The East-West Road

Hey Everyone,

Shalom from Jerusalem! We had another impactful day here Israel. We started our day, leaving the Galilee region, and heading toward the Israel’s Mediterranean coast. Our first stop was in an ancient biblical town of Beth-She’an. This is the notable town of where the Philistines hung Saul’s body after defeating him in battle in 1Sam 31. One interesting note here was that 19 civilizations had been built on top of one another at this location! While on the hill (Tel) that Beth She’an was built, we were all immediately taken back by the slightly newer, Roman city of Scythopolis. This was a regional, Roman capital city, in Israel, that would have been well known to everyone in the region, including Jesus, who grew up about a days walk away in Nazareth. The city was home to the largest bath house ever discovered, just as a quick piece of trivia!

From there we continued on the East West Road (the ancient path from Galilee to the coast), and made a stop at Beth Alpha, home to a 6th century Synagogue, that had an amazingly well preserved mosaic floor that is worth seeing below. Our journey then took us to Mount Carmel, where Elijah challenges the 450 prophets of Baal in a fire making contest (1 Kings 18) the views were breathtaking! We could see all of Northern Israel, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan border.

We finished our day completing the East West road, arriving in Ceaserea Maritima. This is a city that was built by Herod the Great, and it was the largest city in Israel during the time of Jesus at 100,000 people. This is also the only known location of an excavated Roman slab, where Pontius Pilate is mentioned and confirmed as the governor of Judea during Jesus’ life!

We had so much information to take in today and some sights we’ll never forget. We ended our night by finally arriving in Jerusalem!