After saying farewell to our homestay families, we ventured into the dry and arid Judean countryside, starting with a visit to the ‘Wadi Qelt’ wilderness. This vast wilderness contained the famous road from Jericho to Jerusalem, which was the main thoroughfare to the Holy City. David fled to Jerusalem on this route after Absalom made himself king (2 Samuel 15:23-16:14). King Zedekiah escaped from Nebuchadnezzar’s troops on this road (2 Kings 25:1-6). Jesus walked it many times (Mark 10:46-11:1, Luke 2:39-50). Even the Roman Legion marched on it to destroy Jerusalem in 70 AD. This hilly, arid countryside has a strange beauty looking across it, but no doubt was a brutal journal along the barren, rocky trails.
We continued our journey through this wilderness into the ancient city of Jericho to take a trip up the ‘Mount of Temptation’ in a cable car. Jericho is considered in this region to be the oldest city in the world, dated as 10,000 years old. It is located in the Jordan Valley and is governed by the Palestinian National Authority. The ‘Mount of Temptation’ is the place where Jesus was tempted by Satan after spending 40 days in the wilderness we had just seen. This was a breathtaking journey up the mountain, with quite a steep climb after we disembarked the cable car to a precariously located monastery on the side of the cliff face. For Jesus, I’m tipping it was quite a different journey, both physically and spiritually. I’m actually glad that the last stage to the place of temptation was strenuous and required a lot of effort! It seemed right to be standing in the space where Jesus was tempted, feeling hot from the scorching sun and feeling out of breath from the climb.
We moved from one mountain to another via the Dead Sea, as we made our way to Masada. On our way, we stopped by the ‘Qumran Caves’, which was home to the Essenes and the archaeological site where the ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ were discovered around 1947. The way this ancient monastic movement carved out a life in the barren wilderness is quite impressive. Not only did they learn to survive as a recluse community in a ‘dry and thirsty land’, but they also disciplined themselves to a life of rituals and deep study as they transcribed the Scriptures to preserve them for this present age. Having seen the ‘Shrine of the Book’ that houses the ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ in Jerusalem, it was quite amazing to visit the site where they were found today.
Upon our arrival in Masada, we were shown a short video to tell the remarkable story of this epic battle, as recorded by Josephus. Again, this is a story that I was previously unfamiliar with. In brief, a group of Jewish rebels known as the ‘Sicarii’ fled Jerusalem after the destruction of the second temple in 70 AD. They settled on the mountain top of Masada (the previous fortress of Herod the Great around 37-31 BC) after slaughtering the Roman garrison. In 73 AD, the Roman governor Lucas Flavius Silva headed the Roman Legion to lay siege of Masada. The Roman Legion surrounded the fortified mountain and built a siege ramp against the western face of the mountain plateau and used a battering ram to penetrate the massive stone walls. When you stand atop of the plateau and look down the steep rugged cliffs, it is absolutely extraordinary that the Romans considered attempting such a siege, let alone succeeded!! The tragedy and heroism of this story is that the ‘Sicarii’ refused to be taken as slaves by the Romans, so they chose death by enacting an internal murder suicide plot. The ‘Sicarii’ leader gathered his men in the synagogue and gave the following speech:
“Since we long ago resolved never to be servants to the Romans, nor to any other than God himself, who alone is the true and just Lord of mankind, the time is now come that obliges us to make that resolution true in practice … We were the very first that revolted, and we are the last to fight against them; and I cannot but esteem it as a favour that God has granted us, that it is still in our power to die bravely, and in a state of freedom.” (Elazar Ben Yair)
Since Judaism prohibits suicide, Josephus reported that the ‘Sicarii’ had drawn lots and killed each other in turn, down to the last man, who would be the only one to actually take his own life. On one mountain Jesus fought against Satan and overcame his temptations. On the other mountain the ‘Sicarii’ fought against the Roman Legion and took each other’s lives to avoid defeat and slavery. One cannot escape the irony between these two compelling stories from the pages of history that came alive today. The other interesting detail about this part of the journey is that the imposing cliffs of the Masada National Park stand 290 metres above the Dead Sea yet standing on the top of those cliffs looking down on the Dead Sea is only 33 metres above sea level. From this vantage point, you capture just how low the Dead Sea really is as the lowest point on earth.
The Dead Sea is where we ended our day. Once we checked into our hotel, we walked down to the shore of the Dead Sea for an obligatory swim, or should I say, float!? I’ve heard many stories about this experience from other travellers, but it is quite another thing to experience the sensation of floating in the Dead Sea for yourself. It really is a strange sensation being so buoyant in water that contains around 35% salinity (salt content). It requires absolutely no effort at all to stay afloat in the very warm water, but when you try to stand up, it requires an enormous amount of effort. It was indeed an experience! We are so blessed to be staying in another beautiful hotel that offers a bit of luxury for their overseas guests. Never before have we stayed in such places and enjoyed this level of hotel accommodation.
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