Trip to Holy Land - Day Ten

Today was Wednesday, May 14, 2014.  We got an early start because it was going to be another jam-packed day of adventures!  As we left Jerusalem, we moved from the Mediterranean climate to the desert climate where it rarely rains.  Just to give the contrasts within such a short distance--the Mount of Olives is 2,620 feet above sea level, while the Dead Sea is about 1,315 feet below sea level.  

Traveling toward the Dead Sea, you see many Bedouin communities.   
The Bedouin population in Israel currently numbers 210,000 persons who live in all regions of the State, most notably in the southern desert area called Negev.  In most countries in the Middle East, the Bedouin have no land rights, only users’ privileges.  

Construction of houses of stone or concrete without a building permit is considered an offense, so they only use tents and light structures (shacks and huts) which are actually illegal on land that is not their own, but is looked at as being permissible as long as they aren't permanent structures. 

 They graze their animals of sheep and goats, and then just move on when there isn't sufficient food for them.  Tough life!

 We continued our downhill descend, and soon passed the date tree farms which are part of the Kalia Kibbutz.  A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel, traditionally based on agriculture.  There is no individual ownership, but the people work together for the good of the entire group.  There are approximately 270 different kibbutzim in Israel.

We now were seeing our first glimpses of the Dead Sea.   

The Dead Sea is shrinking due to water being used farther up on the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River.  You can see how far the Dead Sea used to be in the foreground.  

 This (at the right) was formerly a health spa area that was right on the edge of the Dead Sea.  With the receding of the water, you can see how far back the people have to travel to get to the Sea.

As the water has receded, the salt was deposited.  Dirt would blow in and cover the salt.  When it rains in the west, the water runs downhill, melts the salt under the dirt layer and a sink hole results.

As we looked and saw the many sink holes that have formed, Tarek told us that it is very possible in the near future that the road we are traveling on will be closed due to the danger of sink holes on it, too.

We continued along the road on our way to Masada.  One could smell the sulfur--just one of 57 minerals in the Dead Sea.  The Dead Sea mud is full of sulfur.

Our trip required going through another checkpoint. 

Another of my bucket list destinations was fulfilled today--Masada!  Ever since I saw the Peter O'Toole movie and read the account of the famous Masada (Hebrew word for "The Fort), I wanted to visit here.  It was all I thought it would be and more!

 Masada is a geological Horst  - a separate raised area (mountain) not connected to anything around it.  From this point below, one can hardly tell there is anything on top of this raised area.

 Getting closer, you can make out the cable car, which obviously wasn't there in the days of King Herod.
Upon arriving at the base of Masada, we went inside the Visitors' Center.

 We watched a film about Masada and then took a look at a diorama of what the entire settlement looked like on top of the mountain.

  After watching a film about it, we chose to take the cable car up the 1,300 feet rather than use the Snake Path leading to the top.

The Greeks ruled the land of Judea during the Hellenistic Period.   Then the Jews ruled the land (Hasmonean Period) for about 100 years before the Romans took over.  The Romans, who were pagans, couldn’t control the Jews and didn’t understand them.  They needed someone who could work with them.  Herod the Great was a practicing Jew but his mother was a Nabataean (pagan) so without a Jewish mother, Herod was not considered a Jew.  He was, however, more accepted than the Romans.

King Herod knew that one day he would have a problem with either the Romans or the Jews so he built many fortresses (Jerusalem, Jericho, Caesarea) to protect himself, including the fortress and palace atop Masada – and filled the many huge storehouses there. A water system was built to collect the flash flood water.  There is no record that Herod actually lived there.  He died in 4 BC so wasn’t alive during the siege of Masada.

View from the top.

Once we were at the top, we held our devotional under a covered tent awning for visitors.

I thought this was so interesting.  The birds all lined up to hear the devotional, too!

And one guy had them all around him.  I think he was feeding them!

The Story Behind Masada.  About 66 AD there was a great Jewish revolt.  It started in Caesarea and spread around the country.  The Romans decided to put an end to the revolt.  Vespasianus Flavious was sent to do the job – first in Caesarea, then in the Golan Heights and Galilee.  
Josephus was the leader of the Jewish rebellion in Galilee.  He had studied in Rome and knew the Roman ways.   Rather than submit to the Romans, his group committed suicide but he and 2 or 3 others were left and surrendered to the Romans (67 CD).   Vespasianus Flavious kept him as an interpreter because Josephus said he had seen a vision that Vespasianus would become the next Roman Emperor.  Vespasianus did attain that office and Josephus was given his freedom and went to live at the palace as a historian.   He changed his name from the Jewish ben Matityahu to Flavious and became a Roman citizen.  It is Josephus who devoted himself to writing about the great revolt at Masada. 

