REST

Later that day we went to the beautiful En Gedi refuge. In 1 Samuel 24 David has already been promised the kingdom and anointed king by Samuel. However, since defeating Goliath everything has been going downhill and he is running for his life. This brings him to En Gedi. This refuge in the desert where David is going to find out that God will do his work, and He will do it in His timing.

David writes some of the Psalms of refuge at En Gedi. En Gedi is a place where David will learn that he must be patient and wait on God. This was a great place of refuge and a wet place in a dry land. In the middle of the desert you come upon an oasis of waterfalls out of nowhere.

Tiffany and I did not climb the waterfalls because she was tired from the earlier climb up Masada. Instead we strolled along the base of them and watched as a couple plunged in and out of the pool of water. This was a nice moment of the trip for us. A time where we could pull away from the rest of the group and just enjoy spending time together. Tiffany and I enjoyed just being together. It was an en gedi for us.

Throughout the day I thought often about how vast and big this land was extending as far as our eyes could see. I pictured Abraham caravanning through the desert with his family trusting God to provide the destination. I envisioned David fearful at En Gedi running for his life. This seemed very lonely to me.

In the afternoon we went to the Qumran caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. The caves contained scrolls which were kept in pots for almost 2000 years until a Bedouin boy threw a stick into the caves and heard a shattering. The scrolls were found. One of the major scrolls was one of the Isaiah scrolls. It was a hugely important find because the scrolls that contained the Isaiah books were almost exact to the words of the Isaiah that we have today. This was an interesting site because holes in the walls of the mountains showed the dozens of caves of the area.

We concluded the day with a swim in the Dead Sea. The mud on the bottom kept swallowing up our shoes. The mud was thick and black like soft serve tar. People travel to the Dead Sea to rub mud on themselves to heal because they believe the mud to have healing powers. I rubbed it on my face hoping to ease my sunburn. It was a different experience in the Dead Sea. You could lean backwards and almost sit on top of the water with your feet floating in front of you.