Saturday in the Holy Land

Last updated on: May 1, 2016 at 2:05 pm by Dan Peterson

Saturday in the Holy Land 2016-05-01T14:05:28-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Mount Arbel (on the left) and the opening of the Wadi al-Hammam (Wikimedia CC)

I’ve fallen a bit behind in my (already rather perfunctory) trip journal, so here’s an attempt to catch up:

We began yesterday with a visit to the Wadi al-Hammam, the Valley of the Doves, which begins at Magdala, just below the cliffs of Mount Arbel. This was almost certainly the valley through which Jesus would have walked between Nazareth and Capernaum. As usual, we had the place pretty much to ourselves, along with some cows and calves.

Then we visited Tabgha (Arabic for “a meal”), the name of which is a corruption of the original Greek Heptapegon (or “Seven Fountains”). It’s the traditional site of the miracle of the loaves and fishes.

On the traditional Mount of Beatitudes (one of the prettiest places in Israel), I offered a few remarks to my group on the first part of the Sermon on the Mount.

Then we visited the waterfalls at Banias (named after the Greek god of wild places, Pan) and, following lunch amid very atypical flowing streams and greenery, went to another of my favorite places, Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus asked Peter “Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” and spoke to him of the keys of the kingdom, the sealing power, and the gates of Hell (or, better, Hades). I love this place, because the physical setting helps to understand the relevant scriptural passage in Matthew.

From Caesarea Philippi, we drove past the Crusader-era Ayyubid fortress of Nimrod and through the Druze villages of the Golan Heights up to the top of Mount Bental. From there, standing beside a United Nations observation post, we looked out over Syria and back toward Mount Hermon and Lebanon. I delivered a very basic summary of Islamic history to all three bus groups there, trying to put the current crises in the Middle East (and particularly in Syria) into context.

Driving back to Tiberias via the village of Bethsaida (the original home of Peter, Phillip, and Andrew), we closed the evening with a fireside at which Jack Welch, Brent Top, and I spoke. (The LDS sabbath in Israel is on Saturday, but Church policy doesn’t currently allow us to hold sacrament services ourselves, so this fireside was an attempt to do something sabbath-like. Of course, most of the day was already quite sabbath-consistent.)

One of the great pleasures of this particular trip is having our longtime friend and colleague Louis Midgley along on our bus. As we drove up and down from the Golan Heights, he shared with us some of his passionate expertise on figs andolives and their use as scriptural imagery. Perhaps relatively few are aware that, along with his professional career in political philosophy and his strong interest in philosophical theology and Mormon subjects, he is also a very serious amateur horticulturalist. Lou recently turned 85, and he’s remarkably vigorous. It’s a delight to have him with us.

Posted from Jericho, Palestine

Uncategorized

Previous Post

May 1, 2016

A book review of "A Reason for Faith"

Next Post

May 1, 2016 A Sunday in Israel/Palestine

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I used a tent peg and hammer to kill a fleeing enemy commander while he slept. Who am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Deborah Jael Delilah Ruth