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Study Section 12:   Upper Galilee


                12.1 Connect.

                         Do you know where Hell is?  Do you think it is a real place or a spiritual place?  Today we are
                         going to take a journey to the entrance of Hell.  Back in the Bible days, there was a place that
                         the pagans thought was the very entrance to a place called Hades or Hell.  Here they built
                         temples to various Gods and the Caesars and worshipped them.  They offered sacrifices at this
                         place.  Jesus decided to take his disciples to the entrance of Hell and asked them some
               important questions.  Let’s take a journey to this place and see what Jesus asked them…..

                1.2 Objectives:


                   1.  The student should be able to share what happened at each location on our journey today.

                   2.   The student should be able to explain how God miraculously designed the entire country to
                   become the land of “milk and honey.”

               3.  The student should be able to describe a cross section of the country north to south to see how the
               various elevations influence climate and other environmental conditions.

                12.3 Upper Galilee


                            The upper Galilee straddles the present day northern Israel to the border of Lebanon,
                            from the Mediterranean Sea to Hula Valley to the east.  It contains approximately 180
                            square miles.

                            Banias (Caesarea Philippi)

               Banias was a pagan community located at the foot
               of Mt. Hermon, the tallest mountain and
               northernmost corner of Israel. The Jordan River
               begins here in dramatic fashion, though it was
               even more dramatic in ancient times.

               The river begins today at the base of a great cliff.
               Before an earthquake on New Year’s Day in 1830,
               the river came out of a great opening in the cliff, a
               cave that appeared to be full of a never-ending
               supply of water. While two other tributaries also
               contribute water to the Jordan River, the water of
               Banias is closest to the mountain and therefore the
               birthplace of the river.

               Because the Jordan is so important to Israel,
               several pagan religions were attracted to this
               mysterious hole that gave life to the land of Israel.

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