Samaria

Our course calendar originally had us scheduled to explore the new city of Jerusalem today, but since the site of Samaria had just been re-opened, we switched our trip to head north of the city. Our first site was Tel Shilo, where the tabernacle was located during the early years of Samuel. The people came to Shilo once a year for a feast and sacrifice and it was at one of these feasts that the "creative dating solution" took place in the vineyards near the city. Shilo was destroyed in the 11th century BC, when Eli was high priest of Israel and the Ark of the Covenant was lost in battle. The messenger probably took the Berzeith route from the Sharon Plain into the hill country, running to warn the population that the Philistines were coming behind him to destroy the city. The Bible does not say directly that Shilo was destroyed, but archaeological evidence supports the theory, as does Jeremiah when he refers to God's judgement on Shilo for it's wickedness in chapters 7 and 26. The first part of Jeremiah 7 explains the reasons for the destruction of Shilo, while warning Jerusalem to reform - their relationships with each other were broken, as was their relationship with God. In verse 11, Jeremiah calls the Temple "a den of robbers", which Jesus echos when he clears the Temple. In both situations, the people are being warned that the injustices being practiced will lead to the destruction of the Temple - a message which is not received well. After watching a video on the history of the Tabernacle at Shilo and exploring the tel (there wasn't much to explore!), we headed north to Mt. Gerizim, where the blessings were read after the Israelites entered the land, as instructed by Moses. (The curses were read off Mt. Ebal across the valley.) We walked to a spot overlooking Nablus (which was called Shechem in the Old Testament and Sychar in the New Testament) where our prof pointed out the various landmarks, including the location of Jacob's well. When Jesus meets the Samaritan women at the well and she says that her "fathers worshiped on this mountain", she is referring to Mt. Gerizim, where the Samaritans still gather to worship today. We then had the privilege of being able to hear a Samaritan priest explain their beliefs and how they differ from Judaism. There are only about 700 Samaritans today, descendants of the tribes of Levi, Ephraim, and Manasseh. One really interesting part of their religion is that they still gather for Passover once a year and sacrifice sheep. The sheep are lined up along a ditch and all the throats cut at once. The blood is used to mark the door frames of the homes, just like on the night of the Exodus. The organs are burned and the rest of the meat is cooked and eaten, the leftovers burned on the alter. They also dress as in the time of the Exodus, complete with a staff in their hands! One of the men in town had the key to the ruins of a 7th century Justinian Church, so we made a quick visit to the site. The Samaritans believe that their temple was located at the same spot, but there isn't any evidence to support this claim. We had lunch in the courtyard of the church of Jacob's Well, then a quick look around the church which was being kept open later than normal just for us! We weren't allowed to take pictures in the room with the well, but trust me, it's a deep well - they poured a cup of water into the well and it took several seconds for it to finally hit the water below! We left the church and had a quick visit of Tel Shechem, where the Israelites renewed their covenant with God, and where Simeon and Levi killed the inhabitants after one of them violated their sister Dinah. Jacob was afraid that this incident would bring trouble between his family and the Canaanites and Perizzites, but obviously it didn't affect relations too badly, as later, Joseph's brothers are grazing their flocks near Shechem when his brothers attack and sell him. It could be that some of his family had intermarried with them -this familial connection may explain why, when the Israelites return to conquer the land, there is no record of any conflict in this area - it seems to have been settled in a peaceful manner! Shechem is also the setting for the story of Abimelech, and the location of the northern kingdom of Israel's first capital, however, even though the city is in a good locations with respect to trade, it was not easily defended, so the capital was later moved. Our final stop was Sabastia, the site of Samaria. We were the first JUC group to visit in 10 years - there was a lot of violence in this area for a few years and now the main road to the site, which is lined with half buried Roman columns, has been chewed up by tank tracks. We took a back road up the hill - a tight, windy road that the bus just managed to squeeze through. Omri bought the land and built his capital here in the 9th century BC - an easily defendable position which took the Assyrians three years of siege to conquer. From here, Israel was able to maintain control over the Coastal Plain and the Jezreel Valley, controlling the trade along the Coastal Highway and becoming wealthy in the process. The city was rebuilt by the Romans whose temple to Augustus could be seen from Caesarea.

