Day Five: Leaving Galilee Behind

Day 5 Leaving Galilee Behind

Mount Tabor, but not to the top; Bet She’an; Baptism Site; Jericho; Up to Jerusalem; an extraordinary evening walk. 

It is always so hard to leave Galilee behind. This beautiful area of the country which bears that musical name was often the site of great parables, large crowds, joyful healings. In Luke 9:51 Jesus turned his face steadfastly to Jerusalem where he would die. We bid goodbye to the very lovely Sea of Galilee and headed to Mount Tabor, a traditional site of the Transfiguration.  

Mount Tabor is a high hill that rises in the middle of a plain. It is a six day walk from Caesarea Philippi, which in the Synoptics is where Jesus is before the Transfiguration it describes. At least one account begins “six days later Jesus went up a high mountain ...”. We arrived to find hundreds of people ahead of us. It would have taken us many hours to get up the mountain and spend the time we would like and return from the top. The mountain top cannot be reached by regular bus ... the switchbacks are too tight. There is a monopoly of taxi drivers that control the access, so ... we decided to just describe what was on top, and make sure we got to all our other stops and added a bonus.  

Along the drive to Tabor, we passed along some places with minor Biblical references, primarily in the book of Judges.  

Mount Tabor shows up in Judges as well, in the story of Deborah. Even to this day there is a town at the base of Mt. Tabor bearing her Arabic or Hebrew name. There is another town, Bedouin, in which all the people bear the same last name, Shivili. There are about 2,000 people in that town. It was comical to hear the guide read the mayoral election signs describing the four or five candidates, all named Shivili who were running for office.  

We turned south and stopped at Bet She’an, a national park where a city has been excavated. The city goes back thousands of years. It is referred to in Egyptian documents going back to 1900 BC. In the shadow of Gilboa where Saul was defeated and he and his sons were killed, it has a remarkable history. Much of the over-80 acre site is excavated to the Roman civilization level, but it was inhabited by many different people before and after them. It was destroyed by an 8th century earthquake.  

Like many Roman cities of some importance, it has a theater, Roman bath, cardo (Main Street) and temple/cultic area. Many of the shops and sidewalks were covered with mosaics, which were covered with marble when fashions changed! This is akin to people covering hardwood floors with carpet or linoleum. At the far end of the area is a tel, an archaeological term for a hill created by a series of civilization building upon each other’s ruins. It rises 80 meters. A pop culture reference is the dead tree atop it appearing as the tree on which Judas hung himself in the movie version of Jesus Christ Superstar. (Judas actually hanged himself very near Jerusalem).  

From Bet She’an we went to the baptismal site of the Jordan River. I have never been to this place. It had been accessible from the Israeli side only on Epiphany for many years, and the only time I was in Jordan before this trip it had closed before we got there. We had Mass there - a bit distracting because of a very large and loud group singing in the next worship area, but as someone in our group noted, it was a place where Christians of all types gathering to joyfully praise God. A number of us did step into the Jordan where we were there. Since we don’t re-baptize in the Catholic tradition (or in most mainline Protestant traditions) we did not rebaptize people as some groups there did. I did gather some of the muddy water to bring home to filter and add to our baptismal water for baptisms. I expect to use it this coming Sunday.  

After this stop we went on to Jericho. This very ancient city - it claims to be the oldest in the world, but Aleppo, Syria may be older. Biblically, it is seen in Joshua as a place of conquest, where Joshua and the people walked around the city seven times, six times in silence and at the seventh blow horns and shouted and ‘“the walls came tumbling down.” It is also the site of several miracles - either one or two blind men were cured, and in some cases followed Jesus on to Jerusalem. Perhaps the most famous story is that of Zacchaeus who climbed the sycamore tree to better see Jesus. (Luke 19). Jesus, seeing him, called him down and stated he would stay at his home. Jesus was intending to simply pass through, but will spend time to save us. There is a very old sycamore tree in town, but it cannot be from the time of Jesus. 

Jericho is an oasis in the desert. Because it has water and will always be warm, it was a place people would inhabit. It became a place for wealthy people as well. It has several names, including the city of palms because of all the date palms there. Its name actually means something like ash heap.  

Rising above the city is the traditional mount of Temptation, although there can be no way to determine that. 

From there we drove up to Jerusalem. When we say up to Jerusalem, we really mean up. Jericho is 902 feet below sea level, part of the great Rift Valley where Africa and Asia are pulling apart. This is what helps make the Dead Sea the lowest place on earth. Jerusalem, on the other hand, is in mountains, 2,474 feet above sea level. We rise thousands of feet in about 15 miles. Along the we see a marker of reaching sea level. There are also many Bedouin encampments, flocks of sheep and goats. At this time of the year, before the winter rains start in earnest, there is very little vegetation in the Judean desert. In the past 25 years many homes have been built on this east suburban settlement area of Jerusalem. The wall that separates Israel from the West Bank also cuts across the area and through old neighborhoods.  

We arrived at our hotel. With a couple of hours before dinner I recruited a few people to walk with me so I could make sure I still knew the way to the Old City walls. I like to offer an early morning walk there on my trips, so people can see the city. Without the throngs of people. We made it there in about 20 minutes. Whenever I step inside the walls I like to read aloud one of the psalms of ascent, psalm 122. “and now our feet are standing within your walls”.

There were more people than I expected around Jaffa gate so we headed down David street towards the church of the Holy sepulcher. I was surprised to find it still open. We visited Golgotha within the church and then did a quick tour of the whole church. As the six of us went down to St. Helena’s chapel-l, the deepest place in the church, we found some young people chanting the Salve Regina in a tone I had never heard. I was able to record part of it and will share it when I can.  

This walk was an unexpectedly wonderful adventure for us. We returned to the hotel full of wonder.