Day 5 -- Masada, The Dead Sea and An Almost Camel Ride

See these bad boys? We almost got to ride them. But alas, it was not meant to be. Today we had a cool, windy and rainy day in Israel. Not what 50 pilgrims from Oregon expect when they go to the arid Middle East. Why not ride the camels in the rain? The camel people said that the camels get jumpy on wet ground, their hooves are not used to it.





Rather than risk a potentially dangerous situation, our 50 camel jockeys settled for walking to the tent of 'Father Abraham' (seen here with Pastor Dick and Dawn Scott) and eating on the floor of his tent while he told us about his journey from Ur to Canaan...Australian accent and all.

The highlight of our day was the trip to the fortress/palace of Masada. This is a very tragic and compelling part of the Israelite story complete with drama, intrigue, military might, resistance and a tragic ending of mass suicide. This was all captured in the 1981 epic movie called "Masada" -- what else would they call it?



On a high mountain top, overlooking the Dead Sea, Herod built a fortress retreat; a forty acre, self-sustaining place of protection complete with two palaces. This fortress is only 100 feet above sea level, but is very high due to the fact that it sits next to the lowest place on earth (the Dead Sea) which is 600 feet below Sea Level.

There is no record of Herod ever coming to this place, he had many other palaces and fortresses built as well and it is a testament to his paranoia, self-indulgence and ambition. The real story of this place centers around 1,000 men, women and children who fled here after the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD finding refuge for several years. Peter O'Toole, I mean Justus Flavius Silva, brought a legion of Roman soldiers and laid seige to Masada, eventually building a rampart to the top. Rather than being taken alive, the community committed mass suicide...preferring to die free than to live as slaves and in the idolatry of Rome. Until the 1970's, all Israeli soldiers were brought here to be sworn into military service and thus making the statement that never again would an Israeli be unable to defend him/herself against tyranny.

After stopping at En Geddi (an oasis surrounded by caves) where David hid from Saul and in Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, we went for a 'bob' in the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is about 35% salt and minerals and not one living thing is found there, not even micro-organisms.



It is a weird experience, and a smelly one. Your skin feels oily and the mud is desired all over the world so everyone got muddy and went for a bob.



Ezekiel 47 gives us a remarkable prophecy that one day, our God will heal these dead waters and they will teem with life both in the water and on its shores. Pretty amazing description of what God is about...bringing life out of death! Tomorrow, we go to the garden tomb...the ultimate victory of triumph over death.