GEOLOGICAL AND TRIBULATION FEATURES ON ISRAELI TOUR PATHS
PART 4
Around Sea of Galilee – Bet Shean – Dead Sea – Normal Fourth Day of Tours
At the close of day 2 we entered into the northern sections of the world’s longest rift valley as we descended down into Tiberias. The two north-south faults on opposite sides of the Sea of Galilee weave their way down to liquid rock deep in the earth’s crust, but horizontal pressure on the vertical faults is so great it has been able to subdue the upward flow of magma through the cracks for a long geological period.
The abundance of the black rock surface formations in the Sea of Galilee rift gives grim evidence of the volatile volcanic activity in the area during the past. During the coming Tribulation period, the vertical pressure of the magma to flow upward will exceed the horizontal pressure now preventing it from doing so, and volcanic activity accompanied by earthquakes will be rampant.
The Great Rift Valley is a geographical and geological feature running north to south for around 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers), from northern Syria to central Mozambique in East Africa. Astronauts say it is the most significant physical detail on the planet that is visible from space. In Africa, the terrain ranges from salt flats more than 500 feet (152 meters) below sea level to towering, snow-capped mountains. The Rift is known for its spectacular scenery and abundant, sometimes unique, wildlife.
A series of some thirty lakes lies along its length; the three largest in Africa are known as the Great Lakes and include Lake Tanganyika, the deepest lake in the world, and Lake Victoria, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world. Some of the oldest remains of ancestral humans have been found in the African segment of the valley.
Northern section of the Great Rift Valley: the Sinai Peninsula is in the center and the Dead Sea and Jordan River valley are above
The Great Rift Valley varies in width from twenty to sixty miles (thirty to one hundred kilometers), and in depth from a few hundred to several thousand meters.
The northernmost part of the Rift forms the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon. To the south, in Israel, it is known as the Hula Valley separating the Galilee mountains and the Golan Heights.
Farther south, the valley is the home of the Jordan River, which flows southward through Lake Hula into the Sea of Galilee in Israel and then continues south through the Jordan Valley into the Dead Sea on the Israeli-Jordanian border. From the Dead Sea southward, the Rift is occupied by the Wadi Arabah and then the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea.
The southern end of the Red Sea marks a fork in the rift. The Afar Triangle or Danakil Depression of Ethiopia and Eritrea is the probable location of a triple junction, which is possibly underlain by a mantle plume(an upwelling of abnormally hot rock within the earth’s mantle that helps the earth to lose heat). The Gulf of Aden is an eastward continuation of the rift—before the rift opened, the Arabian Peninsula was attached to the Horn of Africa—and from this point the rift extends southeastward as part of the mid-oceanic ridge of the Indian Ocean. In a southwest direction the fault continues as the Great Rift Valley, which split the older Ethiopian highlands into two halves.
We will travel south on the floor of this great rift valley today all the way to the Dead Sea, the lowest place in the valley. As we travel you can see many of the steep fault scarp bluffs exposed on both sides of the Jordan River. Two great earthquakes in the book of Revelation, the first in 6:12, and the last in 16:18 at the final b
attle of Armageddon, will occur in this rift valley near the Dead Sea.
The Village of Capernaum
Capernaum was a large Galilean fishing village and busy trading center. This place is of special interest to Christians because of its frequent mention in the history of Jesus Christ. Peter, Andrew, James and John also lived here.
It played a unique and important part in Christ’s life and ministry,
and in his outreach to the people of Israel. The inhabitants of Capernaum, including various high ranking citizens, were given unique and abundant opportunities to hear Jesus Christ’s message firsthand and witness His awesome power and love.
2.5 miles (4 km) from the Jordan River, Capernaum stood on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee (modern Lake Kinneret, which the Bible also called the lake of Gennesaret, Sea of Chinnereth and the Sea of Tiberias). The ancient city of Capernaum was abandoned about a thousand years ago or more, and was re discovered by archaeologists
beginning in the 1800s. In modern times, it is called Kefar Nahum (Hebrew) and Talhum (Arabic).
The Gennesaret area was one of the most prosperous and crowded districts of Palestine.
