Holy land day 7B

Shepherd fields
Only fields near Bethlehem. Service open air Shepherd cave
Church of Nativity in manger square
First one built by Helena mother of Constantine
Palestine authority spends much to restore mosaic
Armenian altar curtain John the Baptist+?
14 point star Jesus was born, manger opposite
Mary appeared finger holes in the column
Survived many threats of destruction, both earthquakes and order to destroy
Jerome stepping on a skull, victory over death with knowledge of the Bible
Lunch
Ottoman gave the lot to the French mission, white father wear Arab clothes to minister to North Africa
Pool of Bethesda. St Ann church, statue of Ann holding the shimar with the right hand Virgin Mary the left hand. acoustic very good
Via dolorosa
St Antonio fortress, Pilates HQ, stone pavement. Some stones relocated to existing ground level, tic tac toe and chariots marks
Veronica Vera+icon wiped Jesus face, handkerchief.

Holy Sepulchre. Split among Greek Armenian Catholic Coptic Ethiopian. Fighting

Holy Land 2018 day 8

Temple mount
No holding hands of the opposite sex. No Bible, Christian signs. Quiet. Jews must be escorted by soldiers on the mount, secretly praying on the pretext of sightseeing. Al Aqsa mosque, "furthest mosque", Mohammed made this the second direction of praying to lure Jews to convert

Dome of the Rock, may be which the holy of holies was, rock on which Abraham sacrifice Isaac. Dome of the chain.

Western Wall, men and women sections. Bar Mitzvah boy turn 12, girls 13. Procession, huge event, photographer boy praying at the wall, carrying the Torah around. Every Monday and Thursday. Wore kippah.

Married women shave part of hair, wear wigs

Mt Zion (may mean 1 high place, 2 spring in the desert, 3 oasis)

David's tomb not biblical. Upper Room on top (not true, last supper, Thomas, Pentecostal) was crusader church, converted to a mosque with a niche.  David's statue poured with mortar damage nose (not fixed), string (fixed)

Hezekiah tunnel and pool of Siloam

Waded 40 minutes, 533m. Very narrow, Max water depth 2-3 feet to the hip. Height of tunnel 1.5m to 5xman height. Not very cold.

Gethsemane

Holy Land 2018 day 6

Ein Harod
Ein=spring, Harod=stubborn
Where Gideon picked 300 people from 3200. People lapped water at the spring

Betshe'an (Beth Shan) national park near to Mt Gilboa基利波山 See 1Sam 31.

Cities built on top of previous cities. Theatre, market etc. Seriously damage in 1749 earthquake.

Lunch at. Jericho, inside Palestine

Mt of temptation

Monasteries up there. On the way, saw a 168 years old sycamore tree

Baptism place closed by Israeli military, skipped

Dead Sea float

Bethlehem St Gabriel hotel, via Jerusalem (Israel) Through the West Bank wall 

Holy Land 2018 day 5

Thunderstorms overnight
Mt Beatitudes
Primacy Jesus asked John do you love me thrice
Boat ride, St Peters fish
Very windy and big waves, but the boat was steady. Communion on the boat Fish was delicious

Capernaum

5th century synagogue ruin built upon a first century one. Galilee limestone from elsewhere, local rocks are basalt as discovered. Peter's mother in law house just in front. See tvb pearl

Peter's statue, always with a key

Beatitudes

A garden and a chapel. Overlooking the Sea of Galilee.

Stayed in Ginosar hotel, kibbutz

Holy Land 2018 day 4

Nazareth village
Found relics, was a farm and winepress of the first century. Village was 500 m away, rebuilt some structure on site.

Narrow gate=needle eye
Olive trees just pruned for better growth. Oldest tree 400 years old, from another tree mother
Threshing floor, donkey pulls that with stones beneath, winnowing fork to rid the chaff
Difference between sheep obedient and goats
Terraces soil on top of pebbles and impermeable rock so water overflows to the next
Olive press by round stone. First round is for temple's lampstand, anointing. Second with one 500 kg stone, for food and perfume. Third with all 3 stones, for lamp. Gethsemane is olive press, Jesus prayed (was pressed) 3 times.
Wool, sheared, dyed with natural dye, e.g. walnut, most expensive purple from a kind of Shell lots of them. Spun into thread
Synagogue with roof that could be removed
Carpenter, making a yoke, drilling. Shown in movie,  need 2 minutes to finish
Almond flower, only flower in this season
Winepress using bare foot, not to crush the seeds and make the juice bitter. Women and children did this, probably Jesus too
A rich man built a vineyard,  Watch tower.  So Jesus might have seen this watch tower
Round stone to seal a cave

Tel Dan nature reserve
Ancient Dan altar of Jeroboam also the ancient Laish. Found a tablet inscribed Hazael King of Damascus boasting victory over the House of David. First time David was mentioned outside of the Bible.

Banias (Caesarea Philippi)

The God Pan (Ban as pronounced here) went down to Hell every year, when he returns, spring..

Gate of Hades is the Cave. Also temples of Ausgustus, of Zeus

Mt Bental 

Syrian border, very windy and cold

Holy Land 2018 day 3

Cool Nazareth morning 8 degrees

Jezreel plain

Megiddo altar found animal bones, not human bones. sacrifice

Water tunnel leading water outside the walled city to inside

Cana church

Nazareth Basilica of Annunciation, lines on the door shown in photo

http://chantblog.blogspot.ae/2014/01/the-candlemas-procession-february-2.html?m=1

Mount Tabor church of transfiguration

Now there is doubt that the mountain might be Hermon.

Holy Land 2018 day 2

1. Jaffa old Joppa
Lunch here,
House of Simon the Tanner (not the real one)

2. Caesarea (paid admission)
Ancient Toilet as shown in the picture. Man sits between the stones, flush underneath.
Also saw the Roman theatre, aqueduct.

3. Haifa night view from Mt Carmel