Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: ANCIENT (06/04/20)
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TITLE: Holy Land Pilgrimage | Previous Challenge Entry
By Joy Bach
06/04/20 -
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Our tour group was ushered to a bus for a drive from Tel Aviv to Tiberias. The wonder of knowing I was headed to Jerusalem was overpowering. Jerusalem, where Jesus walked and talked; lived and died. It was late evening and pouring rain. Not much to see. And then, our guide announced the lights we could see in the distance were the lights of Jerusalem. Spontaneously, our group began to sing, “Jerusalem”. Tears ran down as I raised my voice.
A moment I will never forget.
The next morning, I awoke in a motel situated on the Sea of Galilee. The Bible was coming alive outside my window. That day we traveled north to visit places with names like Magdala, valley of Gennesareth, to visit a kibbutz, then on to Chorazin to Hazor, ruins of the city destroyed by Joshua. Further north to the Upper Jordan to Dan, views of the ancient ruins and site of the golden calf. I found out that there are two Caesareas. This one was Caesarea Philippi, dedicated to Pan, the Greek god. Then we ascended onto the Golan Plateau for a view of upper Israel.
That was just Day 1.
Touching on the highlights of the rest of the ten days, we visited Bet Shean where Saul was slain, complete with the wall where they hung his head and body. We viewed ancient Egyptian, Roman and Byzantine ruins. Next we climbed on a boat and put out to sea, just as I have read about in the Bible. As we swayed with the waves, we were taught a Jewish dance.
More Bible stories coming to life as we climbed the Mount of Beatitudes. We topped that day off with being baptized in the Jordan River. The next day we visited Cana and then on to the other Caesarea, by the Mediterranean Sea. Everywhere we turned, ancient ruins covered the ground.
Masada was on the agenda. I had never heard the story of what happened to the Jews there. It is a magnificent fortress, a stronghold, complete with remains of storehouses, cisterns and mikvahs. We traveled from that high fortress to the lowest spot on earth, the Dead Sea; 1,300 feet below sea level. Next was Ein Gedi, where David hid from Saul.
By now I am on total overload. I can’t absorb it all. I must come back.
We saw the caves at Qumran where the scrolls were found. Our next destination was Jericho, the world’s oldest inhabited city. Our pastor was offered camels in exchange for one of the young ladies in our group. And then up to Jerusalem. When it says in the Bible, “they traveled up to Jerusalem” I always thought it was like we say, “up north”. Not so. Jerusalem is 3,300 feet above Jericho.
Our tour was topped off with time in the Jerusalem area. Mount of Olives. Bethlehem. Palm Sunday route. Gethsemane, where we partook of communion. Then on to the Southern Wall, the ruins near the south side of the Temple and then to Mt. Zion and the Upper Room. The Shepherd’s Field. Pilate’s judgment hall. The Via Dolorosa. The tomb.
So many other places too numerous to mention.
Our last day we visited the Western Wall plaza. I grieved as I watched the women rock back and forth hitting their forehead against the wall as they wailed. We walked through the Rabbi’s Tunnel. There was a waiting line for the Temple Mount. Yad Vashem, the Museum of the Holocaust, was very sobering.
Tears were shed.
This was not an inexpensive trip. But so very worth it. The Bible is not the same since my visit. I can’t explain what it does to me to read something and think, I was there. Save your pennies. You need to go.
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