As we venture out to the site of Herod the Great's summer palace, you quickly see there isn't a lot left, but once you understand what was once there, it still impresses.
There are fishermen using Herod's palace as a place from which they cast their hooks into the Mediterranean Sea. The waves wash over the foundations of first century concrete laid by the Romans. The Romans knew then how to pour concrete under seawater to create harbors, breakwaters and Herod's palace.
One thing Herod always seemed to incorporate into his projects were pools of water. In the middle of the picture you can see the remnants of the large pool, the rectangle with water in it. This served to keep things cool in the warm summers as well as their obvious function.
Although the day is young and it isn't obvious in the pictures, the warmth of the sun is coming through and this Alaskan is feeling it. (If you see people in jackets and hats, it isn't because they are chilled, it is their attempt to stay out of the sun's rays and avoid skin cancer.) I learn something quite by accident. One of the very useful qualities of building with stone is that it acts like a cold/heat bank. As the sun is warming things up, you can lean on a stone pillar and feel the chill still banked in the stone. As the day wears on in the 1st century, I can imagine a lot of these cold stone pillars would have an "air conditioning" effect on the house as it would have a roof and walls. After a warm day, the stone would eventually be warmed up and give heat during the cool night. Smart guys.
Ceasarea not having a significant supply of fresh water to fill Herod's pools and the thirst of this bustling port, he builds an aqueduct from fresh water springs some 14 miles away. These ruins are about 6 km from Ceasarea itself and seems to be a very popular beach for families. Imagine.
These are built so well and work so well that civilizations centuries later build on top of them to water their projects. You can see the change in the size of the stones on the bottom and the top. That always signifies different eras of civilization. Another little note, notice the round arch tops. This signifies Roman, 1st century. Later we will see arches with peaked tops. That will be later civilizations, byzantine, crusader, Muslim and the like. So you know you are looking at something much older when you see the round arch tops.
Two things among many that are important here. First, a stone plate was found that mentions Pilate. Again, extrabiblical sources are very important to verifying the accuracy of the scriptures. When the Bible mentions a historical figure and that historical figure is also mentioned from a source not having anything to do with the Bible, it says a lot about how accurate the Bible is.
The stone plate here is not the actual one as it is far to important to leave out where a bunch of tourists can tip it over. The real stone is in the Israel National Museum and this one is a copy.
The second thing that is so important here is that this is the actual site setting of Acts 25 and 26. This is where Paul was kept while making his defense against the Jews of Jerusalem who were seeking to have him killed. Paul in his last ditch attempt to avoid this shameful charade appeals to Caesar - Acts 25:11. It was amazing once again to walk in the very area of someone I have read about in scripture all my life. It made the scriptures come so alive. To see the same views Paul would have known and to walk in the palace Paul would have been familiar with was very special indeed.
We got up the first morning in Israel to a dazzling sunrise and fabulous breakfast. It was a fabulous breakfast in the same way it was a fabulous dinner the night before. Apparently in Israel they eat pretty much the same thing for breakfast as they do lunch and dinner. It was all high quality, tasty, healthy Mediterranean-style stuff. No hash browns and bacon here. They did make a concession to our western tastes, I did find some pancakes, served with "date" honey, a little different but very good.
Quickly and with anticipation for the day we board the buses for a short, 14 km ride to Ceasarea. Ceasarea was one of the places Herod the Great (remember the guy who tried to kill the baby Jesus in Bethlehem? Really not such a "great" guy.) built a summer palace. Even in its ruined state, it impresses. What a beautiful setting. What opulence this palace must have displayed. This summer home must have been quite a stunner in the year "0".
The first thing we do is assemble in the amphitheater which has been refurbished to useful status after they completed all of their archaeology assessments. It is the first time we will be sitting on "rock" but not the last time for nine more days. It is an impressive place that was built facing west, towards the Mediterranean Sea. It is a beautiful view. It is obvious from all of the places that we toured that Herod the Great built, that he had a real talent for building. For instance, the "stage" area below could be flooded with water to enact naval battle dramas, and there are trap doors where animals could be placed on stage.
As we were to have a devotional in the amphitheater, we all gather close to the center. The center itself has a special platform spot that is like where you might set a spotlight to shine on the stage below. I doubt that is what they used it for, but that is what I would use it for. I think, maybe after we are done with our devotional, I'll go stand there and check it out.
Our speaker that morning, Dr. George Wood reconstructs one of the most notable events to ever happen in the amphitheater which is recorded both in Acts 12:20-23 and in Josephus Flavius' work Antiquities (Josephus Flavius was a Jewish historian during the 1st century who was eyewitness to the land of Judea in the same time frame of Jesus and the apostles. Whenever his accounts and the New Testament overlap, it is always with great accuracy to the scriptures, sometimes with additional information.)
