Visit to Galilee

I wanted to see sites in the Galilee before I went home, so I took a couple of days off, picked up a rental car, and drove north from Jerusalem. I followed highway 1 up toward Tel Aviv, but to avoid an extra charge on my rental car I didn’t take the entrance to interstate 6, although this would have been the quickest way to go north. Instead, I followed highway 40, then used highway 402 to connect to highway 4.

Around Tel Aviv the traffic was heavy, and the scenery a mix of planted fields, light industrial development, and suburban sprawl. It was quite a change from the hills that surround Jerusalem, which are rough and covered with pine. On the plain along the Mediterranean Sea it is warmer, palm trees and bananas are as frequent as olive trees are in the hills, and the fields are full of other fruits and vegetables as well.

North of Hadera, I turned off and drove under highway 2 in order to reach the Mediterranean Sea and the ruins of Caesarea. Herod the Great constructed this city as a port in the Roman style to curry favor with Caesar Augustus, after Herod’s patron, Mark Anthony, was defeated in the struggle to rule the Roman Empire. In the center of the Caesarea Herod built a temple to Rome, where she and Caesar Augustus were worshipped. Augustus did allow Herod to continue his reign as king of the Jews in Palestine, so perhaps the goddess (or Caesar Augustus, the emperor-god) was impressed by what was, surely, a very wonderful city.

I was amazed at the size of Caesarea, and delighted by a video presentation in the national park that effectively presented the construction of the harbor and the city. When I walked the ruins, I found a theater, half of the coliseum Herod built (which is as long as one and a half football fields), and the remains of other buildings from the first century BCE.

The multi-media presentation at Caesarea also had a room where you could touch a computer screen in order to see a timeline, and then touch on the screen a person depicted along the time line in order to activate a projector, which produced the image of that person on another screen hanging over the computer. The touch pad also presented questions the viewer could ask the image by touching the screen.

I "spoke with" the images of King Herod, Pontius Pilate, Paul the Apostle, and Rabbi Akiva (d. 135 CE). The questions offered were interesting, and the answers given even more so. King Herod explained how he’d come to power by making influential friends in Rome and marrying Mariam, who was of royal Jewish descent. He also admitted getting rid of her as soon as he could without putting himself in danger.

Pilate explained why in his time the Roman governor was headquartered in Caesarea. The Jews were very touchy about having Romans in Jerusalem, and Pilate much preferred the lifestyle of Caesarea with its theater, games in the coliseum, and more liberal atmosphere.

Paul said he was in Caesarea because he had been accused of stirring up trouble among the Jews and, as a Roman citizen, had appealed to Caesar. He explained that he was a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he had to preach the good news because the Lord had called him to this ministry.

Rabbi Akiva described how Emperor Hadrian desecrated the city of Jerusalem with idols, which is why Simon Bar Kochba led the second Jewish revolt in 132 CE, with the rabbi’s full support. The rabbi said that Simon Bar Kochba was such a charismatic leader that he thought Simon Bar Kochba was the Messiah. But the Roman victory over the Jewish rebels proved otherwise.

For photos of Caesarea, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.caesarea.htm.

From Caesarea I drove northeast to Nazareth along highway 65. This road leads through the broad and fertile Jezreel Valley. The approach to Nazareth is striking for the highway winds its way through a valley that is lush with grain and other crops, and Nazareth sits on a high hill overlooking this valley. The road up to Nazareth is steep and winding, and I couldn’t help but think that a town so far up the hill, away from the crops in the valley far below, must have been very poor indeed. Landowners of the fields in the valley would have lived closer. So, it is not surprising that Jesus was a carpenter. Certainly, his father would not have been a landowner.

Today, Nazareth is anything but picturesque. Its cluttered skyline has no charm, except for the Church of the Annunciation, which towers above the commercial structures that surround it. This is not an old church, but is an intriguing church. There is a lower sanctuary on the ground level, where a mass was being held when I entered. But the upper sanctuary is what people write home about. Contemporary in style, it nonetheless has grandeur despite its preformed concrete construction. Mosaics on the walls from different countries brighten the sanctuary, and more of these are displayed in the courtyard outside.

For photos of the church at Nazareth, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.nazareth.htm.

From Nazareth I drove over the crest of the hill and followed highway 79 down the north side into the next valley, where only a few miles away lie the ruins of the city of Sepphoris, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Sepphoris was a Jewish and Roman city at the time Jesus was living in Nazareth. The remains reveal beautiful mosaics on the floors of residential buildings, and also an old synagogue. Sepphoris had been loyal to King Herod, but joined the Jewish revolt in 66 CE and thus was destroyed when the Romans crushed the revolt.

