Israel Day Six- Dedication

Day Six - Dedication

We started day six climbing Mt. Gilboa, an extended ridge on the southeast side of the Jezreel Valley. This was a strategic site for Israel as the Valley was a route from Galilee to the north and Samaria to the south. This also made it a place of many battles.  Amongst other things, this is where Hosea prophesied great blessing on Israel (Hosea 1:10-11), where the Philistines killed Saul and his sons (1 Sam. 28:4-5; 31:1-5), and Judges 7 records that Gideon camped and chose his 300 men at the spring of En Harod, which sits at the base of Mt. Gilboa (also called Mt. Gilead). It was interesting to learn some of how Gidean chose his men. He looked for men who were alert, cautious, and aware of their surroundings. The men who drank from the spring by lapping water with their hands and keeping their heads up and eyes on their surroundings make up the 300 men he chose. Fighting with just 300 men ensured God would be glorified through their impossible victory over the Midianites because it becomes unexplainable. Gideon trusted God and often lived an unexplainable life, expect for the power of God. We were challenged to live unexplainable lives for God. Trusting Him to provide, give victory, and get glory through obeying not only what He has called us to but also the way He called us to do it.

Our next stop was Beth She’an, the capitol of the Decapolis, the region occupied by the Pagans and practice of Hellenism. As we came over the hill, possibly where the Garden of Eden might have been located, it was impressive to look down on the remains at Beth She’an. Although God allotted this area to the tribe of Manasseh they could not drive out the Canannites and before the time of Christ the city was renamed Scythopolis and occupied by the Greeks.

It was interesting to learn the 5 key elements of Hellenistic society:

1.     Gymnasium- the development of body and mind

2.     Theater- the center of drama and entertainment

3.     Arena- the place of sport and entertainment

4.     Agora- the practice of upscale shopping

5.     Temples- the worship of many different so-called Gods

In Hellenism the Heroes are athletes, entertainers, thinkers, and the wealthy. Humans are the focus and “I am a God and I want it all” is the motto they live by. It was not hard to see the parallel with our own culture. An earthquake destroyed this city in 7 seconds. We reflected on loving God and not the world knowing that the things of this world will soon pass away (1 Jn. 2:15-17). How can we influence a place like this to see the true God? What is it that we have that they don’t? Our story. We must tell our story. Many people know about Christ but not many realize what it means to their life to walk in a relationship with Him. Let us show and tell with our lives and words.

 

We then traveled to Susita, another city in the Decapolis and a great example to telling of what God has done in a place of Hellenism. This is where Jesus cast out the “legion” of demons from a man, cast them into about 2000 swine, then they jumped into the Sea of Galilee and drowned (Mark 5:1-20).  

Afterwards the man who was possessed wanted to follow Jesus but Jesus did not let him go along and told him to“Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” The man went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed’ (Mark 5:19-20).

Sometimes Jesus leaves us right were we are to influence the place we know best, even a sinful, rebellious, seemingly impossible place. Our calling is to tell those around us what great things the Lord has done and how He had mercy on us. The cool thing is Jesus returned to this place and over 4000 people followed Him around listening to His teaching (Mat. 15:32-38) and 300 years later the city became a Christian center. One of the authors of the Nicene Creed would come from here. Amazing what the faithful testimony about the great things and mercy of God can do. It’s almost unexplainable!

 

Our Last stop of the day was the Jordan River. This river connects the Dead Sea in the south to the Sea of Galilee in the North (70 mile distance but 110 miles of winding river). So many things happened along this river and in connection to it. A few things include God identified this as the eastern border of Israel (Num. 34:10-12; Ezk. 48:47:18), large bronze objects of Solomon’s temple were cast (2 Chron. 4:16-17), Elijah and Elisha crossed over the Jordan on dry ground (2 Kings 2:7-14), Joshua and the nation of Israel crossed over into Canaan on dry ground with the Ark of the Covenant (Josh 3:13-17), John the Baptist baptized here (Matthew 3:5-6; Mark 1:5; John 1:28), and this is where Jesus was baptized (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9).

We focused on Joshua and the fact that the Priest had to trust God to stop the river after they stepped in while carrying the Ark (Josh. 3:14-17). Since all of us had already been baptized (and the water was low with a strong current) we chose to honor the Jewish custom of Mikveh and dedicated our head, heart, hands, and feet to the Lord by sprinkling water in all those places.

Mikveh is a ceremonial bath where a person immerses himself in living water to become ritually clean according to Jewish law and was done before entering the Temple or Synagogue. It is the background to Christian Baptism. For us, it was a meaningful time with God as we rededicated our whole selves to God. We want His truth in our heads to penetrate our hearts and be lived out in our hands and feet. May everything we do be done to reveal the heart and actions of our great God!