To Descend

Today is the 8th day of our journey here in Israel. We departed from our hotel in Galilee this morning and our first hike was to the Jordan River, south of the Sea of Galilee. This is one of three locations where John is found baptizing in the Bible. The Hebrew word for Jordan is Yardin, which means “to descend.” This meaning comes into play in Mark 5:10 when the Holy Spirit is descending on Jesus like a dove following his baptism by John (in the Jordan River near the Dead Sea). Rod also pointed out that the Jordan River descends from the springs on Mt. Hermon (9,000 ft above sea level) all the way to the Dead Sea (1292 ft below sea level). Interestingly, while the people had to Yardin to Jerusalem every year, they would actually refer to this literal descent as Aliyah (“to go up”) as they considered going to the temple as an ascent.

Additionally, at the Jordan riverside, we also read Joshua 3:5-17 when the Israelites are about to cross over the river (note: at flood stage) and enter their long-awaited promise land. The Levitical priests were commanded to take the ark of the covenant and step foot in the water; they had to trust God in order to pass across to the other side of the Jordan. As Rod explained to us, “Time for Israel to leave the old life behind, but to get to the new life, they had to pass through the waters.” This was a profound statement for us to consider as well. If we are going to leave our old life behind and trust Jesus for a new one, we have to pass through the waters. What a beautiful and cherished morning together as we watched many of the members of this family proclaim their faith, recognize their need for a Savior, and commit their whole self to following and trusting Christ Jesus.

As we continued our travels south towards Jerusalem, we had the opportunity to stop at the Beth She’an National Park, which is also referred to as the Scythopolis. This Roman-Byzantine City included an acropolis, theatre, gymnasium, the temple of Dionysus (known for wine and orgies) and Asclepion (the god of healing), and Caesar’s temple. In the Roman period, Beth She’an is considered one of the most important of the Ten Cities, the Decapolis. In addition, it was the only city on the west bank of the Jordan River. While there was much to see of these ancient ruins, a memorable statement that was made at this site was this: “We are an eternity, not a ruins.”

Our third stop of the day was the oldest inhabited city in the world: Jericho. This was the first city the Israelites had to defeat after crossing over the Jordan into the promise land. As we wandered into the desert of Jericho, we were reminded of other stories/events that took place here: the pilgrimage of thousands of people headed to Jerusalem for Passover, the two blind men who find out Jesus is passing through Jericho and cried out “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David” (Matthew 20: 29-34), the story of Zacchaeus (chief tax collector in Jericho) who was asked to host Jesus at his house (Luke 19:1-10), as well as the story of the good Samaritan. While the trek through this arid and mountainous land was hot and challenging, for many of us, these stories came alive.

The last stop of the day was in Jerusalem. We made it to our final destination! Before heading to our hotel, we stopped at the Israel Museum, which houses the Dead Sea scrolls and displays an incredible model of the old Jerusalem. It was joy to watch Rod and Libby overflow with excitement in their teaching as they helped us make connections with the scripture and prepared us for the following two days of exploring that are to come in Jerusalem.

Mel