Returning to Jerusalem

Our first stop on the way back to Jerusalem was at Beth-shan. After Saul's death, his body was taken here and hung on the city walls before being removed by the men of Jabesh-gilead. Since it was the girls from Jabesh-gilead that were part of the "creative dating solution" used to find wives for Benjaminite men after they were almost wiped out, there were familial loyalties between Jabesh-gilead and Benjamin, which is why they, and not the men of other towns, would take the risk to remove Saul's body. David then thanked the people of Jabesh-gilead for burying Saul, and in his words David showed respect and allegiance to Israel's former king, gaining him some of the loyalty of Saul's followers. After Saul's death, David cursed Mt. Gilboa, the mountain just west of Beth-shan, saying that dew and rain would never again fall on it's slopes. Whether because of this curse or some natural cause, the slopes of Mt. Gilboa are bare of trees and shrubs - a great reminder of the event that happened there. Joshua didn't conquer Beth-shan, and there is still evidence of the Egyptian governor's palace on the tel. When the Romans conquered the city, they built their city at the base of the hill, which had simply become too high, and renamed it Scythopolis. The city was destroyed by an earthquake in 749 AD. Only the public areas have been excavated and restored, the surrounding houses are still buried. We had fun exploring the area - the large bathhouse, the theatre, and of course, the public toilets where everyone sits down together in a row.

Continuing up the Harod Valley, we reached Jezreel, the second capital of the Northern Kingdom. From this vantage point, you can see from the Jordan River in the east to the Kishon Pass, leading to the Mediterranean, in the west, and therefore the whole valley and the valuable trade route that runs through it can be controlled from this city. Jezreel was probably used as a winter palace, since it isn't as cold in this area as in Samaria. It's just outside of Jezreel that Ahab takes Naboth's vineyard from him. He wanted to convert Naboth's vineyard into a vegetable garden, which would make the land more valuable and also show off the King's status. Gardens require more water than a vineyard, meaning that it must have been close to the spring in Jezreel, which Ahab would have had control over. (The vineyard was probably close to the clump of trees in the valley on the right side of the picture.)

We tried to have lunch at the Gihon Spring, where Gideon sorted his men before battle, but there were so many mosquitos that we fled to a hill beside Zippori, our next stop.

Herod Antipus was rebuilding Zippori in the time of Jesus, and it's likely that Joseph worked on the site. The word used to describe Joseph's occupation is "tecton", meaning not only carpenter, but also mason; he was probably more like today's general contractor. There are a few well preserved mosaic floors, but there's nothing too exciting about the ruins. From the roof of a Byzantine tower, we were able to look across the valley to Cana, where Jesus did his first miracle, turning water into wine at a wedding. The wedding took place on the third day - Tuesday - which is still seen by Jews to be a good day to get married. That is because, during creation, God said "It was good" twice on that day and on the sixth day (but a wedding on Friday would interfere with the Sabbath day rest), but only once on the other days.

Our final stop in the Galilee was at Beth Shavim to explore the tombs of some famous rabbinical families. The tombs were carved into the hill and contain rooms filled with large, stone ossuaries. It was interesting to see the size of these tombs and the small entryways to get in. The stone door used to seal the tomb was still referred to as a "rolling stone", just like the one that closed Jesus' tomb.

We had some issues getting back into Jerusalem with the bus. June 1 is Jerusalem day, where Jewish Israelis march into Jerusalem to celebrate the reunification of the city and declare their intent to never let it be divided again, causing several roads to be closed, but the list of closed roads isn't released due to security reasons. They like to march through the Arab sections of the city, which obviously leads to tension, so there was extra security throughout the city. We were dropped off a few blocks north of Damascus gate (the closet the bus could get us to the city), so we had a 15 minute walk back to the hotel - I'm happy I had my travel backpack and not a suitcase that had to be pulled down the bumpy stone streets!

