Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.” Genesis 10:8-9 Visible from both Dan and Banias, situated on top of a hill is a fortress named “Castle of the Large Cliff”. Today it is known as Nimrod’s Fortress (named after the Biblical character in Genesis). It was originally constructed as preliminary defense for Damascus to the northeast. It was begun in 1229 and expanded over time. We spent over an […]
Category Archives: Travel
Headwaters of the Jordan
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Jeremiah 2:13 The Jordan River is the most famous river in the Bible. It begins in the north near snow-capped Mount Hermon, the tallest mountain in the country. There are three main sources, of which we visited two. The western source is at the ancient site of Dan, the northern-most city of ancient Israel (“from Dan to Beersheba”). While the day before we had begun at the desolate, dry Dead Sea, we were […]
A Temple on a Lonely Hill
And when he [Herod the Great] returned home after escorting Caesar [Augustus] to the sea, he erected to him a very beautiful temple of white stone in the territory of Zenodorus, near the place called Paneion. Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, 15:363 Reaching the Sea of Galilee, we began a few days exploring the Golan region, east/northeast of the lake. Our first stop of the morning was a remote site called Omrit. Following some directions, we drove off the main road into seemingly the middle of nowhere, the dirt road jostling the car until we pulled over. Hiking a […]
Beth Shean
When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard of what the Philistines had done to Saul, all their valiant men journeyed through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days. 1 Samuel 31:11-13 We drove north in the Jordan Valley and finally reached Beth Shean. Situated not far south of the Sea of Galilee, it’s located at the intersection of the […]
Spelunking for Scrolls
This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. Jeremiah 32:14 North of En Gedi towards the northwestern end of the Dead Sea is the site of Qumran. There was little interest in its archeological remains until something remarkable was found nearby: the Dead Sea Scrolls. Quite possibly the most important archaeological find ever, the scrolls include the oldest known copies of the Hebrew Bible. They were discovered in caves […]
Hideout
He turned the desert into pools of waterand the parched ground into flowing springs;there he brought the hungry to live,and they founded a city where they could settle. Psalm 107:35-36 Two of the prominent sites along the western shore of the Dead Sea are associated with David when he was on the run from King Saul. The first is Masada (meaning ‘stronghold’ in Hebrew). David stayed in “the stronghold” while avoiding Saul (1 Samuel 22:4-5, 24:22). A millennium later King Herod built a fortress on the traditional site with two luxurious palaces. Tourists today can hike the historic snake path […]
Salty Shores
[The Dead Sea] is, as I have said already, bitter and unfruitful. It is so light [or thick] that it bears up the heaviest things that are thrown into it; nor is it easy for any one to make things sink therein to the bottom, if he had a mind so to do. Accordingly, when Vespasian went to see it, he commanded that some who could not swim should have their hands tied behind them, and be thrown into the deep, when it so happened that they all swam as if a wind had forced them upwards. Josephus, The Wars […]
Timnah Park
I sent forth my messengers to the country of Atika [= Arava?], to the great copper mines which are in this place. Their galleys carried them, others on the land journey were upon their donkeys. Their mines were found abounding in copper; it was loaded by tens of thousands [of bars] into their galleys. They were sent forward to Egypt and arrived safely. Ramesses III, Papyrus Harris 1:78, 2; The Holy Land by Jerome Murphy-O’Connor p. 522 Not far north of Eilat is Timnah Park. Within the dry desert of the Arabah, this park features both nature beauty and archaeology. […]
The Rift
The land mourns and wastes away, Lebanon is ashamed and withers; Sharon is like the Arabah, and Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves. Isaiah 33:9 We had reached the southern-most point of Israel at Eilat. There was nowhere to go but back north again. The trip north, however, would be via a different route along the eastern edge of the country to the Dead Sea. This route follows the rift valley. The Bible calls this region the Arabah. The rift valley is crack in the earth formed by the meeting of two tectonic plates that extends from Lebanon along the […]
Southern Boundary
After a couple hours driving south through the desert, we reached the southernmost point in modern Israel: the city of Eilat. Situated on the Red Sea, this resort town is wedged tightly between Egypt on the west and Jordan on the east. While the Mediterranean Sea is Israel’s main link to international waters towards the west, this small section of shore provides a gateway to the east. This site has been in use since antiquity. For instance, King Solomon launched ships from here to bring back gold (1 Kings 9:26-28). Our first stop in Eilat was the national park. Renting […]