LHBC Israel Tour 2008

For the 12 days leading up to our trip, we will add a picture from a previous trip to wet your appetite for what you will see and experience. 

By the way, the picture above was taken last year while we were atop the Mount of Beatitudes.  A beautiful garden in the foreground with the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights in the background.  Simply breathtaking!

The final picture of this feature is from The Garden of Gethsemane.  These are 2,000 year old olive trees and they serve as a reminder of what Jesus did 2,000 years ago on the cross.  There is a quiet place to pray or meditate and marks a wonderful end to our picture journey.

Previous featured pictures:

The springs of En Gedi in the area of the Dead Sea, the Judean Wilderness.  Caves surround the area of the springs where David hid when King Saul sought to put him to death.  We swam in this spring last year and it was a refreshing oasis on a very hot day.

These two pictures were taken looking down from the entrance to Temple Mount.  The large stones you see scattered at the base of the wall are from the second temple’s destruction in 70 AD by the Roman General Titus.  The stones were buried in dirt for hundreds of years until archeologist discovered them in the 1970′s.  Next to the stones is a street from First Century Jerusalem.  In all likelihood, Jesus would have traveled this same street during His time in Jerusalem.  The area is now part of the Davidson Center and Archeological Park in the Old City at the base of Temple Mount. 

Previous featured pictures:

The Western Wall Plaza in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.  Notice the top of the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount in the background.  The Jewish people pray at the Western Wall as it is the closest location to the original site of the both Jewish Temples.  This location is on the opposite side of Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives (two pictures below).

A close up of the Dome of the Rock upon on Temple Mount.

 

The Mount of Olives looking across the Kidron Valley toward Temple Mount in Jerusalem. 

 

Beth Shean, a Decapolis city along the Jordan River.

 

The “The Jesus Boat” at Kibbutz Ginosar on the Sea of Galilee.  While it’s not really the boat Jesus rode in, it is a boat from the first century and a good representation of what kind of boat from which our Lord rebuked the winds and calmed the sea .   

 

Peter’s house in Capernaum (it is under the church in the background).

 

The ruins of the palace of King Herod the Great at Caesarea by Sea on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. 

 

The head waters of the Jordan River as they come down from Mt. Hermon at Banias or as we know it, Caesarea Philippi.

 

The synagoge at Chorazin.