Galilee, 20-23 MAR 2010

Along our drive, we saw several first century tombs right on the highway!

After a day of climbing & hiking, we made our way to Ein Gev kibbutz on the Sea of Galilee. This is where we stayed the three nights of our trip. Our cabana room was right on the water's edge with Tiberias across the Sea. It was absolutely beautiful! A kibbutz (Hebrew for "gathering, clustering") is a community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism. In recent decades, many kibbutzim have been privatized and changes have been made in the communal lifestyle. A member of a kibbutz is called a kibbutznik. Ein Gev has about 250 residents, with tourism and agriculture comprising its two main income-generating activities. The facility we stayed in is an actual tourist resort.

Sunday after breakfast (the food at Ein Gev is wonderful), we went to the ruins of Beit She'an which sits 17 miles south of the Sea of Galilee. Destroyed by an earthquake in 789AD, it was excavated in the '20s & '30s, resulting in exposing one column. It was again excavated extensively in 1989. The ruins visible today are a spectacular sight (photo of us in front of excavated ruins). Here sat an Egyptian governor's residence, so it became known by some as "Little Egypt". Beit She'an is where the decapitated bodies of Saul & his sons were brought after they died in the battle of Mt. Gilboa, Saul committing suicide after being wounded (I Samuel 31).
We drove past Harod Springs (no photo), where God instructed Gideon to cull the 32, 000 men down to 300 after telling him, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands . . ." The final determination was down to the men who lapped their drinking water from their hands at the springs. It's a good read from the 7th chapter of Judges.