Israel Study Tour - Calvary Church

April 25 - May 6, 2014

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Wilderness experience

Miles, miles, and miles of desert stretch across the southern part of Israel.  Known as the Negev, we ventured out for our own wilderness experience today.

It’s one thing to read about the Israelites wandering about in the desert for 40 years.  But after driving through long stretches of dusty sand and dry plants struggling to stay alive, you begin to appreciate just how difficult it would be to survive out here.   And yet for 40 years, God kept the Israelites wandering.  Yes, He provided for them.  Yes, He was present with them.  But in the wilderness, as you experience the heat beating down and the dust covering everything in a fine film, a new appreciation grows for how much God might care just a little bit more about the character of His people than their physical comfort.

It’s been said that God took the Israelites to the wilderness not only to get Israel out of Egypt, but also to get the Egypt out of Israel.  And you can see how a place like the Negev, with its endless stretches of dry and dusty land as far as the eye can see, would be just the place to bring His people back into dependence on Him.  So often physical bondage is easy to break, but spiritual bondage takes more time.  More brokenness.  More refining.   More coming to the end of ourselves and finding that God really is all that we need.

Deuteronomy 29:5-6 says, “I have led you forty years in the wilderness.  Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.  You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.

After our own experience of wandering through the desert, our guides had a fun surprise planned for us.  We ended our desert journey at a Bedouin tent, where we learned about Bedouin hospitality and had the chance to go for a camel ride.

Next, we traveled to Beersheba.  This was the place where Abraham dwelt, and the original well talked about in Genesis 21:31 was still there.   Later, Abraham returns and dwells in this area in Genesis 22:19.  Years later, Isaac returns to this land and God appears and renews with Isaac the covenant he had made with Isaac’s father, Abraham (Genesis 26:22-25).  We were reminded that God makes covenants based on His unconditional grace and mercy.

Beersheba

Beer-Sheva (/bɪərˈʃiːbə/; Hebrew: בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע About this sound Be'er Sheva [beʔeʁˈʃeva]; Arabic: بئر السبع‎‎ About this sound Bi'ir as-Sab [biːr esˈsabeʕ]) is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the center of the fourth most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth most populous city in Israel with a population of 203,604, and the second largest city with a total of 117,500 dunams (after Jerusalem).

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While at this site, we saw the remains of an ancient city that had been built up around the well, and traveled down steps that were from the 8th century BC into a cistern.

We wrapped up our day by floating in the Dead Sea and an amazing dinner at the hotel.

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