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Israel Study Tour with The Friends of Israel
October 22 - November 1, 2016
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Hard to believe we’re in the land of the Bible!
Boker tov! (Good morning or Good day!)
We began our first full day of touring with a devotional from Harold. He taught us about the unique tie Israel has to God’s promises. Sometimes it’s hard to believe we’re actually here, in the land of the Bible.
Something I appreciate about this tour is there is a balance of biblical and modern Israeli sites. We took a bus tour of Tel Aviv. Simchat Torah (Holiday: Rejoicing Over the Law) has begun and the streets are fairly quiet. Tel Aviv has a fascinating modern history. Miriam talked about the architecture of the buildings and also about the history of the modern state of Israel and the vision Theodor Herzl had for the Jewish people to have a home once again.
We traveled on to Caesarea Maritima where Jim shared from Acts 10 the story of Cornelius, a centurion who had a vision where the angel of God told him to send for Peter who was in Joppa. Peter went to Caesarea and preached the Gospel. After watching a film we walked through ruins and learned about the civilizations that lived there, the Romans, built by Herod, the Byzantines and the Crusaders. Josephus, the Jewish historian called this a “most magnificent palace” that Herod the Great built. Hard to believe Paul may have been imprisoned here on these grounds (Acts 23:35).
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.
Our next stop was the Roman Aqueduct where we were able to walk around. We learned there were once 10 miles of aqueduct built to bring fresh water from a spring at Mount Carmel to Caesarea. It’s a beautiful day here.
We ate lunch at a Druze restaurant then took some time atop Mount Carmel. There I, Dan shared about Elijah and the false prophets from 1 Kings 18. What a great story of God showing off his power. Israel has amazing views and on top of Mount Carmel you are able to see for miles.
Heading southeast to Tel Megiddo was a fairly short ride. Tel Megiddo feels like you are in the middle of Israel. The view is unbelievable. There are about 26 levels of occupation here. We heard about the history of Megiddo from Miriam dating back 5,000 years through the reigns of David and Solomon. We saw the city gates of the Canaanite city, the gates of Solomon and stables. It was a steep walk. Some of us descended 183 steps to the underground water system.
Megiddo
From the earliest times (EB) to the earliest historical records of the area (Thutmose III) to the future (Revelation 16), Megiddo assumes a prominent role. This is largely owing to its strategic location astride the Megiddo Pass (Wadi Ara) and inside the busy Jezreel Valley.
We finished out the day at our beautiful hotel, Ramot Holiday Resort Kubbutz on the Sea of Galilee where we ate dinner. There was a beautiful sunset over the sea.
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