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"AND
THE LORD’S ANGER WAS KINDLED AGAINST ISRAEL, AND
HE MADE THEM WANDER IN THE WILDERNESS FORTY YEARS,
UNTIL ALL THE GENERATION THAT HAD DONE EVIL IN THE
SIGHT
OF THE LORD WAS CONSUMED"
NUMBERS 32:13
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Imagine,
forty years in the wilderness in the same
outfit -- with the same people, with a monotonous
diet of quails and manna, never knowing
what the future had in store. Just
that according to your grandfather and great-grandfather,
the beckoning Promised Land was filled with
milk and honey.
But what was it really like -- the environment
of this “great wilderness” – that taught
the children of Israel an unparalleled lesson
in humility that has resounded down the
ages? This is what we set out to experience
on our adventure in the Negev's Wilderness
of Zin. Numbers 20:1 tells us, “The
entire Israelite community entered the Wilderness
of Zin in the first month, and they settled
in Kadesh.” Many scholars believe
that the Israelites were in fact in the
Wilderness of Zin for a total of thirty
eight years, with the actual “wandering”
taking place over a span of two years.
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin
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Wandering through the
Zin riverbed
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| By open
safari vehicle, with the fearless photographers
sitting at each end of six rows to get an
unimpeded view of the terrain, we travel
along a two-mile stretch of the Zin riverbed.
We stop to explore the oases of Ein Zik
and Ein Akab with their hidden pools of
water and lush vegetation. If we are
visiting at the end of a particularly rainy
winter, just before the hot winds of spring,
we are sure to enjoy a visual feast of wildflowers.
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin
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Wilderness Wildlife
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This is
a day to experience the context of the Israelite
sojourn, rather than the geography of particular
sites. The Wilderness of Zin is where
Miriam, Moses’ elder sister died and where
the Israelites challenged Moses and Aaron
to justify why they had been liberated from
slavery, only to perish in the wilderness.
(Numbers 20)
We also deal with the mindset of the patriarchs,
since Abraham passed through this very place
on his journey to Egypt, where he presented
Sarah as his sister to Pharaoh, who then
took Sarah into his own household. (Genesis
12) We talk about Abraham as a man
of the world, and discuss whether his motives
went beyond saving his own skin.“Our
safari in the Desert of Zin brought to life
the story of Abraham,” testified one participant
from San Diego, CA. “The
vast open spaces and the bright light of
dark shadows brought into vivid relief the
personality of the man who stands at the
center of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
I felt overwhelmed by the beauty and the
power of the rugged landscape!”
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Photo:
C. B. Edgar
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"Shooting"
the forbidding wilderness
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| Bill Moyers,
in his PBS TV program “Genesis,” has a wonderful
take on this episode. He says, “God
is founding a dynasty, the beginnings of
Judaism, Christianity and Islam. One
might expect the storyteller to paint the
First Family ten feet tall with several
coats of whitewash. But the picture
we get of these men and women is uncomfortably
human. There is so much martial conflict
and sibling intrigue they almost forfeit
the call and fumble the promise. Yet
the storyteller refuses to clean up their
act.” |
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And here’s
yet another take on the first family in
the wilderness by limerick writer
D. R. Bensen, |
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“Sara felt sore as a boil
That the son of a slave doomed to toil
Should share Isaac’s lands –
‘Let him live in the sands!’
(Underneath which lay oceans of oil.)”
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Photo:
Gila Yudkin
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Our driver Yankele sharing
his passion for the wilderness
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While Yankele,
our driver, and I prepare a wilderness buffet
which encompasses nearly everything but
quails and manna, the tour leader sketches
a profile of Miriam, or reflects upon the
impact of the wilderness experience in Christianity.
Creative Bible teacher Kevin Saunders noted
that people had asked about snakes in the
wilderness. Kevin recalled Moses’
fear of snakes (Exodus 4) and taught Numbers
21 and Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus
in John 3.
If you’d like your group to experience this
extraordinary day during your Holy Land
pilgrimage, be sure to
contact me while
you are in the early stages of planning
your itinerary.
PostscriptIn the late 1980s, Dale
Nystrom of
IGM Tours enthusiastically supported
my colleagues’ (Steve Langfur, Jackie Feldman,
Yankele Geva) and my endeavors to craft
a “wilderness experience” for our pilgrims.
The following is Dale’s response to “Let’s
wander in the Wilderness of Zin,”
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“Some pastors may choose to reflect
on Jesus and John the Baptist in the
wilderness. ‘The voice of one
crying in the wilderness,’ makes me
think of the vast wildernesses to today’s
relationships. The great challenge
in this wilderness may be to find clear
and precise voices without dogmatism.
Or borrowed ideas.
Consider Jesus’ elongated period in
the wilderness. The great challenge
to many is not finding food or water.
The ancients knew where the water and
food were. The great challenge
was to find the way in the wilderness.
The WAY was important to Jesus who astounded
some with his insistence “I am the Way,
the truth and the life.” Is it
not in the wilderness experiences of
life that we discover who we really
are, and who our God really is?”
Pastor Dale Nystrom, Castro Valley,
CA
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Testimonials on the
Wilderness of Zin day from
pastors and participants plus stunning
photos. |
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More Wilderness
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Cave #4 at Qumran
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Herodion & Herod's
tomb |
The Epiphany |
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Jericho / Mt of
Temptation |
Masada |
Hike the old
Jericho Road |
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Gila
Yudkin, who calls herself a former
Connecticut Yankee living now in King David's
Court, has been guiding since 1978.
She designed the "Wilderness of Zin" experience
with Yankele Geva in 2004. Gila thrives
on showing veteran tour leaders new, authentic,
biblical sites. Give her an opportunity
and your sermons will be enriched and your
colleagues envious.... |
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Copyright 2005, 20011 Gila Yudkin. Permission
needed for any reuse. |
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GILA
YUDKIN
•
TCHERNIKOVSKI
64A
•
JERUSALEM
•
ISRAEL
gila@itsgila.com
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