Day 3 on the Trail

Sunday, Oct. 3

We are enjoying our trip though we are starting to miss our children a lot…we spend long days in the sun, this afternoon we saw 120 degrees! One thing to keep in mind is this is very dry heat. I heard someone say the humidity was 20% so that makes a huge difference in endurance and tolerance. Today we went to visit a site west of Arad, we viewed the only known worship court to Yahweh containing no altars to other gods. (Besides the one in Jerusalem of course.) It was so amazing to see how in ancient times they built cities on top of each other. Ray’s knowledge of history is absolutely amazing, and he could tell us which kings may have reigned during what era, etc. This worship court appears to have been carefully covered and preserved before archeologist uncovered it. It is possible that King Hezekiah ordered this when he removed all the high places in the land. Though this was a beautiful replica of the worship court, Hezekiah may have given orders to have it closed because of God’s commandment.

We then walked across the desert to visit a Bedouin family….This was an experience in hospitality to be remembered. Before we even got there, the children were sent to greet us. Three boys came out on donkeys, greeting us with cries of “Shalom.” They went with us back to their home where their mother and the rest of the family greeted us, and made us welcome in a manner that left one feeling totally honored to be the subject of such incredible hospitality. They seated us on mats and we were given hot sweet tea. Then while we watched, they started a fire and baked bread for us…after shaping balls of dough they rolled in out with a rolling pin and made huge tortilla like bread. This was passed around and you simply pulled off chunks, it was very good, though by lunch pretty much anything looks good.J Ray says these people would feed us their own evening meal rather than send us away hungry. Wow, what a challenge…

After lunch we went to see Masada…we climbed the stairs in the back where the Romans built the ramp that ended the siege. Unfortunately the tour was very rushed and we didn’t get to spend a lot of time looking at things or taking photos. Ray shared a lot of history about Herod the Wicked, (as he is known to the Jews or in our culture “Herod the Great.”). Having known little about Herod, it was incredibly shocking to hear his story. What a horrific legacy…We came down the east side of the hill, by then the sun was setting and the descent was relatively easy. (Besides some shaky legs J)