See the camels!
So, the wilderness... I just can’t wrap my head around trying to survive here in Biblical times. Wow. Today we saw a lot of sand. And we saw a lot of famous sand.
(Actually what you’re seeing is limestone.)
Everywhere we go, we are either in a limestone building or on a limestone mountain/hill. The pictures you see of the walls of Jerusalem are all made of this. It's this country's endless resource.
Today we saw two forts from the time of David and Solomon called Arad and Beersheva. They were both built by David and fortified by Solomon. They were the defense for the Israelites from the South (Egyptians, etc.)
Arad and Beersheva are both national parks with tels. These original structures were built during the Iron Age, but Arad had a Canaanite city tel within walking distance that was built during the Bronze Age. We saw where they kept animals, water systems, housing, towers, churches, etc. Very cool.
Arad
Shadow Monster at Be'er Sheva (aka Ashley)
We pulled over for lunch in Ben Gurion and I ran into a little grocery store for cheese and crackers. Most people had soup or chicken at the local restaurant there.
Picture of Ibexes (Psalm 104:18)
After lunch we had our first big hike: Ein Avdat. “Ein” means spring, as in a water spring, not the season. I have never seen the Grand Canyon, but this is what I imagine it looks like, only shallower. It was BEAUTIFUL. Having nice weather for it was super helpful too. Parts are VERY steep. We ran into several Israeli school groups exploring here as well. The children were anxious to chat and joke with us.
(It’s thought that this might be the site where Moses wandered.)
Our last adventure before heading home was the Nabatean Avdat (also a tel). This community grew as the site became a stopping point along the spice and incense route.
The Nabataeans, also Nabateans (Arabic: الأنباط al-ʾAnbāṭ), were ancient peoples of Jordan, whose oasis settlements in the time of Josephus (AD 37 – c. 100), gave the name of Nabatene to the borderland between Syria and Arabia, from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. Their loosely-controlled trading network, which centered on strings of oases that they controlled, where agriculture was intensively practiced in limited areas, and on the routes that linked them, had no securely defined boundaries in the surrounding desert. Trajan conquered the Nabataean kingdom, annexing it to the Roman Empire, where their individual culture, easily identified by their characteristic finely-potted painted ceramics, became dispersed in the general Greco-Roman culture and was eventually lost.
~Wikipedia
Southern Church - Nabatean Avdat
Since we've gotten to the Dead Sea, been in the Negev, and the Judean Wilderness in general, we've seen quite a few nomadic settlements. Sometimes they are so numerous it looks like a small village. These people are called Beduoins.
This is a Beduoin village.
Like I said, lots of famous sand (limestone).
Love to you all!
We saw these camels with their shepherd on the ride back tonight.
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