Travel

Grace Christian University Tour of Israel and Jordan 2023

For the next two weeks, I am leading an Israel / Jordan tour with students from Grace Christian University on a tour of Israel and Jordan. This is trip #11 for me, and this time it is with a little smaller group (only 15). This is a diverse group, and I look forward to getting to know the whole group as we travel together. I am using Tutku Tours for the second time in Israel. Previously they have done two tours in Turkey for me. I have also traveled in Turkey, Greece, and Egypt with Tutku. If you have questions about biblical studies travel, please contact me directly via email or a direct message on Twitter @plong42

Grace Christian University Israel Trip

Days one and two are travel from Grace Christian University to Chicago, then a flight through Istanbul to Tel Aviv. By Wednesday, we will be in the Old City. I have included a basic itinerary of the trip here. I plan on posting each day, so check back often for updates. There is a tab near the top of this page with posts from previous trips and a few videos.

  • Beginning on May 10, we will be in Jerusalem. We start the tour by walking from our hotel to the Garden Tomb, then to the Jaffa Gate and a visit to the Church of Holy Sepulcher. We will be touring the Temple Tunnel, the Western Wall, and the Davidson Archaeological Park on the Southern wall of the Temple.
  • May 11. We will spend the morning at the Yad VaShem, the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem We will spend the afternoon at the Israel National Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Shrine of the Book, the Jerusalem Model, and the Archaeology Wing of the Museum.
  • May 12. We begin on the Mount of Olives, looking across the Kidron Valley. Walking down the Mount, we will visit Domiunis Flevit (where Jesus wept over Jerusalem), the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Church of All Nations. We will walk across the Kidron Valley past Absalom’s tomb and up to the City of David and Hezekiah’s tunnel and the pool of Siloam.
  • May 13. We heard north to Galilee, driving from Jerusalem to Caesarea, Megiddo, through Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee to finally arrive at Ginosar Village in the late afternoon.
  • May 14. Still in Galilee, we will start the day at Mount Arbel overlooking the Sea of Galilee and then visit the synagogue at Magdal, the Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum, and other sites Jesus.
  • We cross the border to Jordan on May 15 and visit Jerash and Mount Mt. Nebo on our way to Petra. Jerash for a tour of this spectacular Roman city.  May 16, we will spend the day at Petra, walking the Suq to the famous Al Khazneh or Treasury at Petra. On Wednesday, May 17, we cross back into Israel at Aqaba, visiting Eilat for a swim in the Red Sea. We are staying at the En Gedi Kibbutz Hotel (this is my second time there, it is excellent!)
  • Thursday, May 18, starts with a visit to the Nabatean trading village Mamshit, Tel Arad, and the highlight of the day, Masada, the famous fortress built by King Herod and the site of the last stand of the Jewish zealots in the first Jewish War against Rome. On Friday, May 19, we will start the day with a swim in the Dead Sea, then on to the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, hiking to the waterfall in Ein Gedi where David hid from King Saul, then a visit at Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. We will finish the day by shopping in the Old City in Jerusalem before driving to Tel Aviv for our last night in Israel.

These places are important historical and cultural sites, but they also challenge students to think more deeply about the story of the Bible and will encourage them in their walk with God. Plan on following our adventures as I post updates on Reading Acts each day.

At En Gedi, 2009

 

Israel / Jordan 2022

 

 

Mount of Olives

In May 2022 I traveled with 27 students, parents and friends to Israel and Jordan. Professor Scott Shaw was a co-leader; without his help it would have been impossible to manage a group of this size. The students were remarkable – very attentive and inquisitive and (almost) always on time. I wrote these posts while in Israel or Jordan on my iPad, so think of them as “live reports from the field.” I revisited them once I was home to add additional photographs when internet was bad and correct some typos.

I have an Israel / Jordan tour planned for May 2023. If you are interested in the Seven Churches of Revelation tour,  I highly recommend the Global Smyrna Meeting hosted by Tutku in June 2023. This is a tour of all seven churches with Bible Conference meetings one day and in the evenings (at least go check out the speakers at the conference). For more information on either trip, contact me directly via email or a direct message on twitter @plong42.

