Geography

For years now, actually decades, I have been teaching New Testament to high school Sophomores. For that same time period, I have also been using the same book - Jesus of History, Christ of Faith. And, as much as I really like the text, I have always lamented that it takes 6 chapters before you really get into the story of the Gospels - the opening 6 chapters basically set the stage with background on the time period, lifestyle, political situation, etc. I have always believed the background info was important but I was impatient to get to stories in the Gospels.

Now after a week in Israel, it all becomes crystal clear and I have a much deeper understanding of how all that background info makes the stories in the Gospels more meaningful. For years, I have taught, from the text, that the geography changes from north to south. Boy, does it!!! The northern part of Israel, the Galilee, is lush and green, full of life and vegetation, hillsides and valleys full of grapevines and olive orchards. And the further south you go, the closer you get to Jerusalem, the more desolate it becomes. Green hills are replaced by rocky barren lands. And as you continue south, down along the Dead Sea, it just gets hotter and more barren and lifeless. Don't get me wrong, there is a wealth of trees and plant life around and in Jerusalem and west of the city towards the Mediterranean. But you also realize that the only reason this is so is because every plant, every tree was painstakingly planted by hand. Man has made a garden out of a desert. So if you ever hear of someone saying they donated money to plant a tree in Israel, believe them. It's true.

And as far as the Jordan River is concerned, it looks nothing like a river. It does connect the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee but it is barely a stream. In most places you could jump from one side to the other and not get wet. And if you waded across, you wouldn't get your knees wet most of the time.