Quarry Study Tours

June 18 - July 2, 2018

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Masada and Ein Gedi

Shabbat Shalóm from the Dead Sea. Peace to you on this Sabbath day, God’s day of rest. What a fresh reminder of what was told to us on Mt. Timna yesterday. It is such a blessing to know that our Father is so committed to us and loves us in such a beautiful way! This knowing is creating grateful hearts in each one of us. Just as we spoke about Miriam and her tambourine playing and dancing in worship, so grateful to the God who saves!

 Masada, just the thought of this place brings horrific thoughts to my mind.  King Herod’s stronghold, his fortress. The beauty and magnificence of this palace and what remains even thousands of years later is a sight to behold. Honestly I had no idea it was still in existence in “ruins”. But when I speak of the beauty, it contrasts immensely with the ugliness that took place here. Herod was an evil king and still he was brilliant and still again he was mad (in the crazy way and probably in the emotional way too), you would have to be to kill your favorite wife and some of your children! So much killing. So much death. Learning so much of the history today has my mind spinning as I try to grasp it all. I am inspired to study and search to know the history of our ancestors, these desert people we are grafted into.  I know now how important it is. How can we understand what is written in the Bible when we don’t understand the people it’s written about? Like the Zealots for example. When the Romans were encroaching on Masada, they took their own lives rather than being caught. Then the discussion became; What would we do? We put ourselves in that place and in that time. Would we fight or would we do what they did and kill each other to save each other? Is that the only way to win? To beat the Romans. There would be no victory for Rome in this place. Instead the Zealots would chose to be free and win through death. If it’s about freedom then they won. To quote Pastor Scott, “there was risk, vulnerability and fearlessness”. “There are things worse than death”....

Masada

The summit of Masada sits 190 feet (59 m) above sea level and about 1,500 feet (470 m) above the level of the Dead Sea. The mountain itself is 1950 feet (610 m) long, 650 feet (200 m) wide, 4,250 feet (1330 m) in circumference, and encompasses 23 acres. The “Snake Path” climbs 900 feet (280 m) in elevation. From the west, the difference in height is 225 feet (70 m).

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So much to think about. It isn’t just black and white. Nothing is. It’s layered and complicated. Life and death in your face here at every turn.  It’s a lingering thought that follows us. 

So who loves David? Me! And everyone else here ❤️ We made our way next to the Ein Gedi.  This was the place where David hid from Saul in a cave. David was here! You can see the caves in the mountain along side this nature preserve. A true oasis surrounded by miles and miles of desert. Fresh water in a vast and treacherous desert where the nearby Dead Sea lies so beautiful and enticing but she cannot satisfy your thirst. We stood still in this oasis of the Ein Gedi among trees and listened to the sounds of birds and waterfalls while a cloud of pale yellow butterflies fluttered in our midst. The gentle grace of the butterflies and so pale you could almost miss their presence. ..... and then we hear those all too familiar words of our rabbi, “follow me please”...

And so we do....and we hike the wadi David hike....(we kinda were hiked out from the TERROR OF THE MASADA SNAKE TRAIL)  but we have our water shoes with us so we know there is a happy ending to this. We arrive at David’s Waterfall to find Scott beginning the story of Sukkoth and that the center focus of this holiday feast is that God is living water. Scott retells the story of Jesus at The feast of tabernacles  pouring the pitcher of water on the altar saying “he who is thirsty come to me and drink”. I was suddenly taken back to almost three years ago, the first time my family and I attended Riverside church, it was on Sukkoth and Scott told this story. I brought tears to my eyes as I remembered the Bible coming to life for me right there in that place and so it did again, right here right now! I looked around at this oasis, this fresh water in a dry and thirsty land. It isn’t possible to live without it. Just like we can’t live without Jesus. He is our living water. It’s a different picture here in this merciless desert where we have been literally suffering from nausea and dizziness, near fainting, crying, aches and pains, sheer exhaustion and complaining even at times because of this rugged environment and without the CONSTANT consummation of water we would all be in hospital right now, I say this without exaggeration. It’s only been 4 days! So the vision of the need for water is a concept desert people can understand. And we as desert people know that we need Jesus, THE Living Water.  Maim Haim. 

So we left with this...Who has been living water in your life?

Written by Susie Freeland

Ein Gedi

En Gedi is the largest oasis along the western shore of the Dead Sea. The springs here have allowed nearly continuous inhabitation of the site since the Chalcolithic period. The area was allotted to the tribe of Judah, and was famous in the time of Solomon (Josh 15:62). Today the Israeli kibbutz of En Gedi sits along the southern bank of the Nahal Arugot.

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