Mount of the Beatitudes

November 2, 2009--Monday
We visited Tel Dan Nature Reserve where there is a tel, a mound where several civilizations have built one on top of the other. We didn’t see much there--it was a nature walk. We did stop by a stream that had some pottery shards in it that washed down from the tel, which dated to 3300 to 2700 BCE. There was also the ruins of a temple there that Jeroboam had built, but we didn’t go see it due to lack of time. This was in the land where the Tribe of Dan settled, and they almost immediately turned to idolatry. Jeroboam put two golden calves in the temple there.
We drove by the Golan Heights which border Lebanon, and we drove by several fields with signs marked them as being mined.

We then drove to near the ruins of Caesarea Philippi. They are on the top of an escarpment, but we didn’t go up. We did see some stone column parts and lintels from the Temple of Pan there. It was at Caesarea Philippi that Jesus asked Peter, “Who do men say that I am?” and “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.”

From there, we went to lunch in the town of Tiberius. After that, we were supposed to take a boat ride on the lake, but it was pouring rain, and the wind was blowing at 25 mph or so. The tempest wasn’t raging on the Sea of Galilee, but there were whitecaps on the waves.
So we went on to the Mount of the Beatitudes. It looked like a garden with grass, palm trees, and flowers. There is also a nunnery and a church there dedicated to the Beatitudes. It has the attributes of the Beatitudes on the floor, such as charity and providence, and the blessings in glass in the circular walls under the round roof. Between them symbolically would be either the person or the Savior. There was an altar on the floor.

After walking around the church, we walked out a walkway and down the yard and sat under some trees while our guide discussed the Beatitudes and compared the two records of it in Matthew 5 and 3 Nephi. Some words are added in 3 Nephi, particularly v. 6 that adds after “…be filled” with the Holy Ghost.

The Sea of Galilee (Kinnerett) is down the hill from the Mount. I never pictured it being there, just down from the mountain.

After that, we drove back to the hotel, which was only about five minutes away, and went to a museum near it that has a 2000-year-old boat on display there. It was found buried in the beach by two brothers. A crew of archaeologists and other experts figured out how to dig it out, enclose it in Great Stuff to keep it from deteriorating in the air, float it out so a crane could get under it, and lift it out of the water. It was restored and installed in the museum. It has 11 types of wood in it, and it has ribs every six or eight inches or so. It was impressive.

While out and not paying attention, I stepped on a hose, slipped, twisted my ankle, and fell. This was the one thing I tried to avoid before the trip, but I lost concentration and blew it.
My ankle swelled up, so we have been putting ice on it and then heat. I am praying that the swelling will go down because I am going to be doing a lot of walking in a day or so.