Day 14-16 Sunday

Sunday, we headed out to Capernaum. We were supposed to go to a German Church, but it was closed (?). Out next stop was the site of ancient Capernaum. The Catholic church owns this part of the site b/c this is the (supposed) location of Peter's house. We had to wear long pants for this location. A beautiful synagogue has been excavated. It was originally dated to 1st century (and thus Jesus' synagogue; remember, Capernaum was the headquarters of Jesus' ministry in Galilee). However, the dating for this structure has been reassigned to the 2nd-3rd century AD. They have uncovered another structure underneath and it is dated to 1st century.

"Peter's House" has a special structure constructed over it and Catholics can pre-arrange to have mass in that building. It has a glass floor so that you can see directly into the remains of Peter's House.

From here we headed around the Sea of Galilee and then West back across the Jordan River to a place called Beth Sean (a new place for me). It is one of the Greek cities of the Decapolis ("ten cities"). You may remember one of the Decapolis cities from the New Testament, Gedara, the place where Jesus cast the demons out of a man into pigs (and thus a Greek city, not a Jewish city). This is an amazing city with a huge amphitheater, public buildings, mosaics, etc. Very cool. It is also the place where the head of Saul was placed after his death. The Philistines defeated him at the battle at Mt. Gilboa and had taken his head and placed it on the walls of their city at Beth Sean. I did not realize that the Philistines had control so far in-land and North. It was new for me!

After our one hour tour, we discovered that our bus had broken down (starter). We spent the next 3 hours there waiting for a new bus from Nazareth.

Our plans changed a bit, but we did get to do something completely unexpected and amazing . . . we went into Palestinian territory, into Jericho! Apparently, nobody takes tour groups there any more (too dangerous?). Our supervisors back at Neve Shalom couldn't believe it. Many of them haven't even been there! Our tour guide is a 72 year old former professor of Dr. Ortiz. He's the same guy who did our tour last weekend. He really knows his stuff and he can/did out run and out walk all of us. We crossed the Israeli check point first. Our driver made the soldiers mad, so they pulled us over for a special check. We had to pull out our passports and he gave our bus driver a good scolding. Then we passed through Israeli controlled territory that is kind of like no-man's land, and then through a Palestinian check point into Palestinian territory. The Palestinian soldiers were very enthusiastic and friendly.

I was a bit disappointed in what is currently visible at tel Jericho. Archaeologists often back fill their discoveries if conservation/preservation cannot or will not be carried out (otherwise it will begin to deteriorate quickly). So, there wasn't much to see. Nonetheless, it was cool to go there. At the bottom of the hill is a restaurant called "Temptation Restaurant" in honor of Jesus' temptations in the adjoining Judean Wilderness. I bought some gifts for family members. (Sorry, mom, it's a surprise!)

We got home back to Neve Shalom in time for dinner and get ready for bed! A great trip. A lifetime experience!

Shalom.

Trey