Israel Day 3 Sept. 21

Sept 21, we had breakfast of fish cheese bread and eggs and then went for a short walk on the edge of the Sea of Galilee. The lake is 600 ft. below sea level is about 8 miles wide and 15 miles long. This morning it was calm. Did I mention that there are a lot of rock in Israel. the beach/shore is full of rocks except where some one has picked them up, like at the hotel beach.

We stopped at the upper Jordan River at the north end of the Sea of Galilee. Some of the Jews that were with me asked what was so significant about the Jordan, which gave me the opportunity to do a little lesson and share the gospel. Later we stopped at the John 21 site where Jesus had them fish on the other side and caught 153. I got to read the passage and do a little more teaching it's a good Sunday morning activity. The water level of the Sea of Galilee is down quite a bit. Originally the water level would have been up to the base of the large rocks on which the church has been built. I could almost imagine that this would have been like me going to the end of our pier and calling out to a fisherman "ya catching anything?" Across the water voices carry really well so even if the disciples were a hundred yards off shore they would have been able to hear Jesus clearly.

Tiberius is the burial site for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It may also be the site where Abram first entered the Promised Land. There were also several hot springs at this location that may have been used by many generations. Apparently many Jews like to be buried in Tiberius. Other than a big cometary the city looked very much like all the others in the region

We drove by the ruins of Jezreel and the area where Ahab absconded with the vineyard. It was with sight is Nazareth across the valley to the NE.

Then we headed west up the center of the Jezreel valley 37 km (20 miles) wide. Megiddo a city destroyed and rebuilt 25 times. We walked in the ruins of Megiddo and looked out over the Jezreel valley where the last war, Armageddon, will be waged. This was the site of King Ahab. We saw the stables for his 450 horses. We could see Nazareth, Mt Tabor, Mt Gilboa, Mt Carmel. Pretty cool actually it was really hot. We are heading back to Tel Aviv this afternoon.

Back at Tel Aviv we drove along the water front to the south end of town and into Joppa the site of Jonahs misadventures and also the site of where Solomon might have taken delivery of materials from Lebanon. After we got back to the hotel we went for a walk down along the beach