In the Land of Milk and Honey: May 30, 2012

Mount Arbel

We had not had enough hiking yet, but a lot of in-depth teaching

The bus brought us to a higher place

There was a very nice view over the sea of Galilee

a very fertile area

It is very Jewish to climb up a mountain, then pray

this may be a mountain that Jesus would have climbed to pray

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

^{We were gathered together by Todd and asked to spread out}

^{find your own personal spot and pray for your own talmidim}

^{your own disciples}

^{I'm often wondering are we intentional enough?}

^{are we making disciples?}

^{It was a command that Jesus gave when He left}

So the eleven talmidim went to the hill in the Galil where Yeshua had told them to go. When they saw him, they prostrated themselves before him; but some hesitated. Yeshua came and talked with them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make people from all nations into talmidim, immersing them into the reality of the Father, the Son and the Ruach HaKodesh, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember! I will be with you always, yes, even until the end of the age.”

^{I asked the Lord who I was to pray for}

^{and I prayed for Elissa}

^{Elissa has caught the same excitement and passion}

^{for the bible in it's Jewish context}

It was by her initiative that we are now teaching the

biblical feasts to the kids in the winter months

We started hiking again

I often liked to start at the front

due to taking pictures, I'd get behind sooner or later

This looked interesting

There was re-barb in the side of the mountain to hold on to

Taking this picture, I stood on a little hand rail

and was holding on with one hand

I loved it!

We went down really fast and that was cool

Then we sat down and saw our insula come down

It didn't go to bad

Look at Marjorie

knowing she doesn't like edges,she's doing great

Mike and Annie, her support team

It was quite steep and for some it was very scary

We walked down

Looking at all these caves

they would be part of another faith lesson later

That was a great ending to the day

Looking up to where we came from

Korazin

^{All 3 towns are mentioned here, but not very positive}

“Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Beit-Tzaidah! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tzor and Tzidon, they would long ago have put on sackcloth and ashes as evidence that they had changed their ways. But at the Judgment it will be more bearable for Tzor and Tzidon than for you!

“And you, K’far-Nachum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Sh’ol!

^{We are like these towns, grown up with the word}

^{if we don't live it this is our warning}

Another black basalt town

The only surviving covered Mikvah

Mikvah is what you do to prepare

like going to synagogue

maybe in our experience prepare for the Lord's supper

Mikvah is not really in our church experience though

It is not baptism

It is re-dedication of your head, heart, hands and feet

The Essenes where Mihvah crazy, they had them everywhere

but Mikvaot are always found when there is a synagogue nearby

another outside sign of synagogue are uneven steps

so you have to be careful and cannot " run up to God"

another outside sign is a school,

here it is behind Marc but looked quite messy

Inside signs of syngogue are:

Behma:

Chief seats:

Basilica design roof:

Moses seat:

and a torah closet (didn't take a picture of it)

Next we walked into this complex

It's an insula, a family "household"

250 to 300 people lived in this insula

now a days 23% of people live in isolation, used to be 10%

we all need community, we need insula

here we stand in the courtyard

looking down on the original floor

We learned about marriage practises

the whole family would give their loving input

and the fathers would negotiate, the son would come home

and build a room onto the family insula

“Don’t let yourselves be disturbed. Trust in God and trust in me. In my Father’s house are many places to live. If there weren’t, I would have told you; because I am going there to prepare a place for you. Since I am going and preparing a place for you, I will return to take you with me; so that where I am, you may be also.

if the room was ready (father decides)

the groom would go to the village to marry his bride

“The Kingdom of Heaven at that time will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible. The foolish ones took lamps with them but no oil, whereas the others took flasks of oil with their lamps. Now the bridegroom was late, so they all went to sleep. It was the middle of the night when the cry rang out, ‘The bridegroom is here! Go out to meet him!’

they get married (consummate the marriage)

the best man announces when they are married

for one year they spent time together in their room

their sole purpose is "make each other happy"

^{Maybe that is why the bible says "to the Jew first"}

^{they know the pictures}

For I am not ashamed of the Good News, since it is God’s powerful means of bringing salvation to everyone who keeps on trusting, to the Jew especially, but equally to the Gentile.

Religious Jews

Sea of Galilee, beautiful in the morning

Typical for Galilee is black basalt, found everywhere

we practiced:

Religious Jews - triangle

Zealots - Gamla

Pagans - Decapolis

Herodians - Tiberias

Today is the day of the Religious Jews

The cities of the triangle are:

Capernaum, Korazin & Bethsaida

first up ins Capernaum

ancient city of the mass fabrication of

Olive Crusher and Olive Press

we sat under trees

for a faith lesson Rabbi & Disciple

only Rabbi's with S'mikah or authority had disciples

you could get s'mikah from 2 other Rabbies who had it

When Yeshua had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at the way he taught, for he was not instructing them like their Torah-teachers but as one who had authority himself.

They entered K’far-Nachum, and on Shabbat Yeshua went into the synagogue and began teaching. They were amazed at the way he taught, for he did not instruct them like the Torah-teachers but as one who had authority himself.

where did Jesus get his s'mikah?

He went into the Temple area; and as he was teaching, the head cohanim and the elders of the people approached him and demanded, “What s’mikhah do you have that authorizes you to do these things? And who gave you this s’mikhah?” Yeshua answered, “I too will ask you a question. If you answer it, then I will tell you by what s’mikhah I do these things. The immersion of Yochanan — where did it come from? From Heaven or from a human source?” They discussed it among themselves: “If we say, ‘From Heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From a human source,’ we are afraid of the people, for they all regard Yochanan as a prophet.” So they answered Yeshua, “We don’t know.” And he replied, “Then I won’t tell you by what s’mikhah I do these things.