To gain the whole world

This morning, we found ourselves standing in a megalomaniac’s palace. We took a gondola to the top of an Arizona-like mesa, to see three of Herod the Great’s eight ancient palaces of opulence. We stood in his personal bedroom, saw the perfectly preserved remnants of his elaborately painted walls, and walked through his monstrous mountaintop storehouses that would have held huge clay vessels of perfume, salt, and an asphalt-like substance for building roads. For us visiting this amazing cliffside palace significantly added valuable meaning to Jesus’ question in Mark 8:36, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Is it possible that Jesus was alluding to Herod the Great, ruler over the entire promise land? A man who betrayed whole nations, murdered family members and drowned trusted confidants simply to make his name great. He built on a larger scale than Julius Caesar had so many palaces that scholars speculate he may have only visited his palace in Masada once. And though he had power, wealth, and women, he was despised by his people and eternally separated from God. Here was a man who lost his soul in the successful pursuit of wealth. Maybe Jesus’ allusion to Herod was a practical and powerful way to show the crowd that self-glorification is not a better option than glorifying our God.

Next we visited the En Gedi, the mountain caves where David hid from Saul (1 Samuel 24). And to our surprise we found a waterfall and river in the middle of the desert. This is where many Pslams were believed to be inspired by this "living water" in the middle of the desert. This "living water" is what Jesus would proclaim to be in John 4 when he speaks with the woman at the well. So many connections were made today between the Old Testament and New Testament!

After lunch we visited an ancient Jewish city named Qumran, the location where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. We got a chance to hike in the barren hills where the scrolls remained hidden for over 2000 years. The scrolls were stored in clay vessels, covered in cloth, and contained almost the entire Old Testament, with multiple copies of Deuteronomy and Isaiah. We walked alongside archaeological digs that revealed the lifestyle of the monastic Jews that lived there. They had multiple ritual baths, date palm groves for making honey, and a huge oven for making pottery. Incredibly, some scholars believe it possible that John the Baptist himself may have lived here. From Matthew 3, we know that John lived in the desert, ate honey, committed himself to stringent Jewish lifestyle, and baptized people. But even if John the Baptist didn’t live in Qumran, or author the dead sea scrolls, the scrolls and the site still hold amazing significance. The scrolls can be dated back to 150BC, over 1050 years earlier than any other biblical manuscripts found. The age of these scrolls alone serves to eradicate any doubt as the accuracy and authenticity of the bible we read today.

Also, we got to cover ourselves in the Dead Sea’s fancy rejuvenating mud, and float in it’s weirdly salty waters. Being out here is truly bringing the bible to life! What an amazing day!

TJ McDaniels