Sunday 3/10

Morning Reminder \| Hazor \| Dan \| Cesarea-Phillipi \| Golan Heights
Morning Reminder
This morning we learned that terrorists killed two people overnight at a hotel in Netanya. This was just off the square, a couple of blocks from where we stayed the first night. They also struck a cafe in Jerusalem. In Netanya, we saw that a number of local Jews had come to the hotel to celebrate the Sabbath. The attack was aimed at Sabbath observers leaving the other hotel at the end of the Sabbath. The Israelis have bombed Arafat's headquarters in return. We have seen nothing and have heard nothing. Now that the Sabbath crowd has left, our breakfast is in a small dining room. There is one other small tour group here; otherwise, the hotel seems to be empty.			Tuesday 3/5 Wednesday 3/6 Thursday 3/7 Friday 3/8 Saturday 3/9 Sunday 3/10 Monday 3/11 Tuesday 3/12 Wednesday 3/13 Thursday 3/14 Friday 3/15 Saturday 3/16 Sunday 3/17 You Need to Know
Hazor		Click on photos for larger version	Back to top
We are on our way to Solomon's chariot city of Hazor. Solomon had hundreds of horses stabled here. From where we are we can look across into Lebanon. It's about like looking up from the Academy at the houses on the ridge where the hang gliders launch. Our first stop is at tel Hazor. Hazor is one of only three cities that were burned when Israel entered the land in the time of Joshua. In Deuteronomy, God had promised them the land complete with cities and homes, which they would not build, and this promise was kept. Only three cities were burned: Jericho, Ai and Hazor. Hazor was chief among the cities, because of its strategic position up high where it looked down on the rest of the kingdoms. This is also the city where Jabin, king of Canaan, oppressed Israel in the time of Deborah and Barak. We are still on the Via Maris here at Hazor. Stonework and highway markers have been found in various places showing that this is the route of the old road.		Deep well at Hazor. Original steps are on the right	Another shot into the well. More of the ancient steps are shown on the right
		Typical four-room house located next to the well
		Ancient stables of Solomon
Remains of a defensive tower	Looking from the tower toward Lebanon at the top of the hill	Looking another direction from the tower toward Lebanon again	Looking toward Syria, just over the top of the mountain
Looking down from the tower at the ruins of Solomon's citadel	An old oil press at Hazor	Reservoir to catch the oil	Cattle on an earthen embankment, probably built in the time of Solomon. Just to the right is quite a bit of pastureland where Solomon's horses, several hundred of them, were probably kept. There are several layers of rock and sand which were probably deposited there as part of the process of caring for the horses. "He owns the cattle on a thousand hills."
Looking back the way we came (southward) along the Via Maris	Typical cacti
Dan		Click on photos for larger version	Back to top
We are driving through a long valley now. It looks very much like driving highway 89 between Manti and Provo. Fertile land. This road leads to Damascus and is probably the way Saul/Paul would have gone on his way to persecute the Christians there. As we have been going north, most of the time we have been a half mile to a mile from the Lebanese border. We are now coming into tel Dan, which is a large and famous tel in the "finger" of northern Israel. We are about to go on a nature walk on the way into the tel Dan. This is very beautiful. We are standing under a grove of Eucalyptus trees. A light breeze. Extremely pleasant here. The trail reminds me of walking up City Creek canyon, except that the water is higher and we are on a paved path instead of a road. Also, we have just passed some fig trees. We are standing now on top of part of the tel, which is in a very lush area, looking out over a valley. Ken suggests that David may have been here when he wrote some of the Psalms. I doubt that Psalm 23 would have been included, because the water here is not still. This is one of three headwaters of the Jordan River. We are coming now to where Jeroboam, son of Nebat, put up the golden calf for idol worship. We see the reconstruction of a "high place," used for idol worship. Also, a reconstruction of the throne of King Ahab. At the end of the trail, we come to a defensive bunker, a few feet from the Lebanese border. We are at the foot of the Golan Heights.		From the bus. A town on the Lebanese border	Ibrahaim washing the bus windows
		The grove at Dan	The spring Dan. This spring is the headwater of 1/3 of the Jordan River
		Sign explaining about the water source and tel	Trail
		Spring Dan	Tree bridging the river
		Sign about Dan	Wall of the city
Shot of wall showing small stones between larger stones in place of mortar	Reconstruction of a high place	Ritual site where the golden calf and sacrificial altar were set up	Throne at the gate where the king (probably Ahab) sat in judgement (2 Samuel 19:8)
Looking down on the Lebanese border. The road which is within a few feet of us is the border. It is also the Israeli defensive road	Defensive bunker. We were standing on it in the previous shot	Looking up from the bunker at the border road
Cesarea-Phillipi		Click on photos for larger version	Back to top
