Day 4: A Day & Night in the Desert
Oh boy. Where to begin with this day? Walking through the beautiful ruins of a demolished ancient city? Epic. Getting to see the caves where they discovered the Isaiah scroll? A moment I’ve dreamed of? Incredible.
This was by far the hottest day that we spent on this excursion, but I really didn’t care at the time. Was I melting? Definitely. But my mind was so busy, reconstructing the buildings in my head, imagining the bustle of the boulevard. I don’t think I’ll get used to walking through archeological sites…
Scythopolis
Beit She’an (Scythopolis during the Hellenistic Period), meaning House of Tranquillity, was mentioned a few times in the Bible, but not in a series of much importance. It’s mentioned in the Bible about nine times, as Beth-shean or Beth-shan. One of the most notable mentions of the city is in 1 Samuel 21:8-13.
The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.
Sad, but it is history. The history of this particular piece of land is fascinating, as well, for several reasons. To begin with, the tel (ancient mound composed of remains of successive settlements) during archeology research dated back as far as the late neolithic period (end of Stone Age) and beginnings of the Chalcolithic (early copper age). This city changed hand several times. During the end of the Bronze age it was Canaanite, then during the Iron age it was Israelite, then finally it was a Hellenistic (Greek) city. Scythopolis remained throughout the Hellenistic period, through the Roman period,
Byzantine Period and finally the Islamic Period. It met its end with a great earthquake in 749 AD. It was at its peak in the Hellenistic period, a great city, in 3rd-2nd centuries BCE.
This land was allotted, originally, for the tribe of Manasseh. But as they failed to clear it of the Canaanites, it became their stronghold. It was then taken over from Egypt, only to be carried by the Assyrians, and finally taken over by Pompey and made the capital of the Greek-Roman Decapolis Province, which means “10 cities”. The Decapolis was mentioned around 3 times in the Bible, one of my favorite mentions being in Matthew 4:23-25. This is in Matthew, just before Jesus teaches the Beatitudes.
And He went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So His fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and He healed them. And great crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Scythopolis wasn’t a good city. It was full of so much ugliness and sin. While yes, it was incredibly well built with an amphitheatre, a gymnasium, a coliseum, paved roads, public bathhouse, temples and mosaics everywhere… It was full of ugly people, who did ugly, ugly things. Above, you’ll see the photos of the carved capitals. We have Nysa, and Bacchus, and a lion. It was a city of debauchery and drunkenness. The speculations of what happened here made my skin crawl and my gut flip. Besides that, it was a city full of ingenuity, beautiful shops and beautiful people.
In this collection of photos, you’ll see how massive some of these columns were. These fell in the last great earthquake.
Qumran
Cave 4Q at Qumran
From Beit Shean, we headed to Qumran. This is something that I’ve wanted to do since I began being interested in archeology. There was so much more to see here than I realized! Here we dove more into learning about the Essenes.
Essenes were a sect of people that were very strict and communal. They can be described as “apocalyptic” Jews, that strove to be absolutely PERFECT in their walk in Torah. It was almost like they trained to be first in line to fight for God in the end times.
In the photo slide, you’ll see the ruins of one of the main buildings the Essenes would have lived and worked in. It’s even supplied with a Mikvah.
There’s not a whole lot for me to say about this section, because it was deliriously hot and we couldn’t go up into the caves at all. I’m hoping that there will be an excavation opportunity here during my time.
“Go up.”
This night. Man. I have no photos, I was just so enjoying being wrapped up in the experience of camping in the desert outside of Jerusalem. We stayed in a tucked away camp site called Mir Dafim. It was beautiful. The tents were comfortable, and had air conditioning. We rested, prepared an incredible dinner together, and spent time worshiping around the campfire before breaking off for our Zealous activity: writing a letter to God.
This leads to one of my most treasured moments in Israel so far. We were asked to go to seperate places this night, to write those letters. We were camped right up against the back of a hill, in a small valley. When I turned around, I had a very clear voice telling me to go up. As I climbed, the wind picked up a little bit. It’s something that I’ve started to recognize as God getting my attention, whenever a gust of wind blows through.
I made it about halfway to the top of the hill when I felt like I needed to stop and sit down. So I did, and I faced towards the camp and towards Jerusalem. The wind carried the sound of thumping music and I could see fireworks being lit off in the city. It was a wedding. And while I sat there, I still had that voice in my head, “Go up, go up. I’m calling you up.”
I still don’t quite know what that means. But it was confirmed to me the next morning, as we learned our Hebrew word of the day on the bus.
“How many of you know the word aliyah (עליה)?” Tom asked us. “It means ‘going up’”.
I still don’t know what it means today. But I know He’s been calling me to something this year. That memory is something I’ll never forget.
Sorry for the long delay in posting! We’ve been crammed here as we near the end of our Zealous year. I’m doing my best to get back on track!
Thanks for reading!
- Maddie
