Masada – Qumran – Dead Sea - Jericho

On our fourth day in Israel, we drove a little ways out of the city into the desert. When I say desert, I legitimately mean the desert. I have only seen places like it in movies. It was one of the coolest parts of this trip. We headed to the desert to see a city on hill desert hill, Masada. We had to take a cable car up the huge hill just to get to this very reserved city. But once we reached the top, it was worth it. There was not much left but from the story, it was an amazing city. Herod started this city by building an extravagant palace here. It was built into the side of the mountain and over looked the entire area. The view was so beautiful. Part of the palace still remains. I cannot even imagine what the real thing looked like. After Herod passed away, the city slowly dwindled out. A couple of centuries later, the Jews discovered it and used it as a place of refuge from the Romans. When the Romans finally discovered where the Jews were hiding and began to siege the place, the Jews cast lots and decided that ten men would kill everyone left and then kill each other. The last man standing had to commit suicide. It was basically a mass suicide. When the Romans arrived, they only found two women and one child left alive. The view from this ancient city was indescribable. You could see for miles. I was in love.

Basilica

Cable Car Ride

Cistern(held water)

City

Fresco

Herod's Palace

Herod's Palace

Herod's Palace

Model of Herod's Palace

Model of City

Ramp the Romans used to siege the Jewish refuge camp

Residential Home

After Masada, we began on our journey to our nest destination, Qumran. We had a little catastrophe on the way though. Our bus broke down in the middle of the desert. We were broke down for an hour or two and I will admit it, I was terrified. But, it will make for a funny story to tell. I was stranded in the desert! haha After we got a new bus, we headed one to Qumran. I know you are wondering what this is. Have you ever heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls? Well, this is the area of the caves where those amazing scrolls were found! It was really cool to be able to look up at the mountain and see all the caves where these scrolls were stored and discovered. We also got to see the remains of the city and where they might have written them.

Cave #4

Caves

City

Replica of Dead Sea Scrolls

Caves

Replica pots where they were found

After lunch, we headed to the infamous Dead Sea. I was so excited to swim in the Dead Sea. It had been a dream of mine since I was a child. It was nothing like I ever expected. Of course I got to float. That was super cool. It felt like I had a life jacket on and I could not keep my feet on the bottom, but it burned worse than anything I could ever imagine. You may not realize it, but daily you may have little cuts on your body that you don't notice. They come out in full flame when you get in the Dead Sea. I thought my body was on fire but, it was a check off on my bucket list.

Our final stop of the day was to the biblical city of Jericho. I am sure you remember the Old Testament story about the men marching around the city ten times, blowing trumpets and all the walls of the city fell down. Well, it looked exactly the same. It was a giant dirt mound. But, recently archaeologists have discovered what they believe was a tower from the city wall. How cool is that?! We also got to see the mountain where Jesus was tempted Satan. It was a pretty awesome day.

Jericho

Mount of Temptation

Tower

Mt. Tabor - Cana – Zippori - Nazareth

We began our third day in Israel on Mt. Tabor. Now, I know you are wondering "What id Mt. Tabor?" Don't worry. I asked the same thing. Mt. Tabor is just the real name of what we believe is the mount of Transfiguration. This is the mountain where most people believe that Jesus transfigured to heaven after his resurrection. Getting to the mountain was the hardest part. The road is very tiny so we had to take vans up to the tops instead of our bus. The driver was apparently in a hurry because multiple times I thought we were going to flip off of the cliff. One of our boys even screamed like a girl at one point because he got so scared. When we reached the top we all went into the garden and sat down. Dr. Hicks read from Luke 9 and reminded us what really happened up there and why we were there. There was a Catholic Church at the top, of course, dedicated to Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, the three biblical figures who transfigured. I find it very humorous that in Matthew 17: 1-8, Peter, James, and John are on this exact mountain with Jesus when he is about to transfigure. Elijah and Moses appear out of heaven to speak to Jesus. Peter asks Jesus if he can build three tabernacles, on for him, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Jesus tells them not to. But now there is a church on that mountain dedicated to all three men, even though Jesus told Peter specifically not to. The view from the mountain was spectacular. The Holy Land is a very beautiful place. Once we returned to the bottom of the mountain, I had a very funny experience. We were all standing together and two ladies who looked to be from Africa came up and asked if they could have a picture. I thought they meant for us to take a picture of them, but they wanted a picture with us! We were celebrities because we were Americans! Hahaha

The Catholic church 

Section of the church dedicated to Jesus

Section of the church dedicated to Moses

Section of the church dedicated to Elijah

The Catholic church

Next, we took a bus ride to the city of Cana. The ancient city has been buried by the modern city, but we still got to go to churches that are on the believed spot of where Jesus first miracle took place, turning water into wine at the wedding. This miracle is mentioned in John 2. There were two churches side by side, both believing that their church is in the exact spot. The first church we went into was a Catholic church built over some ruins. It was a beautiful church. When we arrived, an elderly couple was actually renewing their vows in the "Church of the Wedding." It was precious, but something even more precious happened after this. A couple got engaged immediately following the elderly couple. It was very memorable. This is believed to have been built right on top of the building where the wedding took place from the miracle. 

The second church that we visited was right across the street from the Catholic Church. It was Greek Orthodox Church. The church had two jars that are believed to have come from the time of Jesus. They were used to store water. They were pretty big and I imagine the weigh a lot.

One of the stone jars

The other stone jar

Next, we went to the archaeological site of Zippori. This city was known as "the ornament of all of Galilee" by Josephus Flavius. It was the seat of the Sanhedrin and there is a small possibility that Jesus helped to build this city. Though, all that remains of this ancient city is a church, a theater, and many beautiful mosaics. 

There were a lot of cactus

Church

Oil Press

Sitting on the stage at the theater

The theater

Last, we finished up our day at Nazareth. First, we went to the Church at Mary's well. This church is believed to sit on the well that Mary walked to everyday to get her water. It was a Greek Orthodox. It was super cool to walk down to the spring. 

The spring

Next, we went to the Church of Christ in Nazareth. It is the only Church of Christ for thousands of miles in all directions. We met the preacher and he spoke to us about the struggles of being a Christian in a Muslim country. It broke my heart. Nazareth is only 28% Christian. He told us of how Christianity is disappearing from the Holy Land because Israel no longer allows missionaries. He told us a story about him having a new car for 28 days and because he had a cross hanging from his rear-view mirror, a Muslim burned his car. How awful can people really be?  The church is currently trying to build a day care to make extra money so they no longer have to beg. I hope that one day this little church will flourish.  

Songs from their Hebrew-English songbooks

Songs from their Hebrew-English songbooks

Songs from their Hebrew-English songbooks

Last, we went to the Church of the Annunciation and the Church of St. Joseph. They are both Catholic. The Church of the Annunciation is built over the cave where Mary saw Gabriel and received the message about Jesus' birth. The church was beautiful. On the second floor, there are numerous pieces of art dedicated to this church from different countries. They were beautiful. Something I found interesting was the mural in the center upstairs had the all seeing eye in it, the same eye that is also on the back of our one dollar bill. 

The cave

USA art dedication

Outside of the church

The upstairs mural

Last, we went to the church of St. Joseph. It was built over Mary and Joseph's house. It was a small church compared to the Church of the Annunciation. When entering a Catholic church you must always be silent. Just my luck, I got the hiccups right when we entered and I was afraid I might get kicked out. It was an experience. 

Joseph's House