Israel: Bet She'an

We had a short stop over in a campsite where Pastor Bong Saquing asks us to take a small pebble with us, then he gave a sermon from the Bible beside a spring where Gideon and his army drank water. From here he chose the 300 men out of 32,000 army to battle and eventually won over Midianites and Amalekites. Full story is chronicled in the book of Judges chapter 7.

So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, "You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels to drink." --Judges 7:5

Then we visit Bet She'an National Park, one of the oldest cities in Israel located in the North District of the country. Archaeologists found over twenty layers of human civilizations tucked away inside its large ancient mound. Historically because of its strategic location, this city played a significant role in controlling access from Jordan and the inland to the coast, as well as Jerusalem and Jericho to the Galilee.

A city build on a hill

City ruins

Ancient Roman amphitheater

City on a window perspective

Tunnel

City layers

Ancient humongous toilets

Michelle behind pillars

Layers in different angle

Mosaic

Ancient Sauna

Here are few Bible verses featuring Beth She'an in biblical history:

But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; so the Canaanites persisted in living in that land.-- Judges 1:27

It came about on the next day when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. They cut off his head and stripped off his weapons, and sent them throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. They put his weapons in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. --1 Samuel 31:7-10