Holy Land - 11.17 (Part 1)

We followed our normal routine of waking up at 6:00am, bags out and heading to breakfast by 7:00am, and on the road at 7:45am. The bus ride was short and we were soon at our first site -- Masada. We rode the cable car to the top and were amazed by the site, by Herod's creativity, by Roman ingenuity, and by the story of those Jews who chose to die there. Rather than be captured by the Romans and in order to avoid "suicide," the Jews devised a plan of mass murder, in which they divided nearly 1,000 people into 10 groups. Ten men were selected and each was instructed to kill 1/10 of the people, or one of the ten groups. The next man would kill the killer, then kill those in his group. The process was repeated, until the last man took his own life. Those who did the killing used a lottery system to determine the order and the one man who would ultimately be guilty of suicide. The story was told by two women who hid themselves and survived the attacks. You can read more about this event and see some pictures by clicking on these links: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/Masada1.html or http://www.bibleplaces.com/masada.htm

From Masada, we continued to En Gedi and saw the cave where it is believed that David hid when he fled from King Saul. Click on this link for pictures http://www.bibleplaces.com/engedi.htm

We stopped by an Acacia tree for a quick lesson on how soldiers made arrows and how God shapes us, then continued along a designated road (between the mine fields) to the place of the Jordan River where it is believed the Israelites crossed and Jesus was baptized. This was one of the most shocking sites, as the river was very narrow. We could have easily tossed a rock across the river and landed it in the country of Jordan. The river was dirty and full of bull rushes, but plenty deep enough to baptize.

From there, we went to the Qumran Cave #4 in the Essene community, the place where the Dead Sea scrolls were found in the late 1940's. The Bedouin boy's father first made a pair of sandals from one of the leather cases, the scrolls were then sold for $29, and then in 1954 they sold for $250,000 (the equivalent of over $2 million today). An earthquake had greatly changed the area, but the cave was easily recognizable.

From here, we set out for lunch at the city of Jericho.