Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God

This morning we began by travelling to the Church of the Mount of Beatitudes, the traditional site preached the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount. The beautiful church was built in 1936. We had quite a long time for prayer there in this beautiful place.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5

We then visited Tel Dan, another archaeological site of when the Kingdom of Israel spilt in two about 722 BC. The Dan River is an amazing river flowing from springs in this arid land and provides half the water for the Sea of Galilee. There were the Hebrew walls, gates and the sacred high place of about 900 BC but more amazing was the Canaanite Gate from the 18^th century BC!!! These were the original people of the land – their gate was built with mud bricks – a technology brought from Mesopotamia – but with the high rain fall (700 mm a year) these didn’t work so the gate was covered in and this is why it survives to today. It is also the oldest known  examples of archways.

If you have been like us and noticed how dry the country seemed, it was amazing to see the Dan River that is purely spring fed!

The Israelite gate

In 722 the North separated from the rest of Israel. Here at the high place at Dan they offered sacrifices to golden calves... In the distance is a village in a modern day northern kingdom, Lebanon.

The amazing Canaanite gate, nearly 4000 years old!

We then went to Banias or as it was known in Jesus time Caesarea Phillipi. More recently before the 1967 Six Day War it was part of Syria and so the mosque remains in ruins from that time. It was at Caesarea Phillipi that Jesus asked his disciples “who do people say I am?” and almost like a spring bursting forth Peter answered “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And here today springs of living water burst forth from the ground.

Next stop was the Crusader’s (not the Canterbury rugby team) Nimrod Fortress which sits 815 metres above sea level. The Crusaders lost the fortress to the Muslim invaders in 1187 and the fortress fell into disrepair, particularly after the Mongol invasion.

The amazing reservoir which was so important to the survival of this fortress... though in those days, how did you keep the water pure. Water was often a cause of death.

 

We had lunch at a Druze community on the slopes of Mount Hermon then drove through the Golan Heights past the Syrian border seeing something of the Israeli defences on the way.

Mount Hermon straddles the borders of Israel, Syria and Lebanon and is 2,814 m (9,232 ft) high. The southern slopes extend to the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights, where the Mount Hermon ski resort is located. Pictured is the highest part of the mountain in Israeli territory at 2,236 m (7,336 ft). You can see the last bit of snow and an Israeli listening post to the right.

The border with Syria. In the foreground a UN compound... On the right hand side coming out of the trees is the grey of the border.

Another Israeli listening post opposite the Syrian border

As we drove through the border area we saw a number of tanks and armoured personnel carriers.

The signs read... "Danger Mines" going back to the 1967 and 1973 wars with Syria... the Syrians have the maps as to where the mines are!

Last stop of the day was a baptismal site on the Jordan River. It wasn’t the site where John the Baptist baptised but many were being baptised or were reaffirming their baptism.