The city of Sepphoris is not mentioned in the New Testament, which is surprising when you realize how close it is to Nazareth. It would have been visible from the north side of the city where the gospels say Jesus grew up. It also would have been on the way to Tiberias, which was built in 20 CE not far away on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

But probably Sepphoris is not included in the New Testament gospels for two reasons. First it was a Roman city, and Jesus does not enter any Roman cities during his ministry. And second, Sepphoris had revolted against Roman rule, which made any association with it dangerous. As the gospels were written after 70 CE, and thus after the time that the Romans had put down the Jewish revolt, they sought to portray the followers of Jesus as good citizens of the Roman Empire. Mentioning any contact with Sepphoris in telling the story of Jesus during his ministry in the Galilee would have cast doubt on that presentation of Jesus and his disciples.

For photos from Sepphoris, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.sepphoris.htm.

Leaving Sepphoris I followed highway 79 east to highway 754 and then took highway 77 to Tiberius, where I found a busy and cluttered city. Entering from the west means coming into the city from high on the hill above it. The Sea of Galilee is in a basin, with hills on all sides except the south, where the River Jordan flows from the Sea of Galilee. On the way down the hill into Tiberius I lost my way a couple of times, before I found highway 90, which follows the western edge of the Sea of Galilee north and south.

As it was now almost 6 in the evening, I drove north along highway 90 to the Mount of Beatitudes, which is high on the hill above the Sea of Galilee on the north side, above the ruins of Capernaum. The gate to the church and the guesthouse was closed, but after pushing both buttons beside it, I heard an electric motor and the massive metal gate slowly moved to the right. Once inside the gate, I found my way to the guesthouse, parked, and then enjoyed a quiet evening and a good night’s sleep.

The next morning I awoke to the sound of loons crying out across the Sea of Galilee. It was quite a different experience from hearing the Muslim "call to prayer" most mornings in Jerusalem. Apparently there are no mosques in the area just north of the Sea of Galilee, as this area was largely Jewish in the first few centuries of the Christian era. In the twentieth century Christians from Europe built memorial places beside the Sea of Galilee, and after 1948 Jewish Israelis began to resettle the area in large numbers.

I began visiting sites around the Sea of Galilee by driving a little north to Korazim National Park. Spelled Chorozain in most English translations of the New Testament, this town is mentioned in Matthew 11:21 and Luke 10:13. Korazim is also referred to in the Babylonian Talmud (Menahot 85/A, which is one of the two major versions of the Talmud studied today by Jews.

Archeological evidence suggests that Korazim was founded in the first century CE, and the gospels of Matthew and Luke present it as a town that rejected the teachings of Jesus. The town later expanded in size because of the influx of Jews, who were expelled from Judea by Hadrian in 135 CE after the failure of the second Jewish revolt. As in Capernaum, there was a synagogue at the center of Korazim, and the town flourished during the third and fourth centuries.

For photos from Korazim, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.korazim.htm.

From Korazim I drove around the Sea of Galilee on the eastern side, following highway 87 to highway 92, and then turning south. About half way down the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee is Kursi National Park. According to Christian tradition, Kursi is the site where Jesus sent into a herd of swine the numerous evil spirits that were afflicting a man. (Matthew 8:23-34, Luke 8:26-39). Kursi is also mentioned in the Talmud as a center of idol worship.

The remains of the ancient city were uncovered during road construction in 1970. A Byzantine monastery and church were discovered with walls measuring 145 by 123 meters. On a nearby hill the ruins of a chapel were also unearthed, with three separate layers of mosaics.

The church was damaged in 614 during the Persian invasion, but later reconstructed. At the beginning of the ninth century it was razed by fire. Arab settlers in the area then used the stones from the church for constructing homes and storage rooms. Today the front arch of the church has been reconstructed, and several mosaics from the original floor of the church are also visible.

For photos from Kursi, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.kursi.htm.

Highway 92 continues south along the western side of the Sea of Galilee and then joins highway 90 heading further south into the Jordan Valley. About ten miles below the Sea of Galilee is the Kohav Hayarden (Belvoir) National Park, where the ruins of an impressive Crusader fortress are on the western ridge overlooking the Jordan Valley.

