Day 9 in pictures.

Several of us decided to loose an hour of sleep this morning and use our last opportunity to view the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee. It was well worth it.

Packing our bags and knowing that this was our last day was sad. It also changed the pace of the day. Everyone was pretty tired by now, and after a long a busy week, the knowledge that the end was near seemed to make it harder to stay awake and keep up with the barrage of information coming at us. I know I slept quite a bit on the bus in between sites.

Our first site of the day was Bet She’an, but we made a quick stop on the way to visit the Baptismal site on the Jordan River. Like Mount Beatitude, this has no historical significance. If anything, it’s likely for sure that this was not the place where John Baptized Jesus. However, it’s where they decided to set the site up. None of us were dressed for a full baptism, and we didn’t have time anyway. So, we quickly got pictures, some of us waded in a little bit, and then it was time to go.

Bet She’an was probably the most impressive set of ancient ruins of the whole trip. The excavated area was huge. The Biblical significance of the site is that it was on the walls of this city that the Philistines hung the bodies of King Saul and his sons after they were defeated at the battle on Mt. Gilboa. Bet She’an, which was also known as Scythopolis, was situated strategically to control the access between the Jordan and Jezreel valleys. It was a largely gentile city, so it had many of the structures that could have been expected in a large, Roman, gentile city.

We started our tour by looking at an amphitheatre that was used for all sorts of brutal entertainment such as gladiator fights to the death, Christians and Jews being fed to the lions, and many others. The Roman Theatre, which was our next stop, was not nearly as violent when it was in use. Instead, it would have been host to many vulgar plays. The theatre could seat about 7,500 at full capacity, and is an engineering marvel of acoustic and structural design.

Next, we traveled to the public bathroom, which provided an amusing group photo opportunity. This was followed by a visit to the Roman baths, and some exploration time on the acropolis, which had an excellent view.

Bet She’an was destroyed by the large earthquake in 749 AD and was never rebuilt.

From here, we traveled to Gideon’s Spring, where Gideon selected the 300 that would help him in the battle. As could be expected, there aren’t any remains that have been found to indicate that this is the correct site, but it is just about the only place that would match the description in the Bible. We took a pretty funny picture, with part of the group being cowards, part putting their faces into the water, and part drinking correctly.

Mount Carmel was next on our trip. Besides being the location of yet another excellent view, the importance of Mount Carmel is that it was the site of Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal. Carmel isn’t really a single mountain; it’s a range, so the event could have happened anywhere. The point we went to was the highest point of the range, so it would have made sense for the competition to have happened somewhere near. Two interesting points were made here about the story that I hadn’t thought of before. The first was by Mishi who pointed out the importance of sacrifice in the story. The Israelites were in the middle of a drought, but Elijah still used twelve jars of precious water to pour on the altar. Mishi compared this to when David poured out the water from the Spring of Bethlehem. Second, Dr. Hummel pointed out that Elijah wasn’t out to prove that God is stronger than Baal. He was out to prove that Baal didn’t even exist.

The last major archaeological site for the trip was at Megiddo. Because of its position near a mountain pass in the Via Maris, a major ancient highway, Megiddo was incredibly important, strategically. With this importance came plenty of violence. 20 layers of destruction and rebuilding have been uncovered at this site, dating from 4000 BC to 400 BC. In 332 BC, the Via Maris became obsolete because of the conquest of Alexander the Great, and the city went into decline. Biblically, Megiddo is familiar because it is mentioned in the book of Revelation as the site of Armageddon. However, it may not mean that the final battle will happen at the physical location of Megiddo, but that the final battle will be similar to the many battles that happened at Megiddo.

My favorite part of the site was the water system of the city. Originally, the inhabitants got water by going to a stream outside the city gates. When the need for a more secure water source became apparent, they built a huge shaft inside the city walls down to the level of the spring and then created a tunnel connecting the shaft and the spring. Since outside access was no longer necessary, and they didn’t want their enemies to take advantage of the spring, they covered up the outside and camouflaged it to look like the rest of the area. We got to go down stairs to the tunnel and walk through it on our way out of the site.

On our way to the airport, we made a short stop at Caesarea to look at the remains of a Roman Aqueduct near the Mediterranean Sea. We happened to get there right at sunset, which was really great to watch. It also meant that the day was bracketed by a sunrise on the Sea of Galilee and a sunset on the Mediterranean.

This was quickly followed by a dinner at a nice restaurant in Tel Aviv of chicken and the pita bread that we’ve grown very familiar with during our time here. Then, it was time to head to the airport and say goodbye to Israel.

Day 9 in pictures.