Written by Rev. Josh Attaway
Today was a day filled with history and some fun time to relax. We got away from the stories we find in the Bible today and saw some things that have great significance for Israel and have had an impact on how we are able to read the Bible today.
We left the hotel this morning and drove out of Jerusalem going south and found ourselves in the Judean desert in just a few short minutes. As we were driving along, our tour guide Rafi began pointing out to us these different little settlements along the highway that looked like just slightly more than encampments. These are the Bedouin communities and are made up of people who live out in the desert who are mostly shepherds. It was fascinating to see how they live so close to the main cities, yet such different lifestyles.
We kept driving and eventually reached Masada. Masada is not ever mentioned in the Bible, but it has played a great role in the history of Israel. Masada is a stand-alone mountain that overlooks the Dead Sea. King Herod built a palace/fortress on the top of Masada right around the time of Jesus. It was built with the intent of being an escape fortress for Herod in case he was ever attacked. Being on top of a tall, steep mountain by itself it was nearly impossible to get to in Herod’s day so it made for a great place to escape and hide.
However, Herod never needed it for that reason so around the year 70 CE when Jerusalem was attacked by the Romans, some of the Jewish zealots fled from Jerusalem and went to Masada where they were able to hide for a couple of years. Eventually the Romans found them and built a giant ramp up the side of the mountain so they could get to the top and break in. When they finally broke in and came inside the walls of Masada they found that all the Jews hiding there had killed themselves so as not to be taken into slavery by the Romans. It has proven to be a powerful testimony to their belief in their identity as God’s children. They refused to become slaves and do the work of anyone other than God.
We toured around Masada for a while, seeing the ancient ruins that have now been uncovered and learning about what life was like there. After we were done seeing Masada and we rode the cable cars back to the bottom of the mountain we loaded up in the bus and went to Qumran where we had lunch and took a tour of the remains of Qumran.
Qumran is overlooking the Dead Sea and was the home of the Essene community. The Essenes were a group of devout Jews during the time of Jesus who wanted to separate themselves from the rest of the world for the focus of copying scriptures on scrolls, praying, and living their lives as an intentional community. It was the Essenes at Qumran who hid the scrolls of scripture from the Romans that were found just about 80 years ago that we now know as the Dead Sea scrolls. It was fascinating to see the caves and the place where this community lived and where they were able to save these treasured scrolls!
Finally, after we left from Qumran we went to have a little fun floating in the Dead Sea. We went to the beach and got in the water that is the lowest point on earth. As soon as you get in the water you can almost sit on top of it because of how salty it is. Rafi told us that it is made up of about one-third salt! We were only allowed to be in the water for about 15 minutes for health reasons so we got in and floated around for a little bit. Many people also cover themselves in the mud from the Dead Sea because of the extremely rich minerals that are in it and the health benefits it has for your skin. We decided to try this out as well and had a little too much fun getting covered in mud.
By the time we were done there we were all pretty tired and ready to head back to the hotel. We got back in time to get cleaned up and ready for church. Because we are 8 hours ahead of Oklahoma time we all gathered in the lobby of the hotel at 6:50 to watch the St. Luke’s online worship service!
After worship we grabbed some dinner and spent a little time just enjoying each other’s company. It has been a lot of fun getting to know new friends and getting to know old friends better on this trip. Tomorrow we will see more of Jerusalem, including the Western Wall and the Mount of Olives, as well as Jericho. Be sure to check back tomorrow for more updates!
