Day 3: Chorazin, Caesarea Phillppi and the Golan Heights (5/3/12)
by Lee Pinkard on 05/27/12
Today we started on a four journey day through the Galilee. The area where Jesus was born, was raised, performed His miracles and a 3 1/2 year ministry that would change the world. It also gives us an interesting perspective on two of the modern day issues facing Israel, namely Lebanon and Syria. We are in a weather situation where a strong sand storm from off Africa has put into the atmosphere considerable sand.
Chorazin:
Two miles north of the Sea of Galilee are the ruins of Chorazin. In Jesus’s day it was a town with a Synagogue, bath house and like most towns in this area it was in the Olive oil trade. On January 18, 749 AD, Chorazin along with neighboring towns of Bethsaida and Capernaum were destroyed by a devastating earthquake. There was a rare find in the excavation with the finding of a “Moses Seat.” It is a place for leadership to be recognized. Since the earthquake they have never again been inhabited, thus fulfill bringing light to Jesus' words in Luke 10:13-16. Interestingly, in the ruins is evidence of multiple civilizations ranging from Greek with a stone carving of Medusa, to traditional Christian and Jewish faiths. I have some interesting pictures in the gallery.
Tel Dan
Do you know what a“Tel” is? It is a small hill where multiple civilizations have conquered the land. They destroyed the old city and built a new one. As this happens the “mound” grows and holds secrets of each civilization. Archeologists explore these Tels and find amazing things about each one. At Tel Dan they learned that the Tel was over 4000 year old. They know that Abraham was there. That gives it status. In the last few years they have found the “city gate.” A main part of the Tel. They can say with certainty that it is over 4000 years old. They learned that the gate was “arched.” The amazing part is that it existed almost 2,500 years before Arches known to exist!
Caesarea Philippi:
Caesarea Philippi is located at the foot of Mt. Hermon. It has a long history and is a source water for the Jordan River. It was a place of pagan god worship. Among them were BAAL, and Pan. However Pan was the most attached to this site. Pan was a Greek g-d of fertility. The name Caesarea Philippi came later from the Romans as a dedication of the site to Caesar. The Name Philippi was for the Herod Philippi the son of Herod the Great.
Jesus took the Disciples to look on this site. In Matthew 16:18, it is here that Jesus said, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." It was believed that the cave in Philippi lead to the abyss where the gods resided. Jesus was stating that Peter's affirmation that He was the Christ was the foundation of the Christian faith and the Body of Christ which is the church. (He was not referring to Peter becoming the first pope of the Roman Catholic Church which did not come about until the 300's AD)
Finally, we toured the Golan Heights. It is amazing to see the closeness of both Lebanon and Syria. At one point we were within a mile of the Syrian border and could look at Lebanese towns from where rocket attacks are commonplace. This is the high country with peaks over 9,000 feet. It was captured in the 1967 Six Day’s War, from Syria and Lebanon. It is still in dispute today.
We couldn’t take pictures of military installations. Suffice to say we saw tank and artillery units and outposts along the border.
Maranatha!
