Wilderness Wanderings

Following Be'er Sheva we went to the tomb of David Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of the new Israeli nation. He chose to live in the Negev Desert region in hopes that more countrymen would follow him into living here. This gave us a great view and perspective about how barren this land actually was. Which, I think, is the only reason we came here because we did not actually go to the tomb ...which was weird to me.

Our next stop was the ruins of a trade route stop called Avdat. A group named the Nabateans lived here along a perfume and spice route. They lived good and prosperous lives due to these sales. Camel caravans would cross the desert selling their goods and stopping at spots along the way like this one.

One of the things that made this sight interesting was a church that had been built in this city. Multiple pillars ran down the length of these early places of worship. Outside one of the churches was an infant baptismal. There was a cross carved into the stone and another spot to lay the head of the baby in and pour water over during the baptizing.



On the way out of the city we climbed through a network of caves that would have been the homes of the Nabateans. I felt like a giant Indiana Jones trying to climb and squeeze through caves and holes. This would not have been adventurous to most normal sized people. But to me this was dangerous. Many caves dotted the hillside. The cave network was like a neighborhood and you could imagine families turning in for the night saying "Good night" to their neighbor at the cave next door (or next hole I suppose).



Driving after lunch we wound up at the Maktesh Ramon nature preserve. This place is referred to as "The Big Crater." Accurate description. Big and craterlike. We ascend a winding staircase that leads outdoors onto an overlook of the crater. It stretched as far as you could see and went on much further than that. The geological map outlines the crater in the shape of a footprint...a two toed footprint. An amazing sight...feeling really small again.


The final site of the day prior to dinner was a site called Tel Arad. The fascinating thing about this site was that it had a mini version of the biblical temple. You entered into the temple courtyard and approached a sacrificial altar on the right. This altar was like a shelf of stones about neck high. The person would climb the stairs behind the altar to make the sacrifice. At the end of the courtyard was a stone wall that separated the courtyard from the holy area. Beyond this was a smaller area called the holy of holies. In the Old Testament, until the time of Jesus' death the holy of holies was separated from the holy area by a curtain. In this temple at Tel Arad the holy of holies was dedicated to a false god and two stone idols can be seen set up in the picture above.