This morning we woke to a significantly warm day [read VERY hot]!! We began in the bus at 8:30am to take the short trip to Masada, an ancient mountain fortress where the Jews held out for the battle against the Romans in a siege which didn’t end well. The Jews rebelled against Roman rule and the siege lasted for about 3 years, from 73-75 AD. In the end, there were the final ten chosen by lot, and if the worst came, which it did, they were to kill each other and the last one standing would then kill himself, rather than submit to Roman rule and slavery. It was an amazing story of courage and faithfulness to Yahweh.

Masada has a long history and went through the Roman era where Herod built himself palaces, the Jewish era when synagogues were built and worship happened, and then a Christian era in the 600’s when a Byzantine church was built and Jeshua [Jesus] was proclaimed as Saviour. It was a great experience as a group to stand in the ruins of that church and pray together, thanking God for His faithfulness in seeing His people stand firm through plenty and through persecution.

There was an option to climb Masada on foot, but surprisingly, we took the 900m cable car journey. The view of the Dead Sea from the top was spectacular. We could look across to Jordan in the east, and to the west see the close mountains of the Negev Desert. The Dead Sea is diminishing at a rate of 1 metre per year and at this point it has been cut in two by the receding waters and a channel has been built to preserve the southern part. It is the southern part of the Dead Sea where all the resort hotels are, so to lose the inflow of water to that part would be devastation to both the mineral industry as well as tourism. One of our group, Joan, was here about 30 years ago, and remarked at how different the Sea looks over that time. It has considerably reduced in size.

The way the Romans engineered Masada was an amazing feat. They cleverly took the Nabataean method of water capture through channels/troughs along the mountainside. The area floods approximately every two years, so they needed to have a method of storing enough water for about 3 years to ensure sufficient supply. We had previously seen the efficiency of this method when we were in Petra, and the Romans too channeled the flood waters into cisterns at various points across the mountain, so they could then carry it up as needed throughout the dry times.

Even today, Israel is using Masada as training ground. We saw several young recruits going through training exercises while we were there.

Even though we experienced intense heat on the mountain, we were also grateful for the almost consistent breezes which brought welcome relief.

The afternoon was a wonderful time of free relaxation, where we could join together floating in the Dead Sea. The buoyancy was an incredible experience. It was even hard to get the shoulders underwater as we were continually forced to bob above the surface. Floating on our back was the only way to stay secure [kind of!]. A couple of people lost balance and got their faces and eyes wet. To say that caused severe stinging was an understatement. A couple of people felt very unsure and chose to not stay too long. The build up of salt on the shore line was significant. At well over 400m below sea level, no wonder we sweltered in the hot water of the Sea as the afternoon hit 41^o.

We then wandered to the hotel pool, where the water wasn’t much cooler, but at least we could stay in longer as it wouldn’t hurt our skin after a period of time. And there was some shade in the pool to enjoy.

It was a wonderful experience to be at the lowest point on earth, in the most saline water on earth.

Again, another day of thankfulness for the provision of the Lord for us. At our group time before dinner we considered the faithfulness of God in bringing his people out of Egypt in the Exodus, and having experienced some of the desert they may have journeyed through, we praised and thanked God for the new exodus we experience through Christ.