Galilee Day 2

Tina Huber

Reflection Day 11

Galilee day 2

January 17, 2012

I almost stayed in bed today. I have had a stomach ache and was a little worried about traveling on a bus all day. It didn’t help that it was cold and rainy. I could have stayed snuggled up in my bed and drank tea all day. But, I didn’t. I hate to miss anything. I’m glad I went, not only for the lessons and the insights, but as a nurse too. I ususally write my reflections the same day. This day ended on a scary note that left me too exhausted to do my homework. Stay tuned. I think our first stop was Hazor. This is a city that was important because it sits along an international trade route. This cities main income was from trading tin. It was a huge city. Over 200 acres. It is mentioned in Joshua as a city that they burned. This site did have a burn layer, but the biblical timeline and the archeology timeline are off by a couple of centuries. This one of those, we don’t know what to do with that, sites. I am no expert in either. So, who knows? It was cool to see but I wasn’t going to lose sleep over it. We left and went to Dan. This was an awesome stop. It was a nature reserve park and had the coolest hiking trails. A spring feeds this area and I have several cool pictures of it gushing along the trail. There was a ton of greenery and even flowers blooming. Which is a weird site for January. It really made me forget about feeling kind of icky and focus on God’s beautiful creation. Sometimes I will drop back from the group just to have some quiet time. This was one of those times. We hiked several trails that would lead us to different archeological sites. I saw the oldest arch gate in the world that Abraham himself likely walked through! Another trail took us to a city gate that had benches along the walls and a throne seat. This is where legal matters would take place. An example of Boaz redeeming Ruth was discussed. Tours were passing through during our lesson and I could see why people would choose this area to do their legal business. There are many witnesses and it settles the ‘drama’ before you enter the city. Our last trail took us to the ruins of a sacred precinct in the time of Jeroboam. I just need to give a shout out here for my church. I have on many occassions studied a lot of the stories that we have discussed on this trip. We are a small church and we believe in studying the actual word of God and not just topics. I have appreciated this from the first time I visited Chatham Christian Church nearly 20 years ago. My trip to Israel has made me proud to be apart of a church family that cherishes God’s Word! So, back to Jeroboam. Jeroboam comes into power as Israel becomes a divided kingdom. Rehoboam is the idiot son of Solomon in the south and Jeroboam, not of any worthy bloodline, becomes the King in the north. This scacred precinct ruins is referenced in 1 Kings. Jeroboam is worried that everyone will travel to the south to worship in Jerusalem and revert their loyalty to King Rehoboam. To solve the dilema he decides to build a temple here in Dan. How cool to see something from so long ago. I always think of my son, Otto, when we reference kings in the old testament. He has always been fascinated with those stories. Just a homesick thought. The rain continued throughout the day that led to some cancellations, which is the downside, but also seemed to give us more time at each site, which is the bright side. Caesarea Philippi was our next stop. The side of the hill is remarkable. It has brown and black striped rocked all along it and at the base is a cave that (before a disasterous earthquake) had a huge spring coming out of its entrance. This was such a pagan place. It had temples set up for every false god imaginable. Dancing goats, Nemesis- the goddess of revenge, Nymph -no explanation needed here, and Zeus to name a few. It was common practice to take your sacrifice and throw it into the cave waters that swirled around. If it was taken into what they called the ‘chaos‘ (the water in the cave) then if your prayer was answered it would suck it into the abyss, but if it was spit it back out then your prayer was rejected. This was often viewed as the gate of hades among the worshippers. Walking along looking at all the places for these false idols was eerie. I didn’t like it. I volunteered and read Matthew 16 aloud to the group. This bedrock along the side of the hill was a land marker. When Caesarea Philipi is mentioned here by Jesus this hill would come to mind. The author makes a point of pointing out the geographical location in these verses, so maybe Jesus is referencing this place when he says the gates of hades will not overcome it. The gates of hades was thought you can get in but can’t get out. I wonder if seeing this hill and the deceived worshipping in vain led to this discussion with his disciples? Jesus is constantly using his surroundings to give illustrations. I will always have that in my mind now when I read those verses! We did a small hike that led us to King Aggrippa’s place. The same king that Paul preached to! Just a little side trip. I found a sketchy bone that looked human. I kept going. We also took a fun trip to see a water fall. It was lovely! Because of the rain it was pouring over the side of the hill with a ton of force. I love waterfalls! It was just another fun side trip. We left and went to see the peak of Mt Hermon. The professor who has been to this place 4 times has never seen the top because clouds are always in the way. We were expecting the same. It had been raining all day. We got to a look out point and the clouds cleared long enough for us to “ooo” and “ahh” and take pictures. Keeping busy helped take my mind of my nausea. I wasn’t the only one with stomach issues today. Several of us had been feeling pretty icky. When we got back on the bus, one of the sick had such bad stomach pains that he was moaning and flenching. I did a quick exam and thought it was best to head to the hospital. The closest hospital was about an hour away. This was the longest trip. His pain kept getting worse and worse. He was in such severe pain that he passed out a couple of times. I was getting very concerned for him. I thought he had appendicitis and that it might burst. It was quite an experience getting him to the emergency room. Once there they too were suspecting appendicitis and had him scheduled for some tests. There was some differences in patient care but overall the hospital staff was good, the hospital was clean, had the latest technology, and they spoke English well enough that I felt comfortable leaving. Ross spent the night at the hospital and it was determined that he had a bad viral infection in his intestines that was causing severe spasms. We all thought he would need to have surgery. I am very thankful that he is feeling better and out of the hospital. I have so far been to prompt care with a girl who fell down the stairs, help clean and bandage those injured by the Dead Sea, and spent the evening in the ER. Maybe having a nurse on the trip is bad luck?