Due to the amount of information I desire to communicate about Beth-shean, this site will require two posts: this post covers Old Testament Beth-Shean and Post #16 will cover New Testament Scythopolis. Beth-shean / Beth-shan / Tell el-Husn One of my favorite sites to visit in Israel is Beth-Shean (בֵּית שְׁאָן) — alternative spelling, Beth-Shan …
Caesarea Philippi / Banias Continuing our visits to the jewels of northern Israel, we come to Caesarea Philippi (known also as Banias/Banyas and Paneas) on the shoulder of Mt. Hermon east of Tel Dan along highway 99. The site sits about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee and at about 1,700 feet higher …
Tel Dan No site in Israel combines all the elements that Tel Dan displays: a delightful walk through the forest along the rushing waters of a source for the Jordan River, a high place notorious in the Old Testament, an example of a gateway containing both a judgment seat and massebot, and a Middle Bronze …
Hazor Tell el-Qedah (Hazor) is one of the most thoroughly excavated sites in all Israel, joining Megiddo with a similar reputation. The site sits about ten miles north of the Sea of Galilee in a well-watered pass between the Sea of Galilee and the Huleh basin. It watches over an ancient crossroads of major branches …
Chorazin Jerome Murphy-O’Connor refers to Chorazin as “Capernaum with a view.”[1] The city sat about two miles north of Capernaum at a site known as Khirbet Karazeh (or, Karraza), with which C. W. M. Van de Velde identified Chorazin (Korazim) in the 1850s. Here lie the remains of another synagogue with ties to the time of …
Capernaum The city of Capernaum in Galilee gained its greatest attribute when Jesus chose it as the location of His residence after leaving His boyhood home in Nazareth. The name of the city is more accurately Kepher Nahum, “the village of Nahum.” Capernaum was the seat of customs for goods entering Galilee and then on …
Magdala For myself personally, Magdala provided a new opportunity to visit a site I had not previously visited. I was enthralled with the archaeological finds at this location and enjoyed walking through the excavations. The site sits on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee about one mile north of Tiberias. As the supposed …
Sepphoris Excavations at Sepphoris (4 miles north of Nazareth) have uncovered beautiful mosaics (see picture above of the mosaic in a Roman villa triclinium; photo by Todd Bolen, Nov 1, 2006; Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, vol. 1, 2012). By 100 BC Sepphoris had withstood the attack of Egypt’s Ptolemy VIII because of the city’s fortifications. Of …
Nazareth Most of my posts in this series up to this point have involved sites more related to the Old Testament than to the New Testament. The New Testament alone specifically mentions the town of Nazareth. The town sits about 20 miles east of the Mediterranean Sea and about 15 miles west of the Sea …
Jezreel The meaning of “Jezreel” (יִזְרְעֶאל, yizre’e’l; LXX Ιεζραελ) appears to be either “God sows” or “may God make fertile/fruitful.” Jezreel sits opposite Shunem (1 Samuel 28:4; 2 Kings 4:8–10) and near halfway between Megiddo and Bethshan/Beth-shean with each being about ten miles distant from Jezreel. The junction of the Via Maris and the Way …