Herod, who ruled from 37 BCE to 4 BCE, was well aware of the strategic advantages of Masada.  He therefore chose the site as a refuge against his enemies, and as a winter palace.  During his reign, luxurious palaces were built here in addition to well-stocked storerooms, cisterns, and a casemate wall.  The black line throughout all of Masada shows the original buildings of Herod's time, while all above has had to be restored.

After the death of Herod in 4 BCE and the annexation of Judea to the Roman Empire in 6 CE, the Romans stationed a garrison at Masada.  However, Josephus relates that one of the first events of the Great Revolt of the Jews against the Romans, which broke out in 66 CE, was that the group carried in their curved daggers called the sica, became known as the Sicarii because of this, and took over Masada from the Romans.  The last of the Jewish rebels fled to Masada after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE and joined those already at the fortress under the command of Eleazar Ben Yair.

 The Jewish rebels lived in rooms in the case mate wall and in some of Herod's palaces, constructed a synagogue and Jewish ritual baths.  This was the perfect place to band together and be safe from the Romans--at least for three years it was.

Masada was the last Jewish stronghold.  In 73 or 74 CE, Flavius Silva, was put in charge of the 8,000 Roman troops who were to take over Masada.  The Romans built eight camps at the base of the mountain, a siege wall, and a ramp made of earth and wooden supports on a natural slope to the west.  (The Roman camps and siege walls can be seen in the picture above.)   Captive Jews brought water to the troops, apparently from En Gedi, as well as food. 

  The 960 Jewish zealots living on Masada held off the Roman army for 3 years.  They had much food stored, had water, and defended their home by rolling large stones off the mountain on to their attackers.    

 

Storehouses – were everywhere - all plastered and sealed.  The people were prepared to last indefinitely here on Masada.

 The observation point at the Northern Palace. 

The palace’s elaborate bathhouse is decorated with splendid frescoes, and its entrance included a covered, plastered pool with colored walls where people cleansed themselves before going into the sauna. They then entered — first the tepid room, then the hotter rooms.

 

 Thermal baths in the Northern Palace / Micveh (ritual bath) /Bathhouse – cold room, hot room, steam room with a double floor / cool down after steam room.  A fire pit area outside the steam room where the heat channeled in and circulated.  During the revolt, benches made out of column drums were installed in this room, along with an immersion pool.

The public immersion pool was constructed during the days of the Great Revolt.  The wide steps allowed several people to enter the bath at once.  Near the steps a dressing room was discovered, containing wall niches where clothing could be placed. 

Herod built a large plastered swimming pool at Masada with a flight of stairs leading to the bottom.  The construction of this swimming pool in such an arid area attests to the importance Herod accorded the culture of bathing. 

The Synagogue

Casemate wall  - where scrolls were kept inside this type of jar.

 The synagogue on Masada is one of the oldest in Israel, and was probably used for worship by Herod’s family. During the Great Revolt, Masada’s defenders made a number of structural changes: using stones taken from the palaces, they added several columns, combined the entrance with the prayer hall, and added stone benches. Fortunately, for these extremely observant Jews, the house of worship already faced Jerusalem.

Denise is standing by one of the columns in the synagogue.

Pigeons (doves) lived there.  This was an extremely smart thing to do by the Jews.  The pigeons don’t have to be fed, they lay eggs, one can eat the eggs and the birds; plus as an added bonus, their droppings were used as fertilizer. 

Bizantine Church

Mosaic in the Bizantine Church.

 The Western Palace is the largest building on Masada, covering over 4,000 square meters (one acre). Located along the center of the western casemate wall, near the main gate towards Judea and Jerusalem, it served as the main administration center of the fortress, as well as the king’s ceremonial palace.  It consists of four wings: an elaborate royal apartment, a service and workshop section, storerooms and an administrative unit.  In the royal apartment, many rooms were built around a central courtyard. 

Here you can see rolling stones which were the ammunition used by the Jews on top of Masada.

The nearly 10,000 Roman troops surrounding Masada first tried to starve the Jewish rebels, but months later realized that wasn't working.  The Jewish rebels were prepared with food, and the water sisterns set up by Herod himself provided the water needed.   

Therefore, the Romans utilized every conceivable kind of weapon in an effort to break through the seemingly unconquerable fortress.  Finally, they brought in  thousands of Jewish slaves to Masada to build an earthen ramp to the top of the mountain.  Those living atop did not want to kill their own, so they could basically do nothing while the ramp was being built.   

After the ramp was completed, the Romans brought a tower with a battering ram up the ramp with which they began to batter the wall.  The rebels constructed an inner support wall out of wood and earth, which the Romans then set ablaze.    Eleazar Ben Yair, the leader of the Jewish rebels, was not anxious to have his people be Roman slaves.  His heartrending and moving speech persuaded the rebels to commit suicide before the expected dawn attack by the Romans.

