Arbel, Tiberus, Hazor, Nazareth, Jezreel Valley, Tel Jezreel, Bet Shean, Qumran, En Gedi (Photo Summary for the past week, last Tuesday – this Wednesday)

We have been covering a lot of ground over the past week, mostly in northern Israel, but some in the south as well.

Here are some photo highlights.

Mt. Arbel, in Northern Israel-
This is one of the interesting features on the northwestern shores of the Sea of Galilee.  It pairs with Mt. Nitia to form a pass which has been used over the ages to pass from areas west of Galilee (such as Nazareth) to the sea and locations north of the sea, such as Capernaum.  The first photo is from the top of Arbel, looking down on the Sea of Galilee and the second photo looks from Arbel across the pass to Mt. Nitia.  You can see the trail going around Arbel disappearing around the side of the mountain where the cliff drops off to the pass in the valley floor.

From Mt. Arbel, overlooking the Sea of Galilee

Looking from Mt. Arbel across the pass to Mt. Nitia

Tiberias Mosque, in the city of Tiberius on the west central shores of the Sea of Galilee –
While not ancient, this beautiful old Mosque stands tucked away in one of the shopping centers of Tiberias, one block from the sea-front promenade.  It is the Al-Amari mosque, built in the 1730s. Tradition holds that its construction was funded by the local Jewish population, who was thankful for the sheik’s protection.  Had we not stumbled through a corridor looking for a shortcut, we would have never known it was there.

Al-Amari mosque, in Tiberias.

Tel Hazor, ancient mound north of the Galilee region-
This tel is packed with many good layers of ancient history and is mentioned numerous times in Old Testament accounts.  This first photo is of current excavations going on there.  Wish the excavation crew had been there so we could ask them about the walls in the photo (we were there in the afternoon, while most dig sites are active in the morning).  The second photo is looking out of the Solomonic gates at Hazor.  These gates date to the 10th century B.C. and are similar to those found at Megiddo and Gezer.

Excavations at Hazor

Solomonic Gates at Hazor

Nazareth, Central Northern Israel, on the northern edge of the Jezreel valley-
We briefly popped into the city of Nazareth.  Most people visit Nazareth and its large churches built over “Holy sites;” however, we were looking for excavations unearthed just a few years ago with
construction of a new building.  The excavations are pictured below and show 1st century architecture (contemporary with the time of Jesus).

First-Century Dwelling at Nazareth

Jezreel Valley-
View of the Jezreel Valley from the El-Muhraqa (Carmelite) monastery. The Jezreel Valley is the defining feature which cuts at a southwest angle across the northern portion of Israel.  Many accounts of ancient history play out in this valley as it creates a focal point of travel, trade routes, and military movement throughout ancient (and modern) history.

View of the Jezreel valley a few miles from the coast

Bet She’an, at the southeast end of the Jezreel Valley, bordering the Jordan River valley-
With extensive occupation from Canaanite to Byzantine times, and times in-between (Egyptian influence, Philistine, Israelites, Greek/Hellenstic, Romans) this is an impressive ancient site with vast remains at the bottom of the tel, mostly from the Greeks and Romans. From Roman baths, to colonnaded streets, to a theater with seating for 7,000, this ancient city has it all.  This photo is from the tel (Canaanite/Israelite portion) looking down on the Greek/Roman/Byzantine remains.

View from the tel at Bet She’an, looking down at mostly Hellenistic and Roman ruins

Tel Jezreel-
On the southern edge of the Jezrell Valley, just up the valley from Bet She’an, is the ancient tel of Jezreel.  Unlike many of the popular sites, this tel is not in a controlled access national park, it’s just
a roadside stop.  We walked around on the top of this site (now a cow pasture) looking at what ruins were there.  Here is a photo of some of the ruins on the tel (not sure what they are or what time period they are from).  After the fact, we found out that there were current excavations going on this year, concerning Iron Age areas of the tel. We certainly didn’t come across recent excavations where we were walking around.  Many, including those who have excavated here in the past, associate this tel with the Iron Age settlement associated with Jezreel of the Biblical account, connected to Ahab, Jezebel, and Jehu, all of the Divided Kingdom period of Israel’s history.

