Day 5 Sunday May 27,
2018 – Bucket Day
This
was the day I finally got to give up ownership of the bucket. It had not really been a problem. It had been living in my small duffle bag
since leaving Liberty. It has been a
great deal of fun seeing the fun that Dr. Anderson has had breaking into “Fill
my bucket Lord. I lift it up, Lord. Come and quench this thirsting of my
soul.” Then the comments about using a
cardboard “Homeless – Need help!” sign with the bucket as a collection vessel. I
am repeating this story only because Dr. Anderson also did.
The
bus ride north from Bethlehem to Nablus where Jacob’s well is located is about
an hour drive. We passed a lot of stuff
and Dr. A would point them out and tell a story.
This
picture out the bus window may or may not have been near Gibeah the place where
Saul established the first capital of his Monarchy. Near Gibeah is where the story in 1 Samuel 14
takes place. It is the story of Jonathan
the son of Saul who decided to sneak out of the camp and climb up to the
mountain where the Philistines were camped.
The story mentions that his armor-bearer went with him and was
instrumental in the battle but his name is not given in scripture. They would need to go through a pass in the
mountain to get to the Philistine camp and the names for the two cliffs on each
side are given:
4 On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross
to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez and the other
Seneh.
The
lesson for us may be that serving the Lord may not bring honor and glory to us
personally. Service to God should be
done out of gratitude for his grace and love, not for what we might get in
return.
We
also drove by an abandoned palace that had begun to be built by the Jordanians
in the West Bank before the 6-day war in 1967 (when the West Bank was just
known as eastern Jordan). When the West Bank came under the control of Israel
after that war the palace was left. The
picture may be a little out of focus.
Shiloh was another place we drove by. This was the site of the first place the Arch
of the Covenant was located after the children of Israel entered the promised
land.
Joshua 18 New International Version (NIV)
18 The whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at
Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The country was brought under
their control,
We
made our way to the modern city of Nablus in what was Samaria. It was here near the first century town of
Sychar that Jesus stopped at the well that Jacob had dug and talked to the
woman of Samaria.
John 4 New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Talks With
a Samaritan Woman
4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining
and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although
in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once
more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called
Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as
he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to
her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the
town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a
Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not
associate with Samaritans.[a])
10 Jesus answered her, “If you
knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have
asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well
is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who
gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his
livestock?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone
who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them
will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a
spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t
get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call
your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands,
and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite
true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but
you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the
Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know;we
worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now
come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the
Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must
worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is
coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one
speaking to you—I am he.”
A
lovely Greek Orthodox church has been built at the site of the well. You enter the church and walk toward the
front and down a few steps into a room where the well is located. I imagined what it may have looked like out
on the edge of town where women came early in the morning to draw water. Jesus sitting perhaps under a tree and spoke
to the woman coming not in the cool of the morning but in the heat of the day. This was a woman without friends, a bit of an
outcast. She needed a savior. And it just so happened that the Messiah, the
Savior, had come to this well to meet her needs.
The transfer of the ownership of the bucket!
The
crypt below the Church is where the well is located.
Short
video of the bucket being attached to the rope.
This
was a wonderful experience. Knowing that
Jesus drank from this well.
Our
next stop of the day was the cite of Ahab and Jezebel’s Ivory Palace. It is also the location of Herod the Great’s
summer palace which was built over the ruins of the Ivory Palace. It is also the reputed burial place of John
the Baptist. You will recall that he was
beheaded near Jerusalem and tradition has it that his remains were carried here
(near where he was born) and buried. As
Dr. A said “There is no strong reason to doubt the tradition but there is no
strong reason to believe it either.”
The
view into the valley from the Palace area of Herod. You might be able to see the columns that
roughly parallel the modern road. These
columns would have been along the road into the valley along which athletes
would have entered the coliseum that was up the hillside. Herod instigated games every 5 years
(alternating between here and Caesarea Maritime). It was here that the tradition of giving out
gold, silver and bronze medals was established.
Herod’s
moat, a dry moat, with wild animals in it.
The
steps up to the Grand Palace of Herod.
Around
behind the steps the excavated ruins of Ahab and Jezebel’s Ivory palace. They were buried here.
It
was here or very near here where Ahab was killed and the dog’s licked his blood
and where Jezebel was killed and eaten by dogs as foretold by Elijah in 1 Kings
2.
17 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the
Tishbite: 18 “Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in
Samaria. He is now in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession
of it. 19 Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Have you
not murdered a man and seized his property?’ Then say to him, ‘This is
what the Lord says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s
blood, dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’”
20 Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my
enemy!”
“I have found you,” he answered, “because you have
sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. 21 He
says, ‘I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants
and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free.[a] 22 I will make your house like that of
Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have
aroused my anger and have caused Israel to sin.’
In
the first century this was the place that tradition says John the Baptist was
buried.
Mark 6
26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and
his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 So
he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man
went, beheaded John in the prison, 28 and brought
back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her
mother. 29 On hearing of this, John’s disciples
came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
We
had lunch here. No, not in the tomb. We
had lunch in the restaurant on the site of the Ivory Palace. I am not sure if the guy (who went to college
at the University of Alabama or Mississippi or one of those southern states)
owns the land or just the land on which the restaurant and obligatory gift shop
are located. But none the less we were
the only bus of tourist at the site and thus we were the only people eating,
literally. The owner and his family who
cooked the meal did not eat as they are Muslim and it was Ramadan and they
“fast” during the day. Which always
makes me think of the word breakfast.
So, from now on I am fasting every night from the time I go to bed until
I get up. I promise I will not sneak a
snack aduring my potty breaks.
Ok,
fasting aside the meal was actually quite good.
They had Pita bread with olive oil, thyme, humus, and salsa. I tried the thyme and olive oil and thank
you, no. They also served a cross
between yogurt and sour cream which was very nice. The main dish was called upside down
something or other. You take a large pan
and sauté some veggies, mainly cauliflower, and then you add water and rice and
cook that on top. When ready you place
a large serving tray over the pan and turn it upside down and lift the pan off
the rice and it is very pretty. Serve
the rice and cauliflower with a quarter roasted chicken and you have a very
tasty lunch. The lunch got even better
when about half way through the lunch the host asked Bruce our traveling buddy
how he knew that the Arabs eat this dish by mixing in the yogurt/sour cream
into the rice. Bruce had been sneakily
doing this without telling the rest of his table mates this secret. Bruce explained that he lived in Saudi
Arabia. Well, with this trick out in the
open the second half of the chicken and rice got much better.
The
man in the middle has just upside downed the rice and is ready to serve but not
eat.
After
lunch we boarded the bus and headed from the West Bank back into Israel proper
and to the Mediterranean coast to the down of Caesarea Maritime. When you are Caesar they name lots of towns
after you so they have to keep the map makers happy and give the Caesarea’s
second names like Maritime (by the sea) or Caesarea Philippi (named after Herod
Philip). We will hear more about
Caesarea Philippi during one of the next days as we visit the Gates of
Hell. (Now I have your attention,
right?)
Before
we get to Caesarea Maritime I wanted to tell you about the crossing from the
West Bank to Israel. As before there are
no pictures. Our bus was motioned to the
side of the road and two guys with Uzis got on the bus and politely checked
everyone’s passport. It was all well and
good since the bus was air conditioned.
No terrorists on board. We
thought we were about to get underway when a second two passport checkers got
on board and checked all the passports again.
They were all the same it seems so off we went.
Caesarea
Maritime is a lovely Mediterranean port city that once was a Mediterranean port
city where biblical stuff happened.
Caesarea
Maritime (CM) was built by Herod the Great and was perhaps his greatest
achievement. The Theatre has been
reconstructed and antique plastic chairs added and they have public concerts
and such here.
Right
on this spot is likely the place where Herod died.
Acts 12:19-24 New International Version (NIV)
Herod’s Death
Then Herod went from Judea
to Caesarea and stayed there. 20 He
had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined
together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of
Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because
they depended on the king’s country for their food supply.
21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his
throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god,
not of a man.” 23 Immediately,
because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him
down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
24 But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.
But
before the worms got him Herod was a busy fellow. This area was once a three-sided promenade
that had hotels built for sailors on the walls.
In the middle as a near Olympic sized swimming pool with fresh water. It
was quite the place to be.
It
was a lovely sea side park and a lovely day.
We had just enough time to pick up a few sea shells and for some folks
to kick off their shoes and wade. Then
we had to resume the death march as we had places to go and people to see. (Very few living people but there were once
people at the places we were going to see.)
It
was also in CM that Paul spent some time in prison.
Acts 23
Paul Transferred to Caesarea
23 Then he called two of his centurions and
ordered them, “Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen
and two hundred spearmen[b] to
go to Caesarea at nine tonight. 24 Provide horses
for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix.”
