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Israel Study Tour - Scott Heare
June 17 - July 1, 2014
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Mountain, sea, and city
Today we said goodbye to the Galilee and turned our face to Jerusalem, which is where I find myself writing this now, but I will get to that.
We left our lovely Galilee Kibbutz around seven thirty this morning and our day was started. Many of us thought we were headed straight to Jerusalem but Rabi Scott had different ideas. We pulled over on the side of the highway a little confused but confident the Rabi would lead us how we need to go. Little did we know we were about to embark on one of the most difficult hikes of the trip. It was an hour to an hour and a half of uphill, and the mountain we were climbing: Mt. Carmel. Yeah, the mountain where God burned Elijah’s altar in front of all the priests of Ba’al, that Mt. Carmel. Oh, random aside, if you ever wondered what Mt. Carmel looks like, it looks a lot like the Texas hill country, same rocks, same trees, it’s crazy. But I digress; on the top we talked about having the fire of Elijah inside of us, and what that looks like in our everyday lives.
Mt. Carmel
Biblically, Mt. Carmel is referenced most often as a symbol of beauty and fertility. To be given the “splendor of Carmel” was to be blessed indeed (Isa 35:2). Solomon praised his beloved: “your head crowns you like Mount Carmel” (Song 7:5). But for Carmel to wither was a sign of devastating judgment (Nahum 1:4).
After Carmel we turned our face to the Mediterranean and went and saw Caesarea Maritima, Herod’s palace by the sea. We saw what used to be an immense city with a harbor that was way ahead of its time. We walked in the footsteps of the apostle Paul who was in Caesarea multiple times in his life spreading the gospel. Rabi talked about running the race cut out before us and about the cloud of witnesses that will be cheering us on. Naturally we ended the talked by running around an ancient hippodrome track that has been uncovered.
Caesarea Maritima
The city and harbor were built under Herod the Great during c. 22–10 BC near the site of a former Phoenician naval station known as Stratonos pyrgos (Στράτωνος πύργος).[2] It later became the provincial capital of Roman Judea, Roman Syria Palaestina and Byzantine Palaestina Prima provinces. The city was populated throughout the 1st to 6th centuries CE and became an important early center of Christianity during the Byzantine period, but was mostly abandoned following the Muslim conquest of 640. It was re-fortified by the Crusaders, and finally slighted by the Mamluks in 1265.
And it was after that that we finally turned our face toward Jerusalem. We have finally made our way to the city where sin was defeated and life won. We are all excited to see what comes next.
Prayers are always appreciated.
Shalom from a hotel room in Jerusalem
Jordan
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