Day 3: Mt. Carmel, Caesarea

November 9th, 2011

Today we traveled north to Caesarea.  We first saw an incredible amphitheater.  It held about 5,000 people.  It would have been right behind this amphitheater that Paul would have come and went into Cornelius' house (Acts 10:17-48).

We then saw Herod's house.  He was certainly one who enjoyed living the high life with the amphitheater behind his house and a hippodrome to the north where they would have high speed chariot races.  Herod even had a pool extending out toward the sea.  Caesarea would become the largest sea port in the world during its prime.  Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

 Probably the most incredible thing about Caesarea was the spot where Paul appealed to go before Caesar in Rome (Acts 25).  We stood on the spot where Paul would have stood as he exercised his right to go before the Caesar.  It was incredible to be in such a spot.  

We then traveled inland to Mt. Carmel.  As we traveled inland, it was the first time we actually saw what the land was like.  Nearly every inch of land was covered in rocks.  And not just pebbles but some very large rocks.  It was hard to imagine farming that kind of land, but they did and did it very well.  We went from sea level to about 1,600 feet above sea level to Mt. Carmel.  Once we reached the top, the view was truly breathtaking.  It looked into the valley of Jezreel.  This is believed to be the battle ground of Armageddon.  Across the valley we could see the now large city of Nazareth.  To its right was the valley Gideon fought the Midianites..  Of course at the bottom of Mt. Carmel it was easy to see where Elijah had the people get the water for the alter and where he would have all of the prophets of Baal killed.  It was then easy to turn around and see the coast far off in the distance and imagine Elijah sending someone up to check the horizon for the rain cloud no larger than a man's fist on the horizon, marking the end of the drought.  As we looked down in the valley it was also easy to see the Israeli air force base.  F-16 fighter jets we coming and going.

the sign is where paul would have stood i am standing in the area where paul would have stood the river where Elijah would have gotten water and killed the prophets of Baal Jezreel Valley from atop Mt. Carmel Cannanitte gate into Megiddo

We then traveled to the Tel of Megiddo.  This tel has 25 layers of civilization built one on top of the other.  One of the oldest is the Canaanite era.  We entered through their ancient gate estimated to be 3,500 years old.  We even saw their temple altar where they would have performed many cruel and horrible sacrifices to their gods.  But a few layers "up" we saw the walls of the city Solomon built.  We also saw the horse stables of King Ahaz and his famous aqua duct he dug underground.  It became a huge strategic advantage for him to help protect the city.  We ended the day by driving up to the Sea of Galilee.  We will be staying in Tiberius for a few days.  I can already tell the days in Galilee will be amazing.