Mount of Beatitudes and Capernaum

Shalom! Here's another installment of the Israel trip I had in 2008, and the pictures I will be sharing will be from Mt of Beatitudes and Capernaum. I will just try to give some short description of the photos, so enjoy!

This is  Beatitudes Church, located by the Sea of Galilee near Tabgha and Capernaum. It commemorates the beatitudes chapter in the bible found in Matthew chapter 5.

The location marks the place where Jesus supposedly delivered the beatitudes, and the Roman Catholic built a church to commemorate it.

There is also a souvenir shop in the area, as is the same for all tourist spots in Israel. But, the place where the church is built is not the exact place where the Beatitudes took place. Why do I say that? Remember in those days there were no microphones, so the area had a natural amplifier. And when someone speaks on the location of the church, it doesn't happen there.

Our guide during my first trip explained that in the picture you see above, he did an experiment. He asked the people in his group to stay below the area, and he moved farther from them a few meters at a time, trying to speak to them without ever raising his voice, and they could hear him clearly. His voice was naturally amplified in this area. So this might have been the exact location, and not where the church is.

Just imagine Jesus speaking to thousands of people sitting down, and He standing somewhere on that little incline saying, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'

Amazing right? He knew where to stand so that everyone can hear Him clearly. And the people listened attentively.

The overall ambiance in the area is peaceful, and we had a nice time walking around the area.

I am inserting here a few pictures of a kibbutz, which means a communal settlement, that is usualy a farm. This kibbutz have their own grocery store, a small hotel, and since we were traveling there, we wanted to bless the small business owners in the land.

We would always wake up very early and explore the area, and we saw the beautiful sunrise.

I think we spent a night or two there, making sure to also buy some of their products, dates, fruits, and other things we could bring back home. And they were reasonably priced too!

The kibbutz was named Nof Tavor, and it was quite an experience. The people who lived in the kibbutz were Jews who came from Russia.

From the boat ride we took on the Sea of Galilee on another post, we got off in Capernaum to visit the place.

Capernaum was dubbed as the town of Jesus because this is where He lived during His adult life doing His ministry.

These are remains of houses and other buildings during that time. They were preserved so people can visit and see the places in the bible.

When our guide said that this is a sycamore tree, I just had to try climbing it and pretend to be Zacchaeus, ha ha!

A pillar that had markings, usually inscribed with the name of the owner of the house or the building, in this case, a person named Hadrianus, most probably a Roman centurion.

The glass building in the distance is actually a church, which was built on top of the area believed to have been the house of Peter the Apostle.

This was supposedly the house of Peter, and in this house Jesus healed Peter's mother in law. They say this was actually the first church ever, since it was where people gathered and Jesus taught.

We walked in this area from the dock to reach the Capernaum National Park, where the remains are.

Almost all of the building remains were made of basalt stones, which are common in the area. The pillar on top with the inscription is made of limestone, and those were imported, meaning the owner of that building was rich.

What's amazing is that these structures stood the test of time, and it was such a joy to have been able to see it with my own eyes.

Imagine what it would have looked like when the buildings were intact.

We also visited the Church of the Primacy in Tabgha, where a block of stone was located, which is believed to be the site where Jesus reinstates Peter.

This is the sycamore tree that I tried to climb.

There were a lot of carvings on the limestone pillars, and this one has a palm tree engraved on it.

This mosaic floor depicts the five loaves and two fish that the little boy had, but miraculously fed five thousand people after Jesus prayed for it. The guide jokingly said we could only see four pieces of bread in the basket though. :-)

Well, hope you enjoyed the pictures and stay tuned for more! You can also read more travel articles here.