The city of Nazareth sits about half way between the Sea of Galilee and the Valley of Armageddon.
Is it a coincidence that the home of Jesus is half way between the living water of the Jordan river and the fiery death of Armageddon?
Looking west from the hill on the outskirts of Nazareth, the land opens into a wide plain, one that General Allenby, a British WWI general, declared to be a perfect place for a battle. His forces later defeated the Turks (the remnants of the Ottoman Empire) near the end of WWI on this very plain near the city of Megiddo.
On the other side of the valley is Mt. Carmel. The view from the top looking east (shown above) is spectacular and the entire Valley of Armageddon can be seen below. Mt. Carmel is the site where Elijah held his challenge with the followers of Baal. (I learned on this trip that my pronunciation of Baal as Bale was incorrect. In Hebrew there are no vowels and it is pronounced Bah - al. When it was translated into English it was Ba al and merged).
The story of Elijah is quite interesting. Israel, following its pattern, fell away from God and started allowing other religions to surface within its borders. It got so bad that Elijah predicted a severe drought would come. For seven years it did not rain and when he finally met with Ahab, he was accused of being a troubler for Israel because of the drought. Everything on this mountain, including all the forested hills, was like a tinderbox and people were on edge. So to prove who was the true God, Elijah had witnesses from all over Israel meet on Mt. Carmel along with 400 prophets of Baal to decide. The site is the highest point around and the winner would be noticed all around the valley.
Elijah had two bulls ready to sacrifice and he let the Baal win the coin flip to choose which bull they wanted to cut and put on their pile of wood for a sacrifice. Then he asked the Baal to prove how powerful their god was by having them call on their god to set the sacrifice on fire. For hours the Baal chanted and nothing. Elijah started to taunt them saying that they probably needed to shout louder as their god was probably deep in thought and could not hear them. The Baal continued but to no avail. After a day of watching this, Elijah said it was his turn.
Elijah built his altar, laid out the pieces of meat and had 4 large containers of water poured all over the wood. Then he had them repeat this another two times until the wood was soaked and filling the trench all around the altar. For seven years, no rain and the Baal could not set the wood on fire... but Elijah soaked his until it was overly saturated and then asked the God of Abraham to answer him by setting the wood on fire. The answer was seen all around the valley and then he seized and slaughter all the false prophets of Baal.
Then Elijah promised that the drought was over and he climbed to the very top of Mt. Carmel and prayed. He asked his servant to look toward the sea to watch for clouds. (While we were there, our guide pointed out that we could see the Mediterranean Sea from our vantage point and this was the perfect position to look across the sea to watch for storms). After the seventh time asking his servant to look toward the sea, he noticed a single cloud forming. Subsequently a large and heavy down pour followed signaling the end of the drought.
Another view from Mt. Carmel. Over our shoulders is the city of Nazareth on the hill.
Later that day we drove back to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee and the beautiful rainbow followed us. Pictured in this panoramic photo is a rainbow over the Sea of Galilee as we were entering the city. Suggest you double click on it to get a good view.
Finally a view from our hotel balcony of the colorful sunset over the Sea of Galilee on our last night there.
Is it a coincidence that the home of Jesus is half way between the living water of the Jordan river and the fiery death of Armageddon?
Looking west from the hill on the outskirts of Nazareth, the land opens into a wide plain, one that General Allenby, a British WWI general, declared to be a perfect place for a battle. His forces later defeated the Turks (the remnants of the Ottoman Empire) near the end of WWI on this very plain near the city of Megiddo.
On the other side of the valley is Mt. Carmel. The view from the top looking east (shown above) is spectacular and the entire Valley of Armageddon can be seen below. Mt. Carmel is the site where Elijah held his challenge with the followers of Baal. (I learned on this trip that my pronunciation of Baal as Bale was incorrect. In Hebrew there are no vowels and it is pronounced Bah - al. When it was translated into English it was Ba al and merged).
The story of Elijah is quite interesting. Israel, following its pattern, fell away from God and started allowing other religions to surface within its borders. It got so bad that Elijah predicted a severe drought would come. For seven years it did not rain and when he finally met with Ahab, he was accused of being a troubler for Israel because of the drought. Everything on this mountain, including all the forested hills, was like a tinderbox and people were on edge. So to prove who was the true God, Elijah had witnesses from all over Israel meet on Mt. Carmel along with 400 prophets of Baal to decide. The site is the highest point around and the winner would be noticed all around the valley.
Elijah built his altar, laid out the pieces of meat and had 4 large containers of water poured all over the wood. Then he had them repeat this another two times until the wood was soaked and filling the trench all around the altar. For seven years, no rain and the Baal could not set the wood on fire... but Elijah soaked his until it was overly saturated and then asked the God of Abraham to answer him by setting the wood on fire. The answer was seen all around the valley and then he seized and slaughter all the false prophets of Baal.
Then Elijah promised that the drought was over and he climbed to the very top of Mt. Carmel and prayed. He asked his servant to look toward the sea to watch for clouds. (While we were there, our guide pointed out that we could see the Mediterranean Sea from our vantage point and this was the perfect position to look across the sea to watch for storms). After the seventh time asking his servant to look toward the sea, he noticed a single cloud forming. Subsequently a large and heavy down pour followed signaling the end of the drought.
Another view from Mt. Carmel. Over our shoulders is the city of Nazareth on the hill.
Later that day we drove back to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee and the beautiful rainbow followed us. Pictured in this panoramic photo is a rainbow over the Sea of Galilee as we were entering the city. Suggest you double click on it to get a good view.
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