The Hospitaller Knights purchased the land from a French noble family named Velos, and in 1168 built a stone fortress that covered 3 acres. There is a deep moat around the sides facing west, north and south, and the slope from the east is steep and thus readily defended. When Muslim soldiers under Saladin first came here in 1181, they were unable to penetrate the fortress. But Saladin’s forces returned with greater strength in 1187, and after almost two years the defenders surrendered. Saladin graciously let them retreat to Tyre. The fortress was destroyed early in the next century, when it seemed that the Crusaders might return and try to take it back.

For photos of this fortress, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.belvoir.htm.

Ten miles further south on highway 90 is Bet She’an, a contemporary Israeli city. By following signs that direct you beside an apartment complex in a residential neighborhood, I found my way to the National Park that has preserved the ruins of the ancient city. Bet She’an has been continuously occupied for almost 6,000 years, for it is situated where the valleys allowing travel both north-south, and east-west, meet above the fertile land of the Jordan River. There is good rainfall here as well, and a perennial stream, the Harod.

In the late Canaanite period (sixteenth to twelfth centuries BCE) the city became the seat of Egyptian rule. When the Israelite tribes moved into the area, they were afraid to attack the city, because its defenders had iron chariots (Judges 1:27). In the eleventh century the Philistines, who also had iron weapons, conquered the city. When the Philistines defeated the Israelites on nearby Mt. Gilboa, they hung the bodies of Saul and his sons on the walls of this city (1 Sam. 31:10). Later King David successfully took the city, and Solomon made it the administrative center of the northern part of his kingdom.

The site was destroyed in 732 BCE when the Assyrian armies conquered the northern tribes of Israel. In the fourth century under the rule of Alexander the Great, the city was rebuilt as Nysa, because legend said the god Dionysis, the god of wine, had buried here his nurse, Nysa. The Jewish ruler of the Hasmonean kingdom of Israel, John Hyrcanus, destroyed the city in 107 BCE, but it was soon rebuilt and had to be forcibly converted to the Jewish kingdom during the reign of his successor, Alexander Jannaeus. In 63 BCE the Roman general, Pompey, made the city part of the Decapolis, a league of ten cities designed as a source of Graeco-Roman influence in the area. (The Decapolis is mentioned in some of the New Testament gospels.)

During the revolt against the Romans in 66 CE the Jewish inhabitants of the city fought against their neighbors, but were killed. Nonetheless, under Roman rule the city thrived with a population of pagans, Jews and Samaritans. By the end of the fourth century, during the period of Byzantine power, the city was the capital of the province of Palestina Secunda, and was known by the name of Scythopolis. By the sixth century the city was largely Christian with a population of 30-40,000 people.

The Arab conquest led to a decline in the city, and an earthquake in 749 devastated it. A rural settlement with the name Beisan was built on the site during the rule of the Abbassid Muslims, and in the Crusader era a fortress was constructed to the east of the destroyed amphitheater. The Jewish community that survived the Crusader rule produced in 1322 the first Hebrew book on the geography of the Holy Land. Under Ottoman rule, Beisan was a nondescript town, but after the Israelis took control of the area a new city was built next to the old ruins.

For photos from Bet She’an, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.betshean.htm.

From Bet She’an I drove back up north to the Sea of Galilee, this time continuing on highway 90 on the western side of the lake. Just below Tiberias is Hammat Teverya National Park, which is by hot springs that have long drawn visitors to the area. The site was inhabited during the Roman, Byzantine, and Umayyad periods. When Harod Antipas built Tiberias in 20 CE the Roman spas of Hammat Teverya were already well known throughout the area.

Excavations have uncovered a fourth century synagogue with a magnificent mosaic that contains inscriptions in Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew. At the center of the mosaic is a zodiac, which contains an image of the sun god Helios riding a chariot. This is certainly evidence of the influence of Hellenism on the Jews worshipping in this synagogue.

For photos from Hammat Teverya, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.hammat.htm.

In the late afternoon I drove up highway 90 beyond the northern edge of the Sea of Galilee to the Tel Hazor National Park. Located on strategic hill in the Upper Galilee along the ancient route leading from the Land of Israel to Babylon, the city of Hazor is mentioned several times in the Old Testament. (Joshua 11:10, Judges 4:2)

Excavations now reveal 21 layers of civilization on the site beginning with the nineteenth century BCE. It was noted in both Egyptian and Mesopotamian texts during the next five centuries, when it reached the size of 20,000 inhabitants. But the Old Testament reports that Joshua took the city and slaughtered its inhabitants when he led the Israelites into Canaan. (Joshua 11:1-12) Solomon later rebuilt Hazor, and Ahab increased its size. But the invading Assyrians destroyed the city in 732 BCE. (2 Kings 15:29)

For photos from Hazor, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.hazor.htm.

