This guy on the left is Brian. He was our tour guide for 2 days of our touring through Israel. Mike and I are still debating which of us had the bigger man crush on him! Seriously, this guy knows the Bible better than anyone I've even met. His Biblical Hebrew is incredible, and the way he recalls entire passages of Scripture and then can put them into the appropriate geographic or cultural context is incredible. In this picture we are standing in a field that is considered to be the place where Jesus delivered his Sermon on the Mount.
This is a small cave in the Galilee region. Often the Gospels mention Jesus getting away by himself. Our translations often say he goes away to the wilderness, but as Brian helped us understand the word translated as wilderness can also mean pastureland. If Jesus were retreating to local pastureland for rest, a small shepherd's cave like this one would easily have been one that he would use for rest and refreshment.
In Nazareth, the city where Jesus spent his childhood growing up, training under his father as a "techtone" (likely a builder with stone, rather than the traditionally assumed carpenter), and being raised in all things Jewish. Part of the ancient city of Nazareth has been excavated, and a significant amount of work has been done to recreate the Nazareth of Jesus' childhood. Mostly, people want to understand what life would have been like for him. I got a sweet book that has a lot of that information in it, but in the picture I am standing in a recreation of the Nazareth synagogue, where Jesus would have learned the Scriptures and then taught the Scriptures as "one who speaks with authority." As you can see, I am reading from the Torah in this picture. Actually, I'm not. I can't read Hebrew, but if you would like to donate money to the "Send Curtis back to Israel for 6 weeks to learn Hebrew at the Hebrew University" you may send a check addressed to me to my house or to the church. :) Side Note: in a synagogue, the Rabbi would read the Scriptures standing up, then would seat down in order to teach. If the Rabbi read from the Torah (5 Books of Moses), anyone could respond, challenge, or question the Rabbi's teaching which usually created lively debates (which was encouraged). However, if the Rabbi read from the Prophets, the Rabbi's teaching was to be considered his own opinion, and thus he had the freedom to say just about anything he wanted about them.
This is in Capernaum...part of the Evangelical Triangle or Golden Triangle as different people call it. This is one city of three that Jesus spent about 90% of his ministry in, doing miracles, teaching, and gathering followers. This eight sided structure excavated a few years ago is a church that was built over another church, which was built upon the very house of Peter's mother-in-law. There is at least one story that we know of for sure in the Gospels that talk about Jesus going to this house, but again there is very little to see of the original, since the way of doing things in the Middle East is to build over buildings.
This a picture of some steps that lead down to a pit. This pit, which is connected to a series of prison cells are connected to an ancient palace believed to have belonged to Caiphas, the High Priest who was an active player in the crucifixion of Jesus. If this is Caiphas' Palace and personal prison cells, this is likely where Jesus was kept during the night between his illegal trials after
being betrayed and then hauled from illegal trial to illegal trial.
Don't know if you can see it, but some sources believe this is the skull mentioned in the depictions of Christ's crucifixion. The text says he was crucified at the hill of the skill, or Golgotha as it is translated in Aramaic, or Calvary in the Latin. As I said in a previous post, most of the major sites are contested between a few places. This is definately one of those. Some argue that the traditional picture of the three crosses on a hill is not accurate, while the Biblical passage mentions a hill some will say the text never says the crosses are on top of the hill. Others who cite historical evidence say the Romans usually tried to use crucifixion as an example, so the most common forms happened right next to busy roads. Archeology suggests there was a Roman road passing in front of this skull image in the hill. There are some who even argue that Christ wasn't hung on a traditional cross, because it wasn't common for the Romans to take the time to do that. More traditional was to strap the cross beam to the person's shoulders, nail the cross beam to a tree along the side of the road, then nail in the wrists, and finally lift the feet off the ground and nail the feet up. Clearly, we have no way of knowing one way or the other. But we can continue to learn the context through historical references.
One thing this trip reminded me of is this...most of the details aren't really that important. How did Jesus die? Where did he die? And on and on...why? Because He Is Risen! Praise God! We follow a Savior who is more powerful than death and who isn't laying in a grave somewhere, but is risen and is sitting next to the Father interceding on our behalf! Amen...
Speaking of empty tombs...Here's one of contested sites for the tomb, this one is about 100 yards away from the skull faced hill. The Gospel of John says the crucifixion site is right next to a garden where the tomb was.
I have one more post to share with you tomorrow...keep checking back so that you can see the final installment for my Trip to the Holy Land!
Grace and Peace
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