February 3, 2009

Today was an overall awesome day! Other than no longer being dehydrated, we went to some pretty cool places. The morning started off in Caesarea Maritima. I’ve realized that there are like 3 different Caesarea’s in Israel and this one gets it’s name not just because it was in the time of Caesar, but because it is right next to the Mediterranean Sea. In Caesarea Maritima, we went to the famous theatre that was excavated in the early 60’s and became a national sight in the 70’s. To learn about every nook of this theatre and what took place there was incredible. Not only did shows go on at this theatre we were sitting in, but it was also the place where Herod Agrippa most likely died. (That’s actually a really interesting story! If you want to read it, its in Acts 12) This theatre is also most likely the place where the Apostle Paul stood in front of Agrippa and his wife for a trial while he was under house-arrest for being Roman citizen who lived in a Jewish community (story is in Acts 26). After spending some time there, we walked over to the remains of Herod’s palace. The reason why Herod’s palace was in Caesarea Maritima was because Herod grew up as a Jew and when we got older converted to Romanism. Because of this, he wanted to live somewhere far enough away from the Jews so they wouldn’t rebel against him. I was surprised at how many remains there actually were from his palace. Along with the palace, we saw where his private pool was and where he had built a port on the edge of the Med. Of course, because of the dry seasons, the water drops significantly each year, so the port doesn’t even come close to the water. But we could see the main outline of where it was and what it looked like. It was the biggest port in the eastern part of the city and 3^rd in the world at that time, having the capacity to hold 60 boats at once. Even though I don’t think Herod was the greatest guy, I strongly feel that he was one of the greatest builders this world will ever see. After finishing with Caesarea Maritima, we drove to an old aqueduct that was on the beach of the Mediterranean and we had about 15-20 minutes to spend on the beach at the Med. It was so much fun! One of the best parts of the day =]  After our play time, we headed to Nazareth and had lunch. The first place we went to in Nazareth was the Church of the Annunciation, where remains of Mary’s house is located and a commemoration of when the angel appeared to Mary telling her she was pregnant with Jesus. Next we went to the Church of the Synagogue, where Jesus went to and preached from the book of Isaiah, after coming out of his time of the devil tempting Him. This story is in Luke 4, and the main theme of what Jesus preached about was how He told the Jews that the gospel was not just for them, but the Gentiles as well. Our last place to visit today was Mount Carmel. Many events occurred on Mount Carmel, most of them involving Elijah. Many of them had to do with Elijah challenging the prophets who believed in other gods to prove themselves, and of course Elijah always won. For example, calling the fire down onto the sacrifices and challenging Bale, the god of the storms, to a lightening contest. In the end, God proved himself and the Israelites slaughtered all the prophets. Aside from the importance of Mount Carmel, the view is unbelievable. You can see for what seems forever! It was a great sight to end a long day with.