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Published: October 9th 2015
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The Dead Sea is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy! This is the thought that came to mind as I laughed out loud to myself yesterday when first experiencing the phenomenon of floating in the Dead Sea. Truly one of the most relaxing experiences I have ever had.
In the Gospels, there is an allusion to the disappointment of some that Jesus is not the revolutionary Messiah that would restore the Davidic kingdom. Within 40 years of life of Jesus, the first Jewish revolt against the Romans led to the burning of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. The final battle between the Jewish rebels and the Romans took place at the breathtaking stronghold of Masada, which we visited yesterday. Masada is located atop of an isolated rock plateau on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. It took the Roman soldiers encamped below several months to build a ramp just to reach the rebel forces above. According to Josephus Flavius, the 1
st Century historian, those encamped above chose suicide over defeat and enslavement at the hands of the Romans. Despite this tragic end, the natural and
Cave 4 at Qumran
This is the cave where most of the 900 Dead Sea Scrolls (and fragments) were found beginning in 1947. These scrolls and fragments contain the earliest versions of portions of the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as biblical commentary and a Rule of life for the Qumran community. man made beauty of Masada is astounding.
Today, we visited En Avdat, which is a named for a natural spring that has carved out a magnificent canyon over the last 45,000 years. This site is also associated with the biblical story, in which the Israelites complained about dying of thirst in the desert. Thus, God instructs Moses to strike the rock with his staff and after doing so water flows from the rock to quench the thirst of the people (Numbers 20:2-11). Ironically as we were leaving the site, where the Israelites were worried about the needs of tomorrow, there were sparrows and flowers all around. Thus, I couldn’t help but think of the following passage from the Gospel of Matthew:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat , or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to Scriptorium at Qumran
Room used by Qumran community to write and copy sacred scrolls. The community withdrew themselves from other Jewish communities and lived here in isolation from the 2nd Century BC until the late-1st Century AD. your life-span?Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom and his righteousness,and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil (6:25-34). As Jesus offers these words at the end of his Sermon on the Mount, I don't believe he is instructing us to non-action. Rather, I believe he is calling us to do what we can and trust God to take care of the rest.
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