Can a nation be built in a day?

Isaiah 66:8 asks the impossible question: "Can a country be born in a day, or a nation be brought forth in a moment?"

On May 14, 1948, that's what happened when the nation of Israel was re-born in the Land.

While definitely the most clear example, that's not the only way this impossible question was answered by the rebirth of Israel. 

Beside Gan HaShlosha is the park of Tel Amal, which is an exact replica of the first Stockade and Tower Settlement of Tel Amal, which was built December 1936.

According to this site, Tel Amal was the first settlement of its kind. It was literally raised in a day, and became a model for 57 other settlements throughout Israel between 1936-1939.

The element of surprise was crucial, so that they couldn't be stopped. Everything was pre-fabricated and then constructed on-site in 1 day. The walls were filled with gravel that would stop bullets. And you can see from the map above, that these literally helped form the modern boundaries of Israel, as they were built along the borders, in Jewish areas.

Today, at Tel Amal, you can tour the settlement. Visitors go on a journey with characters in a film (based on the original settlers) as they prepare and then build the settlement.

Then, you can walk around and see:

The living quarters

The office

kitchen/laundry

You can also climb the tower and look around. It's an incredible view, with the kibbutz Nir David and the Amal stream on one side, Gan HaShlosha on another, and Mount Gilboa alongside.

Finally, have you ever heard the term, "Sabra"? It's the fruit of a cactus, and is a nation for Israelis who were born in the Land. It's hard and spiny on the outisde, but the inside is sweet. Here is some sabra growing alongside Tel Amal.

What do you think? Is this an additional meaning to the question if a nation can be born in a day? While I believe it was pointing to May 14, 1948, how amazing that these settlements literally went up on a day and formed the boundaries of modern day Israel? I definitely see a connection there as well!

Exploring the prophet Elisha's hometown

Not far from Beit She'an is another tel. This one isn't built up into a national park; there's honestly not a lot going on with it. It's just there in a field, with beautiful 360 degree views of the Jordan Valley, Mount Gilboa, and Jordan. 

It's also believed to be the hometown of Elisha.

So one particularly warm day in January, I took a metronit to a train to a bus and then walked a lot to explore Elisha's hometown.

It took a lot longer to get there than I thought it would, mostly because one bus never came and then I tried to enter the field in a way that was blocked by barbed wire and had to back track to the road. But finally, I found the right path. 

Then, I climbed up and started to explore. 

First, can we talk about the views?

To the west, to Mount Gilboa

To the east... the mountains in the distance are Jordan (at the time of Elisha, that was still Israel).

Wow! At the top there are also dirt paths like you see above. There are motorcycle and dirt-bike tracks all over them, as well as footprints and pottery shards.

Most of the tel is smooth, but one excavated part remains open:

According to BibleWalks, Rehov was likely settled at the same time as Megiddo, and likely conquered by Egypt at the same time as Megiddo. It's passively mentioned as one of Beit She'an's towns in Judges 1:27. Around the time of David, it was conquered by Israel and eventually was part of the Northern Kingdom.

Excavations in 9 areas revealed that it was a large and prosperous city. Findings of artifacts from other countries prove the residents continued to practice Canaanite/Phoenician and Syrian traditions and customs.

It was eventually destroyed by the Assyrians in the 736 BC invasion. The Assyrians lived there for a while but then moved to Megiddo. It laid in ruins for 1500 years, and then a small Jewish town was built nearby in the Roman Era. In the Middle Ages, an Arab town settled on top.

What's most interesting about this tel are the findings in the opened excavated areas:

Found in the ruins was an apiary dating back to the 10th Century BC, with the remains of dozens of beehives in clay cylinders. This is unique for many reasons:

First, the apiary was very close to a bunch of houses. This means it was likely this was a source of income for the townspeople. 

Second, signs on the property say that when they tested the apiary, the found the bees themselves didn't originate from Israel. This particular group of bees came from Turkey! Apparently, they were less aggressive and more productive than Syrian bees.

So funny! 

It gives new meaning to the phrase "land flowing with milk and honey"!

My favorite part of the day, other than the adventure and the views, was going back from the tel and finding the local springs right beside it. Even though it was January, it was close to 80 degrees that day and I was hot! I waded in and cooled off before heading to the bus stop.

