Day 4

Part of the Golan Heights--------------------Nimrod's Castle

The Road to Damascus ----------------------Spring at Caesarea Philippi

Base of Mount Hermon-------------------Burnt offering altar at Tel Dan

Shooting Range area------------Mount Arbel during storm

March 29, 2008

Bible Study Theme: To be “In Tune” with the Lord and listen to His will for us daily.

Places Visited:
Golan Heights (bunker)
Nimrod's Castle

Road to Damascus

Mount Hermon
Caesarea Philippi
Tel Dan

Shooting Range
Mount Arbel

I fell asleep last night at about 11:30 and woke at 7:00, so I had plenty of sleep, but I was so tired at the start of my day today! I read my bible and off we went to breakfast. After eating we got onto the bus and drove around the Sea of Galilee toward the Golan Heights. It is located east and goes to the north of Galilee. Golan (“Bashan” in the bible) was designated to the tribe of Manasseh. It was an area which the Lord set up as a “Refuge City” for the man-slayer (Joshua 21:27). This was also the land taken back from Syria in the Six Day War. Syria still cries to the UN (United Nothing) about this land and the United States is currently trying to negotiate to give it back to Syria. But if this happened they would likely just start firing missiles into Israel again. We stopped at a bunker located at the top of a hill overlooking Syria and checked it out. We could see the borders lined with two sets of tank trenches. While in the area we stopped at Nimrod’s Castle. This is a castle built upon a hill which guarded the Road To Damascus. (Not in Paul’s day) We find this road mention in the bible in Acts 9:1-25. It is a long winding highway now, built on top of the old road which Paul traveled.
Next we drove to Caesarea Philippi (Matt16: 13-20), located at the base of Mount Hermon. Caesarea Philippi is now a ruin city with natural springs and waterfalls feeding the Jordan river. In Jesus’ day this is where he took His disciples and asked “ Who do you think I am” Peter answered “the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matt 16: 15-16). If you continue reading in the book of Matthew, we see that Jesus and the disciples were in Caesarea Philippi before Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. This mountain is most likely Mount Hermon and referred to as the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt 17:1-13).
After lunch at a kibbutz we went to Tel Dan. Tel Dan is a pagan city taken over by the Danittes, where they set up a pagan temple to worship a golden calf.[Apparently they still believed in the Living God, but just got it all wrong. In my opinion this is kind of like the Catholic Church and their ways of worshiping the Lord.] This happened in the days of kings Jeroboam and Jehu. (1 Kings 12:28-33; 2 Kings 10:29). This event is a subject debated by bible scholars as to the reason the tribe of Dan is left out of the twelve tribes mentioned in the book of Revelation (Rev 7:1-8). We had a very moving and powerful message in Tel Dan at the steps of the Pagan Temple about idol worship. Mom and I had a discussion on the way back to the bus about idol worship and the Catholic rosary. Again in mine and my moms opinion’s this too is idolatry.
From Tel Dan we went to a shooting range, where most of the group shot Uzi’s. Mom and I had no interest. While the others shot the machine guns we enjoyed some fellowship and prayer together in a grassy area filled with huge palm trees and shade. This was a tranquil and peaceful time spent with mom and the Lord!
From the shooting range we drove to Mount Arbel. The theory is that Jesus came to this mount with His disciples after His resurrection (Matt 28:16). It is a beautiful hike and overlooks all of the Sea of Galilee and Golan Heights all the way to Mount Hermon. We had a short bible study and we worshipped for a short time too. There was a storm funneling into the Sea from the north, so we had a chance to witness first hand how rough the sea could get and just how quickly it could happen. No wonder the disciples we scared on that little boat they were had. (Matt 14:22-23, Mark 6:45-51, John 6:15-20). It was windy and cold up there but what a site! I loved it! AMEN

Leaving the Sea of Galilee: “The Cradle of Ministry”

Things I learned in Israel today:

1. “Tel” means hill formed by the build up and destruction of cities through the centuries
2. Israeli secret service top’s in the world
3. Electric fence (light bulb to base) between borders is a very efficient obstacle for suicide bombers.