DAY 5 – THURSDAY, JANUARY 21

Beth Shean’s Roman street

Today was a nice bright and sunny day with temps in the 60s. We checked out of our hotel after breakfast and drove south. Before leaving the Sea of Galilee area, we made our first stop at the Kinneret Cemetery.  Here we learned about the life story of an early pioneer to the land named Rachel. We enjoyed Shlomo’s singing and playing his recorder.

Driving about 20 miles south through the Jordan Valley, Beth Shean our next stop. This is a huge, huge, archaeological site displaying both Old Testament and Roman ruins. Here was saw a Roman bathhouse, villas, mosaics, a pillared Roman street, and a beautiful theater. Some in the group climbed the steps to the OT tel to get a great view of the Roman city below. We read from 1 Samuel 31, about the bodies of Saul and his sons being hung on the walls following their death on Mt. Gilboa.

A gazelle seen in the Judean Desert

From here, we drove west through the Samaritan Hill Country (also referred to the Hill Country of Ephraim). We drove past biblical sites such as Shechem/Sychar, Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim en route to Shiloh.  We saw a lot of sheep and goats grazing in the winter fields as well as a number of gazelles.  The ancient city of Shiloh was where the Tabernacle was located for 369 years. According to 1 Samuel 4, the Ark of the Covenant was taken by the Philistines in battle. We saw a wonderful high-tech show of the story of Samuel and the Tabernacle. We also heard he words of Jeremiah 7 as the prophet looked back to the days of Shiloh.

Old Testament Jericho

Traveling now past places like Bethel (Gen. 15, 28) and Michmash (1 Samuel 13-14), we drove east through the Judean Desert to Jericho.  The route we took took us on a unique road that went through part of the Wadi Qelt and Pareth (mentioned in Jeremiah 13).  After lunch here in Jericho, we climbed the tel, we heard the many stories that took place here. Standing by the 2 retaining/revetment walls of the city dating to the time of Joshua, we read the conquest story from Joshua 6. Praise God for the historicity of the Bible!

We ended the day by driving to the southern end of the Dead Sea (at Ein Bokek). Here we checked into our hotel and enjoyed dinner and a free night. We are looking forward to “floating” in the Dead Sea tomorrow morning!

DAY 6- FRIDAY, JANUARY 22: MASADA, EIN GEDI, QUMRAN, WILDERNESS OF JUDAH