Getting to the punchline here, Herod is looking to make an impressive show to the people of Tyre and Sidon (both cities on the coast of Israel but north of Ceasarea). From Josephus' writings, he describes the garment Herod wore on that day. It was completely woven from pure silver. It was dazzling. Think before Hollywood and all of the dazzling things we have around us today, a garment of shiny pure silver must have been quite a sight! Well, it had its anticipated affect on the crowd who really want to get back into Herod's good graces after offending him in the past. Acts and Josephus both record the flattery of the crowd toward Herod as he gave his address:
Acts 12:22 (NKJV)
And the people kept shouting, "The voice of a god and not of a man!"
Well, you can imagine the effect such sentiments would have on the kind of guy who wears silver lame` even before it is invented. He loved it. But that wasn't the kind of response God was looking for so:
Acts 12:23 (NKJV)
Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.
Ow. No wonder our mothers told us to stay humble! It is very interesting that Josephus Flavius also corroborates on the details of this. The Acts version of events is kind of "Readers Digest" in its brevity. Apparently for the next two years, Herod dies a very slow death of agony culminating in his entrails coming out and him finally for everyone's benefit, expiring. Kind of makes you want to stick with the Readers Digest version.
One of our tour guides is giving us some archaeological insight to the event. Herod would have spoken from the "rostrum" of the amphitheater to address the gathering. In the time past, when the amphitheater was still in it's ruinous state, they did not know where the rostrum was located. But, we are told "now we know where the rostrum is!" I am on the edge of my seat and very curious, scanning the place for the "rostrum". I am thinking down on the stage area on one side or the other, or maybe a little elevated place down by some statuary. Our tour guide in what I now think is a calculated, dramatic move says, "and it is right there!" As he points authoritatively to that little special place I was thinking of putting a spotlight!
Lol! It was so funny that everyone who was sitting next to this little spot (including myself), instinctively recoiled away from it, like worms might just do us in too for sitting so close. "Ha Ha!" we say. "Ha Ha! He sure got us on that one!" we say. "Ha Ha! That was silly to jump like that!", as we nervously kind of "scooch" over a little ways from "the rostrum." I used to think "rostrum" was a kind of old word for what we might call a "pulpit" or "lectern". I now know that rostrum means: a place where someone got worms and died. I do not go near the rostrum.
We get a little more information which really helps you see the event in your mind and "feel" the event. Just like when someone says, "hey, you have a worm on your leg!" and your whole body feels like it has worms on it. (you know, just an example.) As Herod addresses the crowd, it is morning, the sun is just rising. Remember which way the amphitheater is facing? Yes, west. So, as Herod has figured this out in his genius mind, he will be facing the crowd (he is facing east). Just as the sun breaks over the top of the amphitheater, sun beams splash him in brilliant light all over his tunic of pure silver right in the middle of this crowd. It must have been an incredible special effect! Add a pretty terrific speech and there you have it, the crowd declares him to be a god.
Wow, this was just the start to our day! It is only morning! We have only climbed about 50 stairs so far. We have just vividly brought to life a passage of scripture. We quickly walk to the palace itself, shaking out our clothing as we go. There was much more to come.
With me and writing, sometimes the hardest thing to do is get started. Once I get started I am kind of amazed how much I have to say. Kind of like this post. I have decided in my blog to approach my writing from a what I think is the most interesting approach. Sometimes it will be "facts" or information about what it was we were looking at or learned, sometimes it will be the crazy feelings or realizations that come from culture and new experiences. As I go along, I may divide one "day" into more than one blog. Some days were just so intense (like the second day) that to blog about everything we saw and learned on that day would make an unreadable blog! This particular post is close to that. Conversely, I may condense some experiences as there was some overlap or like the Bible itself, it being all inspired but not all of it is inspiring. I'll do my best to keep things moving along and readable.
Day One
I am counting the first day as the day we flew to Israel as that for me was a significant part of the learning curve. Our day began early in Phoenix, AZ with a 6 hour flight to Philadelphia, PA. Now 6 hours is the longest flight I can remember ever taking in one jump. So, by the time I get to Philadelphia I am already to be done with flying. An obvious fact that I will remember many times over this trip is that I am not a small person. In my normal life I don't think about this too much, but when I travel, I am reminded all the time. Sometimes every 5 minutes which is the average frequency of how often 420 on one airplane need to use the facilities.
