Shalom! Today was a special day in our study trip; we got to take part in a real archaeological dig! It was another warm day, so we tried to finish the majority of our activity in the morning. Here are a few highlights. Shiloh In the morning, we drove northeast into the West Bank to…
Shalom! Today we left Galilee to explore the Jordan Rift Valley, that is, the land beside the Jordan River as the river flows out of Galilee and toward the Dead Sea. It was a very hot day (over 100 degrees in the valley!), so we had to be strategic about how much time we spent…
Shalom! Today we traveled north of Galilee to the Hula Valley and east to the Golan Heights (biblical Bashan). It was a warm day with clear skies. Here are a few highlights: Hazor One of the first stops of the day was Tel Hazor. Hazor was the largest city in Canaan when Israel invaded under…
Shalom! Our stops today were all focused on the Sea of Galilee, the freshwater lake around which much of Jesus’ ministry took place as recorded in the Gospels. Here are a few highlights: Capernaum Our first visit of the morning was to ancient Capernaum, the city to which Jesus moved from Nazareth early in his…
Shalom! Today was another beautiful day: some clouds, breezy, upper 70s. We explored Lower Galilee (not much happened in Upper Galilee in Bible times) as we made our way from Nazareth to Ein Ged on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. Here are a few highlights: Nazareth We started the day by visiting…
Shalom! We started heading north toward Galilee today but made some stops along the way in the Coastal Plain and Jezreel Valley before arriving to our hotel in Nazareth. It was a temperate and breezy day—a nice change of pace from hot and barren desert! Here are a few highlights: Caesarea We started in the…
Shalom! Today we finished our foray into Israel’s southern regions by visiting several sites in the Judean Wilderness close to the Dead Sea. It was another sunny, hot day with temperatures in the 90s. Here are a few highlights: Masada We started the day with a rigorous 5:00am hike up the Snake Path of Masada,…
Shalom! Today we traveled north back out of the southern wilderness and through the Negev to spend the night at a hostel near Masada (you can guess what we’re doing tomorrow morning). Our day was bracketed by two very different water experiences. Here are a few highlights: Red Sea Snorkeling As the morning temperature in…
Shalom! Today we drove south into the Negev proper and watched the landscape change dramatically. We soon passed through to true wilderness (like the Israelites experienced) before reaching Israel’s southernmost city, Eilat (biblical Eloth, 1 Ki 9:26; 2 Chr 26:2), on the coast of the Red Sea. Here are a few highlights from our stops…
Shalom! Today began a four day tour of southern Israel or the Negev. On our drive down to Be’er Sheva (modern Beersheba), we stopped to look at a few sites along the way in the “Shephelah” or lowlands of ancient Judah. Here are a few highlights: David vs. Goliath We stopped at ancient Azekah, one…