Food in the hotels in which we stayed was very good, so we ate a hearty breakfast in Tel Aviv, loaded our luggage on the bus and headed north to Caesarea by 8:30.
Caesarea was a city built by Herod the great as a gift to the Roman Caesars. It was a beautiful city with all the amenities that a royal visitor or government official would expect: a 4,000 seat theater, a hippodrome, pools, baths and saunas were all there. Caesarea became the defacto capital of Herod's kingdom. The weather on the Mediterranean coast was much better than in hot old Jerusalem, and the people were not as contentious either, so government officials much preferred Caesarea to Jerusalem!
In the book of Acts there are 15 references to Caesarea. There is evidence that Philip established a church there (see Acts 21:16), Cornelius and his family became believers there and Paul was imprisoned there for 2 years as well, so Caesarea is an important place in Christian history.
Since I visited in 2008, quite a lot of restoration work had been done on the theater. We made an attempt to demonstrate the acoustics of the theater, but there were many tourists there so it did not work out so well. The theater in Jeresh, Jordan, is much superior--I was there in 2008.
Our next stop was Mt. Carmel where the prophet Elijah smote the prophets of Baal. From both Carmel and Megiddo one can view one of the most fertile valleys in the world. It is beautiful so it is hard to believe that the last battle will be fought here. Northern Israel is where most of the fertile land is and where most of the prosperity is. Could it be that partially explains why the northern tribes fell into idolatry more quickly because of too much prosperity?
Just next-door to Mt. Carmel is Meggido. This site was important to the kings of old because it was a strategic location. Meggido is a tel with 28 different layers of civilization to it. James Michener used Megiddo as a model for his novel, "The Source." "The Source" was required reading for our Hebrew History class at Nebraska Christian College. BTW, Bob and Polly Pat Michener were on the tour with us. It was interesting to converse with them about their famous cousin.
On to Nazareth, "Shootsville" (The August 23, 2008 archive, "He Shall be called a Nazarene" explains it. ) to visit the church of the Annunciation. It was there Gabriel announced to Mary that she would conceive and bear a son as a virgin--a son who would be the Savior of the World. The church and its symbolism were impressive. In stark contrast to the church was a sign placed by the Muslims warning Christians not to worship the Trinity because only Allah is God.
Though it was on the schedule, we did not stop at Cana where it is recorded that Jesus did his first miracle of turning water into wine. It was getting late and dark so we drove on to Tiberius on Galilee to spend the night. It was a long day. Touring the Holy Land is not easy, but it is good!
Our Father's Love,
Tom
This picture is of Jerusalem, taken from the Mount of Olives. I will try to do better in picture selection.
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