Truth Be Told

Trip to Israel: Day 11a, b, and c: Masada, Qumran, and the Dead Sea

Masada is one of the most sobering stories in Jewish history. The final stand of the first Jewish Revolt following the destruction of the temple by Rome saw 960 inhabitants kill themselves rather than be captured or defeated by their enemies. To this day, the swearing in ceremony of the Israeli military swears that what happened at Masada will never be repeated.

Qumran isn't much to look at, though the rock formations are beautiful, but what this location means for the trust we can have in the accuracy of the Hebrew Bible is monumental. Despite only being a few caves in a cliff face, the accompanying story of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is incredible considering it wasn't archeologists, scientists, or researchers who found them, but a shepherd boy watching after his flock.

Floating in the Dead Sea (Arabah or the Salt Sea as it's found in Scripture) is one of the coolest experiences, but it's a taxing process to get all the way down to that elevation through throngs of people. It's a story to say the least!

Pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zlyZDyWOWUf8rumN2_YW2jW3FpVOkXXN?usp=drive_link

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUkiQvCEF8Rc4TzjyBMsxg

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

 

Trip to Israel: Day 10a, b, c, d, and e: Gethsemane, Western Wall, Temple Institute, City of David and Jerusalem Tour, Hezekiah’s Tunnel and Pool of Siloam

**LINK TO PICTURES DOWN BELOW**

Day 10 was, by far, our busiest day in Israel. For one, the buses couldn't follow us into the narrow streets of Old Jerusalem so, basically, we were a walking tour for most of the day. Looking back, I'm surprised by how familiarized I was with the layout of the city by the end of this day. Even though it just felt like endless stairs and turns down outdoor corridors opening up into various sites and quarters, and a lot of the sides of the retaining walls to the Temple Mount look the same, even just having one focal point for cardinal directions has really helped me out a lot! 

The difficult thing about Jerusalem is just how tightly packed everything is. The beautiful thing about Jerusalem is just how tightly packed everything is. It's hard to discern between one amazing, significant site and the next, but you can see so much in such a short window of time. \

We started the day in the valley between Jerusalem and the Mt. of Olives so we could see the proposed location of the Garden of Gethsemane. From there, we marched up to the old city of Jerusalem and walked around the higher elevation portions of the city before walking down into the City of David and, ultimately, descending again through Hezekiah's Tunnel.

An incredible, busy day. Hope you enjoy listening!

 

Pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zlyZDyWOWUf8rumN2_YW2jW3FpVOkXXN?usp=drive_link

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUkiQvCEF8Rc4TzjyBMsxg

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

Trip to Israel: Day 9a, b, and c: Beit She’an, First Look at Jerusalem, Israel Museum

Prior to leaving the region of Galilee we stopped at Beit She'an, the historical location where Saul and his son's bodies were hung by the Philistines after they died at Mt. Gilboa. I took a bit of detour from the main group to climb to the top which made me feel anxious but turned out alright.

We, then, drove south to Jerusalem, passing Jericho on the way. Finally seeing the city itself was definitely worth having its own section in the episode, and our first stop in the city itself was the Israel Museum.

This museum is laid out much like other museums are but this stop, in particular, did an amazing thing in both orienting us to the layout of the city as well as tying together loose ends from the previous sites we had visited. The Israel museum has the most impressive archeological finds from the entire land of Israel. Each artifact was a tying together of all we had seen up to this point.

 

Pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zlyZDyWOWUf8rumN2_YW2jW3FpVOkXXN?usp=drive_link

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUkiQvCEF8Rc4TzjyBMsxg

 

Trip to Israel: Day 8a, b, and c: Caesarea Philippi, Tel Dan, and the Syrian Border

Day 8 was our last full day in the region of Galilee before heading down/up to Jerusalem for the remainder of the Feast of Tabernacles. 

In this episode we'll walk through the proclamation by Peter when he stated at Caesarea Philippi that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. We'll also talk about how the landscape of this area plays a big part in interpreting this conversation between Jesus and His disciples. 

At Tel Dan, we walk through an ancient city viewing the ruins of an altar set up by Jeroboam at the time of the division between Judah and Israel and discuss some impressive archeological finds from this area.

To end the day we drove within a mile of the Syrian border - a place where, just a few years prior to this visit, would have seen us shot at. We also took a detour to an army base turned memorial for lost soldiers during the Six-Day War.

 

Pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zlyZDyWOWUf8rumN2_YW2jW3FpVOkXXN?usp=drive_link

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUkiQvCEF8Rc4TzjyBMsxg

 

Trip to Israel: Day 7: The Sabbath and Magdala

On this day in Israel we balanced resting on the Sabbath day (seeing what that looked like on a national scale) and still seeing some incredible sites. Specifically, we visited the town of Magdala, home of Mary Magdalene, where we strolled through the ruins and learned about the first century synagogue uncovered there. It's likely that Jesus Himself would have taught at this synagogue at some point.