25 He wrote a letter as follows:
26 Claudius Lysias,
To His Excellency, Governor Felix:
Greetings.
27 This man was seized by the Jews and
they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued
him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. 28 I
wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. 29 I found that the accusation had to do with
questions about their law, but there was no charge against himthat
deserved death or imprisonment. 30 When
I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent
him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their
case against him.
31 So the soldiers, carrying out their
orders, took Paul with them during the night and brought him as far as
Antipatris. 32 The next day they let the cavalry go
on with him, while they returned to the barracks. 33 When
the cavalry arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the
governor and handed Paul over to him. 34 The
governor read the letter and asked what province he was from. Learning that he
was from Cilicia, 35 he
said, “I will hear your case when your accusers get here.” Then he ordered that Paul be
kept under guard in Herod’s palace.
These
are pictures of the house of Cornelius.
This story is the hope fulfilled for all of us who are Jewish. The doors to the Kingdom were opened wide
right in this town very likely standing on these tiles.
Acts 10 New International Version (NIV)
Cornelius Calls
for Peter
10 At Caesarea there was a man named
Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He
and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to
those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One
day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly
saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it,
Lord?” he asked.
The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come
up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to
Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the
tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone,
Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his
attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened
and sent them to Joppa.
Peter’s Vision
9 About noon the following day as they were on
their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He
became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared,
he fell into a trance. 11 He
saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth
by its four corners. 12 It
contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have
never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that
God has made clean.”
16 This happened three times, and immediately the
sheet was taken back to heaven.
17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of
the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was
and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was
known as Peter was staying there.
19 While Peter was still thinking about the
vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three[a] men are looking for you. 20 So
get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent
them.”
21 Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the
one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”
22 The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius
the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by
all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so
that he could hear what you have to say.” 23 Then Peter
invited the men into the house to be his guests.
Peter at Cornelius’s House
The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the
believers from Joppa went along.24 The following
day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called
together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered
the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26 But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he
said, “I am only a man myself.”
27 While talking with him, Peter went inside and
found a large gathering of people. 28 He said to them:
“You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or
visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure
or unclean. 29 So when I
was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for
me?”
30 Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my
house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in
shining clothes stood before me 31 and said,
‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. 32 Send to Joppa for Simon who is called
Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’33 So
I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here
in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to
tell us.”
34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how
true it is that God does not show favoritism35 but
accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You
know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good
news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the
province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38 how God anointedJesus of Nazareth with the
Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all
who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in
the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a
cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on
the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He
was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already
chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.42 He
commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom
God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about
him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of
sins through his name.”
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the
Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The
circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the
gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues[b] and praising God.
Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one
can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the
Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So
he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they
asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
After
the remaining death march across the beaches we got on the bus and drove on in
a hurry to Mt. Carmel and Megiddo. It
seems that our new bus has developed a computer problem and we have to get it
to the repair shop by 4:00. That means
our normally fast paced touring will be double time.
Mount
Carmel is the location for the famous show down between the prophet of God Elijah
(immortalized in the statue at this location) and the 450 prophets of Baal who
were patronized by Jezebel the wife of King Ahab. The story is one of my favorite from 1 Kings
18 not because of the obvious crushing victory of God over the false gods of
Baal but because of what happened to Elijah in Chapter 19 as he flees because
he is afraid of Jezebel. He stands on
the mountain and cries
14 “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites
have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to
death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to
kill me too.”
God
tells Elijah that he is to go and anoint two kings and Elisha the prophet who
will take his job because God had reserved 7000 people who were faithful to God
and had never bent their knees to Baal.
I
am reminded at this place and when I read this story that I too often fail to
remember how God has upheld me with his righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 New International Version (NIV)
10 So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
And
when I forget this I, like Elijah, am likely to break into song: Poor Poor Pitiful Me!
Also,
while standing on Mt Carmel very likely where Elijah challenged the prophets of
Baal you can look across the valley to where the city of Megiddo once
stood. It is in this valley that the
final battle between God and Satan will take place (Revelations 16:16). It has already been the site of many historic
battles. British General Allenby won a
victory here over the Ottomans in WWI.
Napoleon rescued his horseman from here in 1799.
After
a quick but awe-inspiring view of the Armageddon Valley we rushed off to
Nazareth and our hotel while the bus was being repaired.
The hotel pool which I was too tired to get
in.
Another
great day was had by one and all.
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