by Pastor Patrick Cho
We had a bit of a later start this morning, and I was glad for the extra sleep. At this point of the trip, many people have commented that they are ready to go home. It has been a phenomenal time here in Israel, but we miss family, friends, and church. Three weeks is an awful long time to be away. I’ve been thankful to at least have had brief opportunities to video chat with Christine. That really has helped the time go by. Everything we have been able to experience in Israel has been tremendously rewarding, and I think all of us are just excited to tell our loved ones about it all.
We began the day stopping along a roadside and walking past a banana field towards the Sea of Galilee. When we got fairly close to shore we were told that we were in the area of Gadara. After Jesus had calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee, He and His disciples came to the country of the Gadarenes where they met two men possessed with the legion of demons (Matt. 8:28-34). These demons were cast into a herd of swine, which ran off an embankment into the water. The spot where we were standing was probably the likely area where this incident occurred.
As we drove away from the Sea of Galilee, Dr. Grisanti told us to say goodbye since we weren’t going to return again on this trip. It was actually really sad to leave because the stops we made along the Sea of Galilee were some of the most memorable for me. The hotel we stayed at for the week was called the Ma’agan Eden, so that made it even more special. I took a bar of soap from the hotel to show my daughter Eden.
Our next stop was Beth-Shean just south of the Sea of Galilee. This was an amazing place to visit because of its enormity. Dr. Grisanti showed us some pictures of the site from just a few decades ago and it was completely covered with dirt. It was incredible to consider how much had been excavated since. Beth-Shean was a Roman Decapolis city, so it was very significant. We first walked by a Roman theatre and learned a little bit about the city’s history while sitting there in the sun. Afterwards, we walked down to the bathhouse and even got to see a Roman public restroom. It was co-ed.
The major Roman city of Beth-Shean is located at the base of the tel, but the ancient city is actually up on the hill. There were some stairs (154 of them. Yes, I counted.) that took us to the top. The view of the city from the tel was amazing! By the time the Romans conquered the city, it didn’t need the defensive advantage of being up on the hill, so they moved the city down. This would have made access to water much easier. Since they didn’t really need the hill anymore, the Romans tore down the wall and erected a temple to Zeus.
Biblically, the ancient city is where Saul and his sons’ bodies were hung after they died in battle against the Philistines before the people of Jabesh-Gilead retrieved the bodies (1 Sam. 31:8-13). We had about an hour or so to run around the city and pretty much needed every minute to see all that was there. Dr. Grisanti had mentioned that this was one of his wife’s favorite sites, and I could see why. The city was very impressive. It kind of made me want to visit the other nine Decapolis cities, but most of them are in modern day Jordan or Syria. Hippus is the only other in Israel, and we only got to drive by it because we ran out of time.
After Beth-Shean, we drove to the southern end of the Jordan River just north of the Dead Sea. This would have been around the land of the Moabites in Old Testament days, and is an area of incredible biblical significance. When Elijah ascended to heaven and passed the mantle to Elisha, it would have happened around this area (2 Kings 2:1-15). With its proximity to Jericho, this would also have been around the place where Israel crossed into the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership (Josh. 3). Given its spiritual significance, the southern end of the Jordan River is also what is believed to be the place where Jesus came to be baptized by John (Matt. 3:13-17).
As we drove west into Jerusalem, we said goodbye to the Jordan River and had a chance to review some of the things we had learned during our time in Israel. It seemed like forever had gone by since we first entered Jerusalem. We spent the last couple nights at Yad-Hashmona, where the IBEX campus (an extension of The Master’s College) is located. We quickly got unpacked and enjoyed a wonderful dinner together before catching up on emails and getting some rest.