Into the Wilderness...

"The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.  And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.  And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him." Mark 1:12-13.We left the lush oasis of the baptismal site at the Jordan River and began our own journey into the wilderness.

We are reminded that we are in West Bank, where, as the sign indicates,  Israelis are not to enter. Between the two fences is "no man's land."  This area is heavily mined.

Off to the distance we view Jericho "City of Palms," the oldest most continuously occupied city in the world. It is also the city located at the lowest elevation in the world.  It is the first city Joshua captured as the Israelites entered the Promised Land..

In Luke 19:1-10 we read of one of Jesus' visits to Jericho:

"He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who  is a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

Tradition names this as the Zacchaeus tree. Experts confirm that it could well date back to the time of Jesus. The tree was the centerpiece of Jericho's 10,000th birthday celebration in 2010. We are reminded that Jesus' ministry was also for the marginalized.

As we leave Jericho, we move toward the Mount of Temptation.  Though there is no definitive evidence as to where Jesus went after his baptism, this is traditionally recognized as the mountain where Jesus was tempted by Satan.  A monastery clings to the side of the mountain, hewn from its very rock.

As we sat in the Temptation Gallery and Gift Shop and gazed at the Mount of Temptation, while sipping complimentary green tea, we read Luke 4:1-13:

 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, ² where for forty days he was tempted  by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. ³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

⁵ The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶ And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷ If you worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” ⁹ The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you carefully;
¹¹ they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

¹² Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

¹³ When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time

Here I am riding a camel with the Mount of Temptation in the background. Camels have an interesting place in the Bible. Some archaeologists believe that camels had not been domesticated at the time of Moses and the Patriarchs, and that references to them in the Septaguint are anarchronistic.  This same group of archaeologists prefer to believe that the Old Testament was not written or assembled until the first century BC.  We think of Abraham sending his servant Eliezer to find a wife for his son. He comes upon Rachel who draws water for him and his ten camels. Recent discovery of camel bones dating back to the 7th century BC indicate that camels were around much earlier than once believed, even as early as the second millennium BC.  This evidence is further bolstered by the discovery of early depictions of camels.

There are no biblical records describing Jesus ever riding a camel.  He was familiar with camels, as indicated in Matthew 19:24, where he tells the rich young man "...it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle,  than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."  Many of the beautiful nativity sets I saw in the Holy Land depicted the wise men traveling to Bethlehem on camels.  Please note: the Bible contains no such reference!

Israel is often described as "The Land of Milk and Honey." The "Land of Milk" describes the area where we are now - a land of livestock that produce milk. This area is less lush, with more scrubby foliage and grasses suitable for grazing. It seems to me that more of this arid land was given to the Palestinians. As we enter Galilee, we will be moving to the land of honey - the land of agriculture. Israel is a small country of great geographical diversity. I look forward to experiencing it all!