The other day we went out hiking on part of the “Jesus Trail” and the “Israel Trail” near the base of Mt. Arbel and the town of Wadi Hamam. As we were walking, we met some hikers coming our way and discovered that they had been left off by their tour busses at the top and were meeting them down at the bottom. They wished us luck (and were impressed that Vovô was apparently going to hike up! To which we said “no, we’re not going the whole way…”). We went far enough in to the narrow canyon to see the stream (apparently drinkable, according to the “Jesus Trail” guidebook, but we didn’t try it), and to spot the caves where from which highway robbers came down upon travelers back in the days before Herod Antipas rather dramatically drove them out.
Yesterday we went to Caphaernaum (Capernaum) and saw the ruins of a marble synagogue that was built over the 1st century synagogue that Jesus would have preached in. It was quite hot, so we stopped for an ice cream and a popsicle on the way out of town…
We visited a gravel cove near Caphaernaum which is the most likely place for the disciples to have brought their ships up on the beach to dry and wash their nets. (After his first tour, during which the disciples stayed behind fishing, Jesus probably brought a crowd of followers here and preached to them from Peter’s boat – and this is probably the place where Jesus enlisted the disciples for the second time).
We crossed over the Jordan river and drove to the most likely location of the feeding of the five thousand- it is now covered with mango tree orchards, but still boasts a full view of the Sea of Galilee.
When we got home, we were soooooo tired…
After a good long night’s sleep, we got up this morning to cooler weather and a chance of rain. After some grocery shopping we headed out to catch the top of the “Jesus Trail” trail from Mt. Arbel (that we saw the bottom of the other day.) Upon encountering a barbed wire fence blocking the road we were in some confusion as to whether or not we’d found the right track but did end up finding a trail blaze to confirm the way. The pass from here down into the canyon was a main through way for travelers in Jesus’ day.
With this top-down spectacular view of Mt. Arbel taken in, we headed up to the Horns of Hattin for a picnic lunch under the only trees in sight, some practice driving on dirt roads, and a short hike to the summit of one of the Horns (where there are wide views of the surrounding highlands and a long sweeping view down to the Sea of Galilee.) Due to cooler weather and winds (a small rainstorm is probably brewing) the view was quite clear and full of large clouds in the heavens … it is here up between the Horns in a sort of natural amphitheater that Vovô Wilson believes Jesus delivered the sermon on the mount – a rather dramatic location for one of the most important teachings delivered by Jesus, echoing and interpreting Moses’ delivery of the Law from Sinai.
On the way back to our Inn I took a wrong turn and ended up getting some more practice driving the local dirt roads. However this took us right into the Birya forest which Vovô had been wanting to see if we had time, and we were treated with more “wow” views as we made our way back to the highway.
More to come!