The rejected stone

We had another full day today of touring. This morning Dan Brown shared a devotional with us on God’s delivering grace and God’s sustaining grace. He showed how God sustained the Israelites in the wilderness after He led them out of Egypt.

On the way to the kibbutz on the Lebanon border, we rode through part of the Golan Heights and passed the ruins of Chorazin.

As we were driving Miriam pointed out the town of Rosh Pinna, which means cornerstone. It was the first Jewish settlement in the 1800s. A lot of Israel was full of neglected swamps and disease back then and took years to drain. The Jewish National Fund was instrumental in clearing the swamps and converting much of it to farmland. It was pointed out that it was neat to see how Psalm 118:22 “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” plays to this idea that many rejected and neglected the land in Israel but with hard work, it’s become beautiful.

After a windy trip up up up into the hills of northern Israel we arrived at the Kibbutz Misgav Am, elevation 3,000 feet. You can see all around into southern Lebanon. We had a very interesting resident of the Kibbutz speak with us, Arye Ben Jacob. From this Kibbutz you can see Syria, Lebanon, and the Mediterranean. The Kibbutz was established in 1945 and it draws its income from agriculture, student housing from the local university, and tourism.

We then traveled back down to Caesarea Philippi, which is called Banias today. Jim shared from Matthew 16 where Jesus brought His disciples to this spot and asked them, “Who do you say I am?” and Peter answered, “Messiah! The Son of God.” This place is also where one of the largest springs feeds into the Jordan River.

We stopped and took a look into Syria from the Golan border. Miriam explained how this site is vital for the Israel Defense Force because it looks down on Syria and is able to protect Israel’s border. After this we stopped to eat lunch. (Yes, we accomplished all of that in the morning!)

Known as “the Masada of the North” Gamla was our next stop. Miram shared the story as it was explained by the Jewish historian Josephus. During the Jewish revolt in 66 AD against the Romans the Jewish people fortified the city. The Romans attacked, when it looked like the Jewish people would not win, people jumped to their death instead of surrendering. This area has the largest area Roman battlefield artifacts. After viewing the ruins, we took a short walk see the remains of the Byzantine village of Deir Qureh. Miram also told us about the vultures that live in the area. These are the birds that are written about in the Bible but translated “eagles.”

Next we stopped at the Mount of Beatitudes. After reading from Matthew 5 we were able to take some time and reflect and enjoy the site. It is a beautiful property with a view of the Sea of Galilee. We were a bit ahead of schedule so we stopped at the Jesus Boat Museum. Here we viewed a boat that was discovered during a drought and dated back to Jesus’ time. We were also able to spend some time shopping in their gift shop before dinner.

Speaking of dinner, dinner tonight was at Lido Decks Restaurant. I think there were 100 courses of some of the best food we have ever had. Fresh grilled salmon, steak, and chicken were only a few of the things they brought out to us. They had a very nice firework display especially for The Friends of Israel Up to Jerusalem group. Somehow we were able to make it back on the bus although we should’ve walked back to the hotel to work off all the food.