DAY 6: ON THE JERICHO ROAD

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers.  They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead (Luke 10:30).

On March 18th we did a road trip from Jerusalem to Masada and the Dead Sea.  It makes a lengthy trip through the desert to get to those places, so there was a lot of bus riding.  As we descended from Jerusalem towards Jericho, we stopped at the Church of the Good Samaritan.  It would have been at about this location that the good Samaritan in Jesus' parable discovered the man who had been beaten, robbed and left half dead.  The Jericho road was notoriously dangerous, being infested with crooks, robbers and the violent.  In ancient times the church occupied this spot, but now only a part of the church mosaic floor exists.  Actually, the Israeli government funds this site.  It has now become a place where mosaic floors from other archaeological sites are restored and exhibited.  The Israeli government is doing God's work, I truly believe that, and will explain it as I close out this Israel tour series.

We continued east, down the steep Jericho road from Jerusalem. About 3-4 miles from Jericho we made a right turn and headed south towards Masada and the Dead Sea. It should be noted that there is, in the 20 miles from Jericho to Jerusalem a 3300 feet difference in elevation, Jericho being 740 feet Below Sea Level.  The Dead Sea is 1401 feet BSL and is 1237 feet deep.

Before we reached the DS and Masada, we made two stops: one, for Helen to ride a camel and two, to visit the ruins at Qumran. Helen looks great on a camel, or anywhere for that matter, but as a matter of history,  Qumran is very important.  For about 300 years, 250 B.C. to 70 A.D., the Essenes occupied Qumran.  What is most important about them is the copying and preservation of Scripture--they produced the DS scrolls.  Because of their work, the Old Testament is, from a historical perspective, a credible document.  And we know that Daniel is what it claimed to be, inspired predictive prophecy, not history written as prophecy as some of the critics claimed.

Masada was the next stop.  Masada is an amazing mountain-top fortress over-looking the DS.  It was built by Herod the Great before the birth of Christ for his own personal protection.  However, Jewish zealots used it to hold out against the Romans after 70 A.D., but by 73 they could hold out no longer.  The Jews committed mass suicide rather than surrender to the Romans.  That story is embedded in the Jewish psyche to this day.  It was at Masada that we encountered the "Insight For Living" tour group.  They had 18 tour buses, which translates conservatively into 720 people.  In a group that large each person has to be tagged and numbered like cattle.  I would never go on a celebrity tour like that.  I loved our little group of 21! Keren was able to count noses.  Because of the crowded conditions, Keren was able to pull us into one of the many rooms Herod built and talk to us about what we were seeing.  Keren was a gem! And, we did not see Chuck.

Our final stop was at the DS for some bathing.  Any Holy Land tour is deficient without floating in the DS. I enjoyed the half hour in the sea, but I wanted to share some quick facts about it: 1. There are dry-valley lakes in Antarctica that exceed the Dead Sea's 33.7% salinity. 2. Many cosmetics and fertilizers are made from the DS's minerals. 3. People come here for health treatments.  Because of the minerals in the sea, the low pollen, reduced UV rays and higher atmospheric pressure, bathing and just laying out in the sun is good for what ails.

After all of this activity it was time for lunch, even though it was late afternoon.  This was our evening meal, and we ate at the resort hotel dining room.  After eating, it was a long, sleepy bus ride home to Jerusalem.
It was dark by the time we arrived at our hotel in Jerusalem.  Some of us were hungry again, so several of us who liked to walk, walked about 10 blocks to a McDonald's.  It was not kosher.  Helen and I bought "Big America Juniors" to eat.  They were considerably more expensive than an American equivalent, but there was also an 18% tax.  I have eaten at McDonald's in Romania and Israel.  Even though MD's tries to have uniformity, to me, there is a distinct national flavor to each one, but they are all good.

Our Father's Love,
Tom

The view from the top of Masada towards the Dead Sea.  Notice the square?  That is the place of one of the Roman encampments that circled Masada.