Ein Gedi


By Dr. Randall Smith
Courtesy of Christian Travel Study Programs, Ltd.

Ein Gedi is a tropical oasis rich in flora and fauna whose Hebrew name means, "spring of the young goat". David fled to the caves of Ein Gedi when hiding from Saul:


"And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi?.

Share This Post

By Dr. Randall Smith
Courtesy of Christian Travel Study Programs, Ltd.

Ein Gedi is a tropical oasis rich in flora and fauna whose Hebrew name means, “spring of the young goat”. David fled to the caves of Ein Gedi when hiding from Saul:

“And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi?. So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats” [I Samuel 23:29; 24:1-2].

It is so beautiful that it is found in a poetic description in the Song of Songs, 1:14:

“My lover is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.”

In the Second Temple era, historian Josephus Flavius wrote that the persimmon plantations of Ein Gedi and Jericho provided the fruit for a perfume that, according to Cleopatra, drove men to madness.

During excavations at Ein Gedi a synagogue floor was uncovered, engraved with a unique warning: “whoever revealed the secret of this perfume?s production would be forever excommunicated from the House of Israel!”

The plantations were apparently uprooted during the Jewish revolt against the Romans (66-73 A.D.) and the plant is now extinct. Along with the Temple?s seven-branched candelabrum, the persimmon was later depicted in a victory arch in Rome (the Arch of Titus).

The environs of Ein Gedi are an ideal spot for meeting the ibex (mountain goats) of the Judean desert and for a refreshing swim in one of its many pools and under its ever-changing waterfalls.

© Christian Travel Study Programs, Ltd.

More

Updates

WHAT UTTER DECEPTION! THE PLO REJECTS ALL PEACE DEALS.

The PLO was instituted in 1964 three years before the six day war in June 1967 when Israel, in a war of self-defense, recovered the so-called “West Bank”, now seen and proclaimed by nearly everybody as the quintessence crux of the Middle East problem.
This however shows that the PLO (All Palestine needs to be liberated) was not formed to erect a Palestinian state on the ‘so called’ West Bank but was instituted to replace all of Israel with a Muslim Palestinian State.

A Word From Zion

The New Testament Basis for the Restoration of Israel

Jesus was asked by His disciples whether He would restore the kingdom to Israel at that time, to which He replied:
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.