Dead Sea:

The Dead Sea, Masada, Qumran, Ein Gedi, Sodom & Gomorrah, the Arabah

1022 Reeds, The Dead Sea
(Also available as a Scripture Picture)

1013 Ein Gedi Waterfall
(Also available as a Scripture Picture)

1026 Top of Ein Gedi
(Also available as a Scripture Picture)

1029 Ibex at Ein Gedi
(Also available as a Scripture Picture)

ISRA-ii-SSR1-106 Dead Sea, view from Ein Gedi

ISRA-ii-SSR1-99 Qumran - 1
The excavations of Qumran where the Essene community lived.

ISRA-ii-SSR1-100 Qumran, caves - 2
The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves in the mountainside at Qumran. Many other documents and tools and things were also discovered. The Dead Sea Scrolls and other items are in a museum in Jerusalem.

ISRA-ii-SSR1-109 Sunrise, The Dead Sea - 1

1007 Sunrise, The Dead Sea
View from the top of Masada
(Also available as a Scripture Picture)

ISRA-ii-SSR1-111 Masada at dawn - 1
Herod's palace at Masada was built in three tiers on the side of the mountain and offered a spectacular view of the Dead Sea and Jordan rift.

ISRA-ii-SSR1-112 Masada, colored wall - 2
Behind the dusty plexiglass protector, the colorful walls of red and green can still barely be seen.

ISRA-ii-SSR1-113 Masada - 3
(In the dark at 4:00 a.m., we began the hour's hike up the snake path to the top, watched the sunrise, toured the excavations, and back down - all before 8:00 a.m.!)
After the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, 960 Jewish men, women, and children took refuge at Masada. The Romans built a wall around the entire mountain and eight army camps. Then they proceeded to built seige ramps to the top, and eventually the Romans breeched the walls in A.D. 73. However, rather than be captured by the Romans, the Jews committed suicide. Only two women and five children survived by hiding in a cistern. Because Masada was the site of such stonch Jewish resistance, today the location is used for induction ceremonies into the Israeli Defense Forces. For the ceremony, Israeli soldiers run all the way up the snake path to the top!

ISRA-ii-SSR1-114 Dead Sea Float - 1
The water is so salty that you cannot sink. As soon as you're in water deep enough that you can't touch bottom, you're floating upright.
Remember, fat floats - so wherever you have the most padding, that part of the anatomy wants to flip topside!

ISRA-ii-SSR1-115 Dead Sea, salt - 1
It's easy to see why it is also called the Salt Sea.

ISRA-ii-SSR1-116 Dead Sea Salt - 2
In the right weather conditions, the salt "grows" into pillers 3-4 feet tall.

ISRA-ii-SSR1-117 Lot's Wife pillar
The splintered rock formation is known as Lot's Wife... a biiiiig woman at 200 feet tall!
Genesis 19:24, 26: Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; ...
But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

ISRA-ii-SSR1-118 Sodom
The area at the south end of the Dead Sea is believed to be where Sodom was located. After 4,000 years it remains a desolate wasteland. God's judgements are FINAL!
Genesis 19:24-25Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

ISRA-ii-SSR1-119 Arabah, Jordanian Mountains
Most of the biblical references for the arabah relate to tribal borders and battles with enemies. There are also references to the sea of the arabah (the Salt Sea or Dead Sea). Ezekiel 47:1-12 is an interesting prophetic passage describing a new flow of fresh water from the Temple in Jerusalem, bringing restoration of the arabah and the Salt Sea made fresh for agriculture and fishing.

ISRA-ii-SSR1-120 Arabah, facing the Israel side

ISRA-ii-SSR1-121 Arabah, date palms
Using Israel's famous drip-irrigation technique, even the dry Arabah can sustain agriculture; here, a large grove of date palms.

ISRA-ii-SSR1-122 Monument to Teens
In 1957, there was a song called "Selah Adom" (Red Rock) with lyrics about Petra, Jordan. Several Israeli teenagers tried to sneak into Jordan to see the famous cliffs of Petra, but they were shot and killed by the Jordanian border guards. Today, this monument marks the place of their attempted crossing. Perhaps during the Great Tribulation, the monument will mark the way to Petra for the Jews of Jerusalem who will flee from the advancing armies of the antichrist.

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