Mount Tabor: Deborah's battle and the Church of the Transfiguration

Mount Tabor is a beautiful, iconic mountain in the Jezreel Valley, best known biblically as the location for 'Deborah's battle'. 

In Judges 4, Deborah, a judge of Israel, told Barak to take 10,000 men to fight the armies of Hazor. (Remember Hazor from 2 weeks ago)?

Like Hazor, Mount Tabor also sits on the ancient Via Maris, just farther south. It stood on the most important ancient trade route through the Land. 

So, Deborah told Barak to go fight the armies of Hazor, and he didn't want to unless she went with him. She agreed, but said that because he was too afraid to lead alone, God would give the victory over to a woman. That woman was Yael, who drove a tent spike through the temple of Sisera, the general, when he entered her tent for a drink and a nap. The Bible says the spike went all the way into the ground! WOW!

Christian tradition also places Jesus, Peter, James, and John on this mountain in Matthew 17. They went up to pray and spend the evening, and Jesus was transfigured there—and Moses and Elijah appeared with him. This obviously isn't proven, since the mountain is unnamed in Scripture. Still, we know this really happened, and why not on Mount Tabor? After all, look at the view!

I spent Purim hiking around Mount Tabor in the Jezreel Valley, and am so excited to share about this incredible place today!

As with all locations where Catholic tradition places Jesus, there is a church at the top. Actually, there's two, a Catholic church and a Greek Orthodox one. When we were there, there was a tour group from Fiji who sang instead. I could hear it from the garden outside, and it was so beautiful!

There are 2 ways to get up to the church, drive up a switchback road with incredible views, or hike up 5k from the village below—almost straight up. We chose to drive and then walk the 2.5K trail around the summit. Because it was almost spring, there were flowers everywhere. We also saw caves along the trail—not to mention the stunning views!

Such a fun day! I definitely want to go back! Best of all, entrance is free!

He is Risen!

"He is not here; He is risen, just as He said. Come see the place where He lay.” Matthew 28:6

Praise the Lord, the tomb is empty!

Have a wonderful Easter! 

📷from the Garden Tomb, 2017 #bestdayever

My first Passover... in Israel!

Chag Pesach Sameach from Israel!

What an incredible time to be here in the Land!

For the first time in 33 years, Passover (and Easter) fall during the month of Ramadan (the holy month of Islam). As someone who loves culture and history, it's fascinating to be here right now. As a Christian, I can think of no time more special than being here during this week! And, I learned today that just as with that Passover (Good Friday) of 2000+ years ago, the way Passover falls in the calendar means there are 2 Shabbats back-to-back (Friday and Saturday). So cool!

On Wednesday, I went to my first Seder. Did you know that the word "seder" means "order" in Hebrew? In fact, a common response to the question, "How are you?" is "beseder"... which literally translates to "in order". We'd use it like saying, "good" or "fine". I love learning that kind of stuff!

I wish I could detail everything I experienced that night, but there was too much! So here are just a few things:

First of all, the table decorations were so cool! The designer made it look like the Israelites walking in dry land in the middle of the Red Sea. Can you see it? 

I loved the figurines walking along... especially the ones with the dogs, haha.

Most importantly, the actual seder plate and other elements:

There's so much symbolism here that it would take MANY blog posts to explain. I think that in a future year, I'll go more in depth into it all. But I didn't want to research anything until I experienced it firsthand myself. There's so much symbolism on that plate: 

• the bitter herbs, horseradish, and romaine lettuce signifying the bitterness of slavery
• the lamb shank bone signifying the Lord's outstretched arm from Exodus and Isaiah
• the charoset, a mixture made of apples, pears, nuts, and wine, to signifying paste, like the mortar between bricks
• the karpas, or vegetable, signifying the backbreaking work of slavery
• the boiled egg, the first thing served to mourners at a funeral, and also signifies the circle of life.

Not to mention the matzah, the unleavened bread that is literally pierced and burned. What's so amazing is that there are 3 together, and the middle one gets broken, taken away, and hidden. It's called the Afikomen, or the ultimate redemption of suffering. At the end of the meal, the children go to find the afikomen, and the one who does receives a prize—it's ransomed back. 

What I found so incredible was how the symbolism tied in with what Christians call the Last Supper. In fact, that's what Jesus and the disciples were eating when Jesus broke the bread and said, "This is my body" and passed around a cup of wine saying, "This is my blood". It's what Christians call, "Communion".

