Saturday morning we loaded the bus, drove past the controversial settlements in East Jerusalem, and seemingly instantly found ourselves in the desert. After passing Jericho, 
we drove through a security point. We virtually drove straight through since the IDF guards saw that our bus was full of Americans led by a Jewish-Israeli guide, who bluntly told us, “Israel unabashedly racially profiles.” (haha. ie they dont roll with that thing we like to call political correctness in America) They basically have to profile ever since the Intifada in the early 2000s in which hundreds of civilians were murdered by suicide bombers throughout the country.
On the way to Masada, we drove by the Dead Sea on our left and seemingly misplaced groves of palm trees on our right. The desert is blooming with date trees (although the farming is not really economically feasible since H2O is such a hot commodity). Masada was fascinating- definitely worth reading the story if you haven’t heard it – HERE. Basically the last stand of a remnant of the Jewish resistance against the Romans after they sacked 
Jerusalem in 70 AD.
Dead Sea came next. If you haven’t heard- its ridiculous. You literally float in the water. Think David Blaine levitating mixed with Luke Skywalker using the force to hover over that little midget, wrinkly dude- Yoda. 
Israel Fact #11: Due to the water diversion of its tributaries from Israel and Jordan, the Dead Sea is shrinking by 1 meter per year in depth. Big environmental problem- lots of sink holes and salinity is increasing.
At the Israel Museum we got a first real perspective of the ‘Old City’ from the ‘Second Temple’ period (ie when Jesus was walkin around- the Temple rebuilt after the Babylonian exile of the Jews – fun fact for free: Herod actually helped rebuild it and fix it up later on). Got to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are fascinating support for the veracity of the Biblical Text. These as well as hundreds of other archeological artifacts help the Bible to be the most historically accurate and supported text from antiquity.
Israel Fact #12: We viewed a stone from the old temple with an inscription that stood on the wall of the inner court of the Jewish Temple and read something like: “Gentiles are not allowed to enter past this point. If you do, you will be subject to death by execution—a punishment that you bring upon yourself by failing to adhere to this law.” (I horribly paraphrased that, but you get the point). Intense. Points to something ahead of its inscribing…
More to come from today: Mt of Olives, Temple Mount (Dome of the Rock), Golgotha, City of David, etc)
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