Greetings from Israel!
Today (just like every other day) has been a whirlwind tour of numerous Biblical stories.
We stayed last night in Haifa, a port city on the Mediterranean Sea with settlement dating back many thousands of years. We began this morning by driving up to a lookout on the peak of Mount Carmel. You will probably remember Mt. Carmel as the site where the Lord worked powerfully through the prophet Elijah to destroy the prophets of Baal. You can read this amazing account in 1 Kings 18:20-40.
We then moved on to a outlook overlooking the Jezreel Valley. This valley is quite large and very well suited for agriculture. You may recall from our previous posts that the southern part of Israel has very little land suitable for farming, particularly at scale. This area serves as the bread basket for all of Galilee and beyond. Its fertile nature means that over the centuries control of this valley has been important to many world powers. But in order to control this important valley, first a king has to march his army into it, and coming from the south there are only three ways to do that.
Perhaps the best way is to March up the central route by the city of Megiddo, which just so happened to be our next stop for the day. This famous city has been conquered, destroyed, and rebuilt more times than most anyone can count. That city and its strategic location have been used to control the Jezreel Valley for over 5000 years all the way up to World War one.
One of the amazing stories that takes place in the Jezreel Valley is the story of Gideon in Judges chapters 6 and 7. Here we learn of just one more amazing time that God works amazing wonders through His people to defeat their enemies! We reviewed this story from on overlook that included the modern city of Nazareth, with lies at the head of a mountain range looking over this valley.
We closed our day by visiting the ancient city of Sepphoris, an important city particularly during the time of Jesus. During this period it was an important Roman outpost, and with its proximity to Nazareth, it may have provided a source of work for Jesus’ father. After Jerusalem falls in 70 A.D. the city became the home of rabbinic theologians who were writing the Mishnah (the first writing of the oral Jewish traditions). From an archaeological perspective, this site contains magnificent mosaic floors dating to the Byzantine period. Even with nearly 1500 years of exposure to the sun and elements, the mosaics retain their color, and are in remarkably good condition. Stay tuned for more to come!
In Him,
Pastor Matheny and Matt Brand
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