Day 8 in pictures.

The day began at Gamla, which was a Jewish city during the first century BC and first century AD. It was destroyed around 68 AD during the first Jewish revolt. What makes Gamla special is that it is situated on the top of a ridge between two ravines. The sides are very steep, not unlike Masada. In fact, Gamla is often called the Masada of the north, not only because of the similarity in physical layout, but also because of how the Jews were defeated. During the final defeat of the Jews here, many of them committed suicide by throwing themselves over the edge of the cliff at the end of the ridge. However, Gamla hasn’t gained the fame that Masada has for several reasons. The most important one is that the mass suicide at Masada was a cold, calculated act. They knew what was coming and made their choice. At Gamla, it was more a part of the situation that they were presented with. In fact, many of the Jews were pushed over the edge, just as a part of the fighting. After this defeat, the city was never really rebuilt.

Some of the important ruins found at the site include a synagogue in a basilica style very similar to the one found at Capernaum. There was also a mikvah, or purification pool, just outside the southern entrance to the synagogue.

Even aside from the historical significance, Gamla is an amazing location. I would love to set aside a whole day and just go hiking around the area. The view from the top of the ridge was beautiful! There’s also a station for watching the eagles that are native to the region. Hundreds of photos were taken and we stayed around the top quite a bit longer than Mishi said our schedule would permit.

Mount Beatitude was next on the list. This location actually has no historical significance whatsoever. What is does have is a very nice view of the Sea of Galilee, a well-kept garden, and a stately church built on the site. Because there is no archaeological evidence to say where the sermon on the mount happened, the Nuns that run the church purchased some land in the area that was available and worked well for their purpose. There’s no reason to believe this is the actual place of the sermon, but there’s also no reason that it couldn’t have been.

The church at Mount Beatitude was much nicer than the churches at the last few holy sites we’ve been too. It wasn’t nearly as crowded or cluttered. This is probably because it is a fairly new church and hasn’t had to endure several factions laying claim to the area.

From there, we went to Tabgha, the church of the feeding of the multitudes. As we walked through the entrance to the area, an elderly couple playing arrangements of Mozart pieces for two violins greeted us. This set the mood quite nicely. The church for this site was also done very tastefully. In fact, they built the whole thing to represent, as accurately as possible, the look of the Byzantine era church that was destroyed by the Persian invasion. It had several impressive mosaic designs on the floor depicting plants and animals from Egypt, which is where the artist was probably from.

After viewing the traditional site of the feeding of the multitudes, the next thing to do was to feed the multitude of LeTourneau students. Instead of bread and fish, we had the very tasty falafels again.

We next journeyed to the site of the ancient city of Zippori. Zippori is interesting because it had the unique situation of Jews and Gentiles living together. A Crusader fortress and a Roman theatre were also built here. Impressive mosaics have been found in several of the buildings that were uncovered.

Dr. Hummel used the Zippori site to teach us a little more about how archaeological digs work. As could be clearly seen from the remains there, all of the work was done in excavated square sections that are called “balks.” As new items are found during the digging process, they are carefully cataloged by location and also the depth at which they were discovered. This system allows the layers of the find to be seen and also provides a walkway, between the balks, that will not disturb any of the remains.

Our final stop for the day was Arbel, which is a huge cliff with about a 1000-foot drop overlooking the Sea of Galilee and the surrounding area. From the top, we could see Tiberias, Capernaum, Kibbutz Genneserat, and many other towns on both sides of the Sea of Galilee. An important historical even that happened here was that, when Herod the Great was still coming to power, there was a group of robbers that based themselves in caves on the side of the cliff. Herod, with typical Roman efficiency and brutality, put soldiers into large baskets, lowered them off the side of the cliff, and easily defeated what the robbers thought was an impenetrable fortress.

This will be our last night in Israel. I don’t want to go back home yet.

Day 8 in pictures.