Our initial “day” of this trip began early Thursday morning in Pennsylvania, and ended Friday night in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. That “day” included an 11 hour flight and some 30 hours with little to no sleep. We departed the plane in Tel Aviv and drove straight to Caesaria Maritime, originally constructed by Herod the Great. The original city included a palace/administrative center, hippodrome for chariot racing and other games, theater, pagan temple and harbor. The harbor itself is a wonder. Israel has virtually no natural harbors, so Herod built this one. He imported massive blocks made of a kind of charcoal, when the blocks were dropped into the Mediterranean Sea they absorbed the water and solidified into a type of concrete. The harbor opened up trade with the rest of the Roman Empire and made Israel a trade rival with neighboring Egypt. Over the years the harbor succumbed to repeated beatings by the sea and a number of earthquakes and eventually broke apart. The city also suffered at the hands of the earthquakes, but much more at the hands of men. None of Herod’s sons could consolidate rule over his kingdom after his death, and many of his accomplishments, like Caesaria Maritime declined and fell into disrepair. As Rome faded and the Byzantine Empire rose, the pagan temple in the city was demolished and a church was built in its place. As Byzantium itself declined and Islam dominated the region, the church was replaced with a mosque. Caesaria Maritime saw frequent conflict during the Crusades, and the crusaders built a heavy fortress over part of the old city. Eventually, the crusaders were defeated by the Malmuks (Islamic Bosnians). So on our visit we saw portions of each of these eras.
Caesaria Maritime has played a significant role in Christian history. It was in one of the rooms within the palace area where Paul was interrogated by Felix about Christianity and where he made his famous appeal to Caesar. He set out from this city on his way to Rome, a journey which brought the faith’s leading missionary to the capital of the Empire. It was in Caesaria Maritime that Cornelius the Centurion and his family became the first gentiles baptized into the faith. Peter, the evangelist to the Ethiopian Eunich, made his home here. Early Christians were tortured and killed for sport in the hippodrome.
From Caesaria Maritime, we drove North along the coast to the top of Mt. Carmel, which overlooks the Jezreel Valley. The mountaintop is the place where Elijah had his showdown and victory against the prophets of Baal. We will visit the valley again in a few days, so I will leave all of the biblical accounts for later. However, the Jezreel Valley has played a major role in world history. The crusaders fought several battles here, Napolean passed through in is fated attempt to conquer the Middle East, and General Allenby and the British army drove the Ottomans out of the land here in WWI.
Finally, we ended our day in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. This is a beautiful area and we will explore more of it tomorrow. Having been built on an ancient graveyard, living in Tiberias was taboo for the Jews for centuries, and the city doesn’t play a role in biblical history.
As part of the theology course I am taking at seminary this semester, I am supposed to take time to reflect on where/how I have seen the Holy Spirit at work on this journey. To be honest, after a day and a half of no sleep, I’ve been in no condition to reflect on anything. I suppose I could B. S. on the wonderful reliability God demonstrated in creating a world where the scientific principles of air travel consistently work, but we all know that’s a bit cheap. I will try again tomorrow.
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