Into the Desert—Day Five

Credit goes to Mike McClenahan for this image.

It was 4:30 in the morning when the rains came. They beat hard on the shores of Galilee and more than a few us awoke at the sound. Curiously, all Israelis rejoice when it rains. Much like Oregonians greet sunny days with even sunnier dispositions, so the people of Israel feel about the rain. It brings life. Later that morning the clouds had given all they had and the sun chased the last few away. It was a glorious dawn.

A morning walk through our kibbutz

After breakfast, we bid goodbye to the kibbutz that had been our home for the last three nights and struck out for the Dead Sea. Along the way, our first stop was the large ruins at Beit She'an. Nearly 50,000 people lived there at the height of this city's glory. The present ruins surround a tel with 6000 years of layered civilizations. The remains of an ancient fortified town sit atop the tel, with a small portion of the original wall. Hundreds of feet below lay the ruins of a city that could have rivaled Ephesus.

Corinthian columns mix with palm trees along the Kardi in Beit She'an

The expansive site was a mini Rome on full display. Only the cultural and commercial center of the city has been excavated thus far, but still one can see the Kardia, or main street, with its exclusive shops lining the boulevard. The main thoroughfare leads to the remains of a Dionysian temple whose columns dwarf us. To the south sits a large theater like that in Caesarea Maratine. Heated baths to the north and a gladiatorial arena further south contribute to this impressive site.

The northern colonnade of Beit She'an's kardia, or main street

Beit She'an nestles the tel in the background on which sits ruins of an even older Philistine city.

Columns of the destroyed Dionysian temple

Looking up from the city to the Tel, one can’t miss the more rustic and much older section of wall crowning the nearby hill. It may not the same wall, but this is the site where Saul and his sons’ decapitated bodies were hung after the Battle of Mount Gilboa. Looking west across the distant valley you can see Jabesh-Gilead where brave Israelis launch a raid against the Philistines at Beit She'an to recover the bodies.

Ruins of the Philistine walled city

Leaving Beit She'an, we headed south through the Jordan valley. Water and soil conspire to produce an unbelievable harvest. Israel exports 80% of the food it produces, becoming the breadbasket of Europe. One of our guides shared a story about a Spring trip she took to England with her granddaughter. The little girl spotted some strawberries in a London market and insisted they get some. Her grandmother explained that the strawberries probably weren't very good this time of year. But grandmothers often yield to granddaughters in such situations and this time was no exception. To their surprise, the berries were delicious, unexpectedly sweet and juicy. Turning over the carton, they read, "Product of Israel."

Heading south through the portion of the Great Rift Valley that overlays Jordan's course, we leave behind the fertile fields of Israel's central valley for drier climes. Green gives way to arid ochres and yellow-brown hues. Even after the late winter rains, the southern reaches of the valley lack the abundance of water, evidenced by streams of greyish-green desert foliage that drink from the creases that etch the surrounding hills. Despite the lack of water, there is still life hugging the terrain here, stubbornly rooted to the land.

As we pull into En Gedi, we're met by a small heard of ibex grazing on the oasis' low slung trees. The name En Gedi means "the spring of the kid (young goat)" so it seems an appropriate welcome. Located west of the Dead Sea, near Masada and the Qumran Caves, the oasis and nature reserve is one of the most popular sites in Israel.

About the size of a large dog, these ibex are very resourceful foragers :-)

It's also the place where David spared Saul's life. The Scriptures record that David and his men "lived in the strongholds of En Gedi." While enjoying the relative coolness and moisture of the oasis, our group could look up into the surrounding mountains and envision the cat-and-mouse hunting of David by Saul. As always, the biblical narrative from 1 Samuel 24 comes alive. Lifting our gaze from the oasis' pool, we can easily see the many caves in this area. Perhaps one of them is where David cut the tassle from the edge of Saul's robe, symbolizing the inevitable transfer of power to David.

The mountains funnel scant rain deep into the limestone which feeds this stream in the desert.
Photo credit: Steve Cross

Our group takes some time to flex their legs and enjoy the relative comfort of En Gedi.
Ditto on this image. Thanks Steve Cross!

A short hike from the pool brings us to a travelers' rest stop and some blessed ice cream. After a brief respite, we mount our buses again to continue south along the Dead Sea. Before reaching our hotel on the southern shores of that body. It's a landscape of extremes. The nearby peaks tower a thousand feet or more above us, barely reaching sea level. The valley floor here is more than 1400 feet below sea level, the lowest point on earth. To that depth, the Dead Sae adds another 978 feet at it's deepest point.

It's not long before we reach our next stop, the Caves at Qumran. Prior to the mid 20th Century, very few had heard of this region. In 1946, or 47, a Bedouin boy of the Ta'amireh tribe found a cave after searching for a lost animal. It was there that he stumbled upon scrolls from two thousand years ago. These scrolls, sealed in clay jars and preserved in the desert's arid climate, were the work of an Essene community that withdrew into the region before the time of Christ. They shared an apocalyptic vision of the world's end and created a settlement dedicated to preparing for a final battle of good and evil. Their scribes copied hundreds of biblical and extra-biblical writings, including a complete copy of Isaiah that predates any previous text by 1000 years.

Cave 4Q where most of the scrolls were found along with other caves in the background

It's hard to overstate the historical importance of this discovery, but our guides did an excellent job of moving us beyond its academic significance and into the everyday lives of the people who lived here. It was a small, tight-knit community with archeologists' estimates of the population ranging between 20 to 200 inhabitants. The people had built a substantial complex with ruins that include scribal rooms for copying, storehouses, wine presses, and water cisterns.

The ruins of the Qumran community lay at the base of the mountainous caves
where their scrolls were discovered.

From Qumran, it was a short drive to our hotel on the Dead Sea, or it should have been. Like all desert climes, this area was subject to flash floods. While we enjoyed a warm, partly sunny day, it was raining somewhere and a torrent of runoff took out a portion of the highway. The Israeli road maintenance crews had us back on our way within about an hour or so. It turned out to be a nice chance for some of us to stretch our legs after a day with more seat time than usual. :-)

With nothing to do but hurry up and wait, a few of us hiked the nearby hillsides.