Megiddo and Nazareth - Day 1 afternoon

After visiting Caesarea, we traveled inland to Megiddo. This ancient city has been in the crossroads of battle after battle through the centuries. Because of its location on the major route between Egypt, Africa, the Middle East and the Far East, it has been coveted by major Empires forever. Megiddo sits on a major hill in the middle of the Jazreel Valley. From it, you can see Nazareth, hometown of Jesus, and the site where the Israeli Judge Deborah and Barak, her military leader, defeated an army. Joshua and the children of Israel defeated the Canaanites to take Megiddo. And King Solomon ordered the entrance gates to the city to be reinforced. Archeologists have discovered 12 levels of civilization in the excavation of the city. King Ahab designed a canal and tunnel underground to access the spring that provided water for the whole city--- hiding the entrance outside the city walls from conquering armies.Something cataclysmic happened around 400 BC that caused the spring to stop flowing, so the city was abandoned and it has been so ever since. For my Book of Revelation students, just a note that Rev. 16:6 mentions this area as the site of Armageddon and a final battle between good and evil.  Fundamentalist Christians get worked up about this and focus a lot of time and energy on a theological system called "dispensationalism."  This system was created about 120 years ago by a British preacher who imported it to America.  Dispensationalism spins  a grand design  about the end times from this single reference in Revelation along with three verses from the Book of Daniel. As you know,  noteworthy Bible scholars debunk this relatively recent interpretation about the Book of Revelation...instead focusing on the message of hope in the midst of trials that was John of Patmos' intent when he wrote Revelation to the seven churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).

From Megiddo, we traveled to Nazareth. It is no longer the sleepy town of 500 people that it was in Jesus' day! It is currently populated by a primarily Muslim population though it is in the nation of Israel. We visited a reconstructed first century village and walked through a builder's shop, a shop where wool was being spun into yarn, an olive oil making room, and a first century synagogue. The village was hosted by Arab Christians who've worked with the YMCA to create this experience for pilgrims like us! All in all, it has been a wonderful day of site-seeing and putting places to the names of biblical sites we have referenced for years in our preaching and teaching!