The Galilee

We were supposed to start our day with a boat trip across the Sea of Galilee, but we left the hotel a bit late and missed our boat, so our schedule for the day was reversed. Our first stop was the Arbel Cliffs - not to learn anything about the region (besides having an overview of the various locations along the northern part of the lake), but to have some fun! We climbed down the cliffs, hiked along the base, then came up the cliff in a different spot. There were a few cables and metal hand-holds drilled into the rock, but that was it for a safety system - in North America we'd be wearing harnesses and helmets, in Israel, the basically tell you "don't be stupid". It was really fun to climb down and up, the only bad part being the climbing up in full sun in high heat.

After relaxing and cooling down at the top, we headed to the church celebrating the Beatitudes. In Matthew, it talks about Jesus' sermon on the mount, but in Luke, Jesus gives the sermon down on the plain. We aren't sure of the actual location, but the church is built in a flat area part way down a hill, so it's possible that both descriptions are correct. It could also be that the sermon was not done all at once, but could instead be a collection of sermons from several occasions. In the sermon, Jesus says that he has come to fulfill the law. Torah means "to shoot" or "to point", as in, it points us in the right way to live. Jesus is responding to accusations of throwing away the law, saying instead that He has come to fulfill, or rather, to show the proper way to obey the law.

We were given some time to explore the church and ground, and meditate on the sermon, then it was off to the ruins of Korazin and lunch. Korazin isn't mentioned much in the Bible, but is made "famous" by Jesus' statement, "Woe to you, Korazim ..." (yes, I do realize that the spelling is different, but it's the same place.) Here, the woe in Hebrew is "oy" (as in "oy vey"), meaning "Pay attention! Beware!" So this is not necessarily a curse, but a warning. There is a synagoge at the site, built between the third and fifth centuries AD, made of ornately carved basalt. There is also a replica of a Moses seat that was found here - in the synagogue, large portions of the Torah, prophets, etc. would be read while standing on a platform, then the reader would give a short explanation the passages while sitting on the Moses seat. The reader did not have to be a rabbi or a priest, though if a rabbi was passing through the area, they often got him to do the reading. That is why, when Jesus went to the synagogue in Nazareth he was asked to read. The odd part about him reading, was that normally, large sections would be read (the reading would be much longer than the interpretation), but Jesus stopped after reading only a small section, and stopped in the middle of a sentence!

We were also shown the portion of roof on the synagogue that still exists - stone slabs covering the gap between supports. These stones would be covered with clay and straw, which needed to be repaired or replaced before each winter. Knowing that, it makes more sense that the people didn't react when the men dug a hole in the roof to lower the paralytic man. If someone cut a hole in my roof I'd be pretty mad at them, but they needed to redo the roof anyway, so it wasn't that big a deal that someone destroyed it!

As an aside: The synagogue was seen as a place of teaching, the temple in Jerusalem, a place of prayer. To pray, 10 Jews needed to be present (until the middle ages, the 10 could be made up of males or females, it then became 10 men when the Muslims began to spread their influence in the region) - 10 was a quorum and came to represent all Israel. So, when the spies came back from the land and 10 gave a negative report, "all Israel grumbled".

The next stop was along the Jordan River, then onto Capernaum. Capernaum was at the border of Herod's territory and along an international highway, and therefore had more traffic than Nazareth and was a good spot to be able to reach a lot of people. This is also where Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector - he probably worked a toll booth along the highway (and would have had fixed rates based on goods being transported) and therefore was not seen to be as bad as the roaming tax collectors, who could easily charge more and claim the excess for themselves.

