Monday, Oct. 21, Luke 4:22 (16-30)

As we have been traveling around we have taken turns with respect to the person who has to sit in the front seat with the driver (that’s me 😊 ).  One of the duties of that person, besides screaming “we’re all gonna die”, is to read from Arnold Fruchtenbaum’s great book on all the cities and sites in Israel.  It came in quite handy for today’s itinerary which is below.

·        Ein Harod (Judges 7:1-8 Since breakfast was not until 8:30 (much too late for tourists) we went to Gideon’s Spring (which is right next to the kibbutz where our guesthouse is located) as the doors opened a little before 8a and then made it back to breakfast.  This is a lovely sight, the actual place where Gideon reduced his men to a number that would most glorify God.  This was our devotional passage today.  We need this reminder: God is highly glorified when we are weak and He is strong.

At Gideon's Spring, the "well of Harod."

·        Valley of Jezreel.  We talked about these when we were on Mt. Carmel yesterday and again today as we roamed around the Valley.

o   4 Names? 

o   7 Passes?  These passes make this valley easily accessible from all sides.  An easy place to gather armies together, for example.

o   Several Biblical cities: Including Nein and Shunem (these stories go together in the Bible), Endor, Megiddo, Jezreel, and many others.

o   Several Biblical mountains: Gilboa, Moreh, Tabor, Carmel and others.

·        Nazareth Village (10:30/10:45 appointment).  We were early so the ladies in the group got some well-deserved time in the gift shop.  There are many gift shops along the way but we usually cannot take time for them and the shoppers are very understanding of why we are in Israel and the promise that they will have some gift-shop time eventually.  As always the visit to this “reenactment” of life in Jesus’ day was very appreciated.

Waiting for our appointment at Nazareth Village.

·        Nazareth (Lk. 1:26-38; 4:16-30).  We got a good dose of how busy this city of 60,000 is these days compared to the village of a few hundred in Jesus’ day. 

·        Megiddo.  After crossing the valley yet again we came to this great location.

o   Strategic location, 25 “rebuilds”

o   Josiah (2 Kings 23:29-30)

o   Armageddon (Rev. 16:16)

·        Beit Shean (1 Sam. 31:8-12).  We were well ahead of schedule so we were able to take some time here.  We did not do the night “light show”.  For one thing it wasn’t available.  But for another the temperatures had moderated somewhat so that an afternoon visit was quite nice.  Some even made it to the top of the tel.

Roman city of Beit Shean with the Old Testament time Tel in the background.

We have one more day with the van and it will be a full day, ending in Jerusalem.