  They began by burning their belongings and their weapons, leaving food so that the Romans would know that they had died of their own free will and had not perished of hunger.  Men killed their own families.

Lots were drawn and 10 men were chosen as executioners.  (The  pieces of pottery with the ten men's names written on them were found at Masada.)  The rest lay side by side and bared their necks.  At the end, one Jewish rebel killed the other nine and then took his own life by falling on his own sword.  It was the first day of Passover, the holiday in which the Jews celebrate their freedom from bondage.

 Two women and two children who hid were found alive when the Romans arrived and lived to tell about what happened there.  The history was recorded by Josephus Flavious.  

Interesting Note:  Israeli soldiers now come to Masada and take an oath at the end of their 3 year military service.  They face east – to Jordan and beyond to Iraq and Iran and pledge that Masada will not fall again.   Masada remains as a symbol of resistance against a powerful enemy.   

If you haven't seen the made-for-television movie series of "Masada" starring Peter O'Toole, you must see it.  It is certainly a true story and one you will never forget.  So happy we were able to visit Masada for ourselves!

Ein Gedi
We next visited the area known as Ein Gedi.  In 1 Samuel 24:1-3, we read that David hid in the desert of Ein Gedi due to the jealousy of Saul who wanted to kill him.  Saul then seeks him "even upon the most craggy rocks which are accessible only to wild goats."  It isn't hard to envision these words when you see this place.  As it turns out, David had a chance to slay Saul, but resisted that opportunity and the encouragement of his men who wanted him to slay the king, too.  After this event between David and Saul, 1 Samuel 24:22 states that David and his men went "up unto the hold."  The Hebrew text says they "went up into the metsuda," which is likely what today we call Masada.    

The elevation of the land ranges from the level of the Dead Sea  at 1,388 ft. below sea level to the plateau of the Judean Desert at 656 feet above sea level.  Actually, the Ein Gedi nature reserve includes two spring-fed streams with flowing water year-round.   Therefore, it is a sanctuary for many types of plant, bird, and animal species.  The vegetation includes plants and trees from the tropical desert and Mediterranean regions. 

Ein Gedi was declared a nature reserve in 1971 and is one of the most important reserves in Israel. 

We drove around in the bus – trying to find some Ibex animals (no luck).  The ibex is the national animal.  This desert area also has hyena (white and gray species) and 6 kinds of venomous snakes including the Egyptian cobra. 

A picture of the ibex from the internet will have to do.

Qum Ran

Qumran had a Jewish population as far back as the eighth century B.C.E.  But the thing that made this settlement famous was accomplished by the Essenes, a sect of Jews smaller in number than the Pharisees or Sadduccees, who lived and studied here for two centuries from the end of the Hashmoean period, through the great revolt of the Jews against the Roman.  They left in the surrounding caves a magnificent legacy, that we now call the Dead Sea Scrolls.  

 It is thought that the Essenes stored and copied the scrolls here – or another theory is that they brought the scrolls here after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.  The scrolls, written in Hebrew, were made of thin animal skins.  Fragments of all the Old Testament, except the Book of Esther, were found among the scrolls, as well as books of the Apocrypha, and the sect's own works.  Some of the scrolls are on display at the Israel Museum (which we were fortunate to see later on in the week.)   
This is the famous cave where over 4,000 scroll fragments were found.  A goat-herder boy throwing a rock into a cave heard something break and discovered the first scroll in 1947.  He took it to a sandal maker, who supposedly still has the original jar and scroll.  There was a war in the area in 1948 and this area was controlled by Jordanian Arabs until 1967.  The scrolls ended up being sold all over the world.  The Prime Minister began buying them back.  There were nearly 1,000 scrolls but most have disintegrated.  A total of eleven caves have been discovered so far.  These caves served as hiding places for the Essene library.  The scrolls were hidden in jars for nearly two thousand years and preserved as a result of the area's arid climate. 

This is a large archeological site where much can be learned about the Essenes life here. 

  They lived a ritualistic life with purifying baths (mikveh).

They, also, lived a communal life in a settlement that was constructed to make them as self-reliant as possible.  They had a water system to collect rain water as they would not carry it.  It had to come directly from God.    
 
The cistern.
 
No houses were found at Qum Ran.  It is believed they lived in huts and tents.  They did have a cemetery.  

 In addition, they had assembly halls, a central dining room, in which ceremonial meals were eaten, a kitchen, a laundry room, a watch tower, a stable, and a pottery workshop.  Of special interest is the Scriptorium--the writing room--with its desks and inkstands where the Essenes scribes probably wrote most of the scrolls found in the adjoining caves. 
 
