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Then on to Jaffa (as it is know today)... Joppa in
bibical times. It is a seaport located on the Mediterranean coast north of Tel Aviv...ancient port city known
for bibical stories of Solomon, Jonah and Peter.
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| Our tour started from Tel Aviv and a drive up the Mediterranean coast to Jappa |
Caesarea was home of Pontius Pilate. Paul
was imprisoned here.
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| Ruins from the Palace of Emperor Tiberius in Caesarea. |
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| Ronnie & Kathy in the amphitheatre at Caesarea. |
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| Old stones found in Caesarea |
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| Ronnie & Kathy in front of the Roman aquaduct. |
Sermon on the Mount - on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Here is where
Jesus taught about the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer.
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| Our boat on the Sea of Galiee...AWESOME |
| Fresh from the Sea of Galiee...head and all. |
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| Our lunch of St. Peter's Fish was very interesting...what, no tartar sauce? |
Then we went on to Capernaum where Jesus taught in the synague and
performed many of his miracles.
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| Jesus did most of his teaching in Capernaum. |
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| Ronnie & Kathy at the ruins of the synague in Capernaum. |
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| Remains of Peter's house in Capernaum - where Jesus healed his mother-in-law. |
Megiddo where you can see 20 layers of civiliations. We saw an ancient Canaanite stone altar used for sacrifices to their pegan gods.
We also climbed down through a water system tunnel dating back to 2800BC.
| What a contrast... |
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| Standing on top of mountain at Megiddo overlooking Armageddon Valley. |
| Circa...2800 BC |
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| Stone altar used by the Canaanites for sacrifices to their pagan gods. |
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| The ancient Church of the Nativitiy built over the cave where Jesus was born. |
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| Original floor from 330 AD... |
BELOW...the ruins of the ancient city of Masada. Built
by King Herod in the first century BC as his summer palace. It was built in 3 levels on the side of the mountain, as
you can see in the photo.
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| Masada near the Dead Sea... |
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| Partial rooms remain at Masada today... |
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| More ancient ruins at Masada |
| Clay shards used by 10 male leaders to pick their |
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| number in the process of committing suicide after killing their families. |
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| Ritual bath located near Qumran... |
JERUSALEM... check out the next page for this ancient
and important city.
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Joppa was known as the gateway to
the trade route... Solomon used this seaport in the days of the first Temple of Jerusalem.
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| Walkway in old town Joppa... |
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| Statue depicting the whale that swallowed Jonah in the Bible story... |
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| Shepherd tending his flock as it was back in the day of Jesus in Nazareth... |
Mt. Carmel overlooks the green, peaceful Jezreel
Valley, also known as the Valley of Armageddon - where, according to Revelations, the last battle will be fought.
Israeli Air Force is located underground in the Jezreel Valley below...
We could hear the jets periodically.
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| From to of Mt. Carmel overlooking the Jezreel Valley. Also known as the Valley of Armageddon. |
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| Ronnie & Kathy with Pastor Jack Graham & his wife, Deb on top of Mt. Precipice. |
Below and left...
Roman aquaducts built over hundreds of miles to bring water to the
cities. Engineering wonders of their times...
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| Ancient Roman aquaduct built to bring water into the area. |
LEFT & RIGHT...The Sea of Galilee where Jesus calmed
the storm & walked on water. Our group took 2 wooden boats out and met in the middle of the sea.
We sang hymns as the birds flew all around like angels. WOW, what an experience!
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| Ronnie & Kathy on the shore of the Sea of Galiee. |
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| Olive Press at Capernaum... |
RIGHT - Ronnie & Kathy were baptized in the River Jordan
as Jesus was by John the Baptist.
But the water in December was freezing...Buuur!
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| Ancient city of Megiddo overlooks Valley of Armageddon. |
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| A lot of ruins found at Megiddo... |
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| Ronnie on top at Megiddo with Valley of Armageddon in background. |
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| Model of the City of Megiddo as it was 2800 BC |
Bethlehem - controlled by the Palestinians (PLO) and we had to go thru a checkpoint.
Visited the Church of the Nativity which was built in 330AD over the location of the birth of Jesus.
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| This silver star marks the place where it is believed Jesus was born in a cave. |
At Masada we took a cable car to the top of the mountain and walked
thru the ancient ruins of this palace fortress. Awesome!
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| Key items noted at Masada... |
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| Original floor & fresco on walls at Masada... |
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| Cannonballs catapelted over the walls by the Romans. |
| One of the caves at Qumran... |
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| ...where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947. |
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| Alley way in the old town - Joppa, Israel |
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| Jaffa as it is know today... |
Nazareth is where Jesus grew up.
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| In Nazareth we saw a village working as it was in the day of Jesus. |
Mt. Precipice below is where the Romans tried to throw
Jesus off the cliff.
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| Top of Mt. Precipice overlooking the Jezreel Valley. |
Below is a church in Cana where Jesus performed His first
miracle at the marriage feast turning the water into wine.
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| Church at Cana where Jesus performed his first miracle. |
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| Birds flocked around our boats as we sang hymns. Or could be the Pita bread we were feeding them... |
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| Who did this 2000 year old boat belong to...Perhaps Jesus & His Disciples? |
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| Ruins from the old synague in Capernaum where Jesus did most of his teaching. |
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| Yardnit Baptismal site on the Jordan River. |
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| Water system dating back to 2800BC...see the original steps off to the side. |
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| Water trough used for horses at Megiddo. Similar to manger used for Jesus. |
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| I can't believe this is even a replica... |
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| This was the manger...looks like they got it at Macy's! Probably more like the horse trought above. |
| Sign reads "Pray for the freedom of Palestine"... |
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| While in Bethlehem, you can see the PLO presence... |
After the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 AD about 1,000 Jewish
Zealots took Masada as their last stronghold against the Romans.
In 73 AD the Romans finally completed a ramp on the backside
of the mountain and when they finally broke thru the walls, they found 960 Jews had committed suicide to keep from
being taken captive.
| Remenants of a Roman encampment at Masada... |
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| ...they couldn't get to the Jews until they built a ramp up to Masada. |
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| The remains of the Roman ramp built to capture the Jews. |
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| The Dead Sea as we drove past... |
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| Ronnie & Kathy in the Dead Sea... |
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