Gladiators, wild animals, and a fortress, oh my!

Like I said last week, Bet Guvrin is HUGE. There's so much to it! I think you could spend all day in this park and still not see everything. from the caves running under the lush (in winter) Judean hills to what we're going to explore this week: the Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader era ruins!

WOW!

So, let's start with the Roman amphitheater. 

This elipitcal amphitheater is amazing to explore. You can walk through the stands (complete with cut-outs of 'audience members'), stroll through the area, and then walk through the gladiator sections. It's actually the only Roman amphitheater in Israel that is completely open to the public, and walking through it gives you a good idea what it was actually like. 

Built in the 2nd century, during the Bar Kochba revolt, its purpose was to keep the bloodthirsty Roman garrison happy and entertained, holding up to 3,500 people. There are even places next to the walls with openings for the wild animals to emerge from their cages (below).

Get this, it wasn't uncovered until the mid-1990s! I was maybe 10-11 years old. That's how long it laid under the surface! Incredible!

Close to the amphitheater is the Crusader Fortress. This area fascinating as well!

Like its BC story, Bet Guvrin's AD story is fascinating as well. The city was granted 'free status' by Emperor Septimus Severus in 200 AD, and it controlled the area between the coastal plain and the Dead Sea in that region. It became an important junction, and the city build up despite the lack of springs there, as the city benefited from Roman-era aqueducts.

The Jewish population in the area grew, and then in the Byzantine era, Bet Guvrin became an important Christian center. Then it was conquered by the Mamluks in the 6th century, then the Crusaders came and built a church (as well as the fortress), and then it was conquered by the Ottomans, who turned the church into a mosque.

Because of that, you can see the mix of materials everywhere in this fortress- and it cracked me up! You can even see it in the photo above: see how the rocks change? But I'm going to take you on a closer tour so you can see it all:

Can you see the random columns stuck in the walls? And closed entrances/arches?

There's another one! The arch below is intentional- to fortify the wall. 

But see how stones, column bases, etc. don't match each other as far as time period?

Below, right, is the church-turned-mosque:

The view from above!

Now, down into the fortress.... Only a few pictures here because we ran through it quickly.

The mix of materials cracks me up. It's like the builders were like, "Hey, this fits!" Which, honestly, is what I would do. And it matches the history of using found materials and building on former foundations.

There's such a wide mix that throughout the park are stations with flip books where you can find what you are seeing and see what era it was from, what kind of stone, etc. My friend, who was in the middle of furnishing her apartment was looking through it, and I teased her that she was looking for ideas. I mean, it was basically a giant HGTV warehouse, haha.

Can you see the base of the arch starting to curve out from the wall on the left?

That's it for this portion of Bet Guvrin. Next week is my favorite part: Maresha!

Oh yeah, one final photo. This is a simulation of a dig as you walk onto this part of Bet Guvrin, and it was awesome! One of my friend said that 'models' were the same from our Hebrew textbook, haha.

Where did Jesus feed the 5,000+?

Last week, we talked about the Jesus' miracle of feeding the 5000+ and where it is observed in the Galilee, the Church of the Multiplication. But where did this miracle actually happen?

On a sunny spring Friday in the Galilee, I think I saw the place from above:

The feeding of the 5000+ is in all 4 of the Gospels, one of the only miracles that is in all of them. Both Matthew and Mark say that Jesus and the disciples withdrew to a solitary place. John's account mentions a hill or mountainside, which I'll respond to later. But I want to shine a light on Luke's account:

"Then He took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God and healed those who needed healing. 

Late in the afternoon, the 12 came to him and said, 'Send the crowd away so that they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.'"

Luke 9:10-13

So, according to Luke, this remote place was near Beit Zaida, the hometown of Peter, James, Andrew, and Philip. Luke also uses the word remote in the description. 

The area needed to be big enough for all 5000+ people to sit down, and both Matthew and Mark say there was plenty of room to do so. 

In this photo, taken from Tel Mutilla, you can see the shores of the Galilee. On the shore is a small clump of trees. RIGHT THERE is El Araj, where excavations are currently going on. Last summer, it was concluded that this was Beit Zaida, not the place 2 km (and up a mountain) away.

And stretching beyond that is a plain. Can you see it in the picture? It goes on...

and on (by the way, do you see Gamla in the seam of the mountains in the distance?)

And on!

We saw this place from beside the war memorial at Tel Mutilla, which is up on a hill... not to mention all the hills across the plain (any of those could fit John's description). And while the spectacular view did not fit into 1 camera angle, I tried:

Does this photo (or the 3 above it combined) look like a big enough place with enough grass for around 20,000 people to sit? Does it look desolate/remote? We already know it is beside Beit Zaida. It's also a lot closer to the Golan (literally, it is the Golan now, which is nearer to the Decapolis)

WOW.

We couldn't go to El Araj that day because the rains had made the road impassable. But this view gave a perspective like nothing else could have. I was speechless and overwhelmed. Because, it doesn't take too much imagination to see it all happen right there. 

And then, if you turn to right, you'll see the Galilee spread out before you... which, if you follow the story, the water right in front is likely where Jesus walked on water. 

SERIOUSLY!

And on a beautiful spring Friday, there was beauty all around.

Celebrating the miracle of the Feeding of the 5,000+

Not far from Capernaum is beautiful area of the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. The land here is descends from the hills around the lake and is very rocky, unsuitable for farming. Because of 7 springs that flow into the lake there, trees grow close to the shore and schools of fish are attracted to that area. 

It's believed that this is where Jesus called the disciples, farther up the hill is where He gave the Sermon on the Mount, and fed the 5,000+, somewhere nearby is also where He cooked the fish in John 21. 

Back in 2017, I shared about my trip to the Church of the Multiplication, and my question about how Jesus was heard, both when He fed the multitude, but also during the Sermon on the Mount. by 15,000+ people. In 2018, I found the answer! In 2022, I toured 2 other possible sites for the Sermon on the Mount: Ein Nur (possible) and Horns of Hattin (HIGHLY unlikely).

But I haven't been back to Tabgha since 2017. So I finally got to visit again this past spring. It was a beautiful day to visit 2 sites that while not exact, are close in locations to where these Biblical accounts happened!

Tabgha's name is hard for us to pronounce as English speakers. It's a corruption of the Greek word Eptapegon (7 springs). The Hebrew name for this means the same: Ein Sheva.

Bible Places says Josephus refers to this area as the "well of Capernaum" and says there is evidence of it being an ancient harbor that is only visible when the water level is low.

It is here where there are 2 churches to commemorate 2 specific events: The Church of the Multiplication and the Church of the Primacy of Peter.

This week we'll talk about the Church of the Multiplication!

This church is most well-known for the stone and mosaic that are under the altar, but the building itself is beautiful too:

As I spoke about here, the church itself has been rebuilt on its original foundation after the original (built in several centuries after Jesus ascended into Heaven) was burned down. 

Inside is very simple, in the Byzantine style. But there are some unique features, like beautiful mosaic floors:

(on the wall you can see the original walls and the later ones on top)

and windows that actually aren't glass but stone (alabaster):

And finally, the famous mosaic of the loaves and fishes and the altar, below which is the stone it's said Jesus sat on while He taught the people at the Feeding of the 5000+:

The mosaic is so famous, it's used all over the world as a symbol for this story. It's also on so many different kinds of souvenirs—magnets, paintings, tile, etc.

The funny thing is that it's actually inaccurate. According to Bible Places, the fish in the mosaic have 2 dorsal fins—something none of the fish in the Galilee have! Also, Bible Places points out that the Biblical text says Jesus was near Bet Tsaida, which is on the other side of Capernaum. So this is likely not the place for this miracle. Maybe He was on that rock, maybe not. Either way, it's on the north side of the Galilee, and we know this is where Jesus spent 80% of those 3 ministry years. 

And honestly... when I went back to look for my original blog post on this church, I couldn't find it. Why? I didn't do one because what I cared most about was being in nature and seeing the place Jesus did this, not a rock with a church all around it built almost 400 years after it happened. That's because I connect with God most in nature. That being said, I appreciated being there back then (I think I was cranky from jet lag at that point), and this time I did as well. It was nice to visit again before going to the other church on the property—which I had never been to.

In 2 weeks we'll visit the Church of the Primacy of Peter, but next week is a special surprise!