We met up the next morning with Adventure Mark to make the border crossing. Israeli security deserves its reputation as the strictest in the world. As soon as we got off the bus I was pulled out of line along with several others and questioned about all sorts of things: the reason for our trip, where I was from, who I was, who my parents were, if someone gave me anything before coming, who was paying for my trip, what was the name of my school, why was my bag smaller than everyone else’s, etc. Finally, after explaining my father’s lineage to the third or fourth generation to the passport stamper (no joke, they asked all that stuff) I made it through with the group and we met our guide for the next several days. He was a Galilean Arab Christian whose name was Moukhoul (which is an Arabic version of Michael). I just thought it was cool that his name had a “kh” in it.
Moukhoul was extremely friendly, and he explained our tour as we drove to Bet Shaan, one of the ten cities of the Roman Decapolis, and the only one in Israel. Bet Shan is the historical site of the death of Saul as well as the subject of David’s lament in the beginning 2 Samuel. While there, we toured another Roman theatre, saw a mosaic containing an advertisement in Greek for a local store, and marveled at the ingenuity of the Roman roads there. We ate lunch (a chicken and hummus pita sandwich with vegetables amusingly called a shnitzel) and set off for Meggido.
As we drove, we passed a number of historical sites, such as Mount Tabor (home to the battle between Deborah and Sisera in Judges) Mount Carmel, and the site of Gideon’s mustering of the troops of Israel. What really struck me about coming to Israel was just how close together everything was. You could see Nazareth and Mt. Tabor are literally right next to each other and Meggido is easily visible from both. The plain in between the three sites was home to 70% of the battles recorded in the Old Testament, because the land there was the most fertile and the most valuable for farming. I almost wonder if the reason that the land is so fertile is because so many people were killed there over the course of history. When I used to read in the Bible about the Promised Land being the land of milk and honey what I never realized is just how drastically more fertile and desirable Israeli land is than anywhere else in the Arab world. Jordan, for example is very rocky and dry, and is one of the three water-poorest countries in the world. In Israel, everything is green and beautiful and vegetation and trees are everywhere. It’s a totally different world than Jordan.
We arrived at Meggido, which is also known as Armageddon and is thought by some to be the site of the Last Battle mentioned in Revelation. Biblical interpretations aside, this place has seen some serious wet work over the millennia. The city itself overlooks the plains I mentioned earlier where most of the fighting in the Bible takes place, while the actual city has been destroyed and rebuilt a staggering twenty-five times!!! This makes is a treasure trove of archeological information and tells us a lot about life in ancient times. Meggido itself is one of the oldest cities in existence. One sacrificial circle in the city was used without ceasing for over 2,000 years. To prevent enemies from cutting off access to water in the city, King Solomon dug a gargantuan shaft into the earth and then tunneled over to the spring so that even in times of siege the water from the spring would flow right into the city. We actually walked along the tunnel since water no longer flows through it and out to meet our tour bus at the end of our time in Meggido.
Our last stops for the day were all in Nazareth, which is just a short distance from Meggido and is clearly visible from there. Our first stop was the Mount of Precipice, which is believed to be the site where Jesus escaped an angry crowd by leaping off of the mountain itself. The view of the city and of the plains around from up here was incredible. Next we visited the Basilica of Annunciation, which is a colossal church built on the site where many believe Mary and Joseph lived for the first few years of Jesus’ life. The church itself was lavishly adorned and featured art from every country in the world depicting Mary (and usually Jesus) in the style of their culture.
Finally, we drove up the the St. Gabriel hotel, where we would stay for two nights and which was very similar in style to Carter Hall back at Covenant. Again we were served a huge dinner (everything in Jordan and Israel was big) of chicken, fish, bread, hummus, and vegetables. We took a short walk after dinner and had a good hour or two of just talking as a group. Even though most of us didn’t even know each other when we got on the plane, by now we were a tight group and were becoming good friends through shared experiences. We even had a good number of inside jokes (Ben’s always late, I’m married to Alicia and attract cats, Becca’s sixteen years old not twenty one, etc.) We had an early start the next morning, so I wrote this journal, then went to bed.
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