Day 4 Part 2

We board the bus and travel only a short distance to a site that we can more clearly see the area of where Jesus spent 95% of his ministry.  We can see the mouth of the Jordan River where it empties into the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, the area where Bethsaida is likely to be, the area that is also likely to be where Jesus was baptized by John, the Sea of Galilee that is stretched out before us, we can see Tiberias and the Arbel Pass.  The air is heavy and must be full of moisture as the distance is hazy in the heat.

Below you are looking at the Arbel Pass which is the main way of travel on foot in Jesus' day when heading to Jerusalem.  If you look in the background of the Arbel Pass, that two horned mountain on which the last of the Crusaders perished is visible.  

It is hot, perhaps the warmest day so far.  I am scouting out shade from what look like eucalyptus trees.  There are large stones, and small boulders that look like they should provide some seating.  However not one of them seems to have an appropriate flat spot to sit on.  So you either have to sit on an uncomfortable point of rock or stand in the heat.  I do both.

This particular area has a strange looking monument.  It is to memorialize an Israeli outpost of a dozen soldiers or so that were killed at this site during one of Israel's many armed conflicts.  It was a dastardly attack that came during a "cease fire" and the soldiers let down their guard.  There is a melancholy feel to the place.  One wonders how many reminders there are of the bloodshed that continues to mark Israel's right to exist.  

Like the Chapel of the Beattitudes, there is no archaeological finds in this place.  The temperature seems to be rising slowly and the warm bottled water in my satchel doesn't really slake my thirst.  They tell us in just a month from now the temperatures at this location can be as high as 114 degrees.  Our guides talk about leading tours in that kind of heat.  How miserable that must be. I am grateful we are here in April.  When we get on the bus, the little LED sign says it is 33 degrees, celsius of course.  It means nothing to me except that I'm too warm.  Fortunately it is not overly humid. 

I take my seat at the back of the bus and focus all the little air conditioning vents towards me.  Fortunately the air conditioning works and I am cooling down nicely.  Now if only I could find something a little colder to drink.

We move on to the next place: Chorazin.  

Chorazin is about a 13 acre archaeology site, not very large for a city.  There are rocks everywhere and I lose sight of Indiana Jolie as soon as we step off the bus.  We madly snap pictures of all the rocks.  

Chorazin was mentioned in Jesus' rebuke of the cities of this area for not responding to His message and offer of salvation:
Matthew 11:20-21 (NKJV)  
    Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: [21] "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 

This passage of scripture goes over and over in my mind, especially the phrase, "mighty works which were done in you."  I look around the 13 acre site and wonder just where among all the stones and all the streets that Jesus did these "mighty works".  I wonder if I am standing on a place Jesus walked when He was here.  Perhaps that place under the tree, or maybe here in the large community square, or one of these little homes where people lived.  Did He open blind eyes here?  Was a lame person made whole?  Was someone raised from the dead in this place?

I do realize that the layer of earth that Jesus actually walked upon is a layer below us.  We are seeing the Byzantine era ruins that were built on top of the biblical era layer.  That tree did not exist when Jesus walked through Chorazin.  But it is deeply impacting to be in a place Jesus himself mentions being in, in the gospels.  

It is still hot in the sun but we are quickly trying to see everything at this site.  All the stones are black basaltic rock which only magnifies the warmth of the sun.  I wonder, "how did people live in such places when this was all there was?"  We gather at what was once a Jewish synagogue.  It is known that this is what it is because of the "mikvah" (mick va), or ritual bath where Jews would immerse themselves for ritual cleansing for worship.  It is quite small (I don't think I would fit in there) and covered with long, narrow basaltic stones.  It still holds water, not that it looks like you could purify yourself in it any more.  I think as I stand in this hot place I am more "pure" sweating profusely as I am than getting in that particular water.  

I am impressed and disappointed at the same time.  I ponder this for a moment.  Again, I think I was thinking that a mikvah would look a lot more inviting, like our baptistry at home.  Seeing the reality of life in the Bible as opposed to the flannel graph depictions from Sunday School is hard to reconcile at times, even when you know it had to be different than imagined. 

We move over to a Jewish style "insula" or home.  It is very interesting and brings so much understanding to the biblical passage:
John 14:2 (NKJV)  
    In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

The common courtyard is wide and covered in paving stones. They are round topped and hard to walk on, making it feel like you are about to twist an ankle anytime.  In antiquity, the cracks between the stones would all be filled in with a sort of plaster.  As would all the walls and columns so everything would be smooth.  You wouldn't necessarily see all the separate stones as we are seeing.  Apparently the plaster coating is not durable through the centuries.

I am attempting to photograph a page from my journal so you might be able to see the layout of a Jewish home.  

The "father" would build a home in which he would raise his children.  This home was small but had a large outdoor courtyard.  When the father's sons would marry, they would build their homes on the perimeter of the same courtyard.  Over time, several families would live in houses around this common courtyard area.  

So a new understanding of "in my Father's house are many mansions" comes into view.  The entire compound is the "house" of the father, but there are many rooms (mansions = residence/abode) or families that live within the complex.  

Since I have been a grandfather for five months or so at the time we are seeing this site, I am thinking of how wonderful family life must have been.  I would see my sons, their wives and grandchildren daily.  Maybe we could all take turns fanning each other in the heat.

Our attention is called to a small, square stone box that was chipped out of this lava stone.  It is a manger.  That's right, this is the kind of thing Jesus was "laying in a manger" the night He was born.  These mangers have been everywhere we have been.  There were several in the castle on Mt. Hermon, there were mangers at Dan.  The manger we will see when we visit Jerusalem at the Church of the Holy Nativity is like this one, except a little bit longer.  Not quite the little wooden mangers of Christmas dramas I have seen all my life.

We move to the reconstructed main part of the synagogue.  The columns here still have some of the smooth covering on the bottom part.  The chiseled stone blocks and lintels, capitols and the like are just amazing.  For the more important archaeological finds, replicas that look every bit authentic are placed where the originals were while the real ones reside at the Israeli National Museum.

Outside the entrance to the synagogue is the seat of the chief priest of this community.  It was a place of honor.  It is in front much like the king's seat at the entrance of Dan.  All who would enter the synagogue would honor the chief priest of the community before they would enter the synagogue for worship.  The scripture comes to mind of Jesus' rebuke of the Pharisees:

Luke 11:43 (NKJV)  

    Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 

I avoid the seat.

There are many rocks here and we are up to the task of photographing them all.  Once again, we are directed toward the buses as we have more places to explore.  But first, lunch.