First stop was Beit She'arim. This is a not very well frequented tourist site as it is not biblical. It dates to the second century AD and is a Talmudic site. So why go there. Well one reason is to get perspective on what Judaism became after the destruction of the temple. Remember that these were Jews who rejected Jesus but no longer had a temple to worship at. Never forget that Jesus was Jewish and his life did not exist in a vacume. There was a culture around him that we need to understand. One of the most interesting features of this site is the tombs.
There were on some of the tombs depictions of animals. This is strange as the Torah forbids the making of graven images. This indicates a corruption of culture due to outside influences. However a carving of a minora is also there. Here I discovered that the small chair we brought along to sit on also makes a good makeshift tripod. Got some good shots in the darkened tombs as a result of that.
We spent a little time at the section above the tombs themselves which was put there for the services when people were entombed there. We received some teaching on John 3. This was the interaction of two rabbi's who were equals in many ways. We were taught that in Judaism at the time there were 5 ways to be born again, your bar/bat mitzva being one of them. Jesus was adding a sixth. So from that perspective Nicodemus was not asking a stupid question but was saying "I have experienced all the possible born again experiences in Judaism". The only possible option left is going back into the womb. Whether I agree with that will have to wait upon further research but it does sound interesting. We needed to hurry along and while there were many questions we needed to get to our next destination. Mount Carmel. Last time I was there the church was closed. Not this time. I actually got to see the Elijah statue in the courtyard and got some good pictures of it. We had a reading from the story that took place here which was the killing of the 450 prophets of Baal by Elijah when Baal could not bring fire but Yahweh could. Then we went up to the viewing deck and looked out over the Jezreel valley. With the aid of my iPhone maps and compass I was able to place many important events. Discovered that Ahab had a summer palace in the area and this is where many of the events recorded in scripture took place. I could almost see Jehu driving his chariot like a madman to go kill Jezebel!
Came down from the platform and bought a great panoramic photograph of the valley, with key places marked on it for $3. And then on to Megiddo.
Har Meggido. Armaggedon. A place of battle, past present and future. This was where King Josiah was killed by the army of Pharoh Neco. This is the staging area for the final battle before Jesus returns.
We stopped for lunch first, visited the museum and then acsended the Tel. For the most part it was the same old same old.
What was interesting was how they added these wire frame horses at the stable ruin to help visualize them as they were. There was also a wireframe chariot. I posed for pictures there :)
I also got a very good picture of the underground tunnel that led to the water source outside the city. You will have to wait till I return to see it, as it requires a long exposure that the iPhone does not excel at :)
From Megiddo we went to Beit She'an. Part of the reason we went there was because John, our intrepid tour leader had to make a trip to the Jordanian border to pick up his bag which he had left at the Petra Palace Hotel. Well actually the idiot porters were more interested in strong arming him for an extra tip than getting his bag onto the bus. Since this site was close to the closest border post we stopped here to wait for him. This site was where Saul's body was taken to display on the walls for the sport of the Phillistines. As you may recall, the men of Jabesh Gilead rescued the body from the walls and saw to his proper burial as he had saved them from Nahash (the snake) all those years ago. This is where the title of my blog entry originates. I was asked to read the lament of David when he heard of the death of Saul and Jonathan in 2 Samuel 1. The site itself houses the ruins of a Roman city. It is supposed to be one of the best excavated sites in Israel. Turns out the guy who organized the dig had some clout politically and got the government to do his bidding in this respect. There are some interesting features such as a theatre, an intact road, bathhouses and even a few communal latrines. Nice.
After we had explored the place for a while we waited for John to arrive. This he eventually did, with his bag in tow. All in all a good ending to an interesting day.
-- Post From My iPhone
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