I’m sitting on the balcony of our hotel, looking out over
the Dead Sea—what a difference a few hours drive south makes! Galilee was so green & this area is
so brown! It’s like the central
Texas hill country verses the deserts of West Texas. With a giant salt lake though!
We started our day driving south along the Jordan
River. Naomi said, “everyone look
left—there is the Jordan flag, that’s Jordan!” We drove along the border—on the right—Israel—it was green
& hilly & Jordan was not.
Israel got less & less green as we drove south though. We passed by a prison right outside my
window on the bus—I could have reached out & touched the barbed wire—Naomi
said, “this is a very serious prison—you don’t want to go there—it’s where the
Palestinian terrorists are.” Say
no more, I’m convinced I don’t want to go there!
We stopped at Herod’s Spring—not the king Herod, but the
spring mentioned in Judges 6-8 where Gideon told his army men to get a drink
& if they lapped like a dog they were told to go home & if they cupped
their hands to drink they went in to the battle. The funny thing to do there was so kneel down like you were
drinking. A little Old Testament
humor. :)
Drinking from Herod's Spring
We then drove to Bet She’an & walked around in the cold,
cold wind, seeing the ruins of the city built by the Greeks around 300BC. We got to sit in the theater, walk
through the Roman bath house & other ways the Greeks & Romans were
obsessed with outer appearance—the culture Jesus came into, telling them that
God doesn’t care about the outer appearance, but cares about the heart. The ruins of the Greek’s city were
built at the base of the Tel—the more ancient city—our guide gave us about 30
minutes to talk around before leaving & my mom & I decided to climb up
to the top of the hill—holy cow it was further than we thought but we made
it! Mom almost didn’t but I made
her. We didn’t come half way
across the world to stop half way up the hill! The view from the top of the hill was worth it! But we were so worn out & concerned
about making it back in time that we forgot to look for the Egyptian ruins from
when they had been in power! Oh
well, next time!
On top of the Tel of Bet She'an--see how windy it is!
After Bet She’an we continued driving south to Qumran to the
caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. It just continued getting browner & hotter the further
south we drove. We drove thru the
West Bank area & Jericho but did not go in to Jericho since it’s controlled
by Palestines & our Jewish tour guide couldn’t go with us. And they make it a hassle to go
in. No hassles for us—on to Qumran
where they don’t care who comes in!
But while we were passing Jericho all I could think about was how
miserable it’d be to march around a city 7 times or have to be out in this desert
at all for an extended period of time!
In Qumran we learned about the Essenes who lived there &
copied scrolls all day. They were
big on ritual cleansing (duh—it’s so hot & dusty, I’d turn getting clean
into a ritual as well)! We saw the
ruins of their settlement & the caves where they hid their scrolls when
they fled from the Romans after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in
70AD. I can’t wait to see part of
the Dead Sea Scrolls when we’re in Jerusalem! If you turn 180 degrees from the Dead Sea Scroll
caves—there’s the Dead Sea.
Crazy—all that water but it doesn’t give life to anything! We learned it’s salt content is 34%. The Mediterranean Sea is only 3%! Crazy. Can’t wait to float on it tomorrow!
There's the cave! Can you imagine living here or shepherding sheep here?
As we kept driving south to our hotel on the southern part
of the Dead Sea the mountains around us kept getting taller & we kept
getting lower. All the hotels at
the Dead Sea are on this southern part—a little “oasis” in the desert. Palm trees, flowers, plants—but only
right around the hotel. Brown,
brown, brown everywhere else!
Tomorrow is a half-day of touring & then an afternoon of
play by the Sea! Mazel!
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