2008 Soap Box Archives

Israel Trip Part Three

Day Three

The Sea of Galilee is not a sea at all, but a large fresh water lake in the interior just below Golan Heights. It is Israel's prime source of potable water and one wonders why Israel's enemies haven't destroyed or poisoned it.

This question came up the day we took a boat ride on the lake and our guide, a former colonel in the Israeli military, said that Israel had let it be known to their enemies that the repercussions from harming the Sea of Galilee would be a bigger price than any nation could pay.

That's one of the things I love about Israel, they make no bones about it. Don't mess with us if you don't want to be messed with. And they mean it.

As you look across this beautiful lake you wonder where Jesus walked on the water and what part of the sea He was near when He gave the many sermons and teachings He spoke in that part of the world.

Unfortunately nobody was following the Lord around setting up markers to let the succeeding generations know just where He was standing when He was teaching or performing miracles.

In most cases it is just a best guess situation, although you can identify the area, there is no historical way to know the exact spot.

Near the dock for the Galilee boats was an unearthed 2,000 year-old fishing boat, very much like one that Peter might have used.

The same day we went to the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus spoke about Godly living in the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew chapter 5. We took communion and had prayer in this magnificent garden. It's one of the most peaceful feeling places I've ever been.

At Capernaum we saw an ancient synagogue with many of its walls still standing and remarkably preserved stone carvings and mosaics, then to the old city of Caesarea Philippi, which was built by Phillip, one of King Herod's sons. The city was named to kiss up to the Caesar and the Romans, and Phillip actually had a shrine built to Pan, one of the Roman gods on the mountainside there. In ancient times, the water from the mountain was a major tributary into the Sea of Galilee, now there is just a small stream surrounded by rock badgers or rock hyraxes, known in the Bible as a cony.

When you go on top of Golan Heights you understand why this region is such a strategic military location, the whole area rises high above the plains of Israel and an enemy with long-range artillery could wreak havoc on much of the country. We stood up on the hillside and looked right into Syria.

This area is on the Syrian border and there are still land mines buried close to the road and the roadside signs warn of the danger of getting off the shoulder.

This area is cattle-raising country known as Bashan and our guide said that occasionally a cow would step on an old land mine and be blown sixty feet in the air.

We saw the Druze people in this area. They are said to have split from a sect of Shiite Islam over a thousand years ago. Little is known about their religious beliefs except they celebrate Muslim holidays and they believe that their messiah will come and be born to a man instead of a woman. Their priests or imams or whatever they're called even wear trousers with a pouch in front allowing for pregnancy.

We ended the day fulfilling one of the long held desires of my heart when Pastor Allen baptized my whole family in the Jordon River at a place named Yardinet.

Although the location was different, it was the same river that John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ in. It was an experience I'll never forget.

That night we went to bed in Tiberias, knowing that when we got up the next morning our incredible adventure would continue.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

 

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