Galilee Day 03 – Gamla, Omrit, Caesarea Phillipi, Mt. Hermon

Thank you all for the gracious words. We miss all of you terribly. Paul and Justin, you know who I miss most. I can’t wait to share with you the treasures God is storing up in my heart. Mr. Rauser and I talked about how much you and the Rauser boys would love Gamla – it’s like right out of Age of Empires.

OK, you say Gamla, I say Zealots. In the years leading up to Jesus’ birth, a pot was stirring in the Galilee that didn’t boil over until after his death. Everyone was expecting the kingdom of God, and everyone was expecting it to bring peace forever – it’s just that no one knew if was by power or by some other way. Gamla is an amazing story of intrigue, prophecy, treason, tragedy, and an abject lesson in what happens when your second most important commandment is not loving your neighbor.

The breach in the wall at Gamla. Many suspect Josephus (the Zealots' Benedict Arnold) of having sold out the secret of Gamla’s fortifications. Yes, Beth, that is Jeff's head poking in.

Jesus taught in all the synagogues in the Galilee. Gamla is in the Galilee and has a synagogue. Ergo, we were where Jesus must have been. And we had a meeting like the one Jesus would have attended when He declared the Scriptures fulfilled in Him. Sometimes, being there makes the real seem realer.

If we are sitting on the floor, it must be a synagogue.

Then, on the ride to far north Israel, Boaz (our Israeli guide) gave us a stunning history (the truthful one that you don’t see on CNN) about the conflict between the Arabs and Israel. All the while our bus is passing army bases filled with tanks and trucks protecting the Golan Heights. What a great injustice the politicians have done to the land promised to the children of Abraham.

Israeli Hummers waiting on their next orders.

For years, archeologists knew there was a third Herodian temple to Caesar. They have found it in Omrit. The cool part – it is right where the Via Maris takes its turn to Damascus. Yes, that road, where Paul had his experience (Meg, Jeff and Scott agree with you that a “tweaking” is too mild a term. It was so cool to see the physical evidence of the struggle between an earthly savior who sold out to the adversary, and our heavenly One that walked and was the ancient path to shalom. But RVL blew our minds with the number of pre-Gospel scriptures that commission prophets in the same way Paul was commissioned – my brain still hurts.

The Temple. Tributes, not taxes.

Caesarea Philippi – Herod’s son’s playboy mansion. Located next to an ancient pan-worshipping goat-loving moral cesspool, this was the location for one of Jesus’ most compelling declarations – that the gates of Hades would not withstand the onslaught of his church. And on a nearby hill, a crusader castle, “safely” planted on a hilltop. Which are you going to be – the one who storms the enemy’s stronghold, or the one who “safely” hides behind walls?

I think we have heard it said that when Moses and Elijah showed up just before Jesus’ ascension, the disciples were so overcome by not knowing what to do that they just blurted out, “Let’s build a tabernacle.” Using an amazing analysis, starting with David’s prayer for truth and light in Psalm 43, and ending with Psalm 46, RVL showed how the disciples were simply following what the scriptures had told them they should do, thus, once again, showing that Jesus’ talmid were men of the text.