The Seventh Day: No Rest Yet

Today is a very difficult day to describe. We got up a little later and after breakfast went for a dip in the Dead Sea. I thought that the Dead Sea would be really gross but it was beautiful. And I have to say it was great to swim in. You don't want to get any water in your eyes though. Our entire group had a riot just floating and bobbing like corks for about half on hour and then we got out.



Our next stop was also a water stop. We went to what the Bible calls the Arnon Gorge. My oh my is this ever a gorge! There had been a strange rain two weeks ago and they closed the gorge. But the day we got there they said they would open it! So with a Jordanian guide we began to hike up the river gorge.

It is just breath taking. At times we were up to our waists in rushing water. There were other times when we had to use ropes to climb over ten foot rocks. Since there are people in our group that range in age from 16 to 64 we all had to help each other accomplish this challenge. And we did!

At times the gorge was only 15 feet wide with wall of rock going straight up 200 feet. It was a magnificently beautiful place. After over a mile of wading up the river we got to a 30 foot water falls which we could not get over. Here we let the water rush over us to feel the power of what the Bible calls Living Water.

Our next stop was to one of Herod the Great's fortresses. This is one which is about straight across the Dead Sea from Masada. It is said that this one was his most magnificent one. There is little left of it today. But what is significant is that Herod Antipas is said to have beheaded John the Baptist here. We saw the reconstructed banquet floor where Herod's daughter danced so seductively that Herod granted her wish to have the head of John on a platter. We also saw the jail cell where John might have been kept. That is pretty powerful stuff.




By the time we were finished seeing Herod's fortress we headed back to our hotel on the Dead Sea for dinner and some sleep.