Steeped in this history, I drove back down to the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee and stopped at Tabgha, about 2 miles southwest of Capernaum. Christian tradition identifies this as the place that Jesus commissioned Peter to head the church, and so the church here is dedicated to the Primacy of Peter. The first church was built here in the late fourth century, and it was used until it was destroyed in 1263. The present church was built early in the twentieth century. The traditional name for this place was Heptapegon, which refers to seven springs. Tabgha is an Arabic corruption of the Greek name.

In Capernaum there are ruins of both a synagogue and a church, which are practically next to each other in the ancient town. Capernaum was the headquarters for the ministry of Jesus in Galilee, and it was the home of his closest followers including Simon Peter. The dig there suggests that the churches were built on top of the remains of a house, which was also used for worship. The evidence for this conclusion is found in the pottery fragments at the level prior to the middle of the first century, for these reflect normal household use. But later levels have only fragments of storage jars and lamps. Also, graffiti on the walls with references to Jesus as Lord suggest that Christians used the structure as early as the first century for worship.

For photos from Capernaum, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.capernaum.htm.

Above Capernaum is the Mount of the Beatitudes, where Jesus is remembered for preaching the Sermon on the Mount. A chapel with eight sides was built here in 1938, and the site offers a view over the entire northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The guesthouse is modern and sits amidst gardens above the chapel. It is quiet here, except for the loons in the morning, as I verified by spending a second night.

For photos from the Mount of Beatitudes, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.beatitudes.htm.

The following day I drove highway 90 all the way back to Jerusalem, a trip from the top of the Sea of Galilee of about 100 miles. I came past Midgal, the contemporary town on the location of what was Magdala, where Mary Magdalene (Mary of Magdala) lived. Then I drove through Tiberias, crossed the Jordan River at the base of the Sea of Galilee, and continued past the National Parks of Kohav Hayarden (Belvoir) and Bet She’an.

The Jordan Valley becomes broader as you go further south, and the land to the west of the highway is drier. There is irrigated farming all the way down through the valley, but near Jericho the broad plan includes desert as well as cultivated land. Highway 90 circles around Jericho, and just before it intersects with highway 1 I stopped to visit a Greek Orthodox monastery dedicated to St. Gerasimos. A group of Palestinian children were visiting along with their teachers, and the monastery was alive with activity. Women seemed to be in charge, but I did see one young monk before I left. (I also saw a couple of ostriches that were being kept there with the chickens and other animals.)

For photos from St. Gerasimos, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.gerasimos.htm.

After turning onto highway 1, I began to head up the steep hillside toward Jerusalem. Just off the floor of the valley I turned south to stop at Nabi Musa, which is a Muslim shrine and mosque dedicated to Moses. The Mamluk sultan Baybars built a small shrine here in 1269, and soon pilgrims on their way to Mecca began to stop. The hospice was expanded to its present dimensions late in the fifteenth century.

Around 1820 the Ottoman Turks restored the building and encouraged a pilgrimage from Jerusalem to Nabi Musa on the Friday of Holy Week. In the mid nineteenth century thousands of Muslims made this journey, staying for five days of prayer, games and feasting, before returning home again. Today the building is in disrepair, but a caretaker led me into the mosque, showed me where Moses was remembered (and perhaps falsely said to be buried), and then sold me a prayer rug so I wouldn’t forget what he’d told me.

For photos from Nabi Musa, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.nabi.htm.

Climbing the steep road back toward Jerusalem I saw several Bedouin settlements in the dry gulches beside highway 1. Sheep, goats, and donkeys were visible from the road, and laundry was strung up to dry in the gusty winds blowing from the south. An occasional tractor and a few water tanks revealed how the Bedouin are able to survive in this hostile climate, which just below the green Jewish settlements at the top of the hill.

Human life continues here, as it has for millennia, despite the wars and the vicissitudes of nature. Communities of people construct dwelling places, and sites for celebrating their religious rituals. For more than a millennium Jews, Muslims and Christians have lived in this land, sometimes battling one another, but often simply living together. Is it too much to hope that their life here will continue, and that they might finally find a way to share this land?

Bob Traer, 5 May 2005

I am writing as a participant in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel, which is sponsored by the World Council of Churches. The views expressed above are personal and do not necessarily represent the World Council of Churches. If you wish to publish or disseminate this letter beyond personal friends, please contact the EAPPI Communications Officer (eappi-co@jrol.com) for permission to do so. Thank you.

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