Trip to the Holy Land - Israel 9/30/12 to 10/1/12

Galilee - 9/30/2012

On the Mount of Beatitudes

There is a Catholic church, garden and small visitor center on the traditional Mount of Beatitudes.  We sat in a private outdoor theater where Brother Madsen shared his thoughts on the teachings of the Savior on the attitudes we should nurture and live with.  There is a beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee and surrounding country from the church grounds.

Ruins of 4th century synagogue built on 1st century synagogue

At Capernaum there are ruins of the ancient city including a 4th century synagogue and what archaeologists have confirmed is the home of Peter's mother.  The Catholic Church has built a massive visitor center over the ruins of Peter's mother's home which has obstructed the view of the ruins.  On the grounds there is a statue of the apostle Peter holding a staff and large key.  At the base of the statue is an inscription "upon this rock will I build my church".  I marvel at the huge difference in belief in the foundation and organization of Christ's true church that has emerged from interpretation of the meaning of these eight words.  Recognizing that the Savior was referring to revelation is so empowering for both the ongoing church and for individuals whereas a belief that the Savior was talking about Peter as the rock makes the church organization dependent on a man deceased  for 2,000 years and leaves the individual with no customized divine guidance for their lives.he synagogue is much larger than the replica in Nazareth and has Roman influence in the architecture.  It was built over the foundation of a 1st century synagogue.

One of the three sources of the Jordan River

We drove to Caesarea Philipi and then on to the city of Dan in northern Israel where we walked to two of the three springs which source the Jordan River.  When we drove by the Jordan river in the valley it was a slow moving narrow river but amazingly at the first spring it was a raging river.  We hiked along the ancient trail of Dan which followed the spring flow for a while.  There were many locals hiking the trail with their children.  At one of the pools there was a large gathering of families wading in the water, which was quite cold in spite of the hot air temperature.  The hiking trail took us to the ruins of a Canaanite city (like one conquered by the tribe of Dan when they took the land for their inheritance).  The walls were built of uncut stones with chinks to hold them in place.  There were altars for sacrifice and the foundation of a temple.  From the temple we could see outposts for Lebanon.
We drove east through northern Israel to the Golan Heights where we stopped at a roadside park for a view of Lebanon, Syria, and the ancient Road to Damascus.  The wind blew hard and combined with the elevation provided welcome "air conditioning" as a relief to the heat and humidity we endured for much of the day.  Our Jewish guide, Joseph Goldman, described his experiences as a tank commander in the 1967 and 1973 war with Syria and how 40 Israeli tanks manned by young Israeli men (19 - 25 years of age) repulsed 800 Syrian tanks.  We were able to see the ancient road to Damascus as Brother Madsen spoke about Paul's conversion.

Galilee and Bethlehem - 10/01/2012

View of Galilee from Mt Arbel

View of the Galilee from Mt Arbel.  Brother Madsen shared the story of Jesus' calling of the twelve apostles.  He retired to a high mountain to contemplate the calling of His apostles and Mt Arbel is at least one alternative spot.  He spoke about the definition of a "special witness for Christ" and he
related the story of the resurrected Christ's appearance to his disciples with Thomas.  He postulated that this experience describes the conditions of a "special witness for Christ" both ancient and modern.
Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea.  Remains of an aqueduct which was built in Herod's time to bring water from Mt Carmel to Caesarea communities by the sea.  We also walked through the Caesarea National Park which contains the ruins of Herod's summer palace with a hippodrome and theatre.  Joseph our Jewish guide, explained that Herod built many buildings, roads and other infrastructure in his quest to create a Roman city that would rival any Roman city.  in spite of the good things he did for the infrastructure of the country he was hated by the people.  Brother Madsen explained that this place was near Joppa which was the port city from which Jonah would have departed in his attempt to escape his calling to Assyria.  It is also the port from which the Apostle Paul would have departed on his missions and where he was heard by Felix, Festus and Agrippa.  He spoke about Paul's courageous testimony (enabled by his calling as a special witness of Jesus Christ) throughout the Mediterranean and especially before kings, rulers and Jerusalem - for which the Jews sought his life requiring him to exercise his right as a citizen of Rome to appeal to Caesar.  This precipitated his third and final "mission".
We arrived in Jerusalem this afternoon and drove straight to Bethlehem. It is in the Palestinian controlled portion of the city and this area has more in common with Egypt than with Israel
(remember my earlier observations on the economic and social comparisons between
Egypt and Israel).  Jerusalem with a population of about 700,000 is a modern looking city built on the hills.  We drove through it quickly on our way to Bethlehem but will get to explore the Temple Mount tomorrow.  Unfortunately, the BYU Jerusalem Center was being renovated this week so we were not be able to do any more than drive by it.
We cleared the gates/checkpoint at the border of the Palestinian controlled portion of Jerusalem and moved to the Church of the Nativity as quickly as possible.  There was a palpable tension in the streets (probably encouraged by our guide repeatedly reminding us to stay together and be very careful) as we walked a couple of blocks to the church.  The church complex built over the traditional site of Jesus' birth has divided ownership between the Armenian, Greek Orthodox, and Catholic Churches and their architectural and religious tradition differences are evident in the complex.  Our guide led us to the stairway which descends to the cave where tradition suggests Christ was born.  A
few feet away from the cave is a 14 point star on the floor marking the exact spot where he was born in the stable/cave.  There are countless lamps, icons and baubles all over the place which I think detract from the spirit of the place.  Brother Madsen shared with us that Harold B. Lee declared "this is a holy place" when he visited the stable/cave.  That doesn't necessarily tell me that it is the place where Jesus Christ was born into the world but at a minimum it is a "holy place" because it is a memorial to His birth.  As we sat in a cloister of the Catholic Church portion of the complex, Brother Madsen shared the biblical Christmas story and the group sang several Christmas songs.  You know Joni loved that.  It was a good spirit.