QUMRAN - DEAD SEA - EN GEDI - MASADA

I’m blogging a couple of days worth today because I’ve been too busy (and tired) to make it happen here.

The past couple of days have been some of the most amazing days possible. There are a few locations I’ll skip here, because the highs are so high and I’ll stick to those for now.

• A visit to QUMRAN on the Dead Sea. This is the discovery place of the Dead Sea Scrolls back in the 1940s. A little boy found them in a cave high up in a rock outcropping. They authenticate the Scriptures, including the entire book of Isaiah written on one continuous scroll. Every book in the Bible is represented, excluding the book of Esther. Some of these scrolls would pre-date Jesus and are still legible, which is utterly amazing.

Following our visit to Qumran, we visited a Dead Sea spa. The Dead Sea is the lowest spot on earth and contains many times the mineral content of other bodies of water - up to 31% of it mineral-based. That makes for some ‘heavy’ water. All I had time to do was stick my feet in it for 3 minutes, but when i came out, my feet felt oily and slippery. It is famous as a spa here in the desert of Israel.

• En Gedi was our next stop, just up the road from the Dead Sea spa area. It is a natural oasis in the desert, mentioned in Scripture as the area where David hid from an angry Saul in the Old Testament. It was here I was privileged to give a devotional based on “GOD IS OUR REFUGE,” one of the themes of David’s writings while he was living in these caves.

* MASADA came next. It has been made famous by the movie that bears its name. Situated high on a flat hill, it was the last showdown for Israelites against invading forces. Nearly everyone on Masada died at their own hands before the invading forces finally crashed thru the walls. We road a cable car to get up to the site. MASADA is pictured above.

And be blessed.