Just to reassure everyone, at no time have we felt unsafe. Though some fighting took place close to Tiberias (on the Sea of Galilee), where we were staying last week, and one assault happened in Tiberias (the day we left), our place at Tantur feels quite secure, and we trust the good judgment of those who are here year round.
We continue to covet your prayers for a meaningful and a safe time here, where there is so much trouble over land and identity.
On Friday, our Tantur group took a trip to Mount Tabor, where there is a site dedicated to Jesus’ transfiguration. The view of the Jezreel valley was gorgeous, and the Church had two rear chapels, one dedicated to Moses and the other to Elijah.
We then went to Beit She’an National Park, which is a large excavated Roman City with an amphitheatre and a Tel (a hill) which we hiked up. On our way back to Jerusalem, we went through Jericho, which is all Palestinian and quite impoverished. We had a wonderful dish called “upside down” (which relates to how it is prepared, then served upside down) at the only Christian establishment in the city. Our guide said that the owners were very grateful for our business. We then found a sycamore tree under which Jesus could have called Zacchaeus before he invited himself over to his house. According to historians, Jericho is the oldest inhabited agricultural community in the world.
We were grateful to back to Jerusalem after an exciting week of following in Jesus’ footsteps.
Kari and I had the opportunity to see our friend Nah’la’s mother and her family in Jordan, so we spent Saturday and Sunday traveling to and visiting in the largest city in Jordan, which is Amman. Jordan is governed by a constitutional monarchy, is all-Arab, and is a model for the region. Jordan has no extremist groups in its country, and no division between peoples as in Israel. We enjoyed meeting a Christian family and eating our way through the weekend. Getting over the border took a long time, and the cab rides in Jordan were an adventure. We have seen many camels, goats, donkeys, and Bedouins.
Today, Monday, our Tantur group went through the Judean desert (just west of Jerusalem) and from the highest point in Jerusalem, 2800 feet above sea level, went to the Dead Sea, which is 1300 feet below Sea Level. From lush vegetation and an active city to an arid desert and a place where many people have come to get away.
We saw the Jewish stronghold of Masada, where a group of 900 rebels courageously withstood a siege by the Romans in 70 A.D. We went up by cable car to explore their living quarters carved into the fortified walls, the ritual baths they used, and to see how impressive the building of this site was, as Herod the Great ordered it built during his reign between 34 BC and 4 BC, including two palaces.
From there we went to the Dead Sea, where you cannot go under water because the salt content is 28% (average ocean salinity 8%), and instead you bob like a cork.
Then we went up to a high place to discover Ein Gedi (the spring of the goats) to see a waterfall that is there in the desert year round, and is referred to many times in the Bible.
Our last site was to tour Qumran, the home of the community of Essenes who lived in isolation from Jerusalem as a Jewish sect, using a ritual bath similar to that of John the Baptist’s (many think that John the Baptist came from this community). At Qumran in 1947 the legend is that a Bedouin boy found scrolls in a jar after going after a lost goat. In the end, archaeologists found scrolls containing fragments of the entire Bible (except for the Book of Esther), interpretive writing, and a manual of discipline which guided the community’s life. At this site I was thrilled to see two of the caves from across the way where scrolls were found.
It was our first intensively hot day, so we were grateful for many water stops, an air-conditioned bus, and the dip in the Dead Sea.
We are halfway through our time of learning and touring at Tantur, feel immersed in the culture, the varied people and religions, and are deepening our awareness of the significance of land during the life of Jesus and in these difficult times.
I have continued to post photos, so you can get some idea of the breadth of what we have seen.
God has been so good to us, as Kari and I are sharing this time of pilgrimage and community-making.
May Christ continue to dwell in all of us, assuring us of faith, hope, and love.
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