They really don't make airplanes for people like me. I try to get an aisle seat, but that really doesn't help that much. Just sitting there I still take up too much space, my shoulder must extend into the aisle way as every person that walks by seems to make contact with it. When the person in front of me inevitably wants to recline their seat, my knees sometimes really get crushed. If I am not sitting there with my tray table down with food and drink on it, I can quickly kind of jump up a bit and avoid injury. Then I have to resort to stealing a little room from my wife's space and a little from the aisle which then that knee joins that shoulder in getting whacked by those traveling the aisle.
So, when we get ready to board an 11 hour flight from Philadelphia to Tel Aviv, after an already 6 hour flight from Phoenix to Philadelphia, I know what I am in for. Again, these are the sorts of things no one thinks to take pictures of. So I don't have a lot to offer you visually.
It is interesting to me how the crew of the airline helps you with the effects of the prolonged flight and time adjustments. It seemed that we were served a meal rather quickly after we boarded the aircraft and were underway. I kind of like that part. This being an overseas flight, the meal was part of our ticket price which doesn't happen on Alaska Airlines anymore. They also really push the beverages, water mostly. Probably every 20 minutes throughout the flight someone was offering us water to drink. Now you know why I get whacked on the shoulder all night. Not long after dinner, they darken the cabin and ask all the window seat people to close the shades on their window. They encourage us all to sleep.
Well, I just don't sleep on airplanes. How can I describe this to you? First, the seat. It is made for people like my wife. The leg room, the width of the seat, where her head rests naturally against the seat cushion, yada, yada, yada. None of that is true for me. The place my head is supposed to rest hits me just below the shoulders. I don't have the room to slide forward so my head eventually will make contact with the seat because my legs already do not have any room. I think all the folks in our row might object to asking if I can lay across all their laps. Even if they didn't mind I know I would be getting up all night so they could go to the bathroom.
So, fortunately they DO have little screens in the seat backs and they DO have movies you can watch! I watched 4 full length, current run movies all the way to Tel Aviv. One was actually pretty good (the Book Thief). The only problem was my little jack into which I was trying to plug my ear phones was broken. So, unless I held it in a certain way 100% of the time, it was nothing but static. So I got to hear about 75% of the sound tracks as for no special reason the special way I was holding the ear phone jack quit working and I had to figure it all out again. Poor JoLynn's ear phone jack had something broken off inside of it and she couldn't use hers at all. Kind of made you feel like we were flying a real rust bucket across the Atlantic.
Despite the disappointments, it was so much better to have some kind of distraction besides rereading Sky Mall a dozen times and the in-flight magazine. Speaking of Sky Mall, do you know you can buy costumes for your little dog? Yes! It's true. Your little mutt can be "Batdog", "Spiderdog" or "clowndog". From the pictures in Sky Mall, they really look like they are having fun. In case you have more money you need to throw away, they have amazing plants that grow out of pottery that looks like Bozo the Clown. Honestly I don't know how I have gotten along without a Sky Mall catalog for this long.
Not long before we land in Tel Aviv, the crew jumps into hyper drive and serves us a quick breakfast. They instruct the window seat people to open their shades. The sun is BLAZINGLY BRIGHT. This is not a surprise to me as all "night" long the guy across from my seat sitting at the window kept "peeking". Since we had crossed the international date line we had been in perpetual sunlight most of the flight. So, every time he "peeked" I would get this blinding flash of light in a otherwise darkened cabin. Think of your little son or daughter shining a flashlight in your eyes in the dark "just to make sure it was still working." Since I only could see blue spots I don't know if he saw me nodding in his direction as if to say, "yep, it's still the sun out there!"
So, we land and make our way into the airport. We pass customs relatively quickly (of course the guy in front of us was obviously some kind of terrorist as they wanted to talk to him for a long time). We were happy to see our luggage arrived on the same flight as we did and that there were people there to greet us.
We boarded nice buses and were off to our hotel. We had a FABULOUS buffet dinner (another thing I did not think to take a picture of). So many different salads, and fruits and many things I have no idea what they were. Some items tasted nothing like they looked like and some items tasted exactly like what they looked like. So much! We also had a group orientation and then we were sent to our rooms, which was fine with me as I hadn't been asleep in over 24 hours by that point. Our room was so nice. We had a beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea, the harbor and the business district of Tel Aviv.
Something we didn't appreciate soon enough was we were next door to the Pussycat Club. No kidding. About 1 am when the jet lag thing kicks in and I wake up, the "thump, thump thump" of music from that particular establishment was pretty apparent. No worries, I was laying flat in a real bed and I was in Israel.
