January 19 - Day One Stop 3 – Carmel el-Machraqah

Before leaving Caesarea, here is an interesting video of a reconstruction of what the city looked like when Herod completed building it.

And now we are off to Carmel to confront the false prophets of Baal.

Lanny’s Pictures of Carmel

Carmel is a mountain range. The name is from two Hebrew words: El for God and karm for vineyard, thus “God’s Vineyard.”

I Samuel 15:12 – Samuel went to find Saul and was told that he had gone to Carmel to set up a monument to himself.

I Samuel 25:40 – Abigail, who talked David out of killing her ill-tempered husband after Nabal insulted David, and later became David’s wife after Nabal died, lived at Carmel.

I Kings 18 – Elijah (El Yahu = Yahweh is my God) triumphs over Ahab, Jezebel, Baal, and the prophets of Baal by calling down fire from heaven to consume his sacrifice.

Baal, the bull, was god of storms, thunder, and lightening. He could not break the three year drought that Elijah had imposed nor could he bring down fire to ignite the sacrifice to his prophets. Elijah did both. In so doing, Elijah demonstrated that Jehovah was the true God and that Baal was nothing more than an idol.

Perhaps Jayson will want to pause here for us to sing “These are the days of Elijah” as we reflect on the awesome power of our God.

Leaving here we will make our way to the Kibbutz Maagan Hotel on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in the area of Tiberius. This will be our home for the next four nights.

We are thinking that we will try to find a location in the hotel where all who would like to can gather after the evening meal to share thoughts and impressions from the day and debrief in general. We will close with a prayer of gratitude for the day and ask God’s blessing for a restful night.