Who Do You Say I Am?

Caesarea Philippi  - Pan is a prefix of Greek origin meaning

all or everything from which we get words like panic, pandemonium and pan grilled fillet!  Pan was also a Greek god with the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat.  Worshiped here on the southwestern slopes of Mount Herman at the source of the Banias River, a tributary of the Jordan,  Herod the Great's son, Philippi, built a temple to honor Caesar.  Jesus led his disciples here to affix them with "training wheels" before he sent them out own their own. 

Father Jerry twisted and turned on a makeshift pedestal as he portrayed a hell and brimstone preacher here before the gates of hell in this pagan place. Standing before the temple and the pagan gods, Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" And they answered, "John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets."  He then said to them, "But who do you say that I am? "And Peter answered "You are the Christ."

Following this devotional interlude by the cool and flowing water, we boarded our bus to ride through the Hula Valley and on to Mount Tabor, the traditional site of the Transfiguration.  However, the actual site was probably somewhere near Caesarea Philippi  on Mount Herman.  

What did happen here was a victory of the Israelites over the Canaanites in the time of Deborah as described in the book of Judges.  Deborah wisely withheld attack until she saw clouds approaching from the Mediterranean.  The clouds meant rain. Rain it did, miring the Canaanites chariots in mud and thus giving the advantage to the chariotless Israelites.

Tour buses cannot navigate the steep and switch-backing road that leads to the top of mountain so we boarded small vans for the ride to the top along with a dozen or so other tour groups.  One would think, we would queue up for a ride back down. But tempers flared as tour groups and their guides tried to push ahead of us for the ride down. Apparently the concept of the queue doesn't exist in the Middle East.

On the top of the mountain, Antonio Barluzzi built the Church of the Transfiguration. Outside the church in a little courtyard, Father Jerry held another devotional. 

Once we were all down from the mountain and back on the bus we headed to a kibbutz near our hotel for dinner as the sun set over the Sea of Galilee. Along the way, I snapped a few pictures of the sea from sea level.  See below...