We travelled south from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea area today and visited Masada, Qumran and Jericho.
We knew beforehand that Jerusalem is built on a hill and that the Dead Sea is under sea level, in fact the lowest point on the earth, but to drop 1,100m in altitude in just 50km was remarkable. It was on such a road that The Good Samaritan parable was enacted (Luke 10).
Masada is a dramatic fortress, the site of the last stand in 70AD of a group of 800 Jews against the might of Rome. The outcome was never in doubt despite their apparently impregnable position.
Qumran the location of the Dead Sea Scrolls dated to 100BC and containing parts of most of the Old Testament was a significant moment. The community lived in a small township and stored its documents in eleven of the hundreds of caves in the mountains behind the town.
The shrinking of the Dead Sea apparently due to the damming of the Jordan River amazed us. When we went for a “swim” we passed three change sheds located at one time on the coast each one further away than the next from the present coast. Swimming on our backs in the Dead Sea was a strange sensation (see picture).
We visited Jericho on the way back to Jerusalem, a sad contrast to the bigger city. Apparently Jericho is the site of the oldest city in the world – where man first settled down to farming. We saw a Sycamore tree like the one in Jesus encounter with Zacheus (Luke 19).
Even in winter the terrain is most uninviting – arid, rocky, mountainous. Flash floods are not unknown. How on earth anyone can exist in such an environment is unimaginable to us (soft westerners). We saw Bedouin with herds of goats along with donkeys and camels. One day we even saw goats herded through Jerusalem by a boy on a donkey.
Even the Israeli currency the shekel is a reminder of Biblical times every time we buy something.
One of the party found and bought a well preserved mite – the small coin of the Gospel account of the widow’s mite (Mark 12:42).
We knew beforehand that Jerusalem is built on a hill and that the Dead Sea is under sea level, in fact the lowest point on the earth, but to drop 1,100m in altitude in just 50km was remarkable. It was on such a road that The Good Samaritan parable was enacted (Luke 10).
Masada is a dramatic fortress, the site of the last stand in 70AD of a group of 800 Jews against the might of Rome. The outcome was never in doubt despite their apparently impregnable position.
Qumran the location of the Dead Sea Scrolls dated to 100BC and containing parts of most of the Old Testament was a significant moment. The community lived in a small township and stored its documents in eleven of the hundreds of caves in the mountains behind the town.
The shrinking of the Dead Sea apparently due to the damming of the Jordan River amazed us. When we went for a “swim” we passed three change sheds located at one time on the coast each one further away than the next from the present coast. Swimming on our backs in the Dead Sea was a strange sensation (see picture).
We visited Jericho on the way back to Jerusalem, a sad contrast to the bigger city. Apparently Jericho is the site of the oldest city in the world – where man first settled down to farming. We saw a Sycamore tree like the one in Jesus encounter with Zacheus (Luke 19).
Even in winter the terrain is most uninviting – arid, rocky, mountainous. Flash floods are not unknown. How on earth anyone can exist in such an environment is unimaginable to us (soft westerners). We saw Bedouin with herds of goats along with donkeys and camels. One day we even saw goats herded through Jerusalem by a boy on a donkey.
Even the Israeli currency the shekel is a reminder of Biblical times every time we buy something.
One of the party found and bought a well preserved mite – the small coin of the Gospel account of the widow’s mite (Mark 12:42).
I have a mite!!! One of the elders in our church gave it to me. :)
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