Today’s blog will be told in pictures and captions (the part people really want to see anyway, I know), as the Campbell Divinity School 2015 Bible Lands Study Tour ventured south to the Dead Sea …
We heard the story of how more than 900 Jews committed suicide rather than be captured by the Romans. . .
The day began in Masada, the desert fortress of Herod the Great and site of the Zealots’ last stand in 73 CE.
There we visited a full-featured Roman style bathhouse …
At Ein Gedi Chris Allen challenged us to think about how David reached the decision to spare King Saul at that site …
Andrew Finkler cooled down by filling his water bottle from the highest waterfall there …
And those who ventured to the high falls enjoyed a downhill trek with the amazing blue of the Dead Sea and the gray Mountains of Moab beyond.
At the Dead Sea, Genetta Williams and Sharon Thompson beautified their skin with a mud bath …
While those who braved the mineral-laden water floated as never before.
At St. George’s Monastery on the Old Jericho Road we encountered high pressure Bedouin sales tactics …
Sarah Adcock and Chris Wilson found matching khaffiyehs …
And a herd of goats tried unsuccessfully to join us on the bus.
Some of us ventured to Ben Yehuda Street for some evening end-of-Sabbath fun, where we encountered a Korean tour group singing Christian praise songs in Hebrew.
Only in Israel.
[Many thanks to Susan Cartledge for most of today’s pictures, as well as a number from earlier in the week!]
Professor of Old Testament at Campbell University Divinity School in Buies Creek, North Carolina, and the Contributing Editor and Curriculum Writer at Good Faith Media.