|
|
Mount Carmel means in Hebrew, Karm El, God’s vineyard.
|
|
Direction: Drive along the scenic road 672 south from Daliyat el-Karmil (2.5km), turn to the east to Muhraka. The Carmel had a great impact on the Old Testament Prophets, they used it as a symbol for strength, beauty and fertility. “the connection of the nabi [ Prophet in Arabic and Hebrew] with the future is not that of one who predicts. To be a nabi means to set the audience, to whom the words are addressed, before the choice and decision, directly or indirectly. The future is not something already fixed in this present hour, it is dependent upon the real decision, that is to say the decision in which man takes part in this hour.” On the southeastern spur of Mount Carmel lies Muhraka meaning ‘the sacrifice” and is the traditional site of Elijah’s (Hebrew: Eliyahu, àìéäå ; Arabic: Mar Elias) contest with the Prophets of Baal (I Kings 18:20-46). This episode takes place in the days of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel in the kingdom of Israel, who introduced the pagan cults. At El-Muhraka is since 1883 a Carmelite chapel. An altar made of twelve stones stands at the centre of the chapel. From the platform of the Carmelite monastery one can see the sea and the Brook Kishon (I Kings 18:40), that runs at the bottom of the hill in the Jezreel Valley. Mount Carmel’s rich red soil is covered by a typical Mediterranean shrub forest. There are beautiful Kermes Oak groves and not only flowering trees and delicious fragrant herbs, but all the flora of the North of Israel seems gathered in this favored spot. So early as November, the crocus, narcissus, pink cistus, and large daisy are in bloom, and the hawthorn in bud. In spring, wild tulips, dark red anemones, pink phlox, cyclamen, purple stocks, marigolds, geranium, and pink (Cistus salvifolius) and white (Cistus creticus) rock-roses make it spectacular. |
