Mount Carmel

Our next stop was Mount Carmel where the prophet Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to call down fire on the altar (hint: Elijah won). The statue below in the courtyard shows the wrath of Elijah. There is a catholic church here, as on most sacred sites, which I will mostly skip over and go straight to the biblical significance.

This is the view from Mount Carmel which shows the Valley of Jezreel which is mentioned several times in the Bible. Elijah took the prophets of Baal down to the Kishon Brook where he killed all of them and washed his knife in the brook. In the background we also see Mount Tabor where the judge, Deborah, told her general, Barak, to go get the army of Israel and bring them back to the valley of Jezreel for battle. We can also see the city of Nazareth in the background (the hometown of Jesus) as well as Mount Gilboa where King Saul was killed along with his sons by the Philistines. We can also see the site of the villages of Shunnam, Nain (widow's sons were healed by Elijah and Jesus) and also Megiddo and what is traditionally considered the Mount of Tansfiguration.