Galilee Day 1: New Perspectives

          This weekend we had a four day trip to the Galilee, and, just as I expected, I really enjoyed myself. I don't know if I liked it as much as going to the Negev because there are so many amazing cultural and theological things to learn, but I liked it all the same. It was very relaxed.

          I started the day by attempting to take a picture of the Jordan River and discovering that my battery had not charged the night before. Good times. And the place that we stopped at needed to be opened by a gatekeeper with the key, but he never showed up. So we jumped the fence. That really was good times. We walked along the Jordan and up a hill (isn't that everywhere in Israel? Haha) to Beit-Sha'an. This city is at the junction of the Jordan River Valley and the Jezreel Valley. What that basically means is that a bunch of international trade routes cross here. Egypt was all over this place early on, before they entered an intermediate period and lost their kingdom to the Pheonicians and then the Canaanites. The most Biblically important thing that happened here was the death of Saul, Jonathan, and their men. I think most of us know this story. If not, you can check it out at 1 Samuel 31. Basically, Saul decides to go up again the Philistines here, he is no longer in God's will, and kills himself when he realizes that he's lost the battle because he doesn't want a group of uncircumcised sinners to kill him. So he falls on his sword and the Philistines take his body and hang it up on the wall of Beit Sha'an to further humiliate him and his loss. A couple of interesting things are going on here. Beit Sha'an is far into the Northern Kingdom and out of Saul's region of reign. So what is he doing here? It's been suggested that Saul was trying to unite the tribes of Israel – like David later goes on to do. So he was probably going on to do something smart for a change. Saul gets a lot of crap, but I think we should give him more credit than we do. I think he occasionally knew what he was doing. Anyways, interesting thing number 2: Why did the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead come and take down Saul's body? Jabesh-Gilead was not in Saul's kingdom. Well this ties back to Judges 21. So, there's that whole story about how Benjamin just gets utterly destroyed because they messed with a Levite's concubine and then all the tribes reigned war on Benjamin for it. It's an interesting story, if you ever have the hankering to read a slightly demented story from the Bible. Anyways, so there's this remnant of Benjamin left, after this war, and the people don't want to completely kill off the tribe of Benjamin. So they start looking to other tribes for wives. They have two options: the dancing virgins of Shilo or women from Jabesh-Gilead. All this to say that, Saul is a Benjamite. It's possible that he had a great-great-grandmother or something from Jabesh-Gilead. Another reason the people may have come and taken down his body is that Saul saved their city once. So he had some fairly positive ties with the people.

          At the foot of Beit-Sha'an was a Roman period city called Scythopolis. There wasn't a whole lot of biblically relevant things there, but it was really interesting to walk around. Maybe my favorite site to explore, other than Massada.

          Then we went to Megiddo. Two neat things about Megiddo. One: it's one of the cities that Solomon fortified during his reign. So now I've been to Gezer and Megiddo (two of the three cities). Two: In Revelations 16:16, John the Apostle writes that the “last battle” on earth will be at a place that, in Hebrew, is called “Armageddon”. Which, in Hebrew, sounds like “harmegiddo”. Basically, John took that word and transliterated it into Greek, which is how we get our word “Armageddon” today. There are a couple of problems with this, as always. “Har-megiddo” literally mean “mountain of Megiddo”, and there is no mountain at Megiddo. Also, when looking at the site, it doesn't make sense for a large battle to take place – it's large and open and would be really easy to overthrow. So one solution, and the one that probably makes the most sense, is that the “g” in “armegeddon” is a greek transliteration. This is going to be a little difficult to describe to non-Hebrew scholars, but I'll give it my best. The Greek letter gimmel (which makes the “g” sound) may not be a transliteration of the Hebrew letter “g” but of the Hebrew guttural sound “aiyn” which has not transliteration in Greek. I think the only other language that makes use of this sound are other Semitic languages like Arabic. Making the word “har mi-od” instead. Which means “the mountain of assembly” which is a phrase used often in prophetic literature to refer to Jerusalem. Fun stuff. I know that was a lot of language terms thrown around, sorry about that.

