Mount of Beatitudes

So many thoughts to sort out!  We have been in Galilee and northern Israel for 4 days.  I didn't take my computer because the internet was not great. The wifi did let me load photos from my phone so hopefully I will get a chance today to go into Facebook and label the pictures.  We love northern Israel!  It amazes me that this tiny country has so many types of topography.  Don't get me wrong northern Israel is still full of hills but it is a lot greener and doesn't feel as congested.  Jerusalem is a huge city with tons of tourist so it is nice to escape to Galilee.  We stayed at a lovely resort called Ma'agan Eden on the southeast shore of the Sea of Galilee.  We loved our resort!  We could see Tiberias from our beach.   Tiberias is a large city located across the water with tons of night life and lots of shopping.  After visiting several sites we are exhausted and a little overstimulated, so it was nice to go to this quiet resort.
Before we got the resort we had been to several sites.  Each day is filled with Old and New Testament reflections.  As we drive or hike we are constantly identifying landmarks on our maps and then reading about the stories that took place there.  Tuesday we started off with hiking up to Tel Beth Shan.  We oriented ourselves with Harod Valley and pointed out Mt Gilboa across the way.  Here we read the story of Saul's and his sons death on that mountain.  Beth Shan is the town that they hung the bodies of Saul and his sons on.  They displayed their bodies on the outside wall and because it was up on a hill, and along a major international road, the whole world could see what had happened. Then men from from Jabesh-Gilead came and stole the bodies back.  Our instructor pointed out that Saul was a Benjamite.  Benjamites were almost completely wiped out and had not enough women to build up their tribe so they went and stole women from Jabesh Gilead. This town also called upon Saul to save them from the Ammonites who wanted to pluck out their right eye.  Some scholars believe they called upon Saul here because he had family in this area. That one of Saul's descendants was one of the women who were taken from this area to be a Benjamite wife.  We often think that once these women became wives to the Benjamites that they lost all contact with their previous family but that would be contradictory to how the middle eastern culture.   Women tended to keep connections to their families after moving away to live with their grooms. That was something I had never connected before and that it makes sense and would at least one of the reasons Saul was willing to travel to save this town.  Below Beth Shan lay the ruins of a huge Roman city Scythopolis. This city was destroyed by a huge earth quake.   Rome would often set up these large cities in the regions to seduce the people into their culture.  Rome would build large theaters, fine roads, steam baths, and market places that had tons of luxurious items.  They would use theater to push their agendas (sound familiar USA?) and desensitize them to their many gods.    It would start a slow fade but after a couple of generations Yahweh would be completely forgotten or at least another god among the hundreds Rome worshipped.  NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN comes to mind!  The more I think about this the more I wonder why we pay for cable?  900 channels of crap! We pay people to entice our children and offer a counter culture.  We pay so they can desensitize us to their agendas?  Why would we do this??   It was pretty cool to climb and play on the ruins of the city.  The theater would have been 3 tier and  sat 7, 000 people.  Archeologists have determined that theaters in that time were designed to seat about 10% of the population. Scythopolis is a reminder to me to not stray and be enticed by the seductions of our culture.  God has defined what is right and wrong.  We are not judging others when we choose to be faithful. That is God's job.  Our job is to just be faithful.
Our last stop was on the Mount of Beatitudes by the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  We read Matthew 5 and discussed what it meant. Some suggested it was Christ offering comfort to those oppressed by Rome and we touched a bit on social justice.  I don't think social justice is wrong by any means and we certainly can use this to remind us to care for the poor,  but Mark and I shared how we were taught it was a building block of what Christians needed to become in order to be a follower of Christ. Each one of these "blessed" areas build off one another. They are to be found in those who give their life to Christ and then list the consequences that will come once you do.  (You don't sign a surgical waiver without knowing the risks and benefits of the surgery.)
Blessed are the poor in spirit (those who realize that sin has separated them from God)
Blessed are the those who mourn (those who are grieved by their depravity and repent to God),
Blessed are the meek (those who have self control and don't sin), Blessed are those who thirst and hunger for righteousness (those who want to draw closer to God and devote themselves to daily study and prayer),
Blessed are the merciful (being Jesus to the world),
Blessed are the pure in heart (being in the world but not of it), Blessed are the peacemakers (helping others come to God),
Blessed are the persecuted for righteousness sake. (if we implement all of these above statements we will be mocked and persecuted because that is how the world reacts to truth)
Rick Wenneborg you just taught a small class at the Sea of Galilee! I think maybe even a few to come because our instructor liked that thought.