This is a part of the trip NOBODY takes pictures of. It wouldn't make pretty pictures. Getting ready. Our literature that came from the Center for Holy Land Studies gave us a nice set of recommendations about what to bring and what not to bring on our trip. It recommends things like bringing your own supply of toilet paper as not all the public restrooms (another topic of itself) supply it, sunscreen, hats that cover your ears and the back of your neck, money in small denominations to facilitate exchanges, sturdy but comfortable shoes, snacks, water bottles, sunglasses, your Bible, all the texts sent with the packet, and a lot of other useful stuff. Tucked into the list of recommendations was to start walking daily a mile or more to get yourself in shape for the trip.
Really? I mean how much do you have do to get in shape for a trip to the Holy Land? Anyways, it was a little recommendation we did not pay enough attention to. Now the recommendation to pack snacks did get my attention, after all, you don't want to take a trip like this without Oberto Natural Style Beef Jerky would you? Well, we were pretty busy before (and after) the trip so getting around to walking on the tread mill was kind of a chore. Since it was still pretty icy outside and we didn't want to slip and injure ourselves before the trip, it was the tread mill or nothing. So, I got on it (after clearing all the stuff draped over it) and walked twice for a total of two miles on two separate days.
Not enough. Not nearly enough. Someone on our trip had a pedometer and clocked our walking. We averaged over 5 miles a day! That might not be a big deal if it was on level ground, but Israel is not a level ground kind of place. You are either going up or going down a set of stairs or a rocky path of some sort and in the spirit of our forefathers that walked to school uphill both ways, it seemed like we were always going up. This is true. Often we would walk uphill for extensive distances to whatever important site we were supposed to learn something from. That's OK since we will be walking downhill when we are done, right? No, that's where the buses would pick us up and transport us to the next set of stairs that needed to be ascended. So it seemed like we were always going up. Even the buses had stairs to get into them.
No, getting ready for a trip like this is not something to be lax about. There are frustrations like trying to put everything recommended to bring in your suitcase and still having room for things you really want to bring like, clothes. They recommend you bring only ONE medium suitcase per person and keep it to 35 pounds or so. Well, in my case, one pair of my shoes takes up one side of a medium suitcase and takes up about 30 pounds of my 35 pound alotment. JoLynn on the other hand can pack a closet full of shoes (not that she did) and still have room left over. So you get creative about the kinds of clothes you can bring like pants with zip off legs, kind of goofy but useful. That way you get a pair of shorts and a pair of pants with one garment. I wish they made shirts this same way - with zip off arms. It would be really useful on a trip like this. That way you could double the combinations of clothes that you wear without looking like you are wearing the same thing every day, except that BBQ stain in the middle of your shirt might give it away.
Honestly, getting enough shirts and underwear, a jacket, a hat and socks, etc. is a real challenge for a unseasoned traveler as myself. I'm just not a compact sort of person so my stuff takes up a lot of room. Getting ready for a trip of this sort takes some planning and attention to the recommendations and a fair bit of creativity. Its not like my usual pack the night before I leave in the morning sort of trip.
After getting back home I think I did pretty good. I think I wore or used everything I packed in my suitcase and I didn't feel I had left out anything I had wished I had thought to bring. And it all came in at about 38 pounds. Really, I don't resent the recommendations as it really is nice to travel light and had I gotten in the walking groove before I left I might not have been so exhausted in the evenings. It's all good and helped us make a great trip.
It has been some time since my last post on my blog. I am finding that I need something to write about rather than just posting opinions about various things, which I have done occasionally, but its not really my passion. A trip I am finding makes the perfect blog material. A trip to Israel is even better because it contains all of the great elements of writing, trying to describe sights, sounds, smells, and emotions in prose is a fun challenge. I really don't know how many installments I may write for this trip, I feel it could take me up to a year to get it all out as I am still processing, learning, trying to remember and document in my pictures and journal this trip of a lifetime. I am already thinking of pictures I didn't take that I should have and realizing I took too many pictures of things I thought were interesting at the time. But maybe with some help of my wife, and some friends that went on the trip with us I can piece it together in a way that will be informative and interesting for you.
Let me just say that if you ever are interested in taking a trip to Israel, I would very much encourage you to do so. It wasn't really on our radar until it was generously handed to us as a special gift in honor of our 25 years of ministry at our church, Kenai New Life. We joined the trip offered by the Center for Holy Land Studies sponsored by the General Council of the Assemblies of God. It was very good. They did a great job covering all the bases for us, telling us what we needed to bring, what not to bring, and covered all the expenses that we needed to anticipate. Our trip went without a hitch, even our luggage arrived with us. The accommodations were clean (no bed bugs!) comfortable and the food they served us was excellent. I'll be sharing about some of those things as I go along.
So, if you care to share in our journey to Israel and perhaps some of the things that we learned you are welcome to follow along as I preserve the experience for myself and anyone else who cares to follow along.