That Passover over 2000 years ago, something else un-traditional happened. One other element is that there are 4 cups of wine (or grape juice) to drink... they stand for each of the 4 promises in Exodus 6:6: the Cup of Sanctification, the Cup of Deliverance, the Cup of Redemption, and the Cup of Praise. When Jesus said "This is my blood," He was talking about the Cup of Redemption!

At one point, we filled the cup, then dipped our pinkies in it, marking our plate while reciting each of the 10 plagues. 

Another interesting thing about the 4 Cups. Some believe that there's a 5th Cup—the Cup of God's Wrath. Through Jeremiah 25:15, Matthew 26:39, Isaiah 51:17, Matthew 20:22 (and more), we see that when Jesus is praying and sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking God to "take this cup from me", He is referring to the Cup of God's Wrath, which He took on Himself.

Like, I said, there's so much more to a seder than what I just described. But I hope this post gives you a taste of what it's like, and maybe next year you can attend one as well! I found so much beauty and meaning in this celebration... and then after, so much fun and laughter in a delicious feast! 

For now, there's just one more thing to say:

Tel Hazor: Ancient guard of the Via Maris

Once the largest fortified city in Israel, Hazor, or Chatzor, sits right on the ancient Via Maris, or "Sea Road" that traders used when crossing through Israel. Joshua 11:10 calls it the 'head of the kingdoms of Syria and Babylon' because of its important location. 

Now, there is an ancient tell on the site, much like Megiddo. And I was so excited to visit!

Dating back to 2500 BC, many civilizations called Hazor home, and this is evident from the expanse of its lower city (over 175 acres) and the upper city (over 30 acres). That's a lot of land... all with an incredible view of Mount Hermon!

When you first walk into the upper city, there's an incredible view of the plain where the lower city is buried (above). Then, the iconic, Solomonic 6-chambered city gates!

Directly behind them are the ruins of an ancient Canaanite temple.

Then the ancient palace, where you can walk through the throne room!

The line in the walls separates the original walls from what's been rebuilt to give people an idea of what the building looked like inside.

From there, it's on to the water system. WOW! It's over 45 meters deep! It reminds of me of the water system at Megiddo- I still need to go and walk through that!

And after that, more of the upper city:

This is a pretty cool guard tower that looks over the valley (below the field). I love the statue of the sentry, because it helps us see what it could have been like to watch over this stretch of the Via Maris.

Tel Hazor fell in 732 BC, when Assyrian King Tiglath-Pilieser III invaded northern Israel. The defences fell, the townspeople were carried away, and the city was burned.

It remained in this state for millennia, until an archeological expedition in the 1950s went to the area and began uncovering its secrets...but only some of them. I'm sure there are more beneath the surface!

Nain: Where Jesus raised a widow's son from the dead!

Not far from Mount Tabor, in the Jezreel Valley, is the village of Nain.

It is best known for this story from Luke 7: 

The village of Nain appeared to be very small and quiet, as it was the middle of the day. It's also very hot there, as it sits on the edge of the Jezreel Valley (cue me freaking out a little when we started driving through it and I recognized Mount Tabor, the mountain where Deborah led 10,000 Israelites into battle). 

There is church in this Arab village that was built there in the 1800s, and it sits right beside a mosque. As my friends and I read the story from Luke, I looked to the left and saw Nazareth on the opposite ridge of the valley (pictured above). We checked googlemaps, and it was a 3 hour and 8 minute walk using modern roads... I wonder how long it took Jesus, the disciples, and the large crowd that followed Him to go down from Nazareth, across the valley, and up to Nain?

Anyway, that was really all there was to see in Nain, but I still loved it. How amazing to stand in a town where it is proven that Jesus stood? There is nothing that makes me more excited!!!

Oh, I forgot—there was one super-random thing just down the street: an Italian mini-castle! And a building across the street actually mimics its tower, which made it even more interesting.

So fun!

Speaking of raising from the dead, haha, I'm going to take the next two weeks off. In the Christian calendar, next week is Palm Sunday, and the following week, Easter. In the Jewish calendar, Israel will celebrate Passover from April 15-23, and I want to be completely present for it. 

I'll be back after to tell you all about it!