A Day in The Desert

Site #1: Ein Gedi
We started our hike to a waterfall by seeing ibex, which are the national animal of Israel. After walking for a few minutes, we stopped and looked at some caves. There was a short teaching by Courtney on David running from Saul which is found in 1 Samuel 24. While David was running from Saul he had an amazing chance to kill Saul while he was relieving himself. Because David was trusting in the Lord and not the men with him he did not kill Saul. Continuing the hike, we started seeing flowing streams of water which were beautiful. Ending our hike, we arrived at the spring, and Craig read us Psalm 1:3. He talked about living water and we experienced what living water looked and felt like. We got the chance to explore, some got in the water and others went looking around the area.

Site #2: Qumran
We drove to Qumran, which is never mentioned in the Bible. The importance of this area is that there were scrolls of the Bible found here in 1947 that predated the oldest known sources by 1000 years. We knew about eleven of the caves until just this year when a twelfth cave was recently discovered. Inside of Cave 4, there were over 600 scrolls found. We hiked to a nearby wadi and learned more about the Essene community of Qumran, and got to learn some about Psalm 23 and Matthew 7:24-27. We learned that in the winter, the wadi is flowing with forceful water. Rich taught on how we should build our foundation on top of the rock and not down in the sand. When the rain and floods come, we should be wise and not foolish.

Site #3: The Jordan River
The Jordan River is pretty sick! This was the place where Elijah got sent up to heaven, the place where the Israelites passed through to go to Jericho, the place where John the Baptist resided, and the very place where Jesus himself was baptized. It was after Jesus was baptized that his ministry began. This place is significant in so many ways. We learned that the Gospel starts with John the Baptist and ends with the resurrection. We read Mark 1:5, which says, “And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing all their sins,” while sitting right next to the very place it possibly happened. We then got the chance to stick around and stick our feet in the river.

Site #4: The City of Jericho
We followed the road all the way to Jericho. Sitting around the spring of Elisha we heard about 2 Kings 2:15 which mentions this very spring. We explored the small area and shopping area. On top, we got to look out and see all of Jericho. The Mount of Temptation was pointed out to us, which is the same area where Jesus was tempted.

We had tons of fun today in Israel. Much was experienced, and seeing the Bible come to life is mind-boggling. We are so excited to spend a couple days in Galilee and walk where Jesus walked.

Yours truly,
Malachi and Kapri