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Israel Study Tour - Living Oaks Church
October 17-29, 2014
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A great illustration
Starting at the Dead Sea, and ending at the Sea of Galilee, our journey was a reminder of our life journey as people who have faith in Christ. Starting from a stagnant, desert place, we become people who are fruitful and full of abundant life. The Dead Sea looks inviting, and is fun to go in, bobbing like corks on the surface. But don’t get it in your eye! It stings, and that’s no fun at all. A bit like sin, isn’t it?
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.
Well, after we left our resort on the southern end of the Dead Sea, we drove north and came to Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. Once again, a desert place. Rich gave us a great illustration of the sort of place Jesus must have been thinking of when he taught about building your house on a rock rather than on the sand. I had always visualized sand maybe in a flat area of desert. But no! The sand at the bottom of a wadi (a dry valley rushing down a mountainside, then leveling out at the bottom)—that sand looks very inviting to build on when the sun is shining and there’s no water running. But flash floods come suddenly, and water rushes in with destructive force. What a great illustration!
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.
On to the river Jordan and the city of Jericho, where some stories came to life in settings we will never forget -- of Joshua crossing the river, of Elisha making the spring water sweet, and (best of all!) of Jesus crossing the Jordan and going into the wilderness to be tempted. Yes, tradition has it that this happened on the mountain right behind Jericho! I never knew!
Jericho
The “City of Palms” spreads out on the west side of the Jordan River at 825 feet below sea level. In Jesus’ day a new center had been constructed on the wadi banks in the foreground by the Hasmonean rulers and Herod the Great.
This tour is blessing us with new insights and pictures of the real places where incredible events happened that are recorded in the scriptures. Although we are a people that should live by faith and not by sight, I can tell you that sight brings stories to life! We look forward to more blessings and discoveries in the days to come.
Colin Elliott
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