Definitely a great adventure!

An oasis near Mount Gilboa

About 10 minutes from Mount Gilboa, where Saul fell in battle, is one of the coolest natural parks I've seen in Israel.

Fed by the Amal stream, Gan HaShlosha is an incredible oasis on a hot day. It stays at a constant 28 degrees celsius, or 82 degrees Fahrenheit, so it is even swim-able in the winter.

On a hot Friday in August, it felt like paradise. Surrounded by grass (GRASS!! still green!) and trees swaying in the wind, practically in the shadow of the mountain cursed by David after Saul’s death, these natural pools are an amazing place to explore- and cool off!

I can understand why a movie called "Garden of Eden" was filmed here... just be ready for some fish to nibble at your ankles!

Mount Gilboa: Where King Saul died

And now we've come to Mount Gilboa, where Saul, Israel's first king, and his sons died. 

Or rather, the view from this mountain. It's likely Saul and his sons were killed closer to the base of it. And then, of course, their headless bodies were carried back to Beit She'an and hung from the city gates (of the town on top of the tel).

Do you remember why this mountain is barren?

In 2 Samuel 1, David cursed it for being the place where Israel's first king died. More than 3 millennia later, except for a patch where the Jewish National Fund planted some trees, the mountain is still bare.

Now, it's a place for people to come and hang out, picnic, and even hang glide over the Jezreel Valley. There are kibbutzim at the base of it, and hiking trails up to the place called "Saul's Shoulder".

WOW! Definitely a surreal place to visit in the Jezreel Valley.

King Saul's last battle: the view from Ahab and Jezebel's back porch

I’m actually not sure if there is anything cooler that looking out over the Jezreel Valley while your guide reads from the Bible and says, “So, Saul’s men were camped there at the trees” (bottom right of the below photo)

“and the Philistines were near there” (the town on the left edge) “and then Saul went to the witch of Ein Dor over there” (not pictured) “who foretold his defeat and death.

When Saul and his sons retreated in battle to Mount Gilboa” (the barren mountain below),

they died (Saul fell on his sword)… and then their headless bodies were taken back to Beit She’an, which you visited before lunch!”

😂

Oh, and all of this was told to me while we were sitting from the back porch of Ahab and Jezebel's winter palace in the Jezreel Valley. 😱

I don't really have pictures of the ruins, because they are all covered up and dangerous to wade through. They were behind me, but because of the rise of the mountain, I couldn't really see anything. Apparently, there's nothing there to really see, as it was never built back up into a park.

Just this amazing view, and the ability to see exactly the last battle of Israel's first king.

Oh, and do you remember why Mount Gilboa is barren? 

Where Gideon's men drank from the spring

There's nothing like a cool drink on a hot day!

Unless you're Gideon, and the way your army of 10,000 men drank from the spring means that all but 300 of them have to go home. 

Gideon was nervous about going to battle against the joined forces of the Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern armies (120,000 soldiers), and he wanted as many men in his army as possible. Completely understandable. 

(the view from the opposite mountain)

But God wanted to show that He was the victor.

So he whittled down Gideon's army bit by bit, until this final test, here, at Ein Harod (not Herod).

This is the actual place where Gideon's men drank (Judges 6-8). The water comes up from the cave. While a fence blocks the entrance of humans, you can see where it comes out. 

The water is so clear that you can see the bottom.

Today, this place is a national park where people can come and play in the springs, camp, and enjoy the beauty of the Jezreel Valley.

Gideon's army would have camped on top of the mountain and came down to drink at the spring.

After visiting this site, I watched Sergio and Rhoda's video about this place. At the end, they point out something really cool: the water in this spring comes an underground water resevoir underneath the ancient cities of Nablus and Jenin in the West Bank. Gideon's hometown of Ophrah (not Oprah, haha) is in the same area.

They also found a photo of this place from over a 100 years ago, and it gives a better idea of how 10,000 men could have gathered and drank from here:

They also noted the lack of trees in the photo... so all of the ones present in today's time (photo above) have grown in the last century. WOW!

And, in case you were wondering... no, I didn't drink from the springs, haha. :)