Sunday, March 22, 2009

Belvoir - Beth Shean - Gideon Spring - Dead Sea

Check out this stork, we saw a bunch along the road up to Belvoir.



Belvoir is a 12th Century crusader fortress on top of a tall mountain that overlooks most of the Jordan valley.



This fortress is actually a fortress within a fortress!



The dining room of the inner fortress, the arches are still standing after 800 years!



This is the city of Beth Shean. It's currently the largest archaeological work in progress in Israel. The city was destroyed suddenly by a large earthquake in 740 AD. It was discovered in the 20th Century and a huge portion of it has been uncovered.



Beth Shean is where King Saul and his son's bodies were hung outside the city walls for all to see in 1 Samuel 31. At that time the city was on top of the hill shown in the background. The Greeks expanded the city into the valley below. This is the "cardo" or main street.



A view from the hill above the city.



We stopped in Sachne to have a picnic lunch by the beautiful swimming hole.



At Gideon Spring with Pastor David and Tot Landry of CC Casa Grande. The story of Gideon in Judges 6-7 took place here. This is the spring (coming out of the cave) where God told Gideon to have the soldiers drink water from the spring and depending how they drank, they were to serve in the battle or were disqualified. Read the story in Judges, it's great!



Our tour guide, Amir Tsarfati, taking the bus for a spin, well not really! :) Pastor Ken Merrihew of CC Oklahoma City in the background.



Check out this field of wild poppies!



On our way south to the Dead Sea!



Looking east at the Dead Sea with the Moab Mountians in the background in Jordan.