Are you for REEL?

The most lush and beautiful part of Israel so far has been the Jezreel Valley. This is in the northern part of Israel, and there are several routes that we reviewed both in class and on the field. One big obstacle in traveling north to south and vice versa is Mt. Carmel. There are three different routes that you can take. And each one played a significant role in the history of Israel. The three passes are Jokneam, Megiddo, and Dothan.
The first place that we stopped was at the Megiddo pass. There was a lot of conflict that happened here at the site. We know some of the times because of biblical records. For instance in the time of Deborah and Barak in 1230 B.C. We read in Judges 4:14 that Barak went down from Mt Tabor with 10,000 men and fought the Canaanites who came from the Megiddo pass.
One other significant Event that happened here was involving Thutmose III. In effort to conquer the land, Thutmose was working his way north from Egypt, and he stopped in Yaham to have a war council. The rational for the meeting was to decide which route the Egyptians should take, for they had three: Jokneam, Megiddo, and Dothan. Because of the narrow opening to the Megiddo Pass the counselors told Thutmose to go anywhere but the Megiddo Pass. So, Thutmose sent out two decoy battalions, one up the Dothan Pass, and the other up the Jokneam Pass, and at the same time the Egyptians went up the Megiddo Pass and conquered Megiddo. This is an important site for the city because like any important cities in Israel, it controls the traffic.
The importance of the city can be seen in the archeology. There has been more than twenty inhabited layers found in archeological excavations. Some dating back to the middle bronze age, Solomon built this city up with great gates and palaces, but the funny thing is, there is none of the glory that remains. It really makes me think about where my treasure is going now on this earth, and to really think about where is what I’m investing in on this earth going to be in 300 years. There will be no remnant of it!
We then saw a rolling stone tomb that dated to 135 A.D. but was probably the same model as the one Jesus was buried in. This was great because we harmonized the gospel accounts of the resurrection by acting out the whole ordeal. Some people find it very difficult to account for everything that happened in the Gospels, but we did because we were flexible and allowed for humanity to play a role. There were probably at least 5 people who visited Jesus’ tomb that morning, all from different social status’ and different backgrounds. And the ladies told different things because they all witnessed different things all at different times. We must not forget that even though things might not line up exactly as we would think, there is no contradiction or lie in the Bible.
One of the great places that we stopped was Mt. Carmel. This was the mountain where Elijah, in I Kings 18, defeats the prophets of Baal. But more importantly Yahweh defeats Baal. This again brings to attention that it is not man who is fighting the battles, but God. Another great story about that exact thing is in Judges 7. This is where 32,000 men were gathered to fight the Midianites. But the Lord told Gideon that he had to many men for Him to deliver them into Gideon’s hand. So Gideon told the men that if they wanted to, they could go home, and 22,000 men left, leaving 10,000 men. But the Lord said that was too many. So at the Harod Spring, where we visited, Gideon had them drink and the Lord said to keep the men who lapped the water like a dog. And that was 300 men. This was exactly what the Lord wanted. Yahweh is fighting the battle. God did not want the Israelites to say that it was on account of their number and strength that the Midianites were defeated, the glory was to be to God.
There are many other stories and events that happened here in the Jezreel Valley, but these are the ones that stuck out to me today. All of these events clearly show the faithfulness of God. His mercies are new every morning and we can never end praising His name!