Today we went up to Jerusalem from Tiberias.

We started the day with Sunday morning worship at our hotel in Tiberias. We then boarded the bus for our trip to Jerusalem.

Our first stop of the day was in Bethshan.

The highlight of this stop was climbing the Tel Bet She’an and looking down on the excavation of the Byzantine city of Scythopolis.

The next stop was one of my two favorites of the day.

We stopped at the Spring of Harod which is where Gideon chose his 300 men to battle the Midianites.

Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.'” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained. And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.” So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.” And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.” So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. (Judges 7:1-8 ESV)

It was very interesting to see the place where he made this selection. I could just imagine his men leaning down to take a drink and see Joshua making his choices. I also got some great flower and insect pictures that will be shared sometime after I return home.

We then continued on to Jezreel.

Jezreel is where the account of Naboth’s vineyard took place. It is also where Jehu was headed in the following verses. This view above is where Jehu would be coming from.

Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu as he came and said, “I see a company.” And Joram said, “Take a horseman and send to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?'” So a man on horseback went to meet him and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?'” And Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me.” And the watchman reported, saying, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.” Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, “Thus the king has said, ‘Is it peace?'” And Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me.” Again the watchman reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.” (2 Kings 9:17-20 ESV)

I will not continue the story here, but I think that most of us know what happened to Jezebel after Jehu arrived in Jezreel.

It was great to be at the site where these events took place and to think about their significance.

We then were able to enter the West Bank and head up to Samaria for lunch and a visit to the excavations.

So many things happened at Samaria that it is hard to even begin to list them. The ruins of Samaria have so many levels and each of them tell us some great stories. Unfortunately, there has not been any excavations at Samaria for some time and the site is starting to deteriorate.

We did have a great lunch and the walk through the site was very informative. We saw the steps that lead up to the Temple of Augustus, the remains of a theater, a basilica and forum from Roman times and the remains of a Crusader Cathedral which had been turned into a mosque. There is a crypt there that is know as the tomb of John the Baptist.

There are also seven layers of the excavation from the Israelite time period starting with King Omri and continuing up to the fall of the city to the Assyrians.

After this great stop we headed on to my favorite stop of the day.

I had been thinking of this place for the whole week and had been hoping we would be able to visit it. Jacob’s well is located at Sychar and is where Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman about the water of life. There is an impressive Greek Orthodox Church building over the site. You have to go down steps under the floor of the building to see the well.

We then continued on to Jerusalem. We drove through some interesting places and saw lots of sheep and goats and terraced fields. We also drove by the tel of Shiloh where the tabernacle had been.

We arrived at our hotel in Jerusalem just before sunset.

The hotel will be our base of operations for the remainder of the trip.

Tomorrow we will start to explore Jerusalem!

Steven

For more information about the trip you can also read the following blogs by other tour members.

Ferrell’s Travel Blog

Exploring Bible Lands

Trent and Rebekah