1BL Israel Study Tour

May 25 - June 4, 2015

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Learning from a flea

We began our day with a morning devotion on the shore of the Salt Sea . Pastor Brent highlighted the promise God gave us . It was awesome to think some time we would be back at this place God promised how he will make the salt water fresh and flowing with fish. God is not done with this place and he is not done in our lives. He will continue to renew us like he will renew the Salt Sea.

Dead Sea

Known in the Bible as the “Salt Sea” or the “Sea of the Arabah,” this inland body of water is appropriately named because its high mineral content allows nothing to live in its waters. Other post-biblical names for the Dead Sea include the “Sea of Sodom,” the “Sea of Lot,” the “Sea of Asphalt” and the “Stinking Sea.” In the Crusader period, it was sometimes called the “Devil’s Sea.” All of these names reflect something of the nature of this lake.

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Another place we visited today was Ein Gedi. Pastor Darin reminded us of the story when David cut off a piece of Saul’s garment while in one of the caves. Darin touched on how even King Saul learned from a “flea” in 1 Samuel 24. While we traversed though the mountainside we saw caves where David escaped to. There were waterfall after waterfall that showed us how God supplies our need in the desert.

Ein Gedi

En Gedi is the largest oasis along the western shore of the Dead Sea. The springs here have allowed nearly continuous inhabitation of the site since the Chalcolithic period. The area was allotted to the tribe of Judah, and was famous in the time of Solomon (Josh 15:62). Today the Israeli kibbutz of En Gedi sits along the southern bank of the Nahal Arugot.

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The other location we had a blast at was Qumran even though we have to travel back to LA to see the Dead Sea scrolls. We learned how the dead sea scrolls were first discovered and all except 2 books of the Old Testament were found!

Qumran

10 miles south of Jericho, Qumran was on a “dead-end street” and provided a perfect location for the isolationist sect of the Essenes to live.

The site was excavated by Catholic priest Roland deVaux from 1953-56. More recent excavations of the site have taken place under the direction of Hanan Eshel.

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The last location we visited was the Jordan River. We were a couple feet away from the Jordanian border. We dipped our hands into a place where John the Baptist may have baptized Jesus, which was a reminder as Rich pointed out was a sign of repentance. While leaving the river Pastor Bruce waved at a couple tourist who were also enjoying the Jordan River. The couple in solidarity waved right back and it captured a moment of peace.

After an adventurous day we retreated to a “Kibbutz” and enjoyed our family experience over a well prepared meal.

-Jesse

 

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