Saturday, June 26, 2010

Today we went out into the Judean Desert to to experience the silence of the Desert.  Also to give you a feel of why people went out to the Desert to pray.  Then off to Jericho.  Jericho is one of oldest continously inhabited cities in the world.  Over 10,000 years old.  It is in Palestine.  It is mentioned in the Old Testament many times, but is also the site of the Three Temptations of Christ by the Devil.  There is a Russian Orthodox Monastery built right into the side of the mountain to commenorate the site.  It is high on the Mount of Temptation.  We took the "longest cable car beneath sea level" to the top. It is a very unique place. They have a  cave where Elijah spent some time and also they say that they have a stone where Jesus sat for the temptation.  You can see the Dead Sea from the top and also the Countries of Jordan & Israel besides Palestine.  Then we went to Hiram's Palace.  This is where the Tree of Life Mosaic is located.  I always thought it was a Christian symbol, but it is in the Bath House.  Then we went to see a Sycamore Tree, because Zaccheaus lived in Jericho.  That's the story of Jesus calling him down to eat supper with him.  After that, we went to another Russian Orthodox Monastery called St. Geronimus.  After the visit we returned to school. They were having roadblocks in front of school stopping cars and checking papers/passports.  Since this is the Sabbath the vast majority of the people driving where Palestinians. The pictures are of the mosaic, The Tree of Life and the Temptation Monastery built into the side of the Mount.