Day 05 - Mitzpe Ramon, Timna Valley, Solomon's Pillars, Dead Sea

The sun rose through a slight fog which burned off by the time we had finished breakfast. Mitzpe Ramon, the town where we stayed, is nearly 3000 feet above sea level, and we enjoyed the crisp morning air as we boarded the bus.

We went to devotions at the overlook where we had stopped last night. The mother and two young gazelles were still lounging on the upper ledges of the cliff near us. Libby told us a parable about a certain rabbi, Eleazar, who was commanded by the Holy One to push against an immense rock each day. After some days it seemed hopeless to move, and so he stopped. But God had other purposes for His command—to make Eleazar strong. The parable was about being faithful to follow the commands of a God who is infinitely wiser than us. After a word from Rod, the chorus "Bless the Lord O My Soul" and reciting of the Shema, we got back in the bus and headed south. Guy, our guide, explained to us that Mitzpe Ramon got its start when workers on the Independence Highway to Elat needed a place to stay. The rocky slopes along the route varied from very dark (relatively recent volcanic flows) to nearly white (sedimentary rocks). We could see many folds in the more ancient rock layers. The region had once been part of a large lake, but the sediments were subsequently buried and metamorphosed.

Most of the area is desolate, but occasionally civilization popped up in surprising forms. We saw an ostrich farm, a date palm plantation, and army tanks performing drills. We descended into the Wilderness of Paran. Seeing the desolation of this area drives home the miraculous nature of how God brought the many thousands of Israelites through this area, leading them in their wanderings for 40 years, with God supplying manna and water. We stopped at Timna, just a few miles from the Gulf of Eilat, the upper right part of the “Y” shape that describes the Red Sea. We started our hike along a wadi (dry stream bed), following it up into the mountains. The hike was strenuous and we drank a lot of water as the temperature reached 95 degrees. Rod and Libby explained that Yeshimon is another Hebrew word for desert. It’s a place where you cannot exist on your own.

Have you been there spiritually? God drives us to those places sometimes. Rod talked about the Exodus, starting with Passover. Once the Israelites were out of Egypt and in the wilderness, God worked on their spirits, changing them from a materialistic, self-reliant culture (even though slaves) to a people who had to trust wholly on God. He led them with his cloud and fire. We started reading in Exodus 14 and also referred to Deuteronomy 8, where Moses gave a recap of all that God had done for them. After climbing to the top of the Timna Stand (a geological layer of magnesium carbonate), we were on a flat mountain top. We read verses on the covenant God made with his people at Sinai, how it resembled a Jewish wedding.

The first half of the 10 commandments reflect the exclusivity that God’s people need to keep as his bride. God’s love language is obedience. God promised that if His people would keep his commandments, they would be his most treasured possession (segula). That term comes up in a Jewish wedding. It refers to a groom’s most treasured possession; he gives it to his bride. This applies to us as the Church and New Covenant believers since in I Peter 2:9 we are called God’s “special possession.”

After descending from the mountain we saw the ruins of miner’s temple of the Midianites. In it was found a bronze serpent. Timna is noted for its ancient copper mines. The bus picked us up at Solomon’s Pillars, a natural stone formation unrelated to Israel’s king. We had lunch at Lake Timna, an artificial lake and campground. There we saw a model of the tabernacle. Rod described God’s command to build this humble edifice. The Hebrew word has “shekinah” in it—it was a place of his shekinah glory. This tent was God’s dwelling place among the people. In the New Testament we have “the Word became flesh and 'tabernacled' with us” (John 1).

On the road back to our Dead Sea hotel we went past a date farm and a nature preserve where we saw ibex and ostriches resting under the trees. We enjoyed relaxing in the pools—both fresh and salt water—before dinner.

Roger Wiens