Kevin and I traveled to Israel last March with other people from Hope Community Church in Raleigh, some from Florida and others from Charlotte. It was a Holy Land Tour. We spent 10 days seeing all of the places of the Bible. It was a dream trip! When we were dating in 2010, we signed up to go on a Holy Land Cruise...but the political fighting started in Egypt and Pastor Mike backed out of leading the trip and we thought if he didn't want to go, maybe it wasn't safe for us to go either, so we cancelled. When this opportunity came back around, we jumped on it! It was a better option because it wasn't a cruise and although Egypt wasn't included, having more time in Israel was a perk. It was really expensive and a trip like we've never done before (as part of a tour group), so we weren't quite sure what we were getting into. What we did know is that being with a group was safer than us going on our own. We knew we'd have three pastors with biblical knowledge to share along the way and we knew we'd have a guide. We also knew we'd have a Jew and a Palestinian in our midst, so if any conflict arose, we'd have some sort of ally.
What we didn't know is how we'd mesh with the group. I plan all of our trips and each day is moderately planned to maximize our time abroad. I always book in loose plans...like if we can't go to this church on Tuesday morning, we can see it Wednesday afternoon. But then what we planned for Wednesday afternoon, we can also do Wednesday morning or Thursday morning...etc. There is a back-up in case what we want to do isn't possible, to make sure we hit the highlights. How would that work as a huge group? And I was worried about meals. What if I'm starving and we don't stop to eat? Kevin and I, while we enjoy people, we also like to explore on our own and enjoy the flexibility that comes with just the two of us. We just didn't know how a whole bus-load of people would dictate our days.
The good news is the group-tour thing worked for us. How I generally summarize our trip to Israel is there was SOOOOO much to see, that if we had toured on our own, we probably would have missed a large part of what we got to see. And then the trip wouldn't have been worth it. The down-side was that after touring a place, we'd be told we had about 10 minutes for pictures/bathroom break, etc, before we had to be back on the bus. So, we didn't have much time to do our own exploring. Another plus was all of our meals were generally prepared when we arrived, so we'd sit down and eat (or enjoy a buffet at the hotel). There wasn't much waiting around for that. And with a guide, anytime we entered a place where we would have had to pay or get tickets, we just walked straight in instead of waiting in line. Many things were arranged for us behind the scenes to make our time more efficient. And that was awesome!
If you get the chance to go to Israel, GO! Especially if you have a relationship with Jesus. This trip really made the Bible come to life for us and I can't explain how awesome it is to have a real place in your mind when you read from the Bible or hear about it in church. It's like seeing in 3D or vivid color.
I would love to go back to visit Israel again. Something about it just lands in your heart and you feel the need to visit again. Our tour guide does smaller tours where he hikes from the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee. You camp out at night and then start your hike the next morning. Kevin was REALLY interested in that! And, I know that if I ever go back, I'll stay in more modest accommodations to save money. We enjoyed our trip so much, but I think a bulk of the money we paid was for these exceptionally nice hotels. I'm sure we could stay at a kibbutz for much cheaper.
So what did we see?
Day 1:
Kevin and I opted to fly in a day earlier than the majority of our group so we could see Tel Aviv and hopefully feel rested. I think that was a great option! The morning we picked up the rest of our group, they had flown all night and were snoozing on the bus in no-time.
I really wanted to experience Tel Aviv (the new old city) and walk over to Jaffa (Yafo, Japho or Joppa) for dinner. Jaffa is the oldest part of Tel Aviv and a port city made famous in the Bible by Jonah (the port city he left on his way to Tarshish), Solomon (where the cedars of Lebanon came into port for the building of his temple) and Saint Peter (Acts 10:9-11:18 where Peter has the vision of clean and unclean animals and realizes he has to share Christ with the gentiles too). We didn't know we'd get to see Jaffa with our group the next day, so we made the most of it the night before.
We settled into our hotel and then walked on the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Promenade along the Mediterranean over to Jaffa for dinner at Margaret Tayar's restaurant.
I had read about Margaret Tayar's on Frommers and was impressed that Jaffa's fishermen bring her the first catch of the day before distributing to the other fine dining restaurants in town. The restaurant seats maybe 8 people, and Margaret herself is in the kitchen cooking every meal. Of course, she dictated a bit of what our meal would be and made us eat liquor figs as our dessert, but it was such an experience.
We finished off our first day with a quiet walk around old Jaffa before returning to our hotel to crash.
Day 2:
We were up early to walk down to Banana beach to stick our feet in the Mediterranean sea.
Then it was packing up our room and enjoying our breakfast so we could hop on the bus and go back to the airport to gather the rest of our group.