The most important biblical/historical/archeological find here is known as the Magdala Stone which depicts temple instruments as they would have looked prior to its destruction in 70AD. This is one of the earliest and most well preserved proofs we have of temple practices in the first century and before. 

 

Pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zlyZDyWOWUf8rumN2_YW2jW3FpVOkXXN?usp=drive_link

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Logo: Matt Hernandez

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUkiQvCEF8Rc4TzjyBMsxg

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

Trip to Israel: Day 6a, b, c, d, and e: Hazor, Mt. of Beatitudes, Capernaum, Jesus Boat, Boat Ride on the Galilee

Friday, just prior to the Sabbath, we had a full day of touring in Israel. The biblical site of Hazor was first on the agenda. This is one of the largest archeological sites in all of Israel and is also one of the earliest, in-tact sites. 

The Mt. of Beatitudes, though less certain that Jesus would have actually spoken at exactly this location, is home to a beautiful church overlooking the sea of Galilee. It's a nice place to reflect on Jesus' words and, if it isn't the place Jesus spoke His famous sermon, it's reminiscent of it.

Capernaum might have been my favorite place in all of Israel. Authentic, well preserved, concrete ties to the life and ministry of Jesus Christ - what else could a Bible nerd want in an archeological site?

The "Jesus Boat" has no concrete ties to Jesus but is a first century fishing boat dug up from the sea of Galilee. It really was a cool connection to the past.

The boat ride on the sea of Galilee wasn't terribly impressive from a storytelling point of view, but there was beautiful scenery and it was nice to be able to orient ourselves around the lake.

 

Pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zlyZDyWOWUf8rumN2_YW2jW3FpVOkXXN?usp=drive_link

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUkiQvCEF8Rc4TzjyBMsxg

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

Trip to Israel: Day 5a, b, and c: Caesarea Maritime, Mt. Carmel, and Megiddo

The rest of our group joined us on this day for our touring and trip up to the Galilee region. First, we stopped at Caesarea Maritime to see another of Herod's constructions. Paul was on trial in this area and was, presumably, sent to Rome from here. This was also the site of Rabbi Akiva's death in the 130s A.D.

On Mt. Carmel we got a panoramic view of the various mountains in Israel and a lesson in the story of Elijah and the prophets of Ba'al. 

Our last stop of the day was Megiddo where many believe the final gathering of the armies of mankind will take place. In this episode I outline a few reasons that some scholars have seen this as a misreading of the text and offer up a potential solution to the problem.

The end of our day was spent driving to Tiberias and checking into our hotel overlooking the Sea of Galilee.

 

Pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zlyZDyWOWUf8rumN2_YW2jW3FpVOkXXN?usp=drive_link

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUkiQvCEF8Rc4TzjyBMsxg

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

Trip to Israel: Day 4a, b, and c: Herodium, Bethlehem, Valley of David and Goliath

We are currently caught up at the rate of 1 episode per day (we'll see how long it lasts)! On Day 4 of touring we ventured into the West Bank for the first time to see one of Herod the Great's most impressive architectural structures: Herodium. This constructed mountain became one of his primary places of rulership within sight of Jerusalem where he would host dignitaries and important people. This also became his Mausoleum after his death until his tomb was raided in later years, most likely by members of Jewish rebellion against Rome.

We also toured the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem with a Christian Palestinian Tour guide who fully believed this to be the site of Jesus' birth, though archeological evidence is slim to none. 

Lastly, we drove a similar route as David would have taken from Bethlehem to the front of Israel's army to the spot between camps where he would have faced off against Goliath.

 

Pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zlyZDyWOWUf8rumN2_YW2jW3FpVOkXXN?usp=drive_link

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUkiQvCEF8Rc4TzjyBMsxg

 

Trip to Israel: Day 3b, c, and d: Nazareth, Akko, and Haifa

This episode wraps up day 3 in Israel going through the sites of Nazareth, Akko (Acre), and Haifa. 

At this point in the trip we are still in the Northern part of Israel with Nazareth in the land allotted to Zebulun, Akko being in the land allotted to Asher, and Haifa near the border of Asher and Manasseh. 

The primary sites here are the Church of Annunciation, the Hospitaller Fortress, and the Baha'i Gardens on Mt. Carmel.

 

Pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zlyZDyWOWUf8rumN2_YW2jW3FpVOkXXN?usp=drive_link

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDUkiQvCEF8Rc4TzjyBMsxg

 

Saul, the Good Shepherd?

It's widely known that Saul didn't end up being a good king for Israel. However, most people read the stories surrounding his start and miss something pivotal that the biblical author of 1 Samuel is trying to show us. Did you miss it too?

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly