Sian's 12 Days in Israel: Day 6 – Ein Gedi, Dead Sea Scrolls, The Jordan, Abraham’s Tent & JERUSLAMEM

Entry last night…

I was a little bit convicted last night for the YouTube clip I posted yesterday so I will share my heart on it. After dinner and a little browsing the tourist shops Tami, Sarah (Pastor Steve’s wife) and I went to the coffee shop for a cuppa. Pastor Bob and Bonnie were reading my blog because I had mentioned that I posted some great photos of today’s happenings. Anyway, because I feeling a little guilty of posting the “Pastor” clip, (if that guy is really a Pastor he should probably be De-Pastoralized) because God hates profanity and actually I do too. I meekishly asked Pastor Bob if he watched the YouTube video clip and right away Pastor Bob looked over his glasses at me and said,…”Are you kidding me, I don’t ever go onto any of those sites, do you know what would happen if I did.” Yes, I think most people that go to our church know the scrutiny Pastor Bob, his staff and the church are under and it is only by God’s power and Glory that those standards can be adhered to. So with that said, since I’m not a Pastor’s wife or in the ministry, I laughed so hard with Tami that I decided to share it.

Proverbs 31: 4-5

It is not for kings, Lempel it is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget the law decree and deprive all of the oppressed their rights.

On To…

Day 6 – Ein Gedi, Dead Sea Scrolls, The Jordan, Abraham’s Tent & JERUSLAMEM

Entry last night…

Proverbs 31: 4-5

It is not for kings, Lempel it is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget the law decree and deprive all of the oppressed their rights.

On To…

Day 6 – Ein Gedi, Dead Sea Scrolls, The Jordan, Abraham’s Tent & JERUSLAMEM

Ein Gedi is a natural camouflaged oasis of thick vegetation and numerous caves that David chose for refuge from his archenemy King Saul. This ancient city is where David demonstrated his mercy, compassion to Saul and obedience to God’s will

(1 Samuel 24:26).

Ein Gedi is one of the most ancient cities still remaining. (3,500 BC) and it is said to be the “Palm Springs” of Israel.

Each site we visit, most of our time is spent at our Bible Study. I love the way Pastor Bob has guided us through this tour of Israel, it really isn’t about hiking up to the top of the cave and taking photos, it’s about reading the scriptures of what happened at the site we are sitting. I love it!

Today’s Bible Study at Ein Gedi was incredible. Bob is always awesome but this message was especially great. The message came from 1Samuel 24, David Spares Saul’s Life. David (our guide) mentioned on the bus as we were leaving the Dead Sea that the Dead Sea was drying up and would one day be gone. But Bob showed us in scripture where it says (Ezekiel 47) that it will never dry up and it is incredible how scripture, that was written so long ago, can line up exactly to where we are standing and what we are actually seeing.

When Saul says to his men in Ezekiel 47: 15-20, go and look in all of Judah for David, it tells us the borders of Judah, is all of Israel and as we turned to our left and right we could see where we were in scripture. So cool!!!

Another really cool thing was that Tami and I just taught the Good News Club kids at Capri the Stories of the “Reign Of David” so all of this was fresh and alive. The main lesson of Ein Gedi was Psalm 37: 1-8

Psalm 37^[a]

Of David.

¹ Do not fret because of those who are evil
or be envious of those who do wrong;
² for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.

³ Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Take delight in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:
⁶ He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.

⁷ Be still before the LORD
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

⁸ Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.

Bob admitted that even he restles with this on a daily basis.

The opportunity came to be that David could have killed Saul twice before Saul could kill David. But David was a man of God and both times he spared Saul’s life because Saul was the King of Israel, God’s anointed one. David knew that God promised Him that one day he would be King but, David knew as a man of God it wasn’t to be on his time but in God’s time. After David spared Saul life Saul called a for a truce and go to go separate ways to the East and West but, David knew that Saul did not mean what he said so David stayed where he was in Ein Gedi for some more years.

This is significant in our lives because we have to ask ourselves if our words match up to our actions. Jesus tells Christians to stand strong for their faith but both the New and Old Testaments strongly warn about taking things into our own hands in anger and wrath. The Bible tells us that David was a man of God and he demonstrates this concept of letting the Lord be the judge. Bob says that Psalm 37 is telling us to do 3 things…

1. Practice patience

2. Submit

3. Wait for the Lord

Thanks Pastor Bob, your passion today spoke to me loudly and I know that you give us all of you every time and I we hear.

Our next stops were back to Qumran to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, which was really interesting, and,then to a site that I don’t think many tourists come but I am so glad we got to see it. Bob gave another amazing teaching here, the West Bank of the Jordan River. We have heard so much about the West Bank and we were sitting right there. This is the first time we saw, up front and personal soldiers with AK machine guns. Where we were sitting was the closest location, according to all the maps and archeological discoveries, where John the Baptist baptized Jesus and close to where the Lord separated the waters to lead His people to the Holland; where we were going next.

On our way to Jerusalem we had one more stop, the camel and lunch at Abraham’s Tent. This was a tourist highlight. We have laughed so much this trip but this was a topper. Seeing Tami riding a Camel was classic.

It’s breakfast time so have to go. There is so much more to write but we have a big day today in Jerusalem. We are staying at the best Hotel in Jerusalem and we heard when we arrived that Madonna was staying here. So I’ll let you know if I bump into her.

I love you Greggy, kisses for the girls. I miss you.

Blessings

Sian