Israel Study Tour - Ancient Paths

October 25 - November 7, 2021

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Day 02 - the Negev desert & Masada

This morning we drove north along the western shore of the Dead Sea to Masada. At the base, in the shade of the mountain, Rabbi Rod gave us a great teaching on the significance of the desert in scripture. Almost every major character throughout the biblical story spent time in the desert— Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, Elijah and Elisha, David, the apostle Paul, and Jesus. Rod describe the desert as God’s living room, and David’s playground. This is where David hid from Saul and found his stronghold in the LORD. 

 

So much of the imagery we read in the Psalms comes from the desert, and specifically from Masada. The desert shares the same root word with the “holy of holies.” It’s a place where God meets with us, disciplines us, shapes us, and peels back all of our outer layers, revealing to us who we really are. And whose we are. 

 

Some of us hiked up the snake trail, while others took the gondola. Needless to say, the gondola riders got there first. ;) Once we were all back together at the top, we witnessed something truly incredible— the ruins of Herod The Great’s mountain palace-fortress. He had enough provisions on Masada to feed a thousand people for ten years. It was one of six fortress-palaces he had built to protect himself during his reign over Israel. 

 

About 75 years after the death of Herod, Rome sacked Israel, and brutally tortured and killed its inhabitants. A group of Jewish Zealots and their families hid up in Masada, Herod’s old fortress-palace. It took two years for the Romans to build a siege ramp, and finally break in. And when they did, they found that everything had been destroyed by fire, and every inhabitant was dead. The zealots had decided that it was better to die as free people than to be tortured and killed by the Roman’s, so they took their own lives and the lives of their family members. Incredibly sobering. Masada is a sacred sight in Jewish culture. 

 

Beit Av

After lunch, we visited three different sites in the Negev, the region where Abraham lived. (Apx 2,000 bc) First, a house, in which 50-60 people would have lived: mothers, fathers, children, aunts, uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents. The grandfather or the great-grandfather would own everything, and then pass it on to his firstborn son, and so on. These houses were called “Beit Av”, which means the Father's House, or “House of the father.” The word “redemption” in Jewish culture meant to return home, to Beit Av, where you know who you are and whose you are. 

 

Tamerisk tree

Near the ruins of this old house, right out in the middle of the barren wilderness was a Tamerisk tree. Beautiful, green, lush, and OLD. It provided plenty of shade for our group. In Genesis 21, Abraham planted a Tamerisk tree. It’s an extremely slow growing tree that Abraham would never live to enjoy. So why did he plant it? Because God told him that his descendants would become a great nation. It was for them. The question was posed to us from the rabbi, “What are we doing for the next generation?” 

 

Temple

What is a temple doing in the middle of the Negev? There was only suppose to be one temple, and that was in Jerusalem. Maybe some Jews in the Negev didn’t want to make the trek all the way to the temple in Jerusalem, so they built their own. We don’t know. But as we sat in the ruins of this ancient temple, our rabbi explained to us the history behind the sacrificial system of worship. It all started with Abraham in Genesis 15, and it ended with Jesus, the Lamb of God, at the cross. And the author of Hebrews tells us that because of the great and final sacrifice of Jesus, we can now enter into the very presence of God with confidence and boldness, knowing that we will find mercy and grace.

 

We’re heading back to our hotel now. Some of us will take a swim in the Dead Sea, which is so densely filled with salt and mineral deposits that you can float right on top of the water! Pretty fun. :)

 

Please pray for us, that all of these life lessons will sink in, and stay with us for a lifetime, and for generations to come.

 

Shalom to all. 

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