Bet She'an

About 15 miles south of the Sea of Galilee lies the ruins of the large Roman (and others) city of Bet She'an. There has been a settlement here since around 5000 BC and is mentioned in the Old Testament as the city where the corpses of King Saul and his sons were displayed. During Christ's day it was a major Roman metropolis . The large columns in the first photo made up the major thoroughfare through the city. The city also had a large coliseum and an Egyptian Temple up high on the Tel.

This last picture shows brick pillars that supported a raised floor. This was part of the ancient bath house. Just outside the building there was a furnace and a fire was built by slaves that sent hot air under the marble floors and through clay pipes in the walls to chimneys on the roof. The floors and walls became so hot that the heat could be dry like a sauna - and I thought heated floors were a modern convenience.

Final Views of Galilee

Here are some other shots from the Galilee area of Israel. From here we headed south to Jerusalem.

This first shot is looking across the Sea of Galilee from the kibbutz where we stayed to Tiberias, the largest city of the area.

This is Yardenit - a traditional site of the baptism of Jesus. There are big tour groups of people who travel to Israel with their pastors so that they can be baptized here in the Jordan River. When we walked in an employee asked, "Are you here to be baptized today?" and you can rent a locker, towel, and jumpsuit. Most people believe that Jesus was actually baptized on the Jordan near Jerico quite a ways south from here, but this was clearly something special for the two groups we saw.

The next photo is a cave below the Church of the Be-attitudes, where the fourth photo was taken. This is the traditional location of the Sermon on the Mount, and as you can see, the Church offers great views of the sea. There are some who believe the sermon would have been delivered from a cave just like this one (you can see someone sitting and probably reading the Sermon on the Mount in the cave). The acoustics of the cave are such that voices can travel a long distance if a large crowd was interested in what was being taught.

The last photo is the Church of Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. Tabor is a high mountain just west of the lake and is the traditional location of Jesus' transfiguration. The church built here is very nice even if some of the events of this location are questioned. Tabor is mentioned in the scriptures at least a dozen times.

Northern Israel

We traveled to the northern-most point of Israel to visit Mt. Hermon - likely the place of Christ's transfiguration according to authorities. We also saw Tel Dan, Banias, Caesarea Philippi, and the Golan Heights.

Dan is mentioned in the Old Testament as the place where the tribe of Dan settled. It is infamous from the story of Jeroboam who instituted idol worship there and built a golden calf around 900 BC. The site of this alter and calf is seen in the second photo with the bars around it. The first photo shows the remains of the Canaanite gate to the city that dates back to 1,500 BC.

Caesarea Philippi is a city that is mentioned as a place where Christ visited. It was in Caesarea Philippi that Christ asked his apostles, "Whom do men say that I am?" The third photo are the ruins of a pagan temple that once stood here before Roman times. Apparently, human sacrifices would be made to the God Pan and then thrown into this grotto that the rear of the Temple opened to. If blood appeared downstream, then the offering was rejected by Pan.

The fourth photo is Banias Falls. This is snow melt from Mt. Hermon that feeds the Jordan River. Assuming Mt. Hermon is the place of Christ's transfiguration and given how important this fresh water is to the region - there is a Sunday School lesson just waiting to happen here.