Wouldn't you know, as soon as we had the whole crew, we headed straight for Jaffa. This was our first indication of how much we were going to learn each day and how broad the history was going to span! We started up at the top of Tel (which means a hill or mound) Jaffa at the Statue of Faith sculpture (which we had seen the previous night). The carvings on this include the Binding of Isaac, the Conquest of Jericho and Jacob's Ladder.
From there we walked down to an area below the tel to an archaeological site with an Egyptian gate "Ramses Gate" showing how Pharaoh Thutmose III conquered the city in 15th century BCE (we use BC, which I always thought was "before Christ"...they use BCE, which is "Before the Common Era").
We walked through the small streets of Jaffa to see the sculpture of a suspended orange tree, a tribute to Jaffa since they're known for the Jaffa Orange, and made a stop to see Simon the Tanner's house.
This is the house Peter was staying in when he had his vision that lead to the gospel being shared with all of us (Acts 10:5-6). We also got a peek at the Jaffa lighthouse, which is fun for lighthouse lovers!
Next was lunch at Abrage in Jaffa and then it was on the bus for the drive to the Dead Sea.
On the drive we learned about the geography of Israel and very clearly saw the change from lush land to desert. We stopped for a bathroom break and had an encounter with a random camel.
Most of our group was snoozing by the time we reached our hotel, Herod's Dead Sea Hotel. After checking in, we took a glorious swim float in the Dead Sea (Earth's lowest elevation on land) before our buffet dinner.
Day 3:
After a buffet breakfast we loaded up for a full day of history/exploration/biblical studies. First stop was En Gedi (Ein Gedi)- which literally means "the spring of the kid (young goat)", where David hid in the caves taking refuge as he fled from Saul (1 Samuel 23:29), and one of the few lush areas around the Dead Sea region.
Remarkably fresh water flows from this area into the Dead Sea. An oasis in the desert. The story is told that Cleopatra had Mark Antony acquire this area from his good friend King Herod. At the time it was said to be filled with balsam plants. Cleopatra used the balsam plant to make perfume that she put on everything around her and it was said to be the best smelling perfume ever. No one knows exactly what the balm from the balsam plant is, and this plant is most likely no longer surviving. It's mentioned about 40 times in the Bible (my guess is it's the most precious essential oil ever). There are some accounted descriptions from Pliny the Elder, but we just don't know now. Everything in En Gedi was destroyed by fire at one point, including any hints as to what the balsam plant is, how to make the perfume, etc. At En Gedi, we hiked through tunnels and by waterfalls. We encountered some animals and Pastor Mike did a devotional on David.
Ein Gedi is also the place where David cut off the corner of Saul's robe instead of taking his life (1 Samuel 24) and the spot where David wrote many of the Psalms.
After En Gedi, we made our way to Kfar Hanokdim-a Bedouin village where our leaders faked our bus breaking down and lead us off the bus to ride camels into the village. What an experience!
We sat in a tent and learned a little about the village and their coffee and tea ceremony. We were treated to a delicious lunch here. Bedouins are like Gypsies. They live in tent villages and move frequently throughout their lives. Anyone is welcome in a village and a complete stranger could stay 3 days without being asked his whereabouts. In those 3 days, he's protected by the community and treated like a guest. When guests arrive, they are ushered in, a rug is spread out for them and they are served sweet (hot) tea in small glasses. As that's happening, someone in the group is preparing a cardamom-spiced Arabic coffee. The first cup is poured and tasted by the host. The second is tasted by the guest and the third is to be drunk by the guest. There is some process with the coffee that also makes it known you are no longer welcome in the community and need to be on your way again (during or after those three days).
Next we moved on to Tel Arad National Park, the ancient city of Arad with it's fortress. Parts of this site date back 5,000 years, which was really cool. It was so hard to keep up with history and know what time period we were talking about at each stop.
The "House of Yahweh", the only one discovered in the land of Israel, was found here. This is where the holy of holies would have been- "God in a box", the ark of the covenant. Amazing. This is also the region where the Israelites would have wandered in the desert for 40 years.
We ended the day with more time in the Dead Sea, a couples massage, dinner and bed!
Day 4:
We packed up our things, had breakfast and went down to take the bus to our first stop: Masada. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, so we couldn't see clearly from the top...such a bummer! Masada is where King Herod built a fantastic 3 tier palace on the side of a mountain (because he was Herod and could do that sort of crazy thing). We took a cable car up to the top to explore.
