Day 03 - Negev: Ein Gedi, Qumran, Lower Jordan, Shabbat Dinner

Onward to Galilee

More learning about Dead Sea, unstable ground around it and many sink holes making the area dangerous.

We had morning devotion at the entrance of Ein Gedi.

Worship song was O come to the Altar.

We all hunger and thirst for God.

Psalm 42:1-2-where can I go and meet with God?

-God has instilled in us all a hunger for him - we try too often to do it on our own power - God is our true power.

At Ein Gedi we walked where David walked, where many psalms were written.

We learned about the animals on Ein Gedi. The ibex or wild goats which is Israel's national animal and the hyrax or rock badger.

Psalms 104:18 - in the high mountains with wild goats.

Habakkuk 3:19 - Yahweh is my strength, makes my feet like hinds feet.

We discussed many different trees, Acacia tree which the ark of covenant was built out of, the brush tree or bush and the juniper, 1 Kings 19:3, David slept under the juniper.

Psalm 1- a tree planted firmly in water is the way of righteousness, the living water (Mayim chayim). We are called to be the living water.

The Rock of Israel is flint, this is good trivia knowledge….

We discussed the story of David & Saul- David stayed in the stronghold (Masada)of Ein Gedi 1 Sam. 23:29. He could have killed Saul but showed true leadership and restraint. He knew God would be his advocate.

We went to the waterfalls and put our feet in the living water.

Psalms 63 tells my soul to thirst for living water and Ezekiel 47 tells us everything that flows from God will live. Just follow him. Picture the garden of Eden.

The Son of Man or God is the living water.

And John 7:37 tells of the rivers of living waters. Christ lives in each of us.

Finally about half of us hiked to David’s waterfall, David means beloved. We were blessed to hear a French group sing praises in this area, and we sang too….

While driving to next stop we discussed the economy of the Dead Sea which includes date honey, Balm of Giliad, and Medicinal supplies.

We then entered the West Bank…

Qumran is where the Dead Sea scrolls were found.

Originally found in 1947 and initially included 2 vessels and 7 scrolls. First was 66 chapters of Isaiah with only 4 different letters than what was in Bible. We learned how the validity of the Bible was proven with these findings.

Scrolls have taken quite a journey and in 1967 after the 6 day war Israel has control of Qumran and 99% of scrolls.

There are still more questions than answers.

Currently there have been no New Testament findings in the scrolls, many of the scrolls are not part of the Bible and many are commentaries.

This time was packed with really good teaching and group interaction.

Most interesting question is what happened to that Essenes (Yakhad) the creators and keepers of these scrolls? as well as similarities of them to John the Baptist. Also could their survivors be the early Christians?

Lunch was from West Bank, Jericho.

We saw a Palestinian control sign.

We ate at the Jordan river, we enjoyed yummy Shawarmas! 

Jordan river (Yardan-go down from Dan). From 1967 to 1994 it was the border between Israel and Jordan In 1994 a peace treaty was created and now all can go to the river.

The Jordan is not a big river in fact the Israelites call it the Missipeepee - yes we all laughed at that one!

Amazing teaching of 3 stories at the rivers edge.

Remember the conquest is always from east to west….

The first was Moses and Joshua and the crossing at the Jordan. Joshua 4. Moses passing the baton to Joshua which means “salvation is Yahweh”. Moses dies in the east of the Jordan.

God instructed that this place will be a memorial forever.

The second is Elijah and Elisha, 2 Kings 2, where they return to the river and repent (Tzhuva). Elijah passes baton to Elisha, and is taken to heaven in the east of the Jordan. Elisha means salvation from God.

The final story is of John the Baptist speaking the path of righteousness in the wilderness, Mark 1. He calls for repentance.

He makes a way for Jesus and his Holy Spirit, and John dies in the East.

Jesus is the Savior!

We are called to be living water and then living stones with the Holy Spirit living in us!

As we made our drive into Galilee we sang worship songs together….just surreal…

Tonight we celebrated Shabbat, the day of rest. It is 25 hours, 1/2 hour before sunset Friday to 1/2 hour after sunset on Saturday. We were told to take a good shower, we will light candles and dress nice.

We had a lovely evening with great fellowship.

We are all looking forward to what God has to reveal to us here in the Galilee

Shabbat Shalom