Beit She'an

Today, my friends and I got up at the crack of dawn, hopped on a bus, and headed to Beit She'an. Located in northern Israel on the Jordanian border, Beit She'an is a national park full of the remains of a Roman settlement. We got to tour through an old amphitheater, race track, bath house, pagan temple, and other buildings from that time period. Towering over the settlement was a tall hill called a "Tel". On top of this hill were the remains of various fortresses, built by succeeding rulers of the region. There was one built by the Egyptians, one built by the Israelites, one built by the Greeks, and one built by the Romans. This was the spot where the Israelite army under the command of King Saul was decisively defeated by the Philistines, who slew Saul's sons and put the rest of the army to flight. Saul, seeing the writing on the wall, killed himself. The Philistines then took his body and hung it from the fortress battlements, but loyal Israelites came in the night, took down his body, and gave him a proper burial. King David took the site back, and it stood as an Israelite fortress throughout his and his son Solomon's reign. From the top of the Tel, the entirety of the Jordan Valley, a part of the Jezreel Valley, and the mountains of Jordan, were all easily visible. The Jordan Valley technically resides in the West Bank, but Israel has all but annexed it for security purposes and has made it clear that it would not be part of any future Palestinian State. It was incredibly hot the entire time we were there, and huge amounts of water were necessary in order to stave off dehydration. Once we had seen everything worth seeing, we commandeered a ride on two golf carts back to the bus station, where I had my first McDonald's fry in over four months while waiting for the bus to arrive. Wanting to get back to Jerusalem before the Jewish Sabbath shut down the city's public transportation system, we were pleasantly surprised to arrive home ahead of schedule. This was an awesome day, and I am so happy that I was able to make it up to this amazing ancient settlement.