The East-West Road

It was our last morning at the Sea of Galilee. Today we would be traveling along the East-West road between Bet She’an and Caesarea, two Roman culture inspired cities. Bet meaning “house” and She’an meaning “security” or “strength,” we can imagine the type of city this was. However, the city that we walked through and enjoyed was not the Bet She’an we had first thought. In fact, Bet She’an was the tel, the civilization mountain, in the distance.

Nineteen levels of civilizations, this location controlled the trade of the world, and the top level shows Egyptian settlement when Ramses II was Pharaoh, the same Pharaoh that Moses dealt with. In 1 Samuel 31:1-13, Bet She’an is called Mount Gilboa. The city that we walked through at the foothill of Mount Gilboa is the capital of Decapolis, Skythoplis. Here we experienced Roman/Greek culture in the middle of Israel. The architecture was a history enthusiast’s heaven. Ronen described the Roman/Greek culture as we toured a bathhouse, market, temple of Dionysius, library, and a theatre for plays with incredible acoustics. Here four of our students sang the worship song Always. Ronen explained that the Jewish people who came to this city compromised and conformed to the world, wanting the pleasure that this world offers without serving God.

With this in mind we travelled by bus to Megiddo, a larger tel than Bet She’an. With twenty-six levels of civilizations, Megiddo is the biggest tel in the world. This location was very important because it controlled the Jezreel valley, the largest valley in Israel. Austin Payne, the 9/10 youth pastor, challenged us with the question “Who are you living to make known?” We spent some personal time to reflect our answers to this question. Joined back together, we headed down and through the water system right outside the side of the tel.

After a pita pocket lunch, we arrived at the top of Mount Carmel, where Elijah had his showdown with the priests of Baal. Linda Larson taught to us in the Catholic Church at that top. She explained that thoughts perceive feelings and so we need to place our thoughts on the one God, and not the many different “gods” of our culture. From the top of the church we could see for miles. Our final stop along the East-West road was another Roman/Greek culture inspired city, Caesarea on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Built by Harod the Great and called Caesarea to show loyalty to Rome, this is one place where Hellenistic Jews liked to live to enjoy a different culture. However, during this time there was a great clash between Roman and Jewish cultures. As with Skythopolis, there was a temptation to enjoy and indulge in the Roman way of life, forgetting the one true God. Now we are in Jerusalem with new understandings and with the expectation that tomorrow will be more packed than ever as we embark through the old city of Jerusalem during the traditional Israeli weekend.