock back and forth for prolonged periods of time.
The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem's Old City was moving prayer experience. Men and women go to separate sections of the wall. We put a hand on the wall and prayed for those close to us and put their names on slips of paper which I stuffed into a crack in the wall. Hasidic Jews put their prayer book against their faces and rock back and forth for prolonged periods of time.
We wandered Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter and saw ruins there beneath the new road level. Here is a mural of what it probably looked like originally.
We saw King David‘s grave and a statue of King David with little Jewish children posing all around it.
Masada
Cistern (Note the bird flying)
Baths were heated from below by fires under the floor of the bath.
During the great revolt of the Jewish people against Roman rule 66-73 AD, Jewish rebels took Masada, and others fled there from Jerusalem as it fell. It finally was the last Jewish holdout, so Rome sent a legion to take it. Siege didn't faze the rebels at first since they had plenty of water and stores of food. Then the Roman soldiers chose a slope to the west to build a ramp and battering ram.
Josephus Flavius, whose description of the events has been supported by archeology, tells us that Eleazar Ben-Yair, the leader of the Jewish defenders, stirred the people to choose death rather than slavery and worse for their womenfolk. Each man killed his wife and children; then the men killed each other so that when the Roman soldiers broke through to the top, they found only blood and death.
I felt a chill standing here, visualizing these courageous rebels and the horror of choosing death over enslavement. Masada has become a symbol to the Jews and the world of humanity's continuous struggle for freedom from oppression.
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