Ruins at Tel Jezreel

Qumran, on the top of the western edge of the Dead Sea-
After this we wrapped up our travels in the northern part of the country and move south (directionally and elevation), down to the Dead Sea.  Our first stop was Qumran, where the famous Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  Below is the typical cave photo you see from the Qumran National Park.

Qumran Cave

Ein Gedi, moving down the western Dead Sea coast-
Our next stop the following day was the springs of Ein Gedi.  This is often associated with the Wilderness of Engedi, where Saul and David had interaction in 1 Samuel 23 & 24.  It is also mentioned at later times in other sources, such as Josephus, when he talks about the siege at Masada, mentioning other villages that were plundered about the same time.  The terrain here is rugged and the springs and waterfalls bring an oasis to the desert.  The first photo is from the top of the largest waterfall in the series of waterfalls in the national park of Ein Gedi (this is a lot higher than it looks in the photo, note the Dead Sea in the distance….it’s hazy, but you can see it).  The water is flowing just under the first photo and the second photo is the view from the bottom of the falls.  It was about a 45-minute hike up to the top, not bad, except that it was up the side of the ravine and it was about 90 degrees (at 8 a.m.).  By the time we were done with our 4-hour hike around the park, it was about 100
degrees (12:30 p.m.).

View of the Wadi David at En Gedi, looking toward the Dead Sea (standing just above the “David Falls”)

View of the waterfall from the bottom

It was a busy week, to say the least 🙂

Adventures in the Wilderness of Judea

Today was the hot-day-in-the-desert day. And we certainly don’t say that to complain–we’ve have rarely seen the kind of wild beauty like we saw today. The wilderness of Judea is almost painfully exquisite.

If you have plenty of water and a hat, that is.

Wilderness of Judea

We drove out into the wilderness and across a checkpoint into Bethany beyond the Jordan, where some translations say John the Baptists baptized at the Jordan River. Our visit was primarily at the Jordan River, and it looked quite lovely, regardless of how it smelled.

The Jordan River at Bethany

From Bethany, we drove along the Dead Sea and past the oasis of En Gedi, whereunderground springs provide a rare bit of moisture. But these hills are also riddled with caves (this is not very far at all from Qumran–we’ll get to that in a minute). This was where David hid for a time, when Saul pursued him in I Samuel 24.. So it makes sense that this would be a place David would hide, in the middle of nowhere with food and water available and an excellent line of sight. It is also completely feasible to think of David hiding in a cave here, since they were everywhere.

En Gedi

The next stop was the mountain fortress of Masada. For the history fan, this is an exciting stop. Herod the Great originally built a sumptuous palace here, complete with swimming pools and a sauna. It’s quite a logical place for a fortress, a huge isolated plateau that gives you a view for miles. No one could approach without being seen. This realization gives you a pang, when you think of the last of the Jewish rebels who fled here after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. They would have watched the Romans march in, seen the runners come and go, as the ramp grew higher and higher until they were able to break down the gate. That night, around 960 people died–the men killed the women and children, and then themselves. When the Romans entered, they found 2 women and 5 children who had survived the self-massacre by hiding in a cistern.

After Masada was the site of Qumran, where we explored the remains of the Essenes’ community. This was one of the religious sects from New Testament times, who was camping out near the Dead Sea while they waited for the Messiah to come sweeping over from the East and scoop up the faithful. The Romans came instead, and the Essenes fled to Masada. But first they hid nearly a thousand scrolls containing Old Testament scriptures, community laws, and eschatological philosophies. Quite some time later (like, 1946) bedouins hiding from troops happened upon the first cave. Fun times ensued, and archeologists have uncovered 11 caves now with scrolls, jars, and fragments–some of which Romans used in an impromptu confetti party while they were raiding the area.

Cave 4 at Qumran, Where the Dead Sea Scrolls Were Found

Jericho was the last stop of the day. Ah….Jericho. We could wax eloquent on the history, the controversies, and the details that makes this one of our favorite stories; but that’s for another time. The site has been rather neglected, and it was a bit sad to see beautiful ancient mud bricks deteriorating in the open air. Again, this is similar to Masada, in that one can see all around. Here, you can see across the Jordan River all the way to the mountains of Moab. Imagine the people’s growing terror as they watched around 2 million people moving across the river and towards the city, and only one woman in the city had nothing to fear.