Jezreel Valley

Tuesday 21 April

Depart Jerusalem and drive to Tiberius. Megiddo, Nazareth, Jezreel, Spring of Harod, Mt Tabor, Mt Gilboa, Beit Shean.

We have hired two Kia Carnivals (7 seaters) from El Dan Hire for transport, one red vehicle and a white one. We have also been using Two Way radios to communicate as we travel, which has worked well. I think it was Darren that coined the phrases ‘Red Barren’ and ‘White Night’ in the Two Way radio talk, so it has been quite entertaining listening to the lingo as we have traveled.

This day was Holocaust Remembrance Day, most of the traffic stopped at 10:00am and everyone got out and stood by their car for 1 minute.

Traffic stopped on the Freeway for the one minute silence on Holocaust Remembrance day

We traveled to Megiddo a strategic city located on the pass from the South into the Jezreel Valley. The ‘Tell’ has 25 layers! That means that it has been razed and rebuilt 25 times that they know of in its history. It is the site where Josiah died as Pharaoh Necho was on his way up to meet Nebuchadnezzar for the battle of Carchemish. This marked the beginning of the end for Judah’s kingdom. Ultimately the last king would remove the crown ‘until he come whose right it is’.

Simon entering the tunnel to the water source of Megiddo

Nazareth YMCA village is an excellent place to see for all those hoping to visit Israel and the land of Galilee. We had a guide who was a Mennonite, an American Christian group that formed out of the Amish. The village has been built around the time of Christ and woven into the landscape are many of the parables of Christ. We saw spinning and weaving, threshing implements, watchtowers, olive stone for crushing the olives, and olive press, a lady spinning and weaving, a carpenter at work. A very enjoyable spot.

Darren reading in the small Synagogue in Nazarath Village

A Olive Press showing the woven baskets on the ground behind the man where the olive pulp was put and hte various weights that could be put on the press to get the various stages of pressing.

We drove south across the Jezreel valley again to Mt Gilboa. We saw Ein Harod where Gideon chose his 300 men from the 10,000.

We drove on to Beit Shean, another strategic place on the watershed between the Jordan valley and the Jezreel Valley. Beit Shean is where the Philistines hung Saul and his sons on the wall after their death on the battlefield. We could also see across the Jordan to the area where the brave men of Jabesh Gilead rescued their kings body for an honorable funeral. All this was very helpful to get the perspective of the layout of the land.

The group at Ein Harod, where Gideon selected his men for battle against teh Mideonites

Arrived at Holiday Inn at Tiberius with a glorious view overlooking the Sea of Galilee.