Masada-"Never Again"

We awoke early and hopped on the purple bus where we headed further south to Masada. Perched high atop a mountain overlooking the Dead Sea is the fortress commissioned by King Herod as a winter palace. Herod never set foot in Masada however. You can see from the bronze replica why this location made a wonderful fortress. Herod had enough food for a 5 year siege to hold 1,000 men. A narrow snake trail led to the top of the palace, wide enough for only one person at a time to travel. You can read more about this in Deut. 6.

After Jerusalem's fall in 70 A.D., Masada represented the last Jewish resistance to the powerful Roman Empire. In order to penetrate the fortress, the governor of Rome, Flavius Silva, constructed a huge ramp. When the Romans made it to the top, they saw how determined the Jews were not to be conquered again. They found all but seven of the Jews had been killed or committed suicide. The actual lots that were used to determine how and when these deaths would happen were discover.

Because there were a few remaining children and women, the truth about the final days has been recorded.

Masada has been destroyed by earthquakes over time. Archaeologists have marked a black line around the stone walls where they have added or rebuilt walls. Remember our guide Ido? Well, as a captain in the Navy, he and his men climbed the snake trail and upon reaching the top their commanding officer gave each of them a bible and a rifle. They all repeated "Masada; This will never happen again." Masada is almost 1500 feet above the Dead Sea and 300 feet above sea level. You can see how it looks down over the land and sea below. It was an amazing place to view and probably one of my most favorite.

The Lowest Place on Earth - The Dead Sea

We are at the lowest place on earth-1,300 feet below sea level to be exact. The water is beautiful, calm and loaded with salt; 33% to be exact. The minerals and black mud from the sea are supposed to be the best thing for your skin, so we coated up and then went into the salty water to scrub it off. I thought it was just about one of the most disgusting things I have ever done!

You cannot sink in the water. You just sit there

and float. These pictures were take outside our hotel. Now for a person terrified of fish, this is the perfect place to go into the water. Absolutely nothing is living!

Our hotel was basically carved into the mountain side. It is all rocky and dusty on the outside, but plush and lovely inside. All hotels are made of cinder block, cement, or other gray stucco looking stuff. No real lumber nearby.

En Gedi "spring of the kid"

En Gedi sits high atop the Dead Sea and is south of Qumran. It is 10 miles North of Masada one of our next stops.

En Gedi was originally inhabited by the Amorites. The Song of Solomon mentions the "vineyards of En Gedi (1:14). Believe it or not there is a waterfall that has been there for thousands of years and the abundance of water from it creates a year-round oasis on the west coast of the Dead Sea. Because of the vast amount of water and the heat, it is a great place for growing crops.

It is also in this same area that David hid from King Saul and cut off Saul's garment (1Samuel 23:29-24;22). Jehoshaphat defeated his enemies at En Gedi (II Chronicles 20).

This lone tree is actually sitting on the top edge of a cliff overlooking the Dead Sea FAR below. From the park grounds we looked down at wildlife. I don't know if you can see the ibex in the mountain picture or not, but it was really cool. Looked like at deer or something. I'll have to check one of them out at the SD zoo next time I am there.

We left this location and headed down the hills to the Dead Sea, some 1300 feet below sea level!

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Several years ago I had the opportunity to see a huge exhibit at the San Diego Art Museum on the Dead Sea Scrolls. The traveling exhibit took up two levels of museum space. The first consisted of information and photos of Israel-the geography and history. Basically, San Diego is at the same Latitude as Israel, so our weather and terrain is very similar. For those of you familiar with the SD area, much of Israel is a lot like the Escondido-North I-15 route. Lush in some areas, rock, hilly, and barren in others.

But Qumran - where the scrolls were hidden-

is unlike anything we are used to seeing. It is mountainous and rocky, littered with caves EVERYWHERE. See the two holes at the top of the picture? That is where a Bedouin goat herder lost one of his sheep (1948). It fell down the hole and the herder did not want to climb down and get it. The story goes that he threw a rock down the hole in hopes that the old goat would climb out. The result was a breaking sound - and no goat. The herder had broken one of the jars holding the ancient scrolls! And the rest is history as they say.

An ancient sect of Jews (1st century B.C. to 70 A.D), the Essences, were dedicated to the study of the Torah. This religious group spent years in seclusion recording the scrolls that contain portions of every book of the Old Testament (except Esther). The book of Isaiah was found in its complete form! The picture here depicts a portion of the living quarters of these men. Evidence suggests that the Essenes were forced to leave Qumran quickly, hiding their scrolls in earthen jars, hoping to return later. We know that never happened.

Here is a cool thing to consider: until 1947 the oldest complete manuscripts from the Old Testament in our possession dated from approximately 100 A.D. (1400 years after the completion of the Old Testament). Many folks think that changes could have occurred (and logically so) in the text during such a long span of time, BUT comparisons to the Dead Sea Scrolls demonstrates the accuracy of today's version!

To me this was as amazing a site as Masada was. Israel's history is so far reaching; we cannot compare with it. It was a desolate place and yet that was the very thing that saved this piece of history for humanity. You can see some of the actual jars where the scrolls were found.

This was probably one of my most memorable and favorite sites. If you ever have the opportunity to see a display about the Scrolls, please do.

Bet She'an

After the baptism, we hopped on the bus and headed for the ancient city of Bet She'an. While this city is of no real biblical significance, it was an important Roman city through which many people lived and passed through. Today, only 20% has been uncovered. It is a massive excavation site with dozens of huge pillars still standing and mosaic tiles everywhere. We were able to bring home some of the original tiles. Now I have a pottery shard from Caesarea, shells from the Mediterranean and the Sea of Galilee, and mosaic tiles from Bet She'an. I also gathered rock from Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls are from, and a rock from Masada. A little piece of history from around the world, thousands of years ago now in my house!

They have also uncovered a huge Roman bath house similar to the one we saw when in Bath, England. It was a very sophisticated and huge!

Off in the distance is a massive hill, called a Tel, that acted as a defensive lookout.

Today, the 5,000 seat theater has been cleaned up and concerts are held (on the newly installed wooden platform) during the summer months. Guest enter through ancient archways, like those thousands of years ago. Cool place to visit! They even offered reserved seating back then. On the seat back is etched a letter or symbol that let people know which was your seat. But as our guide, Ido would say, "Folks you ain't seen nothing yet!" So back on the bus we went as we head for Qumran.