          Then we went to Mount Carmel, which is where Elijah destroyed the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). Interesting background on this story that helps it make more sense: Baal is the fertility god of the Canaanites. He is often pictured as riding on a bull (because bulls represented pure force and power in the ancient world) or sometimes as the bull itself and has a wife, Ashura, who is perpetually pregnant – sounds fun, doesn't it girls? So anywhere that was abundantly green and well watered was associated with Baal to the Canaanites. Well, Mount Carmel is close to the coast and close to the Jezreel Valley. So it has all the Mediterranean storm weather coming in and watering it, as well as the Jezreel Valley, which is well watered by Jordan River Springs. This place is incredibly green and fertile. The Canaanites actually saw it and decided that it was Baal – ancient peoples didn't differentiate between the god and the nature the god created; to them, they are both the god. Basically, they're a bunch of nature worshipers. And here comes Elijah, representing a God that refuses to be embodied by a picture or earthly thing and claims that His unseen God is the one true one. So he comes in, and destroys the prophet's of Baal. And how does God destroy them? With fire and rain – two examples of nature. Well, King Ahab's wife, Jezebel (who's father was a priest of Baal before becoming a king, or whatever important person he was) wasn't very happy with Elijah because he's just destroyed the god that she worships and follows along with all her prophets. So she runs after him, and Elijah hides. This is where we have the story of Elijah sitting down and being overwhelmed with depression. Is it any wonder why? The God that he represents destroyed a bunch of nature worshipers with nature. I would be feeling a little doubtful too. I mean... what makes God any better if He's just going to use nature too? That's when God silences Elijah's surrounding (in a not so quiet setting) and shows Elijah that he is not in nature but is outside and above it. If there isn't a sermon in that, then I'm in the wrong field of study.

          Our last stop of the day was the Nazareth Ridge. We didn't actually go into the city because it's overrun with a Christian/Jewish population now and it's a very large city. So, we sat up on the ridge that looks over the Jezreel Valley. Nazareth, while close to the Jezreel Valley and all the Gentile cities and international trade and corrupt lifestyle of Samaria, it is not connected with any of them. The ridge just outside the city makes it almost impossible for them to be connected to anyone. And the inhabitants were priests that had left Jerusalem, because the temple had been corrupted by the Hasmonean family, and so they were living a stark conservative Jewish lifestyle while awaiting the Messiah. Mary's family was from this group of priests, and Joseph was from the tribe of Benjamin. So we get the feeling that most of the people in Nazareth weren't natives. There really aren't a whole lot of reasons to settle there, other than that there's a well. Other than that, they don't have any income from trade and it's not good for agriculture. And, from this ridge, they could literally look down on all these sinful people that were mixing with the international Gentiles and pagans. At the same time, though, a lot of their Jewish history had happened in this area. The story of Deborah and Barak in Judges, Elijah and the prophets of Baal, Saul and Jonathon’s death, and many others. So what was their worldview possibly like? Well, they're in a very isolated place. So they were probably a little xenophobic. And they lived the righteous way while they were surrounded by degradation. So maybe a little self-righteous too. And proud of what little they had. Maybe they were even seeking redemption for their purity in such surroundings. So, here comes Jesus, who then comes along. He reads them a passage from Isaiah about the coming Messiah and says “this time is now” and everyone gets excited! This is the redemption they were looking for! But Jesus tells them that he has come to save the people that are in darkness, and the Jews are thinking, “Well that's us! Our temple has been overtaken and we've been pushed to this place that is enveloped by sin.” Of course, that isn't what Jesus means, though. Who is in more darkness, but the Gentiles? And then he goes on to list how Elijah and Elisha and the prophets before him helped Gentiles, and were hated in their hometown for it. The people automatically go from loving him and believing he's the Messiah, to hating him and throwing him off the ridge. And the Bible says that Jesus just “went on his way”. Kind of puts it all into perspective, doesn't it?