A trip into the Negev Desert

On Wednesday, our group left early to go into the Negev Desert which is in the southern part of Israel around the Dead Sea stretching south, east, and west.  The route we took was to go down the "spine" of the Judean hills.  On this ridge are situated cities such as Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hebron.  As you would expect, as we traveled south and as we followed the hills lower until they end in the desert, the precipitation falls off and with it the vegetation.  This series of photos shows that reality.

This photo shows the area near Hebron.  Please notice the terracing and the fields.  Hebron and the area to the south is where David began as a warlord.  He would later increase his power after the death of Saul and conquer Jerusalem making it the new capitol.

We have traveled further south.  We are lower in the hills and the rain fall is smaller.  Still, it is possible to grow crops.

Now we are entering the desert.  The faint hills in the background are in Jordan.

Near the base of the Judean hills is a fortress known as Tel Arad.  It was used by David, other Judean kings, Herod the Great, and the Romans over the centuries.  It overlooked the Negev Desert and served as a way to protect the cities in the Judean hills from an attack coming from the south.  It also served as a place from which to launch attacks and to control the trade routes going through or skirting the desert and going to the Mediterranean Sea.

This is a picture of the Arad fortress.

We then traveled further south into the Negev itself.  Our destination was the ruins of Mamshit.  (To help clarify possible pronunciations, our guide pronounced it, "mom-sheet".





This is a view of a central area in Mamshit.

This is a view of the Negev Desert near Mamshit.  This terrain and that around Masada reminded me of Utah.

We took a short walk into the desert from Mamshit to experience a bit of its silence and then to listen to Biblical texts related to the desert.



This is the overhang we used for our time of meditation and listening in the Negev.

Our final stop was at Tel Beer Sheva.  This is still in the wilderness and the area was the site for God encountering all the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  It is dry and the area is pretty flat. 

This is a view of Tel Beer Sheva.  It was inhabited by many groups over the centuries.  It has about 15 layers showing different time periods of use.

This is a view of the huge cistern it had for collecting water.  We walked into it.  It was cavernous below.

The following link contains video of the various sites we went to today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzfAQwV6STY

This last photo is of a flock of goats we passed on our way back to Tantur.  There were a number of sheep, goats, and shepherds but it was tough to get a picture.



That is it for today.  It was a fine day to explore more of the Biblical setting, to see the remains and hints of history, and to go into the desert to listen both to it and the Word.  The last passage we read was Psalm 23.  It was good to hear that promise as we were surrounded by canyon walls in the desert.

God bless.