From the moonscapes at the Dead Sea to the lush farmland of the coastal plain, from the black Bedouin tents on the edge of the Negev to the forested foothills of the Shephelah, we will find it hard to take in today the dramatic changes at every turn in the road.
Making our way over Olivet to the east, we come face to face with the stark reality of the Judean wilderness, the place of our Lord’s great battle against the Evil One. He not only triumphed, but showed us the way to stand against our Enemy, too: “It is written…” The devil left Him and will leave us too, for a while. But just as surely, our final victory is certain. Then “one little word shall fell him.”
We are making our way carefully along the dizzying edge of Wadi Kelt which takes its seasonal waters down towards Jericho. When we let the group out near the cliff-hugging monastery of St. George, I feel like a grandmother, fearing my little ones will come too close to the edge. I’m relieved when my charges are all back on the bus. Is this how an elder feels when we get too close to the edge?
Jericho, city of palms, largest oasis and lowest city in the world, comes into view. What a battle this reminds us of! Archeologist Kathleen Kenyon, who excavated here, denied that such a walled city was here when Joshua led Israel into the land. Her data, recently released, does not corroborate her conclusions. In fact, as scholar Bryant Wood has shown, it matches the biblical story exactly. Keep blowing the trumpet!
Just south of Jericho lies the ruin of Qumran, cloaked in mystery. Theories abound as to who lived here and for what reason (our group concludes it must be a very good reason to live here). But our interest is concerned with some caves across the gorge where, in 1947 the fabled Dead Sea scrolls were discovered. More than 2,000 years old, they show that the God who supernaturally gave His Word also supernaturally preserved its dependable message for us.
On our way south along the western shore of the Dead Sea, we will pass En Gedi, where David hid from envy-mad Saul, then past the fortress of Masada, and hear from our guide the defiant Israeli, “Never again!” Never, they say, shall Masada fall to the Gentiles.
A stop at the tepid saline sea does little to refresh our bodies but much to refresh our minds about the story of Lot. We remember Lot’s wife. Then heading west towards Beersheba, we see Tell Arad, the city that drove the Israelites back into the desert for 40 years.
Our road turns north as the shadows lengthen. We will see the vale of Sorek, site of Samson’s defeats in the flesh, and Elah, where David conquered in the Spirit. We stand at Bethshemesh, reminding our hearts that God is not something to be brought out like a good luck charm in crisis. He is a Person, the most wonderful Person in the universe. He it is who “leads us in triumph through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Amen. So be it in my life.