As you probably know, the Dead Sea is the lowest spot on planet earth, 1300 feet below sea level. It's also very hot and very dry, not unlike Palm Springs. Our visit to Masada was both educational and impressive -- Masada was a palace/fortress built by Herod the Great that Jewish rebels took over in AD 70 and the Romans lay siege to for two years. It is perched on an rock high above the valley below. It was amazing to think about the trouble Herod took to build it and the trouble the Romans went to to quash the Jewish rebellion.
My intrepid leader and tour guide, Evertt Huffard
Rockin' that safari hat! Looking North from Masada
OK, here was a disappointing revelation: there is no more Jordan river! The water that flows from the sea of Galilee has been diverted by both Israel and Jordan for irrigation, drinking, etc. Sort of like what we've done to the Colorado River before it reaches Mexico.
Qumran is the site of a major manuscript find in 1947; those manuscripts were left there nearly 2000 years ago by a community of Jewish rigorists who pulled away from society to live in purity and holiness in anticipation of the Lord's righteous judgment upon the sons of darkness.
Here is one of the caves in which a Bedouin shepherd found the first group of scrolls.
We visited Bet She'an, a well preserved Roman city complete with bath-house and theatre, just a stone's throw away from where King Saul met his cruel demise. Our final stop was at Ma'ayan Harod, the creek at which Gideon instructed his troops to stoop down and drink, and God told him to reduce their number from 10,000 to 300 (Judges 7-9).
Ma'ayan Harod (a.k.a. Gideon's Creek)
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