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Mount Beatitudes

August 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Mount Beatitudes

View of Sea of Galilee from inside the church

Mount Beatitudes is located on a low hill on the north-west shore of the Sea of Galilee. It offers a spectacular view over the Sea of Galilee, on clear days all the way to the south end, as well as the surrounding mountains of Galilee and Golan.

We can only call the site traditional, as more than four hundred years passed between the original event and the building of the first church there in the 4th century. Only very few ruins remain of this early church in the vicinity of the modern site.

The Sermon on the Mount [Read more...]

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The Jordan River

July 16, 2010 By 1 Comment

For all its fame the Jordan River is not really a river. At least not when compared to the really great rivers of the world, and even the Middle East, such as the Mississippi, the Nile and the Euphrates. And still it is known my more people than most of the great rivers.

Songs have been written, stories are told, traditions and important events are told again and again. And against this there are other aspects to this venerated old river.

No one today will see it in its whole length, but only snatches and bits and pieces. In some places you may see fast flowing waters where modern water fun can be entertained. In other places a slowly meandering old river venerated for its religious importance.

The Upper Jordan River

The Jordan River runs from its sources Dan, Banias and Hazbani at the foot of the Hermon Mountain via the Sea of Galilee and empties out in the Dead Sea, for a total length of 320 km. The first part from the sources to the Sea of Galilee is also known as the Upper Jordan River. This part is some 80 km in length and has a steep drop from app. 343 m above sea level (near Banias) to 214 m below sea level (Sea of Galilee). [Read more...]

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Capernaum – The House of St. Peter

July 1, 2010 By 5 Comments

Entry to Church House of St. Peter

On the south side of Capernaum stands the large modern church of  The House of St. Peter. It hovers over the ruins of the 5th century octagonal church, also known by the same name. This church had been built over the remains of even earlier buildings.

To begin with the earliest from the first century. Remains of the insula can still be seen beneath the later buildings. According to some archaeologists one room or courtyard within this insula received special status in the latter parts of the first century, becoming a place of assembly. The floor was covered with plaster, and the wall reworked, some even say with inscriptions. This is contested by other archeologists. No household ceramics were found in this room, only a very large amount of oil lamps.

This late 1st century structure may have been used as a domus-ecclesia or house church by the early Christians of Capernaum. [Read more...]

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Olives, Olive Trees, Olive Oil

February 24, 2010 By 3 Comments

Today most of us think of olives and olive oil primarily as foods. And for very good reasons. Olive oil is considered to be one of the healthiest oils to use in food and food production.

In ancient times olives and olive oil had a much greater use. It was used in food. One of the greatest uses of the oil was for lighting in the oil lamps. It was used for offerings in the Temple in Jerusalem, as anointing oil of kings and priests, in cosmetics and in medicine. What was left over after extraction of the oil was used as fuel and as fertilizer. No wonder that the olive became one of the prestigious ‘Seven Species’ of Deuteronomy (8:8).

The Olive Tree

There are still many wild olives in Israel, but it is the domesticated varieties that are seen throughout the country from the southernmost parts of the Hills of Judea to the high mountains of the Galilee. [Read more...]

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Water Water Flowing

February 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

There are things that can only be experienced at certain times of the year in Israel. You have to know when and where to go for these special experiences.

Nahal Saar is one of those experiences. Nahal Saar flows between the Hermon Mountain and the Golan Heights in the north of the Israel. The word nahal means stream, and as with many streams in Israel water can only been seen in late winter and early spring. This on condition that there has been a good amount of rain through the winter, and hopefully also some snow on the Hermon Mountain and the northern Golan Heights.

This year has been like this. I was fortunate that the other day I was touring up in that part of the country with my tourists, and I had the time and they had the interest to stop for this special experience. The day was glorious, way too warm for this time of the year, but we made the most of it. So we stopped at Nahal Saar, where it has created a fairly large waterfall.

I have to tell you that we were not the only ones there. Though I did not film it, I could hardly find parking place on the other side of the road. Some people even hiked up for an even better view, but we made do with the low view. This is what I am sharing with you here.

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Capernaum – The Town of Jesus

January 18, 2010 By 2 Comments
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View of Sea of Galilee from Capernaum

On the north shore of the Sea of Galilee lie the ruins of the town of Capernaum. This town has in modern times become known as the Town of Jesus, because this is where he spent the greater part of the three years of his ministry.

Capernaum has been in ruins and forgotten since the 7th century. It was rediscovered in the middle of the 19th century by the American explorer Edward Robinson, mainly the synagogue. His findings were confirmed by later explorers as well as archaeological excavations. [Read more...]

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The Jesus Trail – A Spiritual Journey

July 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

portrait-2I just love it, when new experiences are added to the map of exploring Israel and the Holy Land. That is what this latest development is all about.

The Jesus Trail is a hiking tour through the Galilee that Jesus would have known. The moving force behind the development of the trail are Maoz Inon, an Israeli entrepreneur, and David Landis, a Mennonite from the US. [Read more...]

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The Sea of Galilee – Kinneret

June 26, 2009 By 5 Comments

Despite the name the Sea of Galilee is not a sea, but a lake, being all fresh water. It is about 28 km long and 10 km wide on the widest. When seen from above it seems to have the shape of the ancient lyre, which in ancient Hebrew was “kinor”. This may be the origin of its Hebrew name – Kinneret.

If it is not, then nobody knows where the Hebrew name stems from. Not that it really matter to the average Israeli, who on holidays or Saturdays will stream to the shores of the Sea of Galilee to bathe, water jetting or visit one of the water slide sites, nor to the tens of thousand of Christian or Jewish visitors to the area. [Read more...]

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Nazareth

June 23, 2009 By 5 Comments
Nazareth, Church of Annunciation

Nazareth, Church of Annunciation

Based on a few passages in the New Testament, Nazareth became known as the town, where Jesus spent his childhood and youth. From quite early in the development of Christianity it became a center for Christian worship and has over the centuries attracted thousands of pilgrims.

The site most visited is the Catholic Church of the Announciation. It is built over a grotto, the place where [Read more...]

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