Grace Christian University Tour of Israel and Jordan 2022

Visiting the Old City of Jerusalem

The Mount of Olives to the City of David and the Temple Tunnel

Israeli National Museum and Yad VaShem

Caesarea, Megiddo, and the Sea of Galilee

Following Jesus around Galilee

Jerash and on to Petra

Visiting the Nabatean City of Petra 

Swimming in the Red Sea

Masada, Arad and Swimming in the Dead Sea

Hiking at En-Gedi, visiting Qumran, and Qasr al Yahud

Hiking at En-Gedi, visiting Qumran, and Qasr al Yahud

The last day of the 2022 Israel tour began at En-Gedi, where David hid from King Saul in a cave (1 Samuel 24). This is one of the more beautiful hikes on the trip since the Israeli Parks service has developed Wadi David as a nature preserve. The mile and a half walk is relatively easy since there are cut stairs and handrails, but there are a few steep flights and one passage through dark tunnel made of river reed. The walk also has several waterfalls and pools, the highlight being the final one at the end of the canyon. We saw a few hyrax and a few ibex on the way into of the park, but it seemed to me that there was less wildlife than previous visited. The water lever at the King David Waterfall seemed lower as well.

From En-Gedi we drove north to Qumran, the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. The last time I was at Qumran, the new visitor’s center was under construction. It is now complete and has a very nice reception area, but the vido and small museum is the same. The film was not working, which is good (in my opinion) because it is a bit strange.

The archaeology of the site is relatively simple, although the water system collects far more water that the site might need to survive. The reason for this is large number of ritual baths used by the community for purification. Almost everything at Qumran is controversial and the Dead Sea Scrolls have encouraged a wide variety of fringe ideas about the nature of both early Judaism and Christianity. The video at the beginning of the tour  suggests a relationship between John the Baptist and the Qumran community. This provided an opportunity to talk about these theories with the students. At the viewpoint overlooking Cave 4 we had a good discussion about the contents of the Scrolls and their value for biblical studies.

 

Since we have a long drive to Tel Aviv, we stopped only briefly at Qasr al Yahud, the more likely of the traditional sites for Jesus’s baptism. This site has been open since 2011 and is now on the Israel National Parks card, so it is an easy add-on for for groups using the park pass (see this Times of Israel story on the re-opeing of the site for tourist groups). Qasr means castle, and Greek Orthodox Monastery of St John the Baptist does indeed look at bit like a castle. Unlike the site at Yardenit in Galilee, this is a far more authentic location since it is in the general area John the Baptist was active (although it is still not certain this is the place). Another clear difference is the lack of commercialism compared to Yardenit. The majority of the crowds queuing to be baptized in the muddy stream of the Jordan were Orthodox, although there appeared to be a handful of protestants and Pentacostals. The site on the other side of the Jordan is only a matter of feet from this location in Israel. The Jordanian site is called Al-Maghtas, “immersion” in Arabic. UNESCO listed the Jordanian side as a world heritage site, but not the western side (likely due to the political situation in West Bank).

Qasr al Yahud

 

For our last few hours we drove through Jerusalem, stopping for lunch at Elvis American Diner in Neve Ilan. (Here is the Atlas Obscura article on the diner, a Times of Israel article, and a YouTube video). This was one of the best hamburgers I have ever had. I highly recommend the Elvis Diner if you are in the area (and tired of falafel, which I was not, but this American group seemed to appreciate meat, fries and ketchup!

When we arrived at Jaffa, the traffic was even crazier than expected for a Friday afternoon. Our guide walked us through several points of interest in Jaffa, although there is little that is authentic. There is a traditional site for the home of Cornelius and a Franciscan church commemorating Peter’s departure from Jaffa to Rome (although that is not in the Bible, if he left for Rome by ship Jaffa is the likely port). There are several spectacular views if the Mediterranean Sea and Tel Aviv.

 

We stayed at the Metropolitan Hotel in Tel Aviv, just a block from the Mediterranean. This was a very nice stay in a great hotel. But it was far too short: our wake up call was for 5:30 AM to get to the airport for our 10:30AM flight back to Chicago. Since I am now back in Michigan, I can tell you the flight was delayed in Istanbul, and we had a lost bag in Chicago. That made us an hour and a half late for your ride back to Michigan. I got home about 1:30 AM Sunday, and some of the group had much longer dives home that me.

