From Jerusalem to En Gedi, Masada and Jordan – Tuesday May 27, 2008

We’ve spent part of six days in Jerusalem and now it’s time to leave and we head on the highway to Jericho. Coming the other way into Jerusalem are commuters and it looks just like the DVP in Toronto. Kim leads us in Morning Prayer and he reads the Parable of the Good Samaritan – Luke 10:25-37. In the midst of Israel with different religious backgrounds and a world the same, the relevance of Jesus’ Parable is palpable.

Tom tries to get us into the Samaritan Inn to see a site and tries two routes. It’s the West Bank and there’s nothing doing so we move on, passing a site that Muslims celebrate as the resting place of Moses.

We drive by Qumran again and remember the importance of the Dead Sea scrolls. Tom gives us the skinny on the Dead Sea – 30% salt content, made up of three salts – sodium bromide, potassium choride and magnesium. This creates a chemical industry on both sides of the border and is an important export for both Israel and Jordan. On the Israeli side, 400 workers are employed, 300 at one time, with the other 100 rotated out for leave. One of the concerns is that the Dead Sea is evaporating and there’s a joint Israeli/Jordan study to look at bringing sea water from the Red Sea and installing hydro electric dams to capture some energy for desalinization on the 400 meter drop from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. The engineer in me is all ears.

We stop at En Gedi on the shore of the Dead Sea and go for a hike while others go “swimming” in the Dead Sea. It’s a natural hiking area, with waterfalls and water seeping out of the rock springs. This is a true oasis in the middle of the Judean desert as the springs flow year round. There’s a Biblical reference to this place in 1 Samuel 24 and we go to the area where there was a two level cave and David cut King Saul’s garment while he was resting.

Further down the road and again in sight of the Dead Sea we come to Masada, where the zealots made their last stand against the Romans. After the zealots were defeated in Galilee, and then Jerusalem, they withdrew to Masada in 70 AD, a fortress that Herod the Great built. The Romans surrounded them, but couldn’t penetrate in any way and finally determined that they had to build a siege ramp that took three years to complete. On the eve of their certain capture, the zealots killed themselves – first the man taking his own family, and then the men drawing lots down to the last ten, and finally the leader killing himself. When the Romans arrived the next day, all they found alive was a mother and two children who were hidden in a floor – spared presumably by their father and husband.

After the 1948 war, some serious archeological work was done and an old, worn Torah scroll was found. In Jewish tradition, worn scrolls are placed in a storage place in the synagogue called the kazim. The part of the scroll that was worn out, presumably from reading it many times was Ezekiel 37 – The Valley of the Dry Bones. That Scripture must have given them tremendous hope during the siege.

How could they have lasted for three years without running water and food? Herod had filled huge cisterns with water and the storehouses were filled with grain and supplies to literally feed an army. So the zealots just moved in.

We went up and down to the Masada fortress in a Swiss built gondola and toured the site of Herod’s three tiered palace, the synagogue and the store rooms.

Driving further south, Kim helps us with references to three good leaders who operated in this area.– Moses in Numbers 20:14, King Solomon working with King Hiram of Tyre in 2 Chronicles 2 and Jehosophat.

We pass the area that was the silver and copper mines of King Solomon.

Pressing on, we come to the border with Jordon where we have to shlep our bags across a no man’s land, show our passports about four or five times and wait for a bus, sitting on the kerb. Not a great “welcome” to Jordan.

Loading up, we’re taken to our hotel in Aqaba, a beautiful spot on the Red Sea, so the memories of the border crossing dim quickly as we enjoy the hospitality and comfort of a five star hotel.