My trip to the Holy Land: Part I

Shalom! I recently returned from a 10-day trip to Israel. It was an incredible experience, one that I am very grateful for. I plan to use this space to share some trip highlights with you over the next few weeks and give you a little taste of this beautiful country. So as they would say in Arabic, yalla, let’s go!

I was part of a group of 29 people from Cornerstone Church in Marshfield, Highland Church in Wausau and a couple of other churches that went on the tour. We flew out of Chicago March 4 and after a stopover in Istanbul, arrived in Tel Aviv the evening of March 5.

Just a little background information – in 1948, the State of Israel was created. Israel gained additional territory following the Six-Day War in 1967. It is about 261 miles in length and 72 miles wide at its widest point. More than 90 percent of the land in Israel belongs to the Jewish National Fund, established by Theodor Herzl.

The country has a population of 10 million, which includes about 7.5 million Jews and 2.5 million Arabs. Of those that are Jews, about 1 million are Orthodox Jews; however, they are the fastest growing segment of the population because they tend to have big families. Israel’s population of 10 million does not include the 3 million people in the West Bank.

On March 6, we started sightseeing. Our first visit was to Caesarea Maritima, a 2,000-year-old Roman city on the Mediterranean built by Herod the Great, also known as Herod the Builder. (There were five King Herods; he was the first.) It took 12 years to build. He built a port city even though there was no natural harbor there, and my tour guide said it was the first time someone had done that.

We saw a large outdoor theater and remains of the Hippodrome, an area that would be used for chariot racing (think Ben Hur). I had never seen ancient ruins before, so it was fascinating to me. The Mediterranean Sea was an absolutely beautiful turquoise, providing a stunning backdrop to the city. We also climbed on top of an ancient aqueduct used to supply freshwater to the city.

On our way to higher elevation, we drove through a Druze village. The Druze religion comes from a group that separated from Islam in the 11th century. There are 150,000 Druze adherents in Israel. It is a very secretive religion; it does not allow converts and it has no religious texts of its own.

Next, we went to the top of Mount Carmel, the site of Elijah’s encounter with the prophets of Baal (see I Kings 18), in which God sends fire from heaven to consume Elijah’s sacrifice. That was a great vantage point to look out over the surrounding landscape.

However, we got an even better vantage point at our next stop when we visited Tel Megiddo. A tel is a mound that has been built up over several centuries of occupation. You can think of it like a layer cake, with each civilization adding a layer on top of the one that came before. There are more than 200 tels in Israel, so practically anywhere you go there are archaeological discoveries waiting to be made. The issue is having the money to start these digs, as our tour guide said it costs a minimum of $10 million just to start one.

Anyway, I digress. Tel Megiddo overlooks the Valley of Jezreel, where the final Battle of Armageddon is to take place. “Armageddon” comes from “har-” meaning mountain and “megiddo” meaning gathering place; however, the Greeks couldn’t pronouce the “H” so it became Armageddon. Standing at the top of the tel, I really got a sense for how massive the valley is. Now lush and fertile, it was crazy to imagine armies swarming the land engaged in fierce battle. The land was fought over constantly throughout the centuries, because it lies along the Via Maris, an ancient trade route linking Egypt in the south to the northern empires of Anatolia and Mesopotamia.

The next day of the trip, we traveled to Tel Hazor, the largest tel in Israel, with 21-25 layers. That was one of the cities conquered when Joshua led the Israelites in to possess the land. Next we visited Tel Dan, which inclues the Dan River, one of the three tributaries that flows into the Jordan River. “Jordan” means the Dan is descending. One thing that surprised me was how narrow the rivers are in Israel. We think of a river like the Mississippi, but their rivers are more like what we would consider a brook or stream.

At the center of Tel Dan were the remnants of an altar likely set up by King Jeroboam of Israel’s northern kingdom in Biblical times. We also saw a city gate known as Abraham’s gate, dating back to 1700 B.C. Rather than a simple swinging door like we might think of a gate today, the city gate of those times was a gathering place where leaders would meet or important agreements were made. We continued by visiting Banias (also known as Paneas) the site of a natural spring at the foot of Mount Hermon. It was the location of Caesarea Philippi, a Gentile city on the northern border of Israel, where Peter gave his confession to Jesus: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” In that same passage, Matt. 16, Jesus talks about how the Gates of Hell won’t prevail against His church, which is interesting because that site would have likely been viewed as the Gates of Hell in that time period. It was on the far northern border of Israel, far away from Jerusalem. Additionally, it was a place where people engaged in the worship of the god Pan, including sexual rituals and infant sacrifice by throwing infants down from a cliff into the water. It was sobering to think about what all went on there but how we have just as evil things happening in our society today.

After that, we traveled through the Golan Heights. The land of Israel is extremely hilly and rocky. I enjoyed driving up into the mountains and getting to look down at the rolling green valleys and vineyards. The landscape is very beautiful, not quite like any other place I’ve seen. They grow many types of produce, including bananas, grapes, almonds, dates and olives.

Our last stop for the day was the Valley of Tears, which was the site of a major battle in the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Syria, with a memorial to the soldiers lost.

I will continue my recollections next week.

Striking a

Chord...