Saturday Evening, March 9, 2019
Dead Sea
By early evening on Saturday we left Masada and headed for our hotel for the night at the Dead Sea. We had just enough time before sunset to head to the Dead Sea Beach for a “float” on its surface. The water has such a high content of salt that nothing can live in it. The area is known for its many spas and health products derived from the Dead Sea. It was the strangest experience to just relax on the surface of the water and float in any position from lying down to sitting.
I have heard sermons all my Christian life on the Dead Sea as a metaphor for the Christian life. You can have fresh water poured into you, but if you don’t have an outlet and give it away, you’ll become a dead sea of salt water where nothing can live.
Saturday was a long full day, so after the short time reclining on the Dead Sea, our group had just enough time to get back to the hotel and shower all the oily salty residue form the skin and change so we could get dinner. And the dinner was fantastic, the food variety in Israel is amazing. The flat breads cover every variety from pita to the thicker Israeli and Syrian types.
After a good night’s sleep we are ready for an ambitious Sunday of touring the sites along the Dead Sea, including En Gedi and the Essenes Community of Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.
Sunday Morning March 10, 2019
Waking up Sunday, I was greeted with the sun rising over the hills of Moab and on the Dead Sea. I made some Israeli coffee that was provided in the hotel room and sat at the table on the balcony to enjoy the magnificent site. This is a great hotel. It’s located facing the Dead Sea Beach. Too bad that we were only here for one night. After finishing my coffee, it was time for breakfast.
I was glad that I got up extra early because the breakfast buffet was fabulous. The breakfast bar had a chef who makes omelettes and a barista that makes cappuccinos!! Plus they have raw salmon!
En Gedi
After breakfast we took our luggage to the lobby and boarded the bus en route to Jerusalem where we would stay for the next 4 nights. The first stop along the way was the En Gedi wilderness. En Gedi is best remembered as the place David and his followers fled from King Saul. They lived in the caves on the side of the mountain. Saul and his army pursued David in strongholds at Ein Gedi “ even upon the most craggy rocks, which are accessible only to wild goats” (1 Samuel 24) Some of us did the mountain hike. It was a challenging and treacherous hike, not too long or overly steep, but you have to navigate over a rough wet craggy rock terrain. Coming down was more of a challenge than going up.
The Essenes: Dead Sea Scrolls
Right before lunch we journeyed to the desert community once occupied by a sect of Judaism known as the Essenes. John the Baptist spent time living in this Essenes community. They were an ascetic group and lived in secrecy. They kept their writings and scriptures in secret places in the mountain caves usually in pottery. In the recent era, they were discovered by archeologists. These documents which date back 2000 years became known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Our guide reads Hebrew and is able to read these ancient manuscripts and said there are 3 different categories and that the set that is the Torah (Christian Old Testament) is identical to our present day bibles.
The following journal articles are of my research for various design and painting projects planned. The intial posts are of Israel and Eygpt.