The Bonus Photos of Garden Tomb, Qumran and Masada – Israel Day 5!

After I read my Day 5 blog I realized there were more photos I wanted to share from the Garden Tomb, Qumran and Masada. These will help give a clearer picture of how remarkable these sites are – and why you need to come and stand here and experience them in person. It really is very moving.

These haven’t come to you every day as I hoped. We had internet problems at one of the hotels, and we had exceptionally long days, usually on the road by 7:30 or 8, and back at 9 or 10. When you and I and a bunch of us go, I won’t pack the days quite so full. There is a lot to absorb here, and mind and heart get full.

I’ll get all of the rest of the trip described and out to you over the next 2-3 days. So, back to the extra photos:

 

First, the Garden Tomb.  Here’s the door to it, looking straight on. It’s in a garden with a winepress just feet from the skull, and near several other similar tombs carved into the rock.

 

 

This diagram shows the layout inside. Its probably 12 feet square, and the upper left section 4 is thought to be where Jesus body was placed.

 

Inside that section looks like this:

 

 

Back on the outside, you can see a man standing in a channel just outside the opening to the tomb.

 

 

 

This was the channel that held the huge circular stone used to seal the entrance. The other tombs found nearby – just a few feet away – also had similar channels and circular stones to seal them.

 

Next Qumran: I mentioned all the caves in which jars with scrolls were found, and these were up in the hills surrounding the common buildings (library, baths, dining area, etc) of the community, and likely the residents lived in these caves.

But most valuable of all of them is the library.  I mentioned it but realized later I really want you to see it. It was at the end of a long outcropping of rock, and if you look carefully, you’ll see a path from right to left that leads to it. The entrance is a hole near the top, with a staircase cut into the limestone, and then a huge room down below. It held some 5000 scrolls.

Finally, Masada. If you recall this was the site of an opulent palace of Herod the Great, his Dead Sea retreat, where he entertained important people and friends. If you’ll recall it is a very high plateau, very inaccessible, with agriculture, water channels and storage, and very defendable.

 

At the base of the site is a McDonalds!  I’m pretty sure that doesn’t date to Herod’s era, though the tables for eating look rustic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also wanted to show you the decoration of one of the rooms. This room had painted fresco walls, only small sections of which remain, but you can be certain that the décor was bright and colorful – and the colors have lasted 2000 years! The floor is a beautiful tiled mosaic.

 

 

 

 

Here is a model of Herod’s multi-level palace.  It looks like it occupies much of the site, but in fact it sits on just a small section of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, Herod was long dead when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem (66-70 AD) and then went after the rebels at Masada. It was there that 960 men, women and children perished in a vast mutual suicide. These pottery shards were used to select who would do the killing .

 

Is used to be that the schools in Israel taught that this was an act of great bravery, preferring death to enslavement. This now is not so popular a view. Even our guide, who was a major in the Israel Defense Forces, believed the “hero” view until he had children.

 

Today, it is looked upon as an important event in Israel’s history, a tragedy and source of sorrow and wonder.

 

More to come soon…

 

-Pastor George