After Herod's death, Masada was turned into a Roman garrison. Zealots captured Masada from the garrison and Jewish refugees escaped to the fortress to flee Roman rule. They lived there until 72 AD when the Roman army surrounded them and having no where to go, the Jews decided on a mass murder-suicide pact. Thousands of Jews took their lives instead of being taken by the Romans. You can still see an area where they drew lots to decide who would kill the others. Very significant in Jewish history as over 900 people lost their lives. Masada is also thought to be one of the places David took refuge from Saul and may have inspired him to refer to God as his fortress and his rock of refuge. (2 Samuel 22)
After Masada, we went to Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the Qumran caves by a shepherd boy. Qumran was an ancient settlement where scribes lived with each other in a community and waited for the Messiah as they copied important texts.
They had strict rules to live there and had special ritual baths, quiet time and the important jobs of copying scripts. The Dead Sea Scrolls are the oldest copy of the Old Testament that we have (dating to the 1st century). Fragments were found of all the Old Testament books here except for the book of Esther. The Dead Sea Scrolls rank as one of the most prominent archaeological events of the twentieth century. It was a pretty incredible stop and we had lunch here!
Next it was off to the North, towards the Sea of Galilee to Beit She'an (Beth Shean, Beth Shan), an ancient Roman city. This was a town that people traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus would have passed through. We explored the bath house, the forum and the amphitheater.
In the Bible, when King Saul and his sons were killed in battle, their bodies were carried to Beit She'an where they were hung on the walls like trophies. (I Samuel 31) The major ruins left are Roman and Byzantine and were damaged in an earthquake in 749AD.
From there, we drove into the area around the Sea of Galilee and made a stop at The Place of Stories, the home of Gary and Cindy Bayer for a beautiful view of the sea, some snacks and some fellowship. At the time, Gary was battling cancer and unfortunately he passed away on January 6.
I'll always remember the gorgeous double rainbow we experienced from the roof of their house.
Finally, it was time to check into our kibbutz on the Northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, have dinner and crash.
Day 5:
After breakfast, we traveled up to the northernmost tip of Israel, almost on the Lebanon/Syria border to visit Tel Dan. After a bit of a nature walk, we explored the walled city with it's alters to the pagan gods of the time.
Abraham and Elijah would have been in Dan. The best part of this visit was seeing the "Abraham Gate", a Canaanite Gate of clay. This would have been the gate Abraham used when traveling to Dan to rescue Lot (Genesis 14:14). Artifacts found here are said to read "The House of David"...which would mean it's the first time David had be listed at a site dating back before 500BC. This was just remarkable!
Just up the road, we stopped at Caesarea Philippi (Banis Nature Reserve/Ein Panis/Caesarea Panis/Neronais). Known as Baal Hermon and Baal Gad in the Old Testament. This is the grotto and Greek ruins of a worship spot dedicated to the Greek God Pan. It's where Pan and his nymphs were supposed to have lived. Jesus took his disciples up from Galilee to Caesarea Philippi and said, "who do people say that I am and who do you say that I am." Meaning, do you think I'm just another god (lowercase- like Pan) or do you believe I'm the one true God? The disciples would have known about Pan and those that worshiped him and other Greek gods. Peter said, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." and Jesus tells Peter that he is the rock (and they are standing on this massive rock) that He will build the church on..."and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." Caesarea Philippi is also known as the gates of Hell. (Matthew 16). It was also at Caesarea Philippi that Jesus spoke of his coming death and resurrection. This was one of the most powerful parts of the trip for me.
From there we went up to Sa'ar Fall, a beautiful waterfall.
We had a Saint Peter's fish lunch at dag al hadan and then headed back towards the Sea of Galilee.
Our next stop was the spot of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). In this spot, as most, there is a church built here, the church of Mount of Beatitudes. The church is an octagon with 8 sides-each side representing one of the eight blessings of the Beatitudes.
Our guide reading the Beatitudes in Hebrew.
Next it was off to the Jordan river where Kevin, myself and three others were baptized. We knew before going to Israel that we would have this opportunity and even though Kevin and I were both baptized as babies, we wanted to be baptized together and what better place than in the Jordan river? As we were all praying before we went into the water, the weight of that decision came on me and I got splotchy and nervous. I think I was more nervous than my wedding day. I can't say I came out "changed", but it was a very memorable experience from the trip!
Our day was not yet complete. Our next stop was the Yigal Alon Museum where they have a 1st century fishing boat discovered in 1986 on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is much like what Jesus and the disciples would have been in on the Sea of Galilee for fishing. Interestingly, the boat was made of 12 different types of wood, very symbolic in Jewish culture.
And finally we took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. The captain of the boat was a singer and we sang praise and worship songs as we sailed around with the sun setting. It was gorgeous! To be on the body of water where Jesus calmed the storms and walked on water...it was just unbelievable.
After dinner, we sat around with some group members talking and then went back to our room to crash!
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