Day 7
A lot if our final day in Jordan consisted of driving to the Israel border. We retraced our route back toward Ammon and stopped in the village of Madaba, the home of Ruth. After a quick visit in the city to St. George's Church to see a Byzantine mosiac map of the Holy Land (really pretty), we continued on to Mt. Nebo.
Mt. Nebo is the location that the Lord took Moses up to in order to see the Promised Land before he died (Deut. 34). He died on top of the mountain, in view of the land he led the Israelites toward for years. He had a great view, though!
From the vantage point, you can see the stark contrast between Jordan and Israel. Israel is lush and green, but Jordan is very dry and barren (at least in that region). Apparently there used to be more trees and plants in the Moab region of Jordan, which is where Mt. Nebo is located, but due to the Turks cutting down the trees years ago and current over-grazing, it is just brown and dusty.
We made our way back to Israel, crossed the border with no problems (I barely made it through Israeli security when I was still in the U.S., so I was very happy about this), and were reunited with Uri. Our Jordan tour guide was really sweet, but Uri is honestly just a spectacular guide. He immediately launched into details of the region we had entered: the Dead Sea.
Where we crossed the Jordan River into Israel is believed to be in the vicinity where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. We also drove around the ancient city of Jericho, and right behind that is likely the wilderness where Jesus was tempted (Matthew 4:1-11).
And then the highlight of the day: Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered. It was incredible. Qumran was the town where a devote sect of the Jews, known as the Essenes, lived in from 31 B.C.-68 A.D. They had separated themselves from society and spent their time worshiping God as they awaited His return. The information we received claimed that John the Baptist was a part of their sect for a while. I'm not sure if this is true, but Jewish scholars seem to think it is, which obviously holds a lot of weight.
In 68 A.D., the Essenes abandoned Qumran during the Jewish revolt in order to escape the Romans. They hid the scrolls they were copying and writing in many different caves near the town, but the sect members all ended up dying on Masada in 73 A.D. with the last of the Jewish rebels. As a result, no one had any knowledge of their writings...until 1947 when a young Bedouin shepherd/goatherder found them hidden in a cave when looking for a lost goat. He threw rocks into the cave to scare the wandering goat out and heard pottery shatter. After investigating, he found the scrolls that had been stored in a pot almost 2,000 years ago. These scrolls ended up helping to prove the validity of scripture.
The area around the Dead Sea was so gorgeous. It looked like a cross between the Badlands in South Dakota and Moab, Utah, with carved out rock and canyons. The sea itself was flat and beautiful. Through one of the canyon passes, people used to make the trek toward Jerusalem rather than journey around the mountains. Ruth and Naomi would have taken that pass on their way to Bethlehem.
The area around the Dead Sea is 1300 feet below sea level, the lowest in the world. The coastline has dropped by a significant, alarming rate within the last hundred years. It is well over a mile lower than it used to be! Part of the reason is the diverting of the Jordan River upstream for farming, the use in Jordan (which is on the opposite side of the sea) of the runoff water, and the mining of minerals and salts for beauty products. Thus, more water is being used and less is going into the sea. The beauty products alone cause a drop of 3 feet a year. Crazy. It really saddened me to hear that and see the dry land that once used to be covered in water. There is such a loss in that sort of thing.
We got to our fancy hotel on the Dead Sea around 5pm and settled in before dinner. It was such a nice place, but I wanted to be outside. Our drive from the Dead Sea scroll site to our hotel was during sunset and dusk, and that is the prettiest time in the desert. All I wanted to do was set up a tent and have a campfire with my brother. I ended up having a lovely evening drinking coffee and talking with Steve and Val, which made camping not as appealing...I'm all about people more than anything else. And I am more than thankful for our hotel, having taken advantage of the great food and cozy bed.
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