Construction hats, the desert, and very salty water!!

Day 5 - March 4, 2010
CINDY

Today we left our on-the-Mediterranean hotel (it was sad we only got to stay one night) in Dan and headed eastward toward the Negev desert. On our way we stopped off at several tels The first one was Tel Beer Sheba. This was the place Abraham and Abimelech cut a covenant that they wouldn’t fight over the well. It was about the same place that later on Isaac and Abimelech cut the same covenant over the same well. The old civilization of Beer Sheeba was enormous. There dug up parts of of the city walls. The coolest part was that they found a huuuuuge MOTO MOTO cistern. Beer Sheba is close to two main wadis. It is in a region that collects very little rainfall. So looooong ago, people who settled in Beer Sheba constructed a massive cistern to collect the water running from the wadis and even more north and store it for the whole year. It was like going through another cave. The fun part is that we all had to wear construction hats as climbed down and through the complex system of the cistern. The ceilings were VERY low so it protected anyone from whacking their head against the rock above.
Then we continued onto to the desert and Hal, in his amazing knowledge, gave us an amazing revelation about Psalm 23. He pointed to our right as we went down the Rift Valley… there were huge mountains of desert (rock, limestone, clay, and very few and sparse patches of rough grass here and there) on each side. I looked even closer and there were these paths that went across and around these mountains and hills. These paths lined the hills horizontally and covered the mountain from the very bottom to the top! These are the paths that the shepherds lead their flock on! Some of these paths go completely around the mountain. “He leads me through the paths of righteousness” these were the paths David was alluding to in this verse.

The next verse “through the valley of death” .. as you look between these two mountains there are sharp dips to a valley below. The valley is not wide. It is narrow and bends and turns sharply at the bottom of each hill. So imagine a lost sheep in these deep ravines!! As it’s turning around a bend a lion or bear or leopard might be lurking. That is definitely a valley of death.

Next: “you lay me down in green pastures and lead me beside still waters” In the desert it’s so hard to find green pasture. You have to full depend on your shepherd to lead you to the green. Also in the desert there is immense flash flooding. Waters in the desert come out of nowhere and can over take you easily… it is a treasure to find still waters in the desert.. so much dependence on the shepherd.. just driving through and walking through the desert those words just come alive and hit closer to home and just have so much more meaning… you realize the desert is a matter of life and death. If you are lost there is only death, if you follow your shepherd life awaits you.. you are safe. Crazy! I love it.

Our final stop. Here we are at the En Gedi Kibbutz (hostel) .. it’s about 80 degrees!! I love it.. and there is a cool gentle breeze blowing from the Dead Sea. I got to float in the Dead Sea. It was insane. It was so rocky! So we held on to each other as we got into the cool water. As the fall dropped we didn’t! I have no idea how deep it got! Several tried to touch the bottom of the sea but could not! We all just floated there. It was so funny at first. I just rolled around from my back to my belly and back to my back.. with endless effort.. I felt like I was floating. So relaxing. It leaves your skin with a nice not too oily feel :) .. Though we were warned: Don’t swallow the water or you can die! If you swallow the water they have to pump your tummy or else from the large concentration of minerals in the water you can go into a coma! BUT we were encouraged to taste it and you bet I did! Ha! It was salty and really not nice. Ha! But I was happy that I didn’t have to drink it but just enjoy floating in it ☺ I could see Jordan on the other side. Jordan was really like just a mile from us! Floating there, we watched the sun set over the Negev mountains with a red orange and then pink haze.. a perfect end to a great day!