Tiberius

In the morning we drove up the Jordan Valley from Jerusalem toward the Sea of Galilee.

 

 

We went to see the Galilee boat.  

 

Two archeologist brothers were walking along the shore of Galilee after a severe drought in 1986 when they found an old rusty nail poking up through the mud.  Looking around they found more nails, then soon found pieces of wood.  They knew they had found a treasure! It was a boat from the time period of Jesus.  The mud the vessel was buried in had protected it all these years, but now when the air was hitting it, it was crumbling.  A major excavation began and finally after 14 years "The Ancient Galilee Boat" was on permanent display at the Yigal Allon Centre.

 

Some of the nails that were found



 

Some artifacts found nearby dating to Jesus' time period.

 

The boat, also known as "The Jesus Boat", is made of 12 different kinds of wood, suggesting this vessel had a long work life by a limited income owner. 

The boat  is almost 27 feet long, 7.5 feet wide, and a height of almost 4 feet.

 

These tour boats are constantly going back and forth on the Sea of Galilee with tourists.
 

 

We rented a little put put boat to drive on the Sea of Galilee.


 

We had a very good supper on the Sea of Galilee as a treat. 

 

The meal began with "salad" and pita bread.

 

 Peters Fish


 

 

 

They gave us complimentary coffee at the end in a very tiny mug.  Compare the size to the cell phone or the sugar packet.  It was more like strong black burnt tasting coffee syrup that after 2 swallows kept us up until midnight!

 

 It is a little different shopping in a store where everything is written in Hebrew.

 

This was the view of the Sea of Galilee from our hotel room.

The "Jesus Trail" is a 40 mile hike that traces the route Jesus may have walked many years ago.  It begins in Nazareth and connects sites from His life and ministry.  The trail is marked by these stones.  We only hiked a small portion.

 They have a bike trail that goes around the Sea of Galilee but it was like 100 degrees.

(I like it colder.)

 

 

 

 

 

An olive press

 

The Sea Of Galilee

 

 

 

 

 

 We went swimming in the Sea of Galilee in a place made for the religious Jews that is segregated.

 

 

 

That night we ate falafels in Cana (where Jesus turned the water into wine). Falafels are mashed chickpeas made into balls and then deep fried. Then you choose the toppings: hummus, tahini, pickled anything.  It's like an Israeli Subway restaurant.

 

This past Sunday Bro. Lilly read a quote similar to this about that miracle.

"So now, let's take it was the just beginning of His ministry. He'd just went out and performed a miracle and turned water into wine. How I'd like to beat on that just for a minute, to show what He will do in the resurrection. How it eventually would've been wine. It would've been wine, all right, and it went up through the vine, into the grape, out to the vat, soured, fermented, come on out and was wine. But He just bypassed every bit of that, and made it from water to wine. See?
That's the way He will do in the resurrection. I won't have to live to be a twenty-two or twenty-three years old at my best again. My, be an old man shaking, broke down like that. He will just change it. Amen. Just bypass all that. Mrs. Branham and Mr. Branham will not have to be constituted or anything involved in my birth. He will just call me from the dust, and I'll be just what I was at my best, so will you."

Bro. William Branham

 

Our server didn't speak much English but he never stopped smiling!

 

 

 

 

 

Israel

We were in Israel during Yom Kippur, the holiest day for the Jewish people, which started at sundown on Tuesday until Wednesday sundown.  It's a time set aside for atonement for one's sins and reflection on the preceding year as well as the year ahead.  This includes a 25 hour fast.  Lots of the Jews wear white (from head to toe) on this holiday, they don't drive, use their phones, turn on lights- not even light a candle.  They spend most of the day at the synagogue in prayer and reading the Torah.

 

 

Things started shutting down Tuesday afternoon  We were able to make it to the "City of David" but did not make it to Zedekiah's cave.

 

 One of the entrances to the old city of Jerusalem - Jaffa Gate

 

Heading toward the "City of David"

The City of David, an archeological site, tells the story of the start of Jerusalem, its wars and hardships, its prophets and kings, and the history of the Jews during Biblical times. History is present in the ancient stones, it is beautifully landscaped with flowers, and soul soothing harp music is playing over the intercom.  Among the ruins are personal seals for signing documents of people who were mentioned in the Bible. 

 Hezekiah's Tunnel, an amazing engineering feat, over 1700 feet long with only 1 foot grade difference is located here.  Two teams began on each end chipping away at solid rock meeting in the middle.   King Hezekiah was worried that the enemies, the Assyrians would take their water supply, so he had this tunnel built to secure the cities' spring water over 2800 years ago!

It was an adventure to walk through the tunnel in total darkness (except for our cell phone flash lights), in mostly shin deep clear water.  (At the beginning it was about 2 feet deep.) 



 

 

  

Looking across the Kidron valley from the City of David.  Mt.Olives is to the left.

2 Samuel 5:8 talks about this shaft or gutter that David used to conquer the Jebusites.

Walking through Hezekiah's tunnel was one of the neatest things we did on our trip.

"And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?"

2 Kings 20:20

We walked to Zedekiah's cave but to our disappointment it was closed.
 

So we headed to the Garden Tomb...

 

The Tomb

 

In 1924 this wine press was unearthed signifying this was a rich mans vineyard.

 

The Garden Tomb had a really nice gift shop.

 

Female Israeli army soldiers
 

 

 Machine guns are a common site.

 

On Wednesday we visited the  area of the Garden of Gethsemane, Mt. Olives, and the Western Wall.  These were places that we could visit while the whole city was closed down.

We hiked up to Mt. Olives
Mommy said it was like a paved Hurricane Mt.

 

 

 

There is a saying that olive trees live forever.   The wood is rot resistant and if the top of the tree dies , a new trunk can grow up from the roots.  Olives are harvested for the first time after 15 years. 

 

 

 

 

 

These are all Jewish graves  

 

 

Two taxi drivers trying to pass each other on Mt. Olives. 

Did you notice their folded in mirrors?

Here in the Kidron Valley an Arab man tried to convince us he could be our guide
 

We walked this way many time coming and going to the Old City of Jerusalem
 

Here is a memorial of the Davidka "little David". In the early stages of the War of Independence, the Israeli army had no artillery other than this primitive, homemade mortar that was not accurate but made a thunderous explosion. The noise from this weapon often sent the enemy fleeing in panic. Mistaking the Davidka's explosion for an atomic bomb, the Arabs abandoned the northern town of Safed.  LOL!!

 

There are "washing stations" around the wall.
 

A soldier watching the wall