Capernaum lay on the great Via Maris highway between Damascus (Syria) and Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean Sea, and between Tyre and Egypt. Customs taxes were collected from travelers at this crossroads (Matthew 9:9). This was the job of Levi, the tax collector, who became Christ’s disciple and was later named Matthew.
Jews criticized Jesus for befriending him and other tax collectors.
Caravans stopped at Capernaum to resupply themselves with produce and dried fish. At the lake shore, where Peter and other fishermen worked, archaeologists discovered a fish sales area.
After our Lord’s expulsion from Nazareth (Matt. 4:13-16; Luke 4:16-31), Capernaum became his “own city.” It was the scene of many acts and incidents of his life (Matt. 8:5, 14,15; 9:2-6, 10-17; 15:1-20; Mark 1:32-34, etc.).
SYNAGOGUE—The Bible tells us that a Roman centurion built a synagogue here for the Jews (Luke 7:1-5). His servant was later healed from severe palsy by Jesus (Matt. 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10). The remains of what must have been a beautiful basalt synagogue has been discovered by archaeologists. As expected for such a sacred building, it was found at the highest point in town.
This is the synagogue where our Lord frequently taught (John 6:59; Mark 1:21; Luke 4:33). Here, Jesus cured a demon-posssed man (Mark 1:21-28) and delivered the sermon on the bread of life (John 6:25-59). He even restored the life of the daughter of one rulers of this synagogue (Mark 5:22; Luke 8:41).
The synagogue is near the lake, and is built so that when the Jews prayed here, they faced Jerusalem. It was destroyed along with Jerusalem’s temple, around 70 A.D. Many years later, it was replaced with a white stone synagogue (perhaps 250-300 A.D.) (shown above).
PETER’S HOUSE – Only a few hundred feet from the syn
agogue, the stone house of the disciple Peter has also been found at Capernaum. This is where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and others (Matthew 8:14-16). Jesus may have lived with Peter while staying in Capernaum. In the years following Jesus’ death and resurrection, the house apparently became a house-church.
Centuries later, Christians honored the site by building a church here. It was destroyed in a later conquest of the city. Archaeologists have excavated both the church and the earlier house below. Stanislao Loffreda reported, Mary, the mother of Jesus, made her way to Capernaum with her other sons (Matt. 12:46,48,49). It was here that Christ uttered the memorable words, “Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!”
Some miracles of Christ that occurred at Capernaum are:
Drove evil spirit from a man in the synagogue (Mark 1:21-28)
Paralyzed man let down through the roof and healed (Mark 2:1-12)
Jesus caused four of disciples to catch fish in a miraculous way (Luke 5:1-11)
Through a fish, Jesus supplied tribute tax money needed by Peter (Matthew 17:24-27)
Healing of the centurion’s servant afflicted with palsy (Matt. 8:5-13)
Healing of the son of a nobleman in the King’s court (Herod Antipas) (John 4:46-54)
Healing many other people and casting out demons, as “all the city was gathered together at the door” (Mark 1:29-34)
Despite the unique number of evidences our Lord presented to them, most of the people of Capernaum remained unrepentant disbelievers. Because they turned so strongly away from the uniquely gracious light given, they were strongly judged. “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required…” (Luke 12:48). Thus, along with nearby Chorazin and Bethsaida, Capernaum received a very stern warning from Jesus (Matt. 11:21-24). “It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.” Ultimately, the cities were all destroyed, and Capernaum became virtually uninhabited ruins for centuries.
Ancient city of Bet Shean
Bet Shean – Archaeological excavations have traced settlements on the site back to the Bronze Age: Bet Shean was the site of an Egyptian administrative center during the XVIII and XIX dynasties, a Scythian city from c.625 to 300 B.C., and the biblical city Beth-shan. In 64 B.C. it was taken by the Romans, rebuilt, and made the center of the Decapolis. The modern Bet Shean was established in 1949 by Israeli settlers. Archaeological finds include temples of the Canaanite Bronze Age, a Hellenistic-Roman temple, and a Byzantine monastery. The town is also known as Beisan.
The tall mount at Bet Shean was the site where the final battle of Saul occurred when Israel was defeated by the Philistines.
I Samuel 31:8-10 – And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa. [9] And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people. [10] And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.
We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107
of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site
is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.
You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.