Day 9 Qumran, Masada, and The Dead Sea

Qumran

Earlier in the trip we were able to see the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Qumran is the place they were found.  The scrolls were hidden in the many caves in the Judean Hills.  The Essenes were the community that wrote these scrolls that date back to the days of Jesus.

A big part of the Essene life was ritual bathing and throughout the community there were ritual bathing sites like this one.  Notice how the stairs are separated with the remains of a partition.  The unclean would enter the  waters below on one site of the steps and acend on the other side.  The partition ensured the unclean would not defile the clean.

Highest to the Lowest: Part 2

From Qumran we allowed ourselves to be crammed into a cable car to make the ascent to Masada.  It was one big sardine can, but fortunately the ride only lasted a few minutes before we reached the summit.

Masada was built by Herod the Great.  In fact, Masada was one of the reasons Herod earned the title "Great."  He created massive building projects throughout the Promised Land and Masada is as impressive as any of them.  It is a fortress, built on the top of a mountain, but it had all the luxuries one would expect from Herod.

Pastor Dressler and Pastor Heintz sit in the synagogue located on the top of Masada.

The Dead Sea

While the little fish in the Madaba Map might have swam away from the Dead Sea, we flocked to it.  It was about 30 degrees Celsius at the lowest point on earth, a good time to float in the waters that are 35% salt.  One drop in your mouth on your eye and you know you are at the Dead Sea.

They also say that the mud is full of healing properties, but the truth is its just plain fun to smear it all over yourself.  Where else are you encouraged to play in the mud?  Tomorrow we see ancient Jericho and then head north to the region of Galilee.