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Caption: Middle East Adventures Episode 4 - Qumran and Jericho
Caption: I learned a surprising lesson about tolerance and thankfulness at the site of one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
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Caption: Qumran On the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea lived a group of Essenes.
A conservative Jewish sect, they were almost monastic in their practice.
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Caption: They bathed 5 times a day for ritual cleanliness, likening it to godliness.
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Caption: An Essene ritual bath
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Caption: They dedicated themselves to one other major practice in this harsh landscape.
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Caption: Preserving Scripture Using a rigorous "3 pass" method, 1 man would copy a passage of the Old Testament, and 2 others would individually follow to scrutinize it, counting accuracy, to the letter.
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Caption: Pastor Douglas Pereira points out the first cave where the famous "Dead Sea Scrolls" were found preserved in clay jars.
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Caption: Tolerance In politics, religion & other areas of life, there is often a "conservative" and "liberal" spectrum. Here, Pastor Doug pointed out the importance of tolerance for conservatism.
Caption: God used the ultra conservative Essenes for preserving His Word. The Dead Sea scrolls discovery in the 1940's came at a time of the Bible being under attack.
The Essenes preserving the Old Testament gave a trusted record to compare today's OT with. And they found that despite 2000 years separation, it is virtually the same.
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Caption: Thankfulness Conservatism preserves. May it preserve truth, not just traditions. I am thankful for the Essenes preserving God's Word but I don't follow all their rituals, and that's ok!
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Caption: Jericho One of the oldest cities on earth and site of Israel's first victory over the Canaanites. We arrived late so couldn't take pictures but this is the site of the original city.
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Caption: Elisha's well. Still the only source of drinking water in Jericho. Sweetest water I've ever tasted.
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Caption: A sycamore tree in Jericho just like the one Zacchaeus would have climbed when trying to see Jesus.
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Caption: Alison on her first camel ride.
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Caption: Way to stay on Mandy!
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Caption: “Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.” Matthew 4:8 NLT
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Caption: Mount of Temptation On this mountain overlooking Jericho, you can see the Jordan River, Dead Sea, Jerusalem and up to Galilee. From here it is believed Satan made his offer to Jesus.
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Caption: ““I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”” Matthew 4:9 NLT
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Caption: Matthew 4:10 ““Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.’ ””
Caption: As I stood at this site considering Jesus rebuffing Satan, the sickening sweet smell of burning garbage hung heavy in the air.
Satan's promises are like that. They're garbage.
Thank God for the promises of God which never fail.
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Caption: A final celebratory note on the shofar.
Caption: I was on a 6 story building overlooking the old city of Jericho when I played those notes.
No walls came crashing down.
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Caption: Next episode: Galilee