Day 03 - Masada, Ein Gedi, and Qumran

Today, we explored the sites on the east side of the Dead Sea. Moving to the north, we traced the routes David and so many others would have taken to En Gedi – an oasis in the desert. When he was running from Saul, David hid out in the fortress at the springs of En Gedi. Further south, Masada ascends hundreds of feet above the shores of the Dead Sea. Though it was originally a Hasmonean fortress, it became Masada as we know it when Herod the Great made it his southern outpost. Like every project Herod undertook, Masada was as lavish as it was brilliant. Complete with nearly 30 storerooms, a system of cold and hot baths, and a regal three-tiered palace, Herod’s improvements made Masada into one of the most formidable and inaccessible strongholds in Israel. After Herod died the fortress fell into disrepute and the rebels during the First Jewish War (66-73 AD) fled there for protection. After the Roman army, led by the future emperor Vespasian and his son Titus, destroyed Jerusalem, and plundered the temple, the tenth legion continued to Masada to finish putting down the rebels. It took them three years, but finally the Roman army breached the walls of Masada. They built a siege ramp up the side of the fortress and returned to their camp to take the city in the morning. That night, the rebels led by Eleazar decided they would prefer death to slavery, and they took their own lives. The next morning, the Romans found two old women and five children left in the compound and they released them to tell the story of what happened to anyone who stood up to Rome.

Today was our second morning waking up to the beauty of the Dead Sea and experiencing an
amazing breakfast, devotion, and worship on the shore in front of the Isrotel Ganim Hotel.
We then traveled North from the Dead Sea evaporation pools, where our hotel was located, to
the structural and engineering marvel that is Masada. We learned of the great cost at which
this magnificent palace fortress was created and how Herod The “Alright” became Herod The
“Great”. We also learned how the sometimes-tragic history of Masada continued long after
Herod’s reign. From Masada we pushed further North to En Gedi where the contrast between the Dead Sea and the springs of En Gedi highlight the importance of “living water” when residing in a hostile
environment. On our way to the falls, Cole stopped and walked us through the scriptures in 1 Samuel 24 where David is hiding out with his men in the caves around En Gedi, because Saul won’t stop
trying to kill him. Then through a unique set of circumstances, David catches Saul in a very
vulnerable situation “covering his feet”, as Yehuda demonstrated so well (future groups will
need to ask him to reenact). David’s men told him to take Saul’s life and claim the throne for
himself. Cole pointed out that David rejected their prodding to do “the right thing...the wrong
way” (becoming king....by killing Saul).

As Cole talked about how that related to David being referred to, in the scripture, as a man after
God’s own heart, I couldn’t help but relate his patience and respect for the ultimate authority of
God to something Yehuda had explained to us just moments earlier. When studying the water
system leading to the springs of En Gedi, they found it takes 20 years for water falling in the
deepest parts of the mountain range to make it’s way to these life-giving waterfalls and pools at
En Gedi. Think about that; it takes a single drop of water 20 years for it’s purpose to be realized;
20 years patiently moving in the same direction when everything else is offering an alternative
route; 20 years for it to find itself right where and when it needed to be. David, a man after
God’s own heart, patiently waited 15 years from the time he was anointed by Samuel until the
time he became king. Just because we know where God is wanting us to end up, doesn’t mean we always recognize the route he’s taking us on.

Isaiah 55:8-11 says this:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

Lord we ask for patience, perspective, and fortitude as we remain committed to your will and
not our own and we pray that we would not return empty but accomplish what you have
purposed us for.

Okay, now back to the day’s events...
From En Gedi we went North making our way to Qumran, where mystery still surrounds the
communities that once occupied these ruins. There Cole, Terry, and Yehuda discussed validating
the accuracy of the Old Testament through the discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls and Cole
showed us how those documents were used to substantiate the New Testament by giving
contextual clues behind some of it’s Old Testament references. We finished the day by...you guessed it.....traveling North once more to come out of the desert and into the lush lands surrounding the Sea Of Galilee. I hear tomorrow is going to be amazing.

Qumran is not a biblical site, but it is incredibly important to scholars, textual critics, and
historians. The Qumran community resided north of Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea. This mysterious
community, likely made up of priests from a radical separatist sect copied hundreds of
manuscripts and hid them in caves along the chalky cliffs, hidden from history for almost two thousand years. In the 1940's, a Bedouin shepherd threw a rock into a cave looking for his sheep
and heard a pot shatter. When he went in, he found hundreds of ancient manuscripts. The impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls extends into nearly every area of biblical scholarship. Maybe most importantly, it provides pieces of the Old Testament predating the earliest available manuscripts by hundreds of years. After all that time, the text had not changed. Because of the DSS, we can trust that what we’re reading today is what was written in the Bible.

The most impactful site for us today was the oasis of Ein Gedi. Here in the middle of a dry,
desolate and weary land you have a place of refuge, life and peace. From the top of the fortress
of Masada it stands out like a beacon, inviting you to come and find restoration. We loved the teaching about how God is like this for us. In the middle of our hardships, he is always ready to summon us to him if we will just come and be strengthened. Jesus offers rest for our souls and refreshment in the middle of any desert. The springs that flow continually there in Ein Gedi are just like the non-stop, ever-present love God offers us through Christ. And when we are refreshed in his love we are able to share that love with others, to reflect God's image to them as a God of peace and healing. In the future when we think of seeking God's rest, we will often think of being in the shade of the
acacia tree there at Ein Gedi, or hearing the gentle flow of the falling water.

Jeremy and Joy Jenkins