Day 05 - Gamla, Tel Dan, Caesarea Philippi, Nukeib Lookout

Day 05 – Commitment – Sea of Galilee    

God must have known we were talking about living waters yesterday, because today, He delivered! We woke up this morning to the sound of thunder rolling in off the Sea of Galilee. Not to be deterred, we shrugged on our raingear and headed off to the bus for another full day.

Gamla

The first of our stops today was Gamla, a small village surrounded by cliffs. Matthew 4:23 states that Jesus went to all the villages throughout the area of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues. In Gamla, they found the remains of a synagogue that dates to the time of Jesus; so, it is probable that Jesus taught in that very synagogue! It is one of only 3 found in the Galilee area that date to this time.

Tel Dan

After Gamla, we took a quick detour to an organic olive factory for a taste testing (so yummy!) We then started making our way north to Tel Dan. Dan is mentioned quite a few times in the Bible. This is the site where the tribe of Dan settled after splitting from the rest of the nation in 1200 B.C. Yehuda led us to the site where archeologists uncovered a temple that had the exact parameters of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. This is recorded in the Bible in 1 Kings 12:31. Dan is also the site of the oldest known arched gate in the world, dated to over 3700 years!

At that point, the rain caught up to us, and we made a quick run to our bus to drive to our next location.

Caesarea Philippi

Our next stop was only a few minutes away, a city known as Caesarea Philippi. The book of Matthew puts Jesus here, shortly before Jesus started making His way to Jerusalem. This location was the site of a temple dedicated to the Greek god Pan and was present in the time of Jesus. The temple sat at the entrance to a cave, which the Greeks believed was one of the openings to the Underworld. The cave is often referred to as “the gates of Hell”. After the fall of the Roman empire, the Byzantines built a church over the temple ruins. Pastor Ralph remarked to us that he finds it a beautiful representation: the Church sitting on the very doorstop of the cave and referenced Matthew 16:18. “…. on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Nukeib Lookout

Our last stop on our way back to our hotel was a small lookout point on a cliff overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Pastor Ralph told us this was the most likely point that Jesus cast out a group of demons from a man living in the area. The Bible recounts in Mark 5 that the demons asked to be sent into a group of pigs; after which all 2,000 pigs rushed over a cliff and died.

Today is Friday and that means Shabbat starts today at sundown (the Jewish Sabbath for us). So, Shabbat Shalom from all of us to all of you!