Day 5 – Thursday, February 23: Hippos, Beth Shean, Qumran, Dead Sea
Today we left the Sea of Galilee area and drove south to the region of the Dead Sea. The weather was once again mild, with partly cloudy skies and high temps around 70. It was another day of incredible sites with many biblical connections. We read from Matthew 5 as we loaded the bus and began our day to the first site.
Hippos/Sussita
We first drove around the northern end of the lake before turning south on the eastern side. Towards the southern end, we ascended to the top of the site of Hippos/Sussita, one of the Decapolis cites. This is an impressive archaeological sites with ruins that date from the 2nd century BC to the 8th century AD. The ruins we saw were primarily from the Late Roman period. A number of Byzantine churches were discovered here. With a hazy view of the lake below us and Tiberias across the way, we read from Mark 5 about the transformation of the demoniac as we concluded our visit.
Beth Shean
From here we drove south of the Sea of Galilee through the Jordan Valley to Beth Shean, the only city of the Decapolis on the west side of the Jordan. This is a massive archaeological site, primarily Roman. Here we walked the colonnaded street, sat in the public latrenes, and walked through the impressive theater. Many in the group hiked up 190 steps to the top of the Old Testament site where Saul’s body was hung on the walls of the town square (1 Samuel 31, 1 Chronicles 10). The view was stunning of the Roman city below and the Jordan Valley to the east. As we exited the site, we enjoyed a quick lunch at Hezy’s just outside the archaeological park.
“We left the Sea of Galilee area today and drove south to the Dead Sea. Once again, the day was complete with amazing sites and many more biblical connections. The weather was once again very nice too!”
Qumran
Continuing south along there Jordan Valley, we arrived at Jericho. While we used the restrooms here, the archaeological site was closed (we will return and visit the site tomorrow). So we drove to Qumran located on the northwest corner of the Dead Sea. It was here at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found! The discovery began in 1947, while the excavation took place from 1952 to 1956. First, we all walked to the cliff area above the archaeological site. Here we could see Cave 6. We then walked back down through the ruins where a small community of Essenes lived (or retreated to from Jerusalem, as a new theory suggests). To date, over 900 scrolls and fragments of texts scrolls have been discovered in 12 caves. The scrolls/texts date primarily from the 3rd century BC – 1st century AD. At the small archaeological site we saw cisterns, ritual baths (mikvot), and the scriptorium. In front of “Cave 4” (where the majority of texts were found), we read from “Psalm 151,” and Psalm 19. We celebrated the perseverance of God’s Word!
Dead Sea
To close out the day we enjoyed floating in the Dead Sea at a public beach nearby. This unique body of water is about 33% salt and minerals. It is also the lowest place on earth (nearly 1,400 feet below sea level). We then drove to Al Mog, a kibbutz-hotel whee we enjoyed dinner together and a free evening (note, the Texas bus drove to Ein Bokek and enjoyed dinner and overnight there. They will enjoy floating in the Dead Sea tomorrow morning before breakfast).
Day 6 – Friday, February 24: Masada, Ein Gedi, Jericho, Wilderness of Judah/Wadi Qelt, Jerusalem
