Today we left the Galilee and traveled south along the Jordan River. We stopped by the ruins of Bet She’an, a really 2000 year old roman city that was remarkably preserved after an earthquake caused it to be abandoned. The city surrounds an ancient Tel, a 4000 year old fortress that at one time was part of the Egyptian empire. In Biblical times this was an old Canaanite city where the Philistines hung the bodies of Saul and his sons after defeating them at Gilboa (the mountain closest to the Tel), which after Saul and Jonathan’s death was cursed by David so that it would never rain there again, to this day the mountain is barren save for a couple trees that Israelis have planted there and work hard to keep alive. Prior to that the city was within viewing range of where Gideon defeated the Midianites. With a short walk we could have reached the spring where Gideon drastically reduced the number of his men to what God had in mind.
As we continued south we entered the West Bank, the official unofficial Palestinian state. Compared to Israel, the West Bank is a third world country. With a little work and cooperation with the Israeli government (should a two state solution be agreed upon) it could be a very nice place. We stopped shortly by the Jordon river at the area traditionally ascribed to be where John the Baptist baptized, as some of the people on our trip were baptized in the river.
We then continued into Jericho, the oldest city in the world. Modern day Jericho is pretty unimpressive, as it is a purely Palestinian town in the middle of a desert, but with a little work it could be a fantastic city. Ancient Jericho is little more that a pile of dirt. The Tel of Jericho is not very big, it would not have taken much to march around it. It also has not yet been largely excavated, but rather just sits there as a big pile of dirt, with a few indicators that there used to be a city there. Just above Jericho sits the mountain of temptation, where it is believed that Satan took Jesus up to show him, “all the nations of the earth.” Whether or not this is the spot no one really knows, but it is a tall mountain in the wilderness near where Jesus was baptized, so it might be. Next to the mountain is a canyon road the goes all the way to Jerusalem, called the “valley of shadow.” It is mentioned in Jesus’s parable of the good Samaritan, and may also be reference by David in Psalm 23.
We drove further south leaving the west bank behind and approaching the dead sea, which is so salty there are quite literally chunks of salt floating on top of it like icebergs. Before visiting the sea was stopped at En Gedi, an old canyon spring in the mountains where David was able to hide from Saul. It is beautiful, something that you don’t expect to exist in real life. The spring is the only source of fresh water for miles around (you don’t want to drink water from the dead sea) and it has a cave system that connects to an adjacent canyon where David could easily hide his men. It was here that David had a chance to kill Saul but did not do so, instead cutting off a corner of Saul’s cloak. It is a place that, other than the effects of erosion, is completely unchanged from David’s day.
After En Gedi we found our Hotel on the banks of the Dead Sea, the sea itself looks beautiful with crystal clear blue waters. I went down to swim (or more accurately float) in the sea, however I did not stay long, I had some scratches from the earlier hike that stung with a vengeance in the presence of the salty water, and I also made the mistake of trying to wipe water away from my eyes, which only ensured that the salty water, which clung to my skin like a film, would get in them. It was a painful experience, worth trying, but only when you don’t do anything stupid like try to rub your eyes and only if you don’t have any cuts on your skin.