This is the Sabbath Day – it actually began at 6pm last night until 6pm tonight. Each hotel has a Shabbat elevator which opens on every floor so that the devout Jews do not have to push a button (that is work). We try to avoid that elevator as it takes longer to get up or down.
We left the beautiful Sea of Gallilee and Tiberias today. This day started as a rainy day but not enough to keep us from touring. After a wonderful breakfast at the Caesar Hotel in Tiberias with our bags packed we made our way to Jerusalem with a few stops along the way.
Our first stop was Bet’Shean which is the ruins of a Roman city which has been greatly excavated. It is a marvel to see and the best excavated site we have seen even with bath houses, toilets, theatre, etc. We climbed on top of Tel Bet’Shean and have a beautiful view of the ruins and surrounding area. A tel is a hill which covers ancient civilizations. They have begun also to excavate the ancient city of Bet’Shean which you can see as you make it to the top of the tel. The Philistines controlled Bet’Shean and brought the bodies of Saul and his three sons and hung their bodies on the city wall. The Israelites came at night and stole the bodies back.
We drove on South from Bet’Shean through Samaria. After went through a checkpoint entered West Bank territory (Area C) which is where both Jews and Palestinians travel. A few Jewish settlements are there though it is really illegal. They are sort of “squatting” I guess you could say.
Our guide, Nabil, read from John 4 about Jesus going through Samaria. It was not a normal route for him or any Jew to travel but He said “he must needs go through Samaria”. Why? Because a woman needed to be rescued and she didn’t even know it. What a beautiful story of the love of God for us! We were without God and didn’t even know we needed Him until He convicted our hearts of that need for Him. She believed and went and got all the townspeople to come to hear about this man “who told me everything I did”. She became a great witness for Christ. We drove all along the Jordan border with the Jordan River on the East and the hills of Samaria on the West.
We saw a Bedouin shepherd with his sheep. Bedouins are Palestinian Arab and usually Muslim. We traveled through beautiful fertile farmlands owned by the Palestinians with date palms, bananas, grapes, oranges, mangos, strawberries, eggplant, almost anything you could name. This is truly the Land of Milk and Honey.
We traveled through another checkpoint into West Bank territory (Area A) which is totally Palestianian controlled and no Jews would enter there. We entered the city of Jericho which was in this area. Jericho is the oldest city in the world (over 10,000 years old) and it is the lowest city in the world (1000 ft below sea level). From Jericho you can see the Mt of Temptation where Satan tempted Jesus to make the stones into bread and offered him the Kingdom. Jesus always answered him with “It is written”.
We had a wonderful lunch in Jericho and some shopping and then we visited the tel of Jericho where part of the old City of Jericho has been excavated. They won’t find the walls though because we know they tumbled down according to Joshua 2. We were reminded of that amazing story of how God gave that city to the Israelites and of course Rahab’s role in that. We also remembered that Rahab the Harlot is mentioned in the lineage of Jesus. Rahab, like the woman at the well, had to gather her entire family in her house to be saved from destruction. Perhaps some were embarrassed to go to her house, knowing how she made her living, but that was their only salvation. I think she was very convincing and according to scripture the people of Jericho had already heard about how God was with the Israelites and they were already living in fear.
The weather cleared up in Jericho and we had another beautiful day. We bought some wonderful fresh fruits, especially Jericho bananas which are small and so sweet. Some enjoyed a camel ride here as well, well not really a ride, just got on a camel to have a picture made, and I think that was enough for them.
We traveled on through another checkpoint to get back into West Bank Area C and made our way on toward Jerusalem. We traveled up to Jerusalem which is 2400 ft above sea level so when the Bible says they went up from Jericho to Jerusalem they really went up (and they were mostly walking). We made a turn on the old Jericho Road to see the Valley of the Shadow of Death. We cannot go through the Old Jericho Road like we used to but we can see part of the Valley. Nabil read Psalm 23 to us. “Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”. What a blessing that He is always with us! He is our Shepherd!
We had been traveling through what is now called the Judean Hills and saw many Bedouin camps along the way. We made our way on to Jerusalem. The driver put in a CD of “Jerusalem, Jerusalem” as we entered the city. We arrived at our hotel, The Leonardo (formerly the Novotel) near the Garden Tomb. We love this location near the Garden Tomb and the Old City. Our friend, Abraham, has a shop near here and we have already been down to say “Hello”. He was happy to see us as we were him.
It has been another wonderful day! We have been very blessed!
Shalom.
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