Today was a long day of driving. We rented a car in Eilat and headed north on highway 90. WE jogged inland into the Negev area to visit a site I have always wanted to visit: Tel Arad.
First, Arad shows up in the Moses story as a city and king who attacks some of the Israelites, captures some, and was eventually defeated by the Hebrews (Numbers 21). It was a very ancient town.
But the real interesting part of the site is an old temple in the tel fortress. It was a Jewish temple for the worship of Yahweh. It seems to have functioned from sometime in the 9-7th centuries BC, at the same time as the temple in Jerusalem.
Maybe I’m a dork about this, but it was really cool to stand in the Holies of Holies of a temple to Yahweh that Jews worshipped in 2800 years ago. There is even a well preserved sacrificial altar. WOW.
We also stopped at Masada. Shawn had never been there, so I took him up. This was my 4th visit, so less of a big deal for me, but still cool.
Tomorrow we’ll see Capernaum, Nazareth, Megiddo, and land at our last place to stay, Jerusalem.