Jesus was in Capernaum when the centurion sent men to ask Jesus to heal his servant. Aware of the distinction between Jew and Gentile, he sent Jewish leaders to Jesus who told him about the centurion, who was probably a God-fearer given that he paid for the synagogue to be constructed. The centurion knew that Jesus coming into his house would be an exception to how Jesus lived as a Jew, so tells Jesus not to come to his house. The centurion's statement about himself being a man under authority with servants under him, is not him ordering Jesus, but means that the centurion expects Jesus to obey the commands written in the law and contained in oral tradition. Because of the centurion's faith that Jesus can heal, even if he doesn't see or touch the person, Jesus describes him as someone with "great faith" - a compliment Jesus only gives to Gentiles!

Peter's mother-in-law lived in Capernaum, and the house became one of the early church buildings - the ruins are located under the church. (I just wish that they had built the church a meter higher so that we could get a better look at it!)

Our next church of the day was the one celebrating the miracle of the loaves and fish, aptly named the "Loaves and Fish's Church". There is a rock under the alter where the miracle is traditionally thought to have taken place, and a mosaic in front of two fish and a plate with 4 loaves between them (this picture is copied onto ceramics found all over Israel). While the Bible tells us that Jesus broke five loaves, the mosaic only shows four - Jesus is the fifth loaf, and symbolized by the bread on the alter that is broken during communion.

Just a short walk away was the Primacy of Peter Church. Fishing on the Sea of Galilee, Peter was probably naked or only wearing undergarments, since fishermen would often dive into the water to bring in their nets, so when Jesus called to him, he had to get dressed and make himself decent. Jesus then asks Peter three times if he loves him. In English, we only have one word for love, but in the Greek, there are four types of love, from greatest love to lesser: agape, eros, philos, and storge. The first two times, Jesus used agape and Peter responded with philos. The third time, Jesus used philos and Peter also responds using philos. Peter was being humble, saying that he didn't quite measure up. In switching to the lesser form of love, Jesus showed him mercy, saying it didn't matter where Peter was in his love for Jesus, that Peter could still do Jesus' work. The distinctions in love may not be that big, as the conversation probably did not occur in Greek and therefore only one word for love may have been used, but the way John wrote it up gives us this lesson.

Our final stop for the day was at the "Jesus Boat Museum" were we viewed a 2000 year old boat dug out of the mud of Galilee and the same style as those that Peter and the other disciples would have used while fishing. Then it was onto our own, larger boat, for the trip across the lake from Tiberias to Ein Gev. The crew raised the US and Canadian flags for us, and after everyone (except me - I don't know the words) sang along with the US anthem the crew played, I had to do a solo version of the Canadian anthem! We had fun hanging over the sides of the boat, listening to the other praise and worship music they played for us, and just admiring the view of the hills around the lake. Like the previous nights, we spent a good amount of time swimming in the lake again in the evening!

The Golan Heights

Leaving our resort, our first stop was at the ruins of a Byzantine church in Kursi, one of the three spots suggested to be Gergasa, the place in the Gerasenes where Jesus drove the demons out into the pigs. Two other sites have been identified as having possibly been Gergasa, but the caves above this spot and the fact that it is closest to the lake and the steepest slope into the lake, make this spot the most plausible. Gergasa was part of the Decapolis - a coalition of non-Jewish cities, mostly located in the Golan Heights and Gilead. Reading through the story and comparing it to other miracle stories, it's interesting that when Jesus is surrounded by Jews, he instructs the healed person not to tell anyone how they were healed, but this man, surrounded by Gentiles, is told to tell everyone!

