Start of the Galilee

 As we left for the Galilee 12 days ago the scene outside my bus window changed dramatically from the rocky, dry and desert landscape of the Jerusalem area to the lush, green forests and farmland of the Jordan River valley. Northern Israel is beautiful. We started off by visiting the chief city of the Decapolis (group of ten cities on frontier of Roman Empire) city of Beit She'an. Known in Roman, New Testament and Byzantine eras as Scythopolis. It was at this city that the Philistines displayed Saul's armor in the temple of Ashtoreth and hung the dead bodies of Saul and Jonathan. During the reign of King David the Israelites probably controlled this city. I really liked this city because it was pretty big with nice ancient toilets and a beautiful cardo (north-south oriented street from Roman times lined with shops).

Then we went over to Nazareth which was anciently a little village but now it is a bustling city that felt similar to parts of Jordan to me. The Gospel of Matthew says that Jesus "dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene"(2:23). There are many churches commemorating the life of Jesus throughout the city. The Church of Annunciation is currently a Roman Catholic church, the largest church in the entire Middle East. This was probably one of my favorite churches. Outside on the grounds and inside the church there are  Madonna and Child mosaics from all over the world. I could have spent hours looking at the variety of depictions.

Then we went to the church of St. Joseph which is built over a grotto that is the traditional site of Joseph's carpenter shop and the home for his family. We walked a little farther north in Nazareth to the traditional site of the "Synagogue Church" (1st century) the likely place where Jesus announced his Messiahship (Luke 4:16-30) but today on the site stands a small one-room Crusader church.

Before we arrived at our hotel/resort in Ein Gev on the shores of the Galilee we went to a scenic overlook point on Mt. Arbel. It was at this point as I looked out across the landscape in front of me that I was struck by the fact that so much of Jesus' life and ministry occurred in this place.