160 miles over rugged territory

[Kendall K. Down]

Over the years I have collected a few old books about the Middle East,
written by travellers and missionaries. Among them is an old edition of
Mark Twain's "The New Pilgrim's Progress" - a delightfully humorous and
sardonic account of a trip around Europe and Palestine, a book by an
American clergyman who went on a round-the-world voyage to restore his
health(!) and "The Land and the Book", a description of life in the
Lebanon and in Palestine by the Rev W. M. Thomson, a missionary based in
Sidon who visited Lady Hester Stanhope in her declining years and buried
her after her death.

It is this last book which is particularly interesting, because the
gentleman in question had occasion to travel from the Lebanon to Galilee
and he describes in detail the difficulties of the journey - not only
the tribes of beduin bandits who infested the area but also the rugged
mountains which barred his way and the ravines which were the only route
through those mountains.

Jesus spent most of His ministry within the confines of the traditional
Jewish kingdoms. He was born in the Roman province of Judea but grew up
in Galilee, which was ruled by Herod Antipas. However He did make
several ventures outside good Jewish territory. For example, most
Galilean Jews preferred to walk down the arid Rift Valley and approach
Jerusalem from Jericho rather than venture through hostile (and
potentially unclean) Samaritan territory, yet on at least two occasions
Jesus took this shorter route.

Jesus also paid several visits to the region known as "Decapolis", a
loose confederation of ten Greek cities founded by Alexander's soldiers.
Of course, it would have been difficult for Jesus not to enter
Decapolis, as its border came right down to the eastern shore of the
Lake of Galilee, which was sufficiently un-Jewish that you might
encounter herds of pigs rooting among the vegetation there. So far as we
know, Jesus never visited any of the ten cities.

There are only two occasions when Jesus went out of His way to enter
Gentile territory. One was when He led His disciples up to Caesarea
Philippi, better known to us as Banias (and to the ancients as Paneas
from the shrine to Pan). The other was when Jesus travelled to the area
of Tyre.

There are a couple of remarkable things about these visits. The first is
the apparently trivial reasons for them. In the case of Paneas, Jesus
appears to have walked nearly 40 miles there for no other purpose than
to pose a question about His identity to His disciples and then walked
40 miles back again. With Tyre Jesus walked there, healed one single
person, and then walked back again.

The second is the difficulty of both journeys. Looking at the map you
might conclude that Jesus simply headed north from Galilee and followed
the Jordan to its source at Paneas. In fact, just north of Galilee the
Jordan passes through an area of volcanic rock which even today the
ravine cut through that rock forms an effective barrier to travel. You
have to climb out of the Rift Valley - which at this point is 800' below
sea level - and then follow the hills past Hazor to a point beyond the
volcanic rock, after which you can descend to the Rift Valley again. The
valley was formerly further blocked by Lake Huleh and although that has
now been drained and turned into farmland, the road runs up the western
side of the Valley as far as Dan and then turns right, crosses the
Valley and climbs up to Banias.

It is the same with the trip to Tyre. A straight line drawn on the map
between Galilee and Tyre would, in fact, take you through the same wild,
desolate and even dangerous country as described by the Rev Thomson. It
is therefore far more likely that Jesus climbed out of the Rift Valley
and went along the Plain of Jezreel, past Nazareth and the ruins of
Megiddo to Acre, and then travelled along the coast to Tyre. Even that
was not without its difficulties, as the coastal route passed over a
steep-sided headland known as "the Ladder of Tyre", today known as Rosh
ha-Nikra, where there are limestone grottoes at sea level and the border
between Israel and the Lebanon on the summit. I have driven up there
several times and been politely turned back by the Israeli border guards
(I expected no less, of course, as the border is not open.) All told,
Jesus must have walked 80 miles to make this one visit with a similar
distance on His return.

However St Mark records a curious detail about this visit. "Then Jesus
left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of
Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis." Mark 7:31

You don't "go through Sidon" to get from Tyre to Galilee! Sidon is about
twenty-two miles north of Tyre, the opposite direction to Jesus' route
home. However just south of Sidon there is a river valley heading up
into the hills and from there it is possible to skirt the southern end
of the Lebanon Mountains and head south-east to the top of the Rift
Valley opposite Banias. It would not be easy going, as the Rev Thomson
discovered when he followed it, but it was a feasible route.

Whether Jesus had some reason for visiting Sidon or whether He in fact
took this cross-country route, we simply do not know. What we do know is
that in the earlier part of His ministry His fame spread as far as Tyre
and Sidon and people from there were among His audience as He taught by
the lake. (Mark 3:8) Doubtless the Syro-Phoenician woman had heard of
Jesus and His miraculous powers but never thought that she would have
opportunity to meet Him. The long journey to Galilee was not for someone
burdened by an epileptic child.

Although Jesus attempted to be private during His stay, some of those
who had heard Him teaching recognised Him and the news that the
miracle-worker of Galilee was in town quickly spread. The incredulous
woman made haste to go to Him and beg healing for her daughter.

In my book, "The Woman from Banias"
(https://www.amazon.co.uk/Woman-Banias-Ken-Down-ebook/dp/B00729RWH6/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=banias+ken+down&qid=1630230214&s=books&sr=1-1)
I suggest that Jesus went to Paneas to meet a woman whose ill-health
precluded her from visiting Him (though, in fact, she ended up making
the difficult journey to Capernaum after all). I believe that a similar
motive impelled Him on the journey to Tyre - a woman who needed help,
who had the faith to be helped, but who was unable to come to Him
because of her daughter's illness.

In my younger days some friends and I once did the Lyke Wake Walk - 40
miles across the North York Moors in 24 hours (we did it in 24 hours,
just not 24 consecutive hours!) We were fair knackered at the end of the
journey. Even though Jesus was more used to walking long distances, 80
miles was not to be undertaken lightly - yet Jesus walked all that way,
and all that way back again, just to minister to someone in need. The
moral, I hope, is obvious.

God bless,
Kendall K. Down