Not too far outside of Jerusalem, the landscape changes drastically. Everything is colored in shades of golden brown, sparsely adorned with green – beset by an expanse of a sea of salt. All below sea level.
You can’t go to Israel without seeing the Dead Sea, the wilderness where David hid from Saul, and where Jesus wandered for 40 days in a place of temptation.
Our first stop was to take a gondola up to Masada, a fortress on top of a mountain whose peak is a mere 58 feet above sea level. A whole village exists at the top, with palaces built by Herod I – complete with a storehouse, an armory, mikvahs (or ritual baths), a synagogue, and cisterns that held water. A group of Jewish Zealot rebels known as the Scarii, hid out up here from their Roman rulers. They were so passionately loyal to their cause, they killed their families before drawing lots to kill each other, just so they wouldn’t fall into the hands of their enemies. Today it gets used as a location for Israeli Defense Force soldiers to get sworn in as they complete their basic training.
After we made our way back down, we move on to what is known as Ein Gedi, or spring of the young goat. The cliff sides are littered with caves, nestled near some lovely waterfalls, the perfect place to hide out.
Here, David spent so much time – staring at the stars, breathing in the smell of the sea, listening to singing of nature around him, far away from his family – pouring out his heart before the Lord. Where better a place to connect with mountainous presence of God than one with no distraction. Stop, meditate, and picture the words of David come to life, expressed in Psalm 63.
“O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.
Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.”
His soul YEARNED for God, longing to be satisfied by the only One who really understood him, in an arid, barren land. Fullness of joy was found in a time of desperation to simply be. To simply be in His Presence, at His feet. Here in a land where fresh, drinking water was scarce, David found refuge in the Living Water, where his thirst could be quenched.
Israel was having an unusually wet season, after record years of drought. It had poured in Jerusalem that day, so we found ourselves unable to go any further, to the upper falls, which had been shut down due to flooding! Here was God’s hand of blessing, pouring out water in a dry, parched land!!!
Speaking of parched, our next stop was at a spa! Not any old spa but one right by the Salt Sea! Did you know that our oceans only have about 3% salt content in them? I don’t know about you, but I swallowed way too much salt water as a kid by accident. But nothing could’ve prepared me for how crazy this was about to be.
That’s right, you read that correctly. 35%. That’s more than 10 times the amount of salt we are normally around. Basically, we were instructed to walk in, turn around and float on your back as you ease into the water. It was crunchy to walk on and not many rocks were in sight. Floating inherently, was not a problem at all. There was like no way you could drown, considering how buoyant you now became due to the salt. It was outlandish, yet so palpable. My skin had never felt so smooth. My skin had never felt so smooth. My dry lips stung terrifically as I unintentionally sampled the water. Trust me, I LOVE salt. But this was on another level. The sea was known for its natural minerals, so often folks visiting will cover themselves in the mud of the banks and then wash clean. A group of us decided to try it. Not sure if it was really worth it to get so dirty but hey, this is the Dead Sea we are talking about, there’s got to be some benefits!
We ended our time making a quick stop soaking in an indoor hot spring before we made our way to our final stop of the day – Qumran.
These caves at Qumran were occupied by the Essenes, a group of radical lovers of the Word of God! They devoted their lives to its study in search for their Messiah, their Savior of promise. In 1946, the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered and today, some of them are on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, which we had stopped at to see our first night in the city! A large amount of the scrolls is also found at the Jordan Museum in Amman.
Now, if you have never heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, let me give you some context. For a long time, secular thought discredited the Bible because of a lack of evidence to corroborate the Word, especially in the dating aspect. These scrolls are the 2nd oldest known surviving manuscripts of preserved evidence, dated back to at least 150 BCE. Their discovery shifted and transformed the Jewish and Christian world forever because it was extensive in show that the Word of God proved history to be true. The scrolls contain the entire book of Isaiah, parts of Ecclesiastes, the words of Habakkuk, chunks of the Pentateuch, Judges, 2 Samuel, Ezekiel, Psalms, and much more.
As this day came to an end, I felt such an awe of God’s hand in the wilderness. In a thirsty land in need of water, He poured out and spoke so clearly, that this is where the nitty-gritty needs to happen for the miracle to come. We found out the next morning that if we had gone any moment later, we wouldn’t have been able to go on this particular trip. For the rains in Jerusalem had flooded the valley below.
Sometimes it’s easy to look and expect the blessing in the good season. Or to lose heart in the endless heat. But often it comes after the desert season because God wants us to lean on Him and believe Him to be God alone, in spite the circumstance.
Deserts indeed bloom in the light of His love.