 Inside the visitors' center were copies of items used in daily life here in Qumran.


A display indicated that the scribes wrote with sharpened reed pens and ink on parchment sheets that were sewn together into scrolls.  When a scroll was completed, it was rolled up and tied with leather straps, as is shown below.
Dr. Donald Perry, professor of Ancient Studies at Brigham Young University, has stated a number of reasons why the scrolls are significant, including the fact that they were discovered in the Holy Land, where Jesus and prophets and apostles lived; that they are written in Hebrew, the language of the ancient prophets; and that they shed light on the cultural, religious, and political position of some of the Jews who lived shortly before and during the time of Christ.
He noted that the scrolls feature the world’s oldest Hebrew Bible in that the Old Testament writings among the scrolls are more than 1,000 years older than the Masoretic text from which the King James and other Bible translations are derived.
The biblical writings in the scrolls present new readings that have been lost for about two millennia, including missing psalms and verses, Dr. Parry said. Modern Bible translation committees employ the Dead Sea Scrolls as they prepare new translations of the Bible.
 

It was very exciting for all of us to actually see where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and understand more about their significance.

As we left Qumran on our way to the Dead Sea, Tarek pointed out two black lines with the word "Red" in between. 

The PEF (Palestinian Exploration Fund) Line marked the height of where the Dead Sea used to be.  Amazing how far it has shrunk! 

We next stopped at a beach located right on the Dead Sea for the experience of floating and having a mud bath!

We walked down some flights of stairs to get from the entrance to the water.  Again, a very large indication of how far the water has receded from where the dock used to be high above our heads.

The surface and shores of the Dead Sea are 423 meters (1,388 ft) below sea level, making it Earth’s lowest point on earth.  The Dead Sea is one of the world’s saltiest bodies of water – approx. 35 percent salinity.  It has no outlets so continues to get saltier – especially as it continues to get smaller.

You walk into the water, sit down and lay back.  Your feet rise automatically.  You don't even have to get your head wet!

 The water was as warm as bathtub water! 

 George chose to enjoy the sea shore, dreaming of ice cream under that umbrella!

Jerry and Shelly enjoying the fun time at the Sea.

Some went to the mud pit at the shore and covered themselves with Dead Sea Mud (free body mask!).   The Dead Sea mud has been touted as helping with skin diseases, arthritis, and even helping cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.  

 

There are claims that it is "almost instantly effective in improving the skin's natural processes, easing rheumatic pains, relaxing muscles, and providing inner calmness and tranquility."

 Whether these claims are true or not, everyone had a great time and got a little crazy doing it!  Hah!

   Like I said, "Got a little crazy!"  So fun!  Luckily, it washed off easily in the salty water with an outdoor shower on the beach finishing the job so our group of girls could get back on the bus.

We had Lunch in a large cafeteria and many bought Ahava Dead Sea Mineral lotions sold there.

We headed west back towards Jerusalem.  Tareq reminded us that  the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekial 47:1-11) prophesied that there will be a time in the future when water will flow from the temple to the Dead Sea and it will be healed of its salty waters and that the Sea will teem with fish.  He talked about the Mount of Temptation that overlooks the city of Jericho and the Jordan Valley (north of the Dead Sea in the West Bank).  The Mount of Temptation's exact location is not known, but it was near here where Jesus was tempted by Satan in Matthew 4:1-11. 

 We next visited Bethany, home of Lazarus and Mary and Martha.  As with most Biblical places here in the Holy land, a church is built over their home, but we didn't go there.  The only thing we saw indicating Martha and Mary was this souvenir store which was capitalizing on their names.

They had a camel out front you could sit on and have your picture taken--for a price, of course.

I was fine snapping a picture of the camel until I snapped another while the guy was scooping up camel doo, and then his owner let me know he didn't want me to snap that one!  Hah!

 Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were brother and sisters. They lived together in the same house which is 1.5 miles outside the city of Jerusalem.  Jesus would occasionally stay in their home when He was in Judea.  He could walk between Bethany and Jerusalem in about half hour's time. 



We soon came to the street which indicated we were by Lazarus Tomb.
About ten of us at a time could go down the winding stairway to the tomb because it was so small inside.

 Inside the tomb.

The miracle of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is recorded in John 11.  This most dramatic miracle tells how the Savior went to the sepulcher of His beloved friend Lazarus, who had lain dead for four days. Asking them to take away the stone, “he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes.” (John 11:43-44) 

To be able to re-trace the Savior's footsteps on this journey that George and I have taken has given us renewed appreciation for our Savior, as well as for re-reading the scriptural stories again and again.  We are so grateful that we have been able to do this.