This was a day to visit the area around Galilee, including the Golon Heights, the area around Mt. Hermon, and several other significant spots.
I will share some interesting trivia that I learned about this area. Mt. Hermon is covered with snow year round, and has the only ski resort in Israel. (go figure) Underneath is the water table for the Middle East, formed by 3 rivers. There are buried water pumps to send water from the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret) all over, especially to Jerusalem. The Golan Heights was an active volcano, and there’s not one day when there’s not an earthquake in here. This area has the largest bird migration from Europe to Kenya; 1.8 billion birds fly over here.
We drove through some very recent “hot spots” where battles were fought. A lot of the fighting has been over who gets control of the water. There have been plans to sabotage the water pumps and the Aramco pump station which brings oil from Saudi Arabia for the USA. We drove right by these places. There are trees planted by the roadside on the way to the Golan Heights to screen the Israelis from the shellings by the Syrians from 1948 to 1967. From this road you can see the town in Lebanon where the war three years ago began over the kidnapping and killing of the three Israeli children.
It was a strange sensation to actually stand on top of the Golan Heights at the lookout Tel Fahr, looking out toward Lebanon and down toward Galilee. We were also looking out over the borders of the Promised Land. There are bunkers and signs warning of minefields left over from the 6 day war in l967. We actually stood where the hill was taken, as we were told of the maneuvers of the Israeli army. Israel has a plan, including the technology, for converting energy from the Dead Sea to provide enough water for everyone so that there is no more need to battle over water. Of course we understand that there are other issues to battle over, mainly political and spiritual. It was very impressive and sobering to stand on history like this. We had asked for vision to see what happened before, what is happening now, and what will happen. With what we’ve seen and heard, we are being shown what was, what is, and what is to come.
The area around Mt. Hermon is a national park and nature reserve, and is quite beautiful. There are streams and waterfalls, nature trails and wildlife, as well as historic ruins. (Also minefields). I never imagined I would see something this beautifully lush in Israel. There is water in Israel.
Mt. Hermon is the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17). It is the highest mountain in Israel and is a holy mountain. This area is called Banias, which comes from the god Pan (Ban), as there is a cave at the base of the mountain which was dedicated to Pan worship at the time of Jesus. That didn’t stop Jesus; He came here and healed the people. I didn’t want to take a picture of the cave too closely, because when I walked by, I had a feeling of waves of evil emanating from it like the water that used to flow out of it. In 175 A.D. the great earthquake that hit the western wall in Jerusalem also destroyed this pagan temple. This used to be Caesarea Philippi.
We worshiped here as part of the first generation to be in here since the recent excavation. This mountain is where God cut the first covenant with Abraham. Herod built here 2000 years ago, and the stones also have the marks of the House of David on them. This is where Simon declared the deity of Christ and was named Peter, and subsequently a church was built here. We sat on the remains of the walls.
Close by is the excavation of Leshem, which means Lion. It is considered a more important archaeological find than the pyramids. It was built by the children of Israel after the Exodus, and helps to date this event because it is built with the kind of mud bricks the Israelites made when they were slaves in Egypt. It wasn’t impressive to look at, until one remembers that the Exodus took place around 1850 B.C.E. Wow!
Tel Hatzor is the largest tel (hill) in Israel. It’s called the head of the kingdoms and is on a hill of lava from the Golan. This was a main roadway where chariots traveled to Damascus. Above is the city of Cana. This is where Deborah and Barak battled Cisera (Judges 4). Here is the massive gate from the time of King David. It is also the place where Solomon proposed dividing the child in half to determine the true mother. Ahab and Jezebel were here. Ahab’s altar is here, which had been a Canaanite altar. Elijah was here. Since David was here, Jesus was here. There are actually 23 layers of civilization here, dating from the first mention in Egyptian documents in the 19th century B.C.
We visited Bethsaida, the home of Simon Peter, the place where the loaves and fish were multiplied, where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, and also the headquarters for the Syrian/Jordan operation. We stood in the ruins of Peter’s home and saw a stone that was used for breadmaking. Our guide had two of the ladies sit at this rock for a picture. It was around 112 degrees that day, and I think that bread isn’t the only thing that cooked there.
It was a blessing to gather at the place of the Sermon on the Mount and hear the Beatitudes read. I had an impression of Jesus standing here above the milling crowds below. This was one of the non-traditional places where we were the only tour group.
This day was crowned with a boat ride on the Galilee. We were sailing on the holiest water on earth. We worshiped and danced, and as I pondered in the spirit I had a glimpse of Jesus running on the water alongside our boat with a big grin on His face as he waved to us.
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December 8th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
You would make a great tour guide. maybe writing a tour guide book would be helpful for those who want to experience some of what you did. Even a little wider availablity of this material would bless people. Hope who needs it finds it.