youth pastor pilgrimage: Day 6: Bet She'an, Jericho, & Dead Sea

November 12th, 2011
Today we set out from Tiberius and went to the Dead Sea. Along the way we stopped at some of the most amazing ancient ruins we had seen so far. It was a place called Bet She'an. It had a 1st century Coliseum from the Roman Empire. It also had a beautiful roadway lined with columns and detail on the sidewalks that was incredible. On top of the tel were the remains of the city that King Saul and his sons were hung from after their defeat and death at Gilboa (2 Samuel 21:12-14). There was an amphitheater and remains of a pegan temple. There was a story that where one of the large temple columns had fallen, a skeleton was found with a bag of money. He was crushed by the pillar during an earthquake and was unearthed many years later during excavation. Bet She'an is a place that nearly takes you back to the glory days. I wish we could have spent more time there, but we had to continue to travel as we had permission and a meeting to travel into Palestine controlled Jericho.
We went into Jericho and met a man named Tass. He started Seeds of Hope in Jericho. He was once a PLO sniper and chauffeur for Yasser Arafat. Tass hated the Jews and would do anything to kill one. He got out of the service and moved to the USA and lived in Kansas City. He worked his way up and became a successful business man. He was introduced and accepted Christ while in the USA. His life was changed and now he lives in Jericho leading an elementary school which gives hope, and love to young kids. Tass is trying to teach the kids about love, even the love of Jews after for so many years with Arafat he taught kids to shoot guns and kill Jews. He is trying to have peace between Arab and Jew by teaching one child at a time. I know my short explanation of his story is not adequate but he has a book called Once an Arafat Man. It looks like an amazing book and is one I will have to read someday. It was a real treat to meet him and see how God was working in his life. We then went to his restaurant he had started in Jericho. We went from nearly third world living, and stepped into his patio restaurant that was very nice and classy. Not to mention some of the best food we had in Israel. We weren't able to see the few ruins of Jericho there. We saw at a distance the tel and "mound" of excavations.
We left Jericho and continued south to the dead sea. The Samaritan Mountains were amazing. Many times it looked like the sides of the Grand Canyon. At one point, across the valley we could see where Moses would have looked into the promised land from the Jordanian side. We finally made it to the Dead Sea. We had to do things a little different because it was the Sabbath. Everything came to a very slow standstill. Shops, streets and open markets that were packed the day before, were now a ghost town. Very few cars on the roads. Even the hotels would not make our rooms available until 5:30 pm when the sun went down and the Sabbath was over. What was really interesting was the elevators in the hotels. One elevator was designated the Sabbath elevator and would go up and down by itself stopping at each floor. This way, the orthodox Jew on Sabbath would not have to touch or make an electrical connection on Sabbath. Interesting, but not so fun if you are trying to get down to breakfast or catch the bus and you realize you are on the Sabbath Elevator and will be stopping 13 times on the way down. We finally made it to the Dead Sea and were able to swim for awhile. It was very strange to float in the sea. It it 1/3 salt and about 1,300 feet below sea level, the lowest place on earth. It made your skin soft and oily feeling. It was basically like swimming with a life vest. Very strange not having to tread water to stay up and be able to swim out as far as you want. What was funny was to watch people flop around trying to get oriented in the water. They had life guards but not being able to sink in the sea, their job was a little different. Someone would get in, freak out as everything floats including their hands and legs, not know what to do and begin to flop around. Then they would splash horrible salt water in their eyes and mouth and then really be in trouble, so the life guard would walk out to about waist deep where they are, grab them by the arm and walk them back to the shore, help them get the taste out, clear their eyes and such. All in all, fun to watch.Click on the pictures to make them larger.