Saturday, March 15 – Day 7

The sun greeted us this morning as we departed the hotel at 7:30.  Our destination: The Judean Wilderness and the Dead Sea area.  Driving eastward first and descending 4,000 feet in elevation within about 20 miles, and then driving southward along the coastline of the Dead Sea, our first stop was Masada.  Upon arriving, we took the cable car up to the top.  We heard the story of the 967 Jews were spent nearly 3 years defining the Roman siege of this once Herodian fortress.   We saw storehouses, the western and northern palace, and the bathhouse.  14 of the group walked down the Snake Path to the bottom.

We boarded the bus and drove northward now from Masada. The next site was Engedi   We read from Songs of Solomon 1:14, 2 Chronicles 20, and 1 Samuel 24.  It was somewhere here where David hid from King Saul in a cave  We hiked back to the 2^nd water falls in this unique oasis area in the heart of the Judean Desert.

Continuing north, our next stop was Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were preserved.  We visited the site and saw many mikvot (Jewish ritual baths), scriptoriums, cisterns.  In front of Cave 4 we read “Psalm 151” (written by David), Psalm 19 and 2 Timothy 3:16.  We paused to consider not only the miracle of the scrolls’ discovery, but how God has preserved the Truth of His Word for our benefit.

On the way back to the hotel, we made one last “surprise” visit to an overlook of the Wadi Qelt and the heart of the Judean Desert.  We read from Isaiah 40 and heard in Hebrew the song of Psalm 23.  Arriving back to our hotel, we enjoyed dinner together, followed by an optional walk to the Western Wall.

It was another great and day in this unique region of the land of Israel!

Sunday, March 16 – Day 8

We plan to see the Mt of Olives, Old City, Via Dolorosa, Herodium, Israel Museum, and Yad Vashem.