Day 4 Friday April 19th Holy Land Trip

When we met for breakfast at 7:30 we found out that rain was forecast for today.  We left with a positive attitude that the day would be meaningful, rain or shine and at 8:30 headed up to the Golan but decided to stop at the traditional site of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) as more rain was forecast for tomorrow and it was not raining yet. This site overlooks the Sea of Galilee.

                               North shore of the Sea of Galilee

Moti talked about the Biblical connection with the site explaining that no one knew for sure where Jesus taught this passage but we do know it was in the general vicinity.  Moti’s explanations coupled with the fact that we possibly could be standing close to where Jesus delivered this message was a sobering experience and an inspiration. 

This is one of the most peaceful places in Israel, in my opinion. The picture below is the Catholic Church at this site.

After spending a little time visiting the church and grounds we headed north for ‘The Golan’. Our next stop was about 25 miles, where we found the site of Biblical Caesarea Philippi. This was one of the cities that was dedicated to the Roman Caesar.  There is a large spring here that contributes a significant amount of the Jordan River water that starts a few miles south.  It was a challenge hiking down to the waterfall and back up with the constant threat of rain.  We got back to the van about a minute after it started raining cats and dogs.

 

     

                               Our group was just a little wet after the hike.

Scripture gives us an account of Jesus conversation with His disciples while in this area. Matthew 16:13 records this event "Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" Peter eventually made the famous confession that "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  This is a question that all of us must face before we die and our answer will determine our eternal destiny.

We left Caesarea Philippi and headed into the heart of 'The Golan' only to be stopped by the police, who had the road blocked for a bicycle race.  We had to turn around and go back the way we came to find another way to get where we wanted to go.  Some were getting hungry and the only villages around were the Druze villages.  We stopped at a restaurant and had another ‘interesting’ lunch.  After we found out that we were to make a 'sandwich' by putting the food in a bread pocket, it was quite tasty, at least to some of the group.

 

 

 The food is supposed to be put in this bread pocket and eaten like a sandwich.

One interesting thing was the group of Israeli military people that came in to eat.  Doris asked them if we could take pictures of them and they said ok.  We understood that the weapon that one of them was carrying was actually produced and manufactured in Israel.  I wouldn't want to be on the other side of him in a battle.

We talked some with Moti about the wars and visited some of the battle sites in the area.

The Golan Heights conflicts over the years are some of the more interesting chapters in Israeli history. The sign below says a lot more about the war history than we could say in words. 

 

After we left the restaurant (we were close to the northern border with Syria, and Lebanon not far away) we came through a grove of ‘Cedars of Lebanon’.  Moti told us this grove was the farthest south these would grow.

We passed through this grove and then drove through a lot of The Golan seeing many interesting sites.

We arrived back at the Sea of Galilee and our home away from home and rested a couple of hours and then it was time to eat.

Leaving earlier this morning with the potential of being rained out we were thankful that we had done nearly everything we wanted to and only experienced a small amount of rain while we were out of the van.  God is good.