Interviews and Adventures

This week, one of my Shiloh teammates, Clayton, was in Israel with a team from Southwest Radio Church. They toured the country, filming segments for several documentaries, and I got to hang out with them for part of the time. Clayton had asked if he could interview me about Shiloh and about my PhD dissertation topic, and I had agreed. Here are some of the places I went with the group.

I first met up with the team at Caesarea. I didn’t have to do any interviews here, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to go to the beach!

This is the entrance to the newly-excavated prison at Caesarea. From what I understand, this is probably where the apostle Paul was imprisoned after being arrested in Jerusalem and transported here (Acts 23:35).

I went to the aqueduct beach to check out the recent damage to the aqueduct. It looks like one side of one or two of the arches collapsed.

King Herod was responsible for the construction of this aqueduct, meaning that it has been standing here on the beach for over two thousand years!

I joined the team for several stops in the Galilee region. The sea was particularly blue that day. This photo is from the presumed location where the pigs ran down a steep place into the sea (Luke 8:33).

I got to hang out with Clayton when he wasn’t busy filming.

Mount Arbel: This precipice overlooks the Sea of Galilee and is a great vantage point! While I waited for the team to finish their filming, I propped myself on a rock under the shade of a tree. I took out my laptop and worked on some of my PhD sites. I think this may be my favorite office spot so far!

Magdala: We stopped at Magdala on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. This is the hometown of Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:2). There is a famous synagogue that has been excavated here, but I had heard that a second synagogue had recently been excavated. While the team filmed, I set out to find it. It turned out to be at the foot of the hill across the road from the site. Clayton helped me explore it.

I met up with the team again at Shiloh, where I did an interview about the site. While we were there, I checked on our excavation area. It looks about the same as how we left it.

Later, the team showed up in Jerusalem, and I joined them for part of the day. We stopped at the Pool of Siloam, and I was interested to see the progress of the excavation there. It is getting quite deep!

This photo is from the church of Saint Peter of Gallicantu, which marks the presumed location of Caiphas’ house. For some reason, I really liked this window, so I took a picture of it. I don’t think there is any particular significance to it.

They have a statue there that depicts Peter denying Jesus three times before the rooster crowed (Matthew 26:34).

I did an interview at Khirbet Qeiyafa about the early Israelites in the land. It had been a number of years since I’d been to this site, so I was happy for the chance to visit it again. This is an early Israelite fortress on the border between Israel and Philistia.