21 July 2011

It was a bittersweet morning as I loaded my luggage onto the bus, turned in the key to my bungalow, and had one last walk on the beach along the Sea of Galilee. It was hard to say goodbye to a land I had grown to love, to a land I had felt the love and comfort of my Savior, to a land beautiful and bright.

As we made our way back to Jerusalem, we made stops along the Mediterranean coastline in Muhraqa (Mount Carmel), Haifa, and Caesarea. Dividing the coastal plain from the Jezreel Valley, Mount Carmel evokes Old Testament episodes, such as Elijah's challenge to King Ahab and the priest of Baal. Archaeologists have found evidence of habitation on Mount Carmel as early as the Old Stone Age (before 10,000 BC). However, while evidence of habitation was seemingly easy to find, it would be next to impossible to document archaeologically an incident like Elijah's contest with the priests of Baal. This contest symbolized the direciont of the northern Kingdom of Israel in the Divided Monarchy. Jeroboam led the tax revolt against Solomon's son, Rehoboam, leading to the establisment of the Kingdom of Israel. Almost immediately after the establishment of the Northern Kingdom, Jeroboam set up Egyptian-influenced altars at Bethel and Dan, both with a golden calf for worship. Within four generations, Jeroboam's line was overthrown by General Omri, who built a new capital at Samaria and reared up an altar for Baal in the House of Baal, which he had built in his new capital. It was at this altar where Elijah challenged the priests of Baal, proving to them that the God of Israel was more powerful than any of their gods, than all fo their gods. It was at Muhraqa on Mount Carmel that we visited the traditional site of this event. We put on a reenactment skit of Elijah's challenge and then visited other areas of the site, including a Catholic chapel where we sang a series of Hymns.

As we travelled down Highway 672 along the coast of the Mediterranean coast, we made a quick stop at the Bahai Gardens in Haifa to take some pictures. This compound includes the world headquarters of the Bahai faith and the tomb of the faith's herald surrounded by beautiful gardens on nineteen different complexes. We did not have time to go inside the Bahai shrine, but we were given time to take pictures in the gardens as well as take pictures of the Mediterranean in the background.

Before leaving Haifa, we stopped at the Templer Cemetery. This small cemetery evokes memories of the mid-Nineteenth Century AD German Templer movement and of the late-Nineteenth Century AD LDS missionary acitivity in the Holy Land. Beginning at Haifa, the Templers founded several colonies, through which they introduced European agricultural technology. By 1914, the Templer colonists number about 1,200 persons. In 1884, Elder Jacob Spori was sent from the LDS Swiss-German mission to create the "Turkish Mission", based in Istanbul. In August 1866, after having seen a blacksmith in a dream, Elder Spori traveled to Haifa, where he met Templer blacksmith Johan Georg Grau, who had seen Elder Spori in a dream the night before. Grau was baptized in Haifa Bay, as was his wife, Magdalena, one month later. LDS missionaries continued to be sent from Istanbul to labor in Haifa. Two of them passed away and were buried in the Templer Cemetery: Adolph Haag and John Clark. In addition, the cemetery holds the remains of both Brother and Sister Grau. We were given time to walk among the gravestones of the cemetery before getting back on the bus to drive to Caesarea.

A splendid city built by Herod for Greco-Roman sophisticates, Caesarea became Judea's Roman capital after Herod's death. Caesarea was a field of missionary labor for Philip, Peter, and Paul, was the home of Bishop/historian Eusebius, and was later rebuilt by the Crusaders. After Herod consolidated his power as Rome's vassal ruler of Judea, he enlarged Caesarea for two main reasons. First, he sought legitimacy in the eyes of his Greco-Roman subjects by building a modern Greco-Roman city - completely with a theater, amphitheater, hippodrome, cardo, royal palace, and pagan temple. Second, Herod sought to expand the port's commercial role in order to supercede Alexandria as the Eastern Mediterranean's main trading center. Because the site did not offer a naturally good harbor, Herod created an artificial one. His engineers built outer and inner basics protected by large walls of massive stones cemented to one another by a specially devised liquid adhesive that dried in place under water. They also built a high aqueduct to bring water from a source twelve miles away on Mount Carmel. After Herod's death, Roman authorities asserted more direct rule over Juda is two phases: comprehensive census for taxation pruposes and the annexation of Judea for direct control through their own "prefects" based at Caesarea. Thus, Caesarea was the base of the prefect Pontius Pilate, who traveled from there to Jerusalem to keep his Roman eyes on Jews during Passover and became involved in the trial of Jesus.

Caesarea later became an important Christian center. Before Paul's internment, Philip had preached there and Peter had baptized the Roman centurion, Cornelius, there. Later, the "Greek Father", Origen, founded a seminary and a library at Caesarea, which became the seat of the bishopric. An early Bishop of Caesarea was Eusebius, the first notable Christian historian. In their campaign to create "the Holy Land", the Byzantines built a domed octagonal church on the platform originally created to support Herod's Roman temple. Byzantine Caesarea was destroyed by a Persian invasion in 614 AD. By 641 AD, the Arab Muslims - who had conquered Palestine - built a mosque on Herod's platform. The Crusaders rebuilt Caesarea after they captured the area in 1101 AD. The Crusaders then replaced the mosque on Herod's platform with another church. By the time we reached Caesarea, the mid-afternoon heat had set in, so we quickly went through the city visiting different sites, including the theater, amphitheater, pagan temple, and harbor. From the harbor, we made our way back to the bus. Many of us stopped to get an ice cream on the way - the perfect treat on a hot day.

Due to heavey traffic, the Judd Bus made it back to the Jerusalem Center much later than the Muhlestein Bus. After carrying my suitcase down to my room, I went up to grab a quick bite in the Oasis and then headed into the gym to stretch and work my muscles on the stationary bike. I turned in earlier than usual (before midnight...) in hopes of making up for sleep lost in Galilee.