Heading up away from the coast and into the Golan, we came to Gamla. We didn't walk to the ruins, only to the overlook (where we sat listening to the Israeli tanks practice firing artillery). The city was settled on the southern slope of the hill between the third and second centuries BC. During the Great Revolt, the Romans attacked the city and the people tried to flee by jumping from roof to roof. The roofs started to collapse, killing more soldiers than died in the battle. The battle ended with the people jumping of the steeper side and committing suicide (though this was recorded by Josephus, who ends every battle with the losers committing suicide). We walked back to the bus along the canyon rim, watching the vultures which have been re-introduced to the area. I found the whole area of Golan to be really pretty - wildflowers everywhere! Given the abundance of grasses, it's no wonder at where the strong bulls, fattened animals, and cows of Bashan statements came from.

We saw the tanks we had been hearing on the side of the road as we headed to our next stop, Mt. Bental in the Volcanic Park Garden. This overlook contains an old Israeli bunker which we could explore and a good view over the Syrian border and also of Mt. Hermon in Lebanon. We were only 60 km from Damascus, so talked a bit about Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus while overlooking the area where it probably took place. At the time, the Christians were worshipping in the synagogues - Christianity still being viewed as a sub-branch of Judaism, not it's own religion. Therefore, before going into the synagogues to "correct" the people, Paul had to go to the High Priest for permission to go into the synagogues in order to give him the authority he required to discipline believers.

Heading west, we came to Banias, which Herod Philip had called Ceasarea Philippi. Originally, it was called Panias, after the god Pan (god of forests and shepherds), but the people who settled here later couldn't pronounce the "p" so it became a "b". A cave with a spring supplying water for the Jordan was the site of Pan worship, and later, Herod built a palace and temple to Augustus in the area. This is the place where Simon's name is changed to Peter. The story begins with Jesus asking his disciples who people said the "son of man" was. There are three ways this term can be interpreted - as a human being, as a polite way to refer to oneself (the meaning Jesus was most likely using), or as an angelic or messianic figure. After Simon gives his response (the Christ), Jesus renames him Peter (meaning rock), and tells him that "on this rock [he] will build [his] church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." The "gates of Hades" (or hell) is often thought, and taught, to be another name which was used by the Jews to refer to the cave at Ceasarea Philippi, but there is no objective historical evidence to support this assumption. We then moved on to the statement "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." We often don't understand the meaning of that statement, but given that bound means it's forbidden and loosed means it's allowed, Jesus was giving the disciples permission to create oral commandments.

We then drove to Dan, along the practical border with Lebanon - a fence separating the road from the minefield (the first time I've seen "Danger! Mines!" signs tied to a fence). After Solomon's death, the people asked his son, Rehoboam, to reduce their taxes - at the time, the Israelites were required to give one month of service per year to the King, while the Canaanites had to give 3 months of service per year. When Rehoboam replies, saying that he will tax more than his father, he sends the guy who was in charge of the Canaanite tax. The people revolted, and Israel was divided into the northern kingdom (which continued to be called Israel) lead by Jeroboam and Judah, ruled by Rehoboam. Jeroboam doesn't want his citizens going to Jerusalem to worship, so he builds two high places - one at Bethel and one at Dan - and erects golden calfs for the people to worship. It seems like a quick switch in allegiances to go from worshipping God to worshiping an idol in the form of a golden calf (which we tend to assume is Baal), but that isn't exactly what it was. It's the same as when Aaron made the golden calf for the Israelites in the wilderness. In Baal worship, the golden calf is what Baal stands on - Baal is the figure ON the calf. So when Aaron, and later Jeroboam, made the calf without a figure standing on it, he isn't calling the calf a god, but pointing out the place where he decided God should dwell. That is why after Aaron made the golden calf in the wilderness, he declared a festival to God! The Ark of the Covenant uses similar imagery - between the wings of the angels, God met the Israelites. Jeroboam simply returned to Israel's past roots and used a calf to symbolize where God resided. Jeroboam and Israel didn't turn away from God, but from the traditional worship of God (which was still a sin). The prophets never preached against Bethel and Dan (Hosea mentions it, but it isn't the main message) and the criticism we read usually comes from the books of Kings, which were written by the southern kingdom. In later years, the names of the people in the northern kingdom continue to have Yahwistic roots, so they probably continued to follow God, even if their methods of following him were wrong.

