Bet She'an and Qumran- Dead Sea Scrolls

Bet She'an is located at the junction of the Jordan River Valley and the Jezreel Valley. 

(Joshua 17, Judges 1)

L.T and Sadie enjoying their popsicles... right before L.T.'s fell in the dirt :(

See the hill in the background above.  Some brave and athletic people, including my husband, climbed the steps to the top...some of the pictures you will see later in this post were taken from the hill displaying a beautiful view of the city down below.

In 64 B.C., This city was taken over by the Romans, rebuilt, and made the capitol of the Decapolis, centers of Greco-Roman culture.  Several earthquakes have hit this area over the years, but many of the columns have been restored. 

Then we headed to Qumran National Park:

Ritual bath:

The Dead Sea:

Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, is where a shepherd found the Dead Sea Scrolls in November of 1947.  The texts include the oldest known surviving copies of Biblical and extra-biblical documents.  They were written on parchment and some papyrus in Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic.  Until this time, the earliest copies we had of the Bible was from around 10th century A.D.  This shepherd stumbled upon preserved Bible scrolls from 2nd century A.D.  Inside, there were 37 copies of the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, the only books that were not included were Nehemiah and Ezra.  The shepherd also found commentary on the Bible and laws and rules of how to live, sharing writings between different people.  Amazingly, but not surprisingly, there was no change in the scrolls and our Bibles today, 1200 years later, besides a few dots and a word or two. 

2 Timothy 2:8-10

"Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. 

This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. 

But God's word is not chained.  

Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, 

that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory."