Tel Bet'Shean

It was Monday, May 16, and we were checked out of our hotel in Tiberius and headed south down to Jerusalem with some stops along the way. Kay had gone ahead to speak at the Epicenter Conference with Joel Rosenberg but before she left she had told us that she had a surprise for us at lunch even though she wouldn't be with us! So off we went with great anticipation for the day ahead and a little sadness at leaving the sea of Galilee behind!

Tel Bet'Shean

Located 17 miles south of the Sea of Galilee, Beth Shean is situated at the junction of the Harod and Jordan Valleys. The fertility of the land and the abundance of water led the Jewish sages to say, "If the Garden of Eden is in the land of Israel, then its gate is Bet'Shean."
This was our first glimpse of the ruins of Tel Bet'Shean. We were actually on tram that drove us out to the archaeological ruins.

What the above sign is showing is the different Periods of the Tel: Crusader 1099-1187; Early Muslim 632-1099; Byzantine 324-632; Roman 63 B.C.E. - 324 C.E.; Hellenistic 333 - 63 B.C.E.; Israelite Kingdom 1000 - 732 B.C.E.; The Judges 1140 - 1000 B.C.E.; Canaanite 3000 - 1130 B.C.E.; Chalcolithic 5000 - 3600 B.C.E.

This is Tel Bet'Shean. There are two Bet'Sheans. This mound that dates back to Old Testament times, and an extensive Roman ruin has been excavated in recent years at the foot of this ancient mound.

A “tel” in archaeological terms is a mound that grows up by successive cities being built and destroyed on top of the same location. Archaeologists can dig a trench down the side of such a mound to determine how many layers may be in the mound. They have other techniques for finding gates and some other important structures. Eighteen layers have been identified in this tel and archaeologists believe it may have been settled as early as 3,500 years ago.

This is a view of the market/shops area which would have been covered and the amphitheater in the upper left corner.

Tel el-Husn (Bet'Shean) sits at a very strategic place as it dominates the entrance to the Jezreel Valley from the Jordan Valley just south of the Sea of Galilee. The name el-Husn means “Fortress Hill.” It controlled the major roads anciently as well as fords across the Jordan at this point. It had available water via several springs in the area and is in a sub-tropical region rich with vegetation.

It was very important in Biblical history. The Egyptians and Philistines had garrisons here and King David kept it as a royal city. It is perhaps best known as the place where king Saul’s body was hung after his death at the hands of the Philistines.

"Uncle Kenny", our guide, was explaining to us what we were looking at.

Pat is walking on intricately tiled walkways that adjoin the ruins of the shops that lined the market place. At one time these walkways were covered and on the other side of the pillars was the main street of the city.

The entire city was destroyed in October of 749 A.D. by a massive earthquake, leaving these amazing ruins to be found.

The Roman amphitheater dominated the city. The theater could seat 7000 but the upper levels were destroyed and not rebuilt.

After leaving Bet'Shean, I noticed the barbed wire double fencing and it was pointed out that we were looking at the West Bank.

It was so interesting as to see how drastically the landscape was changing!

OK, this was at a rest stop and when I decided to have my picture made with the camel he was sitting down on the ground. When he stood up, I was more than a little surprised! If you look close, I think the camel and I are both making the same face!

Once you're up it's not a bad seat...

but coming down felt as perilous as going up.

As we were making our way to lunch, Kenny was pointing out the different Bedouin camps. Currently, there are 170,000 Bedouins living in Israel.

Kenny went on to explain the culture and how this would probably be the last generation of true Bedouins because now that Israel requires their children to be in school and with education it is unlikely that future generations will be content to live a nomadic existence.

With that we pulled off the main highway, and it dawned on me that we were going to have lunch with the Bedouins!! We were pulling in to a camel ranch!

We are at Genesis Land in the heart of the Judean desert in the land where the Patriarchs lived! This is Eliezer, Abrahams man-servant, and he is introducing himself to us and is going to escort us to Abraham's tent, WHERE WE ARE GOING TO HAVE LUNCH :0!

First, he is explaining how Abraham ended up in the Land of Canaan.

Yes, we are walking to "Father Abraham's" tent and have been given special clothes to wear.

Did I mention we're in the middle of the Judean desert!

"Father Abraham" meets us with a pitcher of water to wash our hands and invite us in to his tent.

We are seated on pillows on the floor around large round tables. The lighting for pictures is difficult because it is a large three-sided tent and the sun outside the tent is brutal.

Abraham is speaking and is quite capitivating in his talk.

Our lunch was delicious! It began with pita bread and hummus.

Our lunch ended with fruit and hot tea! Abraham explained that the hot tea would bring our body temperature closer to the temperature of our surroundings and we would feel cooler.

Bob (our bus host) and I after lunch.

Another look back at the tent.

The camel pen!

And, yes, I asked Bob why he didn't stop me from getting on the nasty looking camel at the rest stop when he knew we were going to be seeing these sweet natured camels here!! And he just smiled...

It was an amazing experience and Kay always seems to find a way to take our breath away! From here we go to Jerusalem and that deserves a post of its own!

"Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion."Psalm 84:5