Friday, March 2, 2007-Day 5
Once again a 6AM wake up call with a buffet breakfast at 6:30AM. The bus left at 7:30AM so we could beat the crowds. Our first drive-by today was to be Kfar Kana or Cana where Jesus turned water into wine, his first miracle. There wasn’t really anything there to see except rooftops and a church. We were on our way to Nazareth to see the town where Jesus grew up so we were in a hurry.
Nazareth has over 100,000 people living in it and it sort of blends into other towns surrounding it. All the streets are narrow, there are no trees, and a lot of traffic, even on a holiday. We stopped at the Church of the Annunciation, which is where an angel supposedly told Mary that the Holy Spirit would visit her. In the church there is a well, the only natural water in Nazareth and there are steps leading to the well. This means that Jesus most certainly was at this well or at least drank its water. Since this is the only water source those who study such things are led to believe that the population around the time of Jesus was between 500 and 1000. We couldn’t get into the church for a little bit so we waited outside while Micha did some fast talking. He finally got us permission to enter but we were told to be very quite and to not take any pictures since people were worshipping inside. We could hear the water in the well but couldn’t see it. All the people living in lower Nazareth are Arab while Jews live in upper Nazareth. Jonah came from this area. Today people get along.
“Okay Family, back on the bus” Micha chimed. So we walked by the vendors selling postcards ($1 for a pack), film, water, and all the rest and got under way.
We were heading to Ma’ayan Harod or Gideon’s Spring. This is a 10 on the authenticity scale. This IS THE SPOT where Gideon chose his army of 300 men from among 32,000. Read your Bibles to hear this dramatic story again. After a teaching moment about Gideon we sang together “He Is Lord.”
We drove south along the shore of the Dead Sea, which is 1290' below sea level, the lowest spot on earth. There are occasional oases along the way. The Dead Sea is 50 miles long and averages 12 miles wide and over 1000' deep. 25-30 % of the water is minerals and salt.
Before stopping there we continued south to Masada. Masada was where there was a Jewish suicide in 73AD, which marked the end of the last Jewish resistance to the Roman occupation. Masada isn’t mentioned in the Bible since it took plasce after the events of the Old Testament and before the events of the New Testament.
Masada is a plateau, which is 1300' above the level of the Dead Sea. It was first occupied by the Maccabees in 165 BC, then Herod the Great had a palace there in 40BC as a possible refuge, and finally Jewish zealots held off the Romans for 3 years, finally succumbing in 73AD. For the Israelis Masada is a very important site. Up until recently new soldiers in the Israeli army were sworn in on Masada. In the 6th century a Byzantine church was founded there as noted in mosaics and finally found again, discovered, and restored in the 1960's. Restoration at Masada continues today. It takes a cable car ride to get to the top in 2 minutes-or you can walk up in about 90 minutes. We took the cable car. From there we had a good view of the Dead Sea and the ruins of the Roman garrison that tried to capture the zealots.
Heading north we stopped along the road so we could see the entrance to the cave in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were hidden for centuries. The scrolls did preserve all the Old Testament books (except Esther) and were found in 1947 by some shepherd boys who were herding and found this cave. A group of people called the Essenes transcribed these manuscripts by the Dead Sea. Eventually the scrolls were examined and reflect, almost word for word, what we have in our Bible today.
We made a short stop at the Ahava Dead Sea cosmetics factory store to shop. Then it was on to Mineral Beach for lunch and time to “swim” in the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea is the lowest spot on earth. That somehow doesn’t sound right. Anyway after lunch we changed into our suits and made it to the shore. I saw someone just covered with mud and decided I had to do that too. It was a hoot. The mud pit wasn’t very large but it appeared deep and slippery. So I gingerly stepped in and immediately sank up to my knees. It was with great difficulty that I was able to move around. Once I became sure of my footing I started slathering mud all over my body. Boy, that was fun. Soon a few others joined in. I became a big mud ball in short order. Now, to the water. The Dead Sea is composed of something like 33 % minerals. That meant the bottom was like jagged coral and I didn’t have anything on my feet. Ouch! It was a bit uncomfortable getting in and out. Once in I found that it was almost impossible to sink. Once I was floating it became hard to stand up. Since I normally “swim” like a rock it was really nice being able to float. We were told ahead of time that if we had any open cuts on our bodies it would sting. It sure did. I became pretty red in some spots. All–in-all it was a fun experience.
It was now on the Jerusalem. There was a real sense of excitement in the bus as we approached the city. I was trying to soak up just everything I saw. We saw some Bedouins with their flocks of sheep, some donkeys and a few camels here and there on the outskirts. We ended up on Mt. Scopus where we stood looking over the city we had heard about all of our lives. As Cindy said – “it felt like coming home.” It was a very special moment. The golden domed EI Aqsa Mosque was very prominent. This is one of the three hills (Moriah and Zion are the other two) that Jerusalem is built upon. We gathered around Micha who told us a bit about the city. Then Walt had someone read scripture after which he made a few comments and we had a moment of prayer.
The Jerusalem YMCA was our hotel for the evening. It is a nice facility right across the street from the King David Hotel where heads of state stay when visiting Jerusalem. I imagine their rooms were a bit bigger and more expensive than ours.
After a long day filled with many memorable experiences we were finally in Jerusalem. Wow!
And there was evening and there was morning – the fifth day.
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