We are coming now to Cesarea-Phillipi, which was the capital in the days of Jesus. We are at the Banias spring, which is another third of the Jordan River, where the water actually comes up out of the ground. There is a temple to Pan here. This is where Jesus asked the disciples, "who do men say that I am?" and then "who do you say that I am?" ( To which Peter replied, "Thou art the Christ, Son of the Living God." Then Jesus went on with the famous statement, "Upon this rock I will build my Church." He had left Galilee to announce the Church in a Gentile, pagan region. This was six days before His transfiguration, which probably occurred just a few miles form here at Mt. Hermon. This is where Gentile evangelism begins.		Bits and pieces of the palace of Herod Phillip. The palace was probably located on the hillside above	Three different kinds of columns--Doric, Ionic and Corinthian
		Banias spring, headwater of the Jordan, coming out of the ground. Named for Pan	Looking up at a lookout station at the top of the hill
Site of the temple of Pan	Location of the temple of Pan. Small niches contained the nymph Echo, who was Pan's consort, and a statue of Pan's father, Hermes. There is a small courtyard in front where the nymphs played	Sign with artist's depiction of what the looked like	Left of the niche. Temple of Pan and the Dancing Goats
Golan Heights		Click on photos for larger version	Back to top
We are climbing up into the Golan Heights. We are only 28 miles from Damascus We stopped for lunch at a Druse place, and I had a lamb kabob. It was ground up, and, I think, mixed with beef, because it tasted more like hamburger than lamb. Kabob and Coke were $12.00! As we are driving along the border on the Golan Heights, the area is very green--lots and lots and lots of rocks. There are a lot of trees here, and again this looks very much like any mountain valley or mountain plain in Utah, except that the grass is a very bright green. That may just be because it is the beginning of springtime. There are a lot of cattle and occasionally I can see horses. I have also seen goats, but so far no sheep. I also have seen beehives all over--not in large numbers, but scattered all over northern Israel. We are driving past several reservoirs on the Golan, and all of them are extremely low in water. There are only a few birds. We have come to an abandoned Israeli defense bunker. There is a strong, chilly wind here. We have to walk several hundred feet against the wind to reach the top. We can see Mt. Hermon in the distance, well across the border. Most of us went into the bunker to see for ourselves the cramped and uncomfortable living conditions here. We are passing a large field of pink. As we come closer, we can see that this is a cherry orchard in bloom. We have just passed by a huge pile of rocks, maybe a hundred foot long and ten feet high, alongside the road. These are here as a contingency in case the Syrians attack. They can be pushed over to block the road. The Golan Heights are beautiful. You can see why Israeli's want to settle up here in spite of the danger. The old name for the Golan Heights was Bashan. The rocks are so plentiful in these hills that they haul them to the edges of the fields and make border lines instead of fences. We have passed an area where the rocks are laid out in mounds. These are Anakite graves which were above ground. From the road these appear to be about twice the length of normal graves. The Israelites were afraid to enter the land at first because of the giants who lived there. This is why God sentenced them to 40 years living in the wilderness At last, I have seen my first herd of sheep. We are looking down now on the Sea of Galilee from a cliff edge. It is easy to see the importance of Israel's keeping the Golan. Whoever holds this land dominates the water supply. 40% of Israel's water comes from the Sea of Galilee. We are in the southern part of the Golan Heights now. The altitude is lower here. While we were on the Golan Heights, one of the places we passed by was a kibbutz that is abandoned now. We could see that almost every square inch of the eastern walls on all of the buildings had bullet holes from Syrian attacks before the border was pushed back. A barbed wire fence lines the road we are using to descend from the Golan. The Israelis have placed mines on the other side of the fence--not to stop Jordanians, but to stop terrorists who may try to enter through Jordan. There is a ten-foot strip of bare ground next to the fence that is swept regularly. Anyone attempting to cross will leave footprints. We are now passing a large ostrich farm on the east side of the Sea of Galilee north of Tiberias.		Mount Hermon. Snow is melted already--a sign of the current drought. Water from the mountains enters the water supply about 5 years later. This is the point where 3 countries come together. We are in Israel. The main town to the left is in Lebanon. The little town on the right is in Syria.	Defensive bunker
		Interior of the bunker from the top	Bunker
		From the top of the bunker looking down toward Lebanon. The buildings immediately in front are Israel. The white buildings on the right are the UN headquarters. Next to that is a town which was given back to Lebanon by treaty. It remains empty. Then there is a large building which is a UN outpost. Just out of sight beyond Mt. Hermon is Damascus, about 28 miles away
		Rocks by the side of the road, ready to be used as road blocks	Windmills. These 10 windmills provide all of the electric power for the Golan Heights
		Typical field with rock border
		Sea of Galilee from the Golan Heights
		Cacti and green vegetation side by side. This is very common	Wheat field in the southern Golan
			Looking down at the switchback road we are on to descend from the southern end of the Golan Heights. Jordan is across the lake
		Click on photos for larger version	Back to top

Morning Reminder

Hazor

Dan

Cesarea-Phillipi

Golan Heights