The Let Down and the Uplift of One's First Visit

People expect to see things in Israel just as they read in the Bible. They forget that nearly 2,000 have passed since the Bible was completed. We are not going to Israel under the monarch's rule or even under Roman occupation. We are going to the modern State of Israel. For instance to walk where Jesus walked in Jerusalem, you have to go down well beneath the current city (and you can!) to walk where the Master walked.

Israel is a progressive country. So much of life now is different than it was when the Bible was written. The clothes styles, houses, buildings, and modes of transportation have all radically changed.

HOWEVER...

There are still shepherds keeping watch over their flocks.

There is still the basic topography that was there in the Bible times as well as distances between cities. There are still the deep wooded area which remain largely like they always were. Galilee has some cities like Capernaum where ruins have been reconstructed so that you can get a good idea of how it looked during Jesus' time.

I found it helpful and interesting to read the Bible passages which were written about the places I was going to visit the next day and had visited that day. I enjoyed keeping my Bible open too as we rode along.

After returning home the first time my Bible reading and study took on a new dimension. The uplift replaced the let down.