Greetings from Israel!

Our day today focused on getting our bearings in the region around the Sea of Galilee. Our initial thought, coming from the land of 10,000 lakes, was that the Sea of Galilee should really be called Galilee Lake – it is not as big as we thought it would be. However, it is central to the story of the New Testament and the works that Jesus did.

Throughout the day we drove around the entire lake in a clockwise direction, starting from our Kibbutz at the southwest corner of the lake, near the outlet of the Jordan River. Our first stop was at Arbel, which is a high promontory along the western shore north of Tiberias. The primary purpose of this stop was to view the Evangelical Triangle – the cities of Magdala, Bethsaida, and Capernaum – between which Jesus spent the majority of his ministry. We then descended from the cliff on a series of trails and narrow ledges with handholds to 1st century B.C. caves in which Jews hid from the Romans during the revolts in the middle of the century.

We next stopped at Katzrin, a Jewish village from the first few centuries after Jesus which was excavated and then reconstructed to help visualize what a city would look like during this period. The village was specifically compared to Capernaum, and helped visualize many of the stories from the Gospel accounts. For example, in a reconstructed house we could reenact the story in Mark 2 when a paralytic is lowered through the roof. The story from Luke 11:5-10 also comes alive when discussed in this setting.

Several overlooks from the bluffs of Golan on the eastern side of the lake helped to solidify the geography in our heads for the upcoming days in the Galilee region. One of these stops was the ancient city of Gamla, nicknamed Masada of the North. If you recall the story of Masada from several days ago, you will remember that the Romans sieged the fortress as part of the conflict with the Jews. In a similar situation at Gamla, the Romans attacked this fortress city during the conflicts before the fall of Jerusalem. Thousands of Jews were killed in the attack. The church library has a copy of Josephus’s writings, which give a vivid account of this battle.

Much of our day was spent in the Golan Heights, which is the area of high bluffs on the east side of the Jordan. This land was, until the war of Independence in 1967, part of Syria. I am sure you have been keeping up on the civil war and hostilities in Syria, and it has been interesting to learn more about the struggles with Syria, Jordan, and the Palestinian Territories from our Jewish Israeli guide. It is a very, very complicated situation. While just a few miles from Syria and on a road parallel to the Jordanian border fence today, we still felt safe. However, it does strengthen ones understanding and prayers for peace in the region.

In Him,
Pastor Matheny and Matt Brand

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