Friday, January 15, 2010

Jesus Teaches a Sermon on the Mount

Jesus went up into the Galilean Hills to give His Sermon on the Mount. The place where the sermon took place was north of Capernaum where Jesus centered His ministry while living in Peter's house. The mountain is sometimes called the "Mount of Beatitudes" after the Latin word "beatus" meaning blessed. Jesus chose fishermen of the Galilean Lake to be his disciples.

"And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain; and when He was set, His Disciples came unto Him. And He opened His mouth, and tuaghte them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kindgom of Heaven."

The exact location of the mountain is not certain. Some believe the mountain is the "Horns of Hattin." Between these "horns" is a small plateau which is the bed of and old creater of an extinct volcano about 2,000 feet above the Sea of Galilee. Here the Crusaders were defeated at the Battle of Hattin on July 4, 1187. The famous Muslim Sultan Saladin took back most of the territory controled by the Crusaders, except for the cities of Tyre, Antioch and Tripoli.

There are parallels between the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" = "Thy Kingdom come." "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness" = "Give us our day our daily bread."
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" = "Forgive us our trespasses."
"Blessed are the pure in heart" = "Lead us not into temptation."
"Blessed are th peacemakers" = "Deliver us from evil."

Yosee, our guide, tells us about the Sermon on the Mount.

Nancye at the Catholic church on the Mount of Beatitudes. This church is Byzantine in style with an octagonal shape representing the eight beatitudes. There are gold mosaic in the dome.

See some of my other sites about Israel:

Jesus at Mt. Precipice: http://mountprecipice.blogspot.com/

Shores of Galilee: http://galileeshores.blogspot.com/
More to come.

Tel Megiddo - Alpha and Omega - The First and the Last:

http://megiddofirstlast.blogspot.com/

http://potteryshards.blogspot.com/


The following prints are from an old book printed in 1886 which I have owned for almost 40 years:



Mosaic in the Catholic church.

Copyright 2010 Robert D. Ricketts