Guided Historical Tour of the Holy Land | Beit She’an and Rome’s Influence (Video 11)

In case you missed it, watch the previous video: Easter and Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Join us at our next stop at Beit She’an, our eleventh destination in the virtual tour of Israel.  Beit She’an is a large prosperous outpost of Rome, located just south of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. Come along and see for yourself!

If you’re excited about the tour, be sure to invite your friends and family to join in on the journey! They can subscribe to our YouTube channel, follow along here on our blog, or catch us on Facebook, we’ll be posting there as well.

Beit She’an and Rome’s Influence

Melinda and I invite you to come with us to Beit She’an. a large prosperous outpost of Rome located just south of the Sea of Galilee in Israel.  The video tour will begin with Melinda walking up over the crest of a hill and panning the Roman ruins below. Then I will explain what you are seeing as we look at the excavated ruins from the top of the hill.  Finally, we will take you to the well-preserved Roman theater in Beit She’an. A quick warning—there will be a big boom at the end of the video. The Israeli Airforce happened to fly by at that moment, creating a sudden sonic boom.  Believe me, we were all pretty startled when it happened. So, come along to the Roman outpost of Beit She’an.

In the ancient world, Rome dominated the Mediterranean world.  One of the lands that Rome added to its empire was Judea, annexing it in 63 BC.   If you read the gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—the Romans pop up all the time.  Emperor Augustus ordered the census that forced Joseph and Mary to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem when Jesus would be born.  Matthew made a good living collecting taxes for the Romans before Jesus called him to be a disciple. Sometimes early Christians sometimes ran afoul of the Roman authorities, like Paul at the end of the book of Acts.  Sometimes they took advantage of the rights that Rome granted its citizens, and used its amazing infrastructure to spread the good news quickly and efficiently.