Day 02 - Negev (Desert Day)

We woke up on the shores of the Dead Sea! Our day began with breakfast and a morning devotional by Terry on the beach just in front of our hotel. The weather was lovely all day, though hazy, and we could just barely make out the mountains on the Jordanian side of the sea. Terry taught on the foundational Jewish statement of faith, The Shema, which affirms the oneness and uniqueness of Yahweh, the God of Israel. We learned the first lines in Hebrew: 

“Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad...”

The Shema is recorded in Deuteronomy 6:4 and translates to, “Hear (shema) O Israel, the LORD is your God, the LORD is one.”  This wasn’t the last we heard from Deuteronomy today–which was fitting for our day in the Negev Desert.  After all, Deuteronomy records when Moses reminded the Israelites of the law as they gathered on the edge of the wilderness!

Desert Walk

Our first stop off the tour bus was to experience a little of the desert for ourselves. According to Terry and Yahuda, the desert is lush right now. Though it looked pretty barren to us, scrubby bits of green sprouted amid the rocks; we even spied a few flocks of sheep grazing on nearby hills. As we followed Yahuda into the mountainside, he pointed out a blooming broom tree. The flowering branches smelled a bit like gardenias.  

Yahuda spoke to us about the different kinds of desert in Israel– there are three separate words for wilderness in the Hebrew Bible. The most common is mibbar, which comes from a word meaning “to graze”. Most of Israel is mibbar– it is a desert climate, but there is enough rainfall to ensure that animals can graze and life can be sustained. Even though the landscape is severe, it is also alive.

Terry continued the desert theme in our next devotional by recalling Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness.  The desert was the place God used to build their faith. Deuteronomy 8 instructed them to remember how God had led them– how the wilderness had humbled them, but also showed them God’s unfailing love. God allowed his people to experience hunger so they’d understand that “man doesn’t live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” 

There are times, Terry told us, when God will humble us and let us hunger– but these wilderness seasons are never purposeless. And He never leaves us– He loves us enough to lead us through the wilderness and take us to faith.

Camel Ride and Bedouin Experience

We continued our “desert day” with camel rides! It was so much fun, and gave us a great appreciation for ancient modes of travel. Easton remarked that it’s no wonder the wise men were a year late to visit Baby Jesus– camels are slow.

Next, we gathered on low cushions in a tent to learn about Bedouin hospitality. As Yehuda spoke, we sampled a special sweet tea, very strong coffee (which an old saying requires to be “black as the night, strong as a man and bitter as a marriage”) and delicious pita, cooked over a fire as we watched!

Tel Arad

We battled strong winds to experience an amazing archaological site at Tel Arad. Here we learned about the remains of a fortified Canaanite city that dates to about 5000 years ago and toured a partially reconstructed fortress from the time of the Kings of Judah.  

The fortress contained an Israelite Temple with an altar and “holy of holies.” The Temple altar was fashioned after the pattern in Exodus, but the inner sanctuary had evidence of idols. The implications of this were, as Terry explained, that the Israelites during this time period had committed two evils:

1) They built and worshipped at a non-sanctioned temple, rather than going to Jerusalem. 2) They worshipped other gods in addition to Yahweh. This didn’t mean that they’d turned to polytheism, but that they were practicing henotheism– Yahweh was still their primary God, but they’d “added on” the worship of other gods.

This was, of course, a violation of the Shema – evidence that God’s people were no longer placing their trust in Yahweh as the one and only God. And it’s not simply an ancient problem. We, too, are prone to add on “little-g” gods. We can claim Christt, all the while attending other altars. We can worship the idols of money, materialism, nationalism, or pride.

The fortress at Arad was partially destroyed during the rule of Hezekiah. In order to reform the nation and turn back to Yahweh, Hezekiah had high places of worship and temples like this one torn down. We too, must be willing to identify and remove any areas of our lives that don’t align with the Christian statement of faith: “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God!”  

Dead Sea

After leaving Arad, we returned to our hotel with plenty of time to get in the Dead Sea! It was cold, but so worth it for the experience of ‘floating’ in the mineral-rich water. What a day! 

Quote of the Day:

When Blake assured Easton that he didn’t need to drink the coffee at the bedouin experience, Easton insisted: “But I’m a man!”