After walking past the ancient, mud-brick gates, we headed back to the resort and spent the evening swimming in the lake and watching the sunset - a nice relaxing way to end a busy day.

Sharon and Jezreel Plains

Our first stop on the way to the Galilee was along the Mediterranean coast in Caesarea. Before Herod the Great built the port, it was just a re-supply point. Herod built the port and changed the trade routes so that they would pass through Israel on their way to the sea, and in turn, increase the wealth of the area. The city became the capital of the region for about 600 years.

While sitting in the theatre, we learned about how the Jews viewed Gentiles during the time of Christ, and how the view the early church (mostly Jews) had to change. Gentiles were viewed by the Jews as pagans - they avoided interaction with them and would never enter their homes or invite them into theirs ... they were unclean. While it isn't against the Torah for Jews to interact with Gentiles, there were other oral laws, made to prevent the Torah from being disobeyed, that prohibited it. In Acts, we are introduced to Cornelius, described as devote and God-fearing (but not a Jew) as he is praying at 3 in the afternoon. (As an aside, this was the time of the sacrifice at the temple, so it was seen as good time to pray). In verse 9, the story switches to Peter and his vision of unclean animals and a voice telling him to kill and eat them. We often don't understand his reaction and confusion (since we don't live with dietary laws), but as our prof told us, this would be "like an angel telling you to get a prostitute and go have fun tonight" - it just isn't something we would even think of doing! Peter's understanding comes when the Spirit tells him that three men are waiting for him and to not hesitate to go with them - before this, Peter would never have thought to associate with Gentiles, let alone invite the men into the house as guests! We often view this passage as telling us that we no longer have to obey dietary laws, but that isn't how Peter understood it. To him, God was now calling Gentiles clean and therefore, he was now allowed to interact with them without worrying about disobeying the Torah. One of the first church councils focused on this very matter - what to do about the Gentiles who have come to believe in Christ? Do they have to follow all the laws of the Torah? A letter is written to the Gentile believers to outline the laws that they must follow: to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. At this time, most of these Gentiles probably attended the synagogue (which would be providing them with a moral law), so only these four instructions were required to be followed. This was a huge turning point in the history of the early Church - without this decision, Gentiles would first have to become Jewish before they could become Christians, and it probably enabled Christianity to spread faster.

Back to the present day and the ruins of Ceasarea ... After our lecture in the theatre, we explored the rest of the city ruins, including a hippodrome and the only temple built to honour Tiberius (he had decreed that no temples should be built in his name). After this, we had a quick stop at the aqueduct that supplied the city with water, and I was finally able to put my feet into the Mediterranean!

Our next stop was on top of Mt. Carmel, where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal. Before the Israelites conquered the land, this area was Baal's country - people believed that the gods stayed with the land, not the people, so if you moved to a new land, you also switched gods. (This is why, after Naaman is cured of leprosy, he takes home soil so that he can continue to worship God.) Baal was the god of storms, so after three years without rain, the people must have been tempted, out of desperation, to worship Baal - thinking that they had offended him and that is why the rain had stopped. Also, when Elijah tells them that their god must answer their prayers with fire, it makes sense - fire from heaven is lightening, something the god of storms should have no problem creating! The prophets of Baal are not successful, no storms develop and no lightening shoots from the sky, so Elijah "repaired the altar of the LORD, which had been torn down" and proceeds to douse it with water - considering that this was after a three year drought, he wasted a lot of water doing this! When God lights Elijah's sacrifice, there is still no storm, no rain clouds, only fire from heaven. The rain finally comes after Ahab sets off for Jezreel, across the valley from Mt. Carmel. The heavy rain probably turned this valley into mud causing his chariot to get stuck, which explains whey Elijah was able to run ahead of Ahab - he probably stuck to the edge of the valley just where the ridge starts to rise, and avoided the muck!

