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"HE LED YOU THROUGH THE
GREAT AND TERRIBLE WILDERNESS,
WITH ITS FIERY
SERPENTS AND SCORPIONS AND THIRSTY GROUND
WHERE THERE WAS NO WATER"
NUMBERS 8
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| "It was
there, in the Wilderness of Zin, that Abraham sent
Sarah's handmaid Hagar packing, along with their son
Ishmael. In a truly heart-rending scene, after
exhausting their supply of bread and water, Hagar
consigned the little boy to the shade of the
scrub-brush, that she might not have to "look on the
death of the child" (Genesis 21:16). It was to
the same vicinity that Moses would one day return
with the newly-liberated, but bickering and
"murmuring" Children of Israel. From Sde Boker,
final resting place of Israel's first Prime Minister
David Ben Gurion, we set out in homemade "safari
trucks" led by an Israeli named Yankele.
Yankele remarked that the way was rougher than he
had ever seen it, owing to a rare desert
gully-washer that had come earlier in the spring.
Our two four-wheelers dropped into "granny-gear"
time and again, as they gnawed and crawled their way
from dip to divide, rocking and reeling, sometimes
threatening to topple.
Promised to us "murmurers" at the end of our
wandering was "manna and quail" set picnic-style
under a tarp strung between the vehicles. But
prior to the luncheon we walked a hundred yards to a
rare oasis, and sat down in the simmering shade of
the scrub-brush. We thought of Isaac and
Ishmael, and the start of a conflict that would
persist. We thought of Moses and the People,
and a patience that would not persist.
We experienced the stillness, apart from
which none can know God." |
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Dr. Steve Pressley
Associate Pastor First Baptist Church
Greensboro, North Carolina |
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Photo: Steve
Pressley |
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Safari Trucks about to depart for
the Wilderness of Zin |
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“There,
in the Wilderness of Zin, we learned, among other
things, just why the Israelites had so many good
reasons for challenging Moses and Aaron, complaining
because they had been denied the comfort and
security of Egypt. Somewhere in these environs
they wandered for four decades before claiming their
lands of promise. Before our Beduin desert lunch,
each pilgrim, with Bible and emotions, withdrew to a
silent place for reflection and prayer.
During this incredible block of time alone we each
in our own way experienced the wilderness all around
us. With sight, and sound and taste and touch and
smell, we were engaged by the desert itself.
The terrain is remarkable, but the gifts the
Wilderness of Zin shared with our 48 pilgrims will
long be remembered. Here is a set of
impressions I received from our pilgrims:
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• I never spend much time alone with God, but
here in the desert I did. (An 82-year-old woman on
pilgrimage)
• Even the lizards looked friendly, and thank God
we saw no snakes!
(A church organist who hates snakes)
• All a Beduin needs in this wilderness are water
and a black goat. (Yankele our guide)
• I expected to meet Moses coming around every
rock formation; it was so real and made the Exodus
come alive for me.
• Amid the desert wastes and quietness, I truly
experienced my own personal exodus.
• I met God amidst the rocks, the heat and the
barrenness in ways I have never encountered my
Creator before.
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| Whenever
Gila tells you, ‘Take this tour,’ do it. It is truly
exceptional, a spiritual smorgasbord in a wilderness
wonderland!” |
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Dr. W. Randall Lolley,
Christian pastor and theological educator, retired
Raleigh, North Carolina |
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"A Holy Land
Pilgrimage bombards the senses with breathtaking
images of David's
Shining City, the tranquil Sea of Galilee, the
grassy northern kingdom of Dan
with its roaring river, the meandering Jordan, the
wondrous cities of Caesarea
and Nazareth, and, of course, the magical Dead Sea.
However, experiencing the
Wilderness of Zin in the Negev Desert helped me to
put my life in perspective.
The ruggedly beautiful mountains, the glorious
canyons, and the verdant oases
invite us pilgrims to listen, reflect, and
contemplate the mysteries of the Eternal
in our own lives. Murmuring through the
canyons, the wind whispers eternal
truths -- just as here God spoke to Abraham, Moses,
and the Israelites over 3,000
years ago. This pilgrim views life's ups and
downs in a new light, from a
different perspective, after spending time in the
wildness and mildness of the
Wilderness of Zin." |
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Sr. M. Clare Sweeney
Tempe, Arizona |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Sister Clare and a group of
Arizonan pilgrims hiking to Ein Akab |
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"Our afternoon on
the Stations of the Cross and especially at the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher was conflictive and
uncomfortable, filled with the tensions that are
palpable in the Holy City. The trip to the
Negev, however, brought it all into perspective and
lifted my heart higher than it could have gotten
without the day in Jerusalem. The Negev Desert
relieved the stress of Jerusalem.
Yankele, our driver, described the desert as a place
of fear and danger, with many unfriendly animals and
plants and elements, that made sense to a group of
Arizonans. That is our desert: the animals all bite
and sting, usually with poison. The plants all
have thorns and many have poison, too. The sun and
lack of water can kill
quickly, as the deaths of illegal immigrants make
clear every summer. But then Yankele added the
healing grace of the desert: it is a place of peace
and contemplation. It has oases. There is quiet.
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Oasis in the Wilderness of Zin: Ein Zik |
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You can find God in
the desert and be alone with Him. You cannot
do that in the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher
or on
the Via Dolorosa, and yet the desert puts the Holy
City in focus. Christ is for everyone and that
diversity is not a clean and simple process.
It pits believers against each other, and against
other human beings at the
cutting edge of belief and territorial interests in
a small country. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Ein Akab in the Negev's Wilderness
of Zin
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| There is so much
blood on the sacred soil, and that blood comes up in
Jerusalem. There is blood on the desert, too, but
the soil absorbs it in stillness and the immense
scale of the landscape. We have dry, rocky
hills in Arizona, but not of the same scale and
grandeur. The harsh but beautiful landscape
provides a presence of an awesome, holy God,
accessible in His wilderness, not lost in the hubbub
of urban humanity. Yet the desert completed
the Jerusalem experience and gave me peace for that
time, too." |
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Dale Furnish
Tempe, Arizona |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Wilderness wildflower |
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GILA
YUDKIN
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TCHERNIKOVSKI
64A
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JERUSALEM
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