Some brief background articles for a trip to Israel/Palestine

I’ll be over in Israel and/or Palestine a bit in May and June, accompanying tours there, so I’ve decided to gather up links to columns that I’ve written for the Deseret News about some of the sites that we’ll be visiting.  I’m not sure that this is an exhaustive collection of such columns, but some might find these links of value:

Lod (David Ben Gurion International Airport):

“A modern airport and a very ancient history”  (18 April 2015)

Caesarea Marítima, on the Mediterranean:

“The ‘Pilate Stone’ in Israel’s Caesarea-by-the-Sea” (3 May 2018)

Nazareth:

“Archaeology and the boyhood of Jesus in Nazareth” (12 March 2015)

“Recent scholarship and the search for the historical Jesus”  (21 January 2016)

“Nazareth’s ‘Synagogue Church’ where Jesus may have worshipped as a young man” (26 May 2017, with William J. Hamblin)

Sepphoris:

“Sepphoris — ‘The ornament of the Galilee'” (29 April 2016, with William J. Hamblin)

Capernaum, on the Sea of Galilee:

“Capernaum bears witness of Christ”  (9 June 2010)

“The archaeology of Peter’s hometown”  (7 March 2015, with William J. Hamblin)

Magdala, on the Sea of Galilee:

“Did Jesus teach in this ancient synagogue?”  (15 April 2016, with William J. Hamblin)

“Processing fish and calling apostles on the Sea of Galilee”  (28 April 2017, with William J. Hamblin)

Near Jericho, on the River Jordan:

“Is this the place of Christ’s baptism?” (27 April 2018)

Jerusalem:

“Going up to Jerusalem” (30 April 2015)

“Rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem?”  (3 May 2014, with William J. Hamblin)

“Jerusalem’s disputed Temple Mount”  (29 November 2014, with William J. Hamblin)

“When Jesus purged the temple at Jerusalem”  (5 May 2016)

Herzliyya:

“Has the ‘signature’ of the prophet Isaiah been found?”  (7 March 2018)

One of the groups that I’ll be accompanying will spend several nights in the Israeli coastal town of Herzliyya, on the Mediterranean at the northern tip of Tel Aviv.  These two articles will provide some background on the man for whom Herzliyya is named:

“Theodor Herzl, from integration to segregation”  (1 March 2019, with William J. Hamblin)

“Theodor Herzl and the Jewish dream of return”  (15 March 2019, with William J. Hamblin)

I was a bit surprised, looking over this list, to see major gaps.  There are several subjects about which I thought that I had written columns, but appparently haven’t.  Maybe it’s simply because I talk so much about them on these tours.  Places like Caesarea Philippi, Qumran, Wadi Hammam, and the like merit mention in my writing for the Deseret News.  At least I have the happy confirmation that I won’t run out of topics any time soon.