Masada, Arad and Swimming in the Dead Sea

Since we are staying at the En Gedi Hotel, we are not far from the entrance to Masada. In fact, we were one of the first groups to go up on the cable car. I have done Masada at the end of a day when it is very hot, but this morning it was pleasant and breezy. Masada is a highlight of any Israel tour, although I am surprised some Christian groups day-trip from Jerusalem or skip it altogether. This is unfortunate for both biblical and modern history.

Masada

Masada was king Herod’s monumental fortress on the top of a flat mountain some 1500 feet above the Dead Sea. To get to the top we ride a cable car (which claims to hold 80 people, and they put about 120 in the car I rode up). We spent most of our time on the north end of the mountain, where we had several really good conversations about what “really happened” here and how Josephus knew (or did not know) the speech of Eliazer. Several students walked down the 180 steps to the rooms on the front of the mountain. I did not hike down the stairs this year, so a few of us got to listen to a younger Israeli guide give her talk on Masada. She was very kid to allow us to listen, although she warned us she was a “Masada Mythbuster.”  Tobe honest, she did not say anything than what I (and our Israeli guide) said to our group.

After walking down the back of Masada and meeting our bus, we drove to Arad. There are two parts to this hike, a lower city excavated to the Canaanite period and an Israelite upper citadel excavated and restored to the eighth or ninth century. I take my group through the Canaanite section first, but many groups skip it entirely in order to get to the “good stuff” more quickly. I want my group to see the differences and similarities between Canaanite culture and Israelite. One example is the Arad House, a reconstructed Canaanite house. At Tamar there is a partially reconstructed Israelite four-room house. The contrast between the two is one of the indicators of when Israelite culture enters The Negev.

For me, the real highlight of Arad is the Citadel. There is a large Solomonic gate and a number of smaller rooms, but the main thing to see here is a Israelite high place. It is similar to the Solomon’s temple, but much smaller. There is an altar for sacrifice, a holy place and a Holy of Holies. Inside the Holy of Holies is a Canaanite standing stone, which may indicate the site allowed for both the worship of the Lord and the local Baal. In 2 Kings 18:4 Hezekiah removed all the high places, perhaps shutting down this particular Temple. Josiah will do the same thing in 2 Kings 23.

After finishing at Arad, we drove back to the Dead Sea for the traditional swim in the salt water. We went to a public area in Ein Bokek this time, which was not at all crowded  The swimming was good and the beach is well maintained.

Dead Sea

Tomorrow is En-Gedi, Qumran, likely a stop at Jesus’s baptism site near the Dead Sea, then a final few hours in Jaffa.

Swimming in the Red Sea

Every tour has a necessary travel day, in this case we left Petra about 7:50 and drove to the Arava Border crossing to return to Israel. The drive was uneventful, except for a short bathroom and snack break.

The passage through the Jordanian was quick and easy (you pay the money they let you through), but the Israeli side involved a lengthy bag inspection, about 75% of our group had to open their bags and the search was quick thorough. Since I tend to buy books as souvenirs I always get tagged for inspections (the xray machines cannot see through two or three thick books). It might be frustrating but I appreciate the extreme care for safety and security, as well as the generally friendly people digging through our filthy clothes to check out water bottles filled with Sea of Galilee water. This time I needed to open my laptop, took thirty seconds once they got to me.

The only event on the agenda was a swim in the Red Sea at Coral Beach. This is on the national parks pass so entrance was paid for, but snorkeling gear cost about $10 to rent. Some of the group snorkeled, the rest waded into the water in the one or two open swim areas. Several sat in the shade and read a book (my favors option at the beach). It was a very cool day compared to previous years and there was a pleasant steady breeze.

After a stop at the shop at Yotatava (the one with the cows), we drove straight to En Gedi, but there was a major traffic accident on route 90 (three evac helicopters), closing the road, We had to turn back and take a long detour, delaying our arrival at the hotel by at least two hours. The En Gedi hotel is a beautiful kibbutz turned hotel, The location is right next to the En Gedi Nature Park and the grounds of the hotel are a wild garden of plants and trees. Dinner was exceptional (finally, stuffed grape leaves!)

Tomorrow we will will visit several desert sites, including at Masada and Arad, along with the traditional swim in the Dead Sea