Looking east towards Megiddo from Mt. Carmel

We descended into the Jezreel valley and stopped at Tel Megiddo, then across the valley to Nazareth where we visited the Church of the Annunciation (a modern church built in the 1960s).

Stables at Tel Megiddo

Church of the Annunciation

We then drove out to a lookout and talked about the story of Deborah. A Canaanite king was using his iron chariots (commanded by Sisera) to oppress the Israelites and they went to Deborah for help. She summoned Barak, whose name means "lightening", to fight them. Sisera and his troops were lured to the Kishon River at the mouth of the Jezreel valley to fight the Israelites. Considering Barak's name and the fact that Sisera "abandoned his chariot and fled on foot", it likely rained, causing the valley to become mud, rendering the chariots more of a hinderance than an advantage. Sisera flees to the tent of Jael, and is given milk and then covered up - while this may not sound like much to us, in that culture, those actions contained a sexual innuendo. Therefore, Jael now had to kill him or be killed for her indiscretions. All Bedouin women set up tents, so are skilled at driving tent pegs into the ground, so it's not surprising that that is the method she chooses to use to kill Sisera. It's also interesting that only Zebulun and Naphtali are mentioned as fighting with Barak, but in the Song of Deborah which follows this story, all the tribes except Judah are mentioned. Some scholars believe that the stories contained in the book of Judges may have occurred after Israel had it's first king, and in that case, the story of Deborah may have happened after the kingdom divided.

Mt. Tabor and the Jezreel Valley

We spent the night at the Ein Gev Holiday Resort on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. We shared cute little cabins and really enjoyed swimming in the lake - so refreshing after a day of hiking in the heat!

Galilee Preview

The class had an exam this morning, so I just relaxed and fooled around on the internet a bit before going to class later in the morning for a preview of our Galilee trip, and after lunch, the preview for the Jordan trip. I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the Garden Tomb (definitely NOT the tomb Jesus was buried in - the design is from the 7th century BC), walking back to the hotel through the Old City. After supper, we spent some time in the New City enjoying the nightlife along Ben-Yehuda St.

The Dead Sea

We left the hostel early in order to climb Masada before it got too hot. We walked up the back of Masada, up the Roman siege ramp - an easier route than the Snake Path up the front. The top was much bigger than I expected and it was interesting to walk around the ruins and look over the wilderness and the Dead Sea.

One of the Roman camps surrounding Masada

A scribe at work in the synagogue

Looking north east to the Dead Sea

Original paint in Herod's lower palace

Large cistern at the top of the fortress

The snake trail

After hiking down the Snake Path in the blazing heat, we really welcomed our next stop at En-Gedi on the Dead Sea (where the thermometer on the wall said it was 37 degrees). It's a weird feeling to be able to float above the water - it's about 27% salt. Water levels have dropped a lot in recent years (about 1m per year!) due to water being taken from the Jordan River, so there isn't a beach anymore, just a steep slope to the water. After playing around for a while, being careful not to splash (it's painful to get any in the eyes or nose), we showered off and had lunch.

The next stop was just up the road at Nahal David. This area is mentioned a few times in the Bible, such as when David is hiding from Saul in a cave and Saul comes in to relieve himself. An interesting fact that I learned about this story - the corner of the robe, where the tassles where, is also where they used to attach symbols of identification (such as today's military medals), so when David cut the corner of Saul's robe off, he wasn't just cutting off a corner of Saul's robe, but was dishonouring Saul. After this brief discussion, we hiked up to the waterfalls.

Further up the coast of the Dead Sea, we came to the ruins of Qumran, the site of the Dead Sea Scrolls. While it was interesting to hear about the life of the people that lived here and their religious beliefs, the high temperatures (and no shade) made it hard to concentrate! We climbed up to Cave #11, but other than the bat guano, there wasn't much to see in there. At the end of the day, we were grateful to get back to the hotel and into a cool shower!