gregoryjenks

Tag: Banias

  • Bethsaida 2014 – Day One

    After a mostly—and happily—uneventful flight from various Australian cities via Dubai and Amman, the 12 people in this year’s Bethsaida team from Australia arrived safely at Hakuk Balev (also spelt Huqoq) late Saturday afternoon. We checked into our rooms, enjoyed the opportunity for a shower, and gathered for dinner at 7.00pm. It was an early night all round, with the blessing of a real bed deeply appreciated after the 18 hours or so of air travel, plus varying amounts of land travel before and after the flights.

    Hakuk is located in the hills to the west of the Sea of Galilee. It is about 5km inland from the main north-south road along the western side of the lake, and about 10 minutes north of our usual location at Ginosar. It offers wonderful views of the lake, as well as Tiberias and the Horns of Hattim.

    Sunday was spent touring some selected sites in the northern area of Israel. Our driver (Fahim) and guide (Ghattas Zaher ) are both Christians from Nazareth, and we soon identified many common friends with both of these gentlemen. Fahim was also the person who picked us up from the Jordan Valley Border Crossing when we came through to Israel from Jordan, and they will both be with us for our program in Nazareth next Saturday and in Haifa the following day. Ghattas is the father of Linda, who works at the Sabeel office in Nazareth, so another special connection there.

    After a visit to Chorazin, we headed north to Banias where we explored the site for a couple of hours. After doing the usual visit to the Cave of Pan, we walked down Banias Stream (one of the four sources of the Jordan) to Banias Falls. The walk took about 90 minutes as detoured via the palace of Agrippa II, bought cherries and pita from the Druze man near the old flour mill, and made our way across the grassy hilltops in the far north of Israel.

    After a picnic lunch at Banias Falls we headed back to the Sea of Galilee where we visited the quiet prayer gardens at Mt Beatitudes, the Church of the Primacy at Tabgha, and the beautiful Greek Orthodox Church at Capernaum. Sadly, the Benedictine monastery at Tabhga was closed so we did not get to see the Byzantine mosaic of the loaves and fishes. We also missed the Franciscan area at Capernaum as we arrived just a few minutes after their shiny new gate was locked for the day. We shall go back there on our way to Haifa next Sunday.

    By the end of dinner all of the volunteers for this middle session of the 2014 season at Bethsaida had arrived, so our new community is beginning to take place. It was another fairly early night for people, but already we are beginning to feel very much at home in the quiet setting of Hakuk and in this beautiful corner of a very special place.

    A few photos relating to each day’s program, including today, will be posted on my Facebook page.

  • Study Leave—Week Five

    This has been a quieter week in some ways, but quite a productive one as well.

    The weekend part of the week saw an overlap between the Western Easter and the final days of the Pesach holidays. The country seemed to be on holiday mode pretty well much of the time, although I was challenged by the inability to buy anything with yeast: including (of course) pita bread, beer, and pasta. It is not just that observant Jews do not buy such products. Rather, the stores will not allow anyone to buy them, irrespective of your religious outlook. Consequently great sections of the stores are covered in plastic sheets to indicate that these items may not be purchased. Even the British Pub themed restaurant where I ate on Saturday night was not serving beer. Must be tough on their core business. (I have since learned that locals stock up with these items in advance of the holy days.)

    With so many holidays to be observed there were opportunities to visit some beautiful places, such as the Lake Huleh wetlands and the Banias Springs. There were also opportunities for lunches with friends in Nazareth, where the quantity of food served far exceeds my capacity to devour it (although I try), and is always spectacular.

    One of the highlights of the week was the opportunity to visit the small chapel where Charles de Foucauld spent many hours in prayer during the two years he spent in Nazareth. The friend who took me there prays in this chapel every day, and it was a privilege to be given that glimpse inside his private life.

    Last Saturday I had an opportunity to walk through the excavations at Tiberias itself. This is a city founded by Herod Antipas in 20 CE and continuously occupied ever since. The excavations have revealed a first century theatre as well as a Late Roman bath house that features in some of the rabbinic texts. The ruins are adjacent to the main road and close to a popular beach area. Most passers-by seem entirely unaware of the history so close at hand.

    While visiting Nazareth on Wednesday I called by the Sabeel office and happened to be there at the same time as a group of 15 or so Swedes, all members of Friends of Sabeel in Sweden. It was lovely to cross paths with them, and kind of fun to be partly in the position of welcoming them to Nazareth.

    In between all the sight-seeing and the lovely meals there has even been some opportunities to work. I have been able to track down quite a bit of literature related to the current book project, and by week’s end to complete another chapter for the book. This is the chapter that looks at Galilee in the time of Jesus, and at a few of the key places he visited. In particular, it has a couple of pages on the archaeological evidence for Nazareth during the first few decades of the first century. I may need to revise a few sentences in light of some places I am yet to be shown (although I think not), but at least the chapter itself is now done. In the week ahead I will shift my focus back to the coins project, not least because the next chapter I want to write will deal with the coins that are relevant to my study of Jesus in first century Galilee. This is certainly a good place to be located while working on such a project.

    On Thursday evening I had an opportunity to meet up with the Australian tour group led by David Pitman, from Brisbane. It was good to do that, and quite a tonic to hear their Aussie accents. Even better was the chance to see some familiar faces of friends from home. Still, it was a wicked pleasure to say as I left them , “Well, I am heading home to Tiberias now!”

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