by Pastor Patrick Cho

Even though today is Pentecost, I’m going to call it “Jezreel Valley Day.” Of course, Pentecost is a national holiday and day of Sabbath rest, but our group spent the day touring the Jezreel Valley. This was a significant area in the history of Israel because the major International Coastal Highway, which connects Egypt and Mesopotamia, ran right through it. It is bordered by Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18:19-20), Mt. Gilboa (1 Sam. 28:4), the Hill of Moreh (Judg. 7:1), Mt. Tabor (Judg. 4:6), and the Nazareth Ridge (Matt. 2:23) forming a sort of arrow shaped valley in the north.

Our first stop of the day was actually on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the city of Caesarea. We have heard throughout the trip about what an ingenious visionary and builder Herod was, but Caesarea was particularly impressive. If you view a map of the coast of Israel, there are very few natural harbors to protect boats from storms and waves. A long, flat coastline runs up and down the country. This is probably the biggest reason why the Israelites never really developed a strong navy.

Herod understood what an advantage it would be to have a harbor along the coast, so using Roman funding, he built one. His engineers developed a special concrete that would harden underwater and they laid the foundation for a massive harbor at Caesarea. Besides the harbor, Herod also built a magnificent city here complete with a hippodrome (for racing chariots), theatre, and palace. Of course, since it was a Herodian palace, there was a giant swimming pool.

On the east side of the palace was a large room that was determined to be a judgment hall. In Acts 23:23-24, plans were made for the Apostle Paul to appear before Felix the governor. After being imprisoned for two years, he stood before Festus (Acts 24:27-25:6), and eventually before King Agrippa II (Acts 25:22-23). All of these meetings most likely took place in that judgment hall. It was a bit surreal sitting there thinking that about 2000 years ago, Paul was tried in the very same place.

We took some time to walk around Caesarea. Some of our guys even raced around the hippodrome. Those who wanted to were given a chance to dip their feet in the Mediterranean Sea. Because of the city’s violent history, there were different kinds of buildings and artwork in the area. We saw a Roman house and an Ottoman bathhouse. There were even some buildings that were erected on the track of the hippodrome. Many of the floors had elaborate mosaics and tall marble columns rose up into the air. I wish I could have seen the city back when it was first built by Herod. It must have been beautiful.

After spending a couple hours at Caesarea, we headed for the Mt. Carmel mountain ridge. I didn’t know this before, but Mt. Carmel is not a single mountain but a small mountain range. It begins at the Mediterranean Sea and works its way southeast into the land. It also serves as the upper border of the hill country of Israel.

A couple biblical stories happened in this area. The Kishon River, which runs along the base of Mt. Carmel, is where the chariots of Sisera got stuck in the mud in the days of Deborah and Barak (Judg. 4:13-16; 5:21). But the most famous story associated with Mt. Carmel is when Elijah took on the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah (1 Kings 18:1-46). This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible because of how Elijah mocked and taunted the prophets of Baal when their god did not deliver. Once the Israelites saw God’s deliverance and provision of fire to consume the altar, it was in the same Kishon River at the base of Mt. Carmel that the prophets of Baal were eventually killed (1 Kings 18:40). Being up on the mountain gave us a great view of the Jezreel Valley, but it also helped us envision what happened in the days of Deborah and Elijah.

From Mt. Carmel, we headed over to Megiddo. This was an important city because it was situated next to the major trade route. In fact, a giant grain silo was found in the city. Apparently, the inhabitants enjoyed great success with agriculture in the fertile valley and were able to use the grain for food and trade. Megiddo was where King Ahaziah of Judah was killed in battle by Jehu (2 Kings 9:27), and it was also where King Josiah was killed by Pharaoh Neco of Egypt (2 Kings 23:29-30).

The greatest biblical battle associated with Megiddo, however, is Armageddon (cf. Rev. 16:16). Armageddon is the Greek transliteration of a compound word from the Hebrew meaning “Mountain of Megiddo.” This location has serious eschatological significance. The last great battle on earth will take place from Megiddo before Christ comes again destroying the armies of the earth and ushering in His kingdom.

From Megiddo, we headed to the Mount of Precipice outside Nazareth. Traditionally, this is the location that the people of Nazareth took Jesus to throw him off the cliff (Luke 4:29). Whether this was the actual location or not is impossible to confirm, but apparently according to the tradition, Jesus escaped the crowd by jumping off the cliff. This is why the Mount of Precipice is also called “The Leaping Mountain.” I seriously doubt that it is how Jesus escaped the crowd, but the cliff gave us a great view of the Jezreel Valley.

After the Mount of Precipice, we headed to our hotel. It was another long day and everyone was pretty tired. It was amazing to be able to walk around Caesarea and Megiddo and to be able to see these places in person to help provide some context to what I read in Scripture. Our hotel is in Nazareth. That alone is really cool. Of course, the city was much smaller in Jesus’ day, but it is still pretty cool to say we stayed in Jesus’ hometown.