Day 02 - Negev: Desert Walk, Bedouin Experience, Camel Ride, Tel Arad

A Walk in the Desert

Day 2 began with a short walk across the street to the surreally peaceful shore of the Dead Sea. Every picture our group took was breathtaking yet still didn’t capture the actual beauty of it. In our morning devotional, Terry reminded us of standing over the Valley of Elah, hearing the story of a young shepherd named David, who offered to go out and defeat Goliath with just a sling and a stone. His faith glorified God. God sent Samuel to anoint David as the next king, but Saul turned against him. David escaped to the desert and spent over a decade running from Saul. Not only was he in a physical desert, but he also endured a spiritual one. As a 20-something runaway, he began to question his calling. Would he ever become King? In this wilderness, he wrote the 63rd Psalm;

1 “You, God, are my God,

    earnestly I seek you;

I thirst for you,

    my whole being longs for you,

in a dry and parched land

    where there is no water.

2 I have seen you in the sanctuary

    and beheld your power and your glory.

3 Because your love is better than life,

    my lips will glorify you.

4 I will praise you as long as I live,

    and in your name, I will lift up my hands.

5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;

    with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

It was between the triumph over Goliath and his reign as king that God prepared David and grew his faith. Just like David, God uses our times in the desert to build our faith and prepare us for what he has called us to do.

Larry closed our devo with a beautiful time of worship, and we made our way to the bus for our first stop of the day.

We wound our way through the desolate mountains and pulled off to the side of the road to make our trek into the Negev Desert. We crossed paths with a shepherd woman and her son and ventured down into a dry riverbed. As we looked around the midbar (the grazing desert) we were told by Yehuda about the Bedouin (Arabic nomads) who wander that land. The only way to find enough food was to move, because there is so little vegetation on the surprisingly rocky terrain. While we often think of the desert as simply hot and dry, we had the privilege of experiencing it in winter, while it was cold and rainy. Only 1mm of water can absorb into the earth in this area, and the rest runs off in what can be dangerous flash floods.

What would it be like to spend 40 years here? Hot & Cold. Rainy & Dry. Not enough food to sustain all of your people. Traversing and sleeping amid the multitude of jagged rocks that scatter the landscape. That is exactly what the Israelites endured after Moses led them out of slavery in Egypt. For 40 years they wandered, not because they were lost, but because they weren’t ready for the land promised to them. God removed them from Egypt, but it took an entire generation to remove Egypt from the Israelites. Again, we’re shown the fiercest faith is born in the desert. God humbles us like he did David. He loves us enough to build a faith that will never be shaken. When hard times come, and they will, it is important that we remember we aren’t being punished, but blessed with a steady faith. Lest we not forget, faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. He can work any desert time for good, because nothing is impossible with God!

We drove through the modern city of Arad, and because we made good time in the dessert, Yigal stopped and got us fresh pita bread for lunch. (Let this be a reminder to all, there are perks to hustling and being on time. Those pitas were delicious!)

Next, we ventured to a tiny oasis to enjoy a Camel ride, goat herding, and the Bedouin Experience. Many in the group braved riding the camels, and despite some surprises, we all survived! Next, the men and women were pit against each other in a goat herding challenge. Naturally, the women dominated while also performing a much harder course.

We then entered a tent to continue learning about the Bedouin culture. Through the sound of a soft rain, Yehuda explained the customs of these nomadic Arabic tribes. Because the conditions in which they lived were considered inhospitable by most, they developed a culture of unrivaled hospitality in order to care for those traveling through. As we walked through the process of what it would be like to be a guest in a Bedouin tent, we were treated to a sweet tea, strong coffee, and a traditional pita prepared over a saj. Even the fiercest enemy of the tent owner was welcome as a guest. That is how deeply their culture of hospitality ran. In the same way, Jesus challenged the definition of neighbor by teaching (for example, the Parable of the Good Samaritan) that everyone is our neighbor. Not just those with your same ethnicity, religion, or political affiliation; EVERYONE is our neighbor. While we excel at kindness and compassion, are we successful at hospitality? Many in our world today are in spiritual and/or emotional deserts, and the simple act of encouragement is a great first step in embracing hospitality. How else can you apply this concept of hospitality in your own life? What has God blessed you with that you can share and use to encourage others, especially those who are nothing like you?

Our last stop of the day was in Tel Arad, a central fortress used to help with the maintaining of smaller border fortresses. Terry and Yehuda took us to a replica of the temple within the fortress and taught in the corridor outside the Holy of Holies. The people who lived there had the temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem, and they had the Torah, so why did they have a temple replica? There were small changes to the temple that suggest, while still worshiping the one true God, that they may have let the gods of their culture creep in too. This is known as Henotheism, and it is as great of a temptation today as it was then. Whenever we find ourselves compromising our pursuit of God’s will to pursue worldly desires, we are elevating those things to the position God should occupy. Spiritual infidelity begins here, and it slowly creeps in to separate you from loving the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

We worship what we love.

What in your life do you find yourself worshiping that isn’t the Lord your God?

We ended our day back at the hotel. Most of us dressed quickly for a float in the Dead Sea, just to be greeted by a frigid downpour and fierce wind. I haven’t received the finally tally, but I’m venturing a guess that only half of our group braved the cold and took the polar plunge into the Dead Sea. We laughed, we ran, we slipped, we splashed, and we made memories that will last a lifetime. For those that got in, it was a rich experience to tuck away for many years. For the rest of us… well, we tried!

Until Tomorrow…