Day 5: Friday, February 10

Today we left the Galilee and journeyed south down the spectacular Syrian African Rift Valley to the Dead Sea in the arid
Judean wilderness. We studied the cultural tensions that existed at the time of Jesus, both between Greco-Roman culture
and Jewish culture (and later the early church), and also between the Jewish religious establishment of the day and various
spiritual reformers. At the Jordan River, we discussed the ministry of John the Baptist and his relationship with Jesus.Our next stop was the Biblical city of Beit Shean to examine the visually impressive excavations of its Roman-Byzantine period when it was one the ten Hellenistic cities of the Decapolis. We continued down the Jordan Valley to the arid Judean Wilderness, and passed by the region of Jericho – the oldest and lowest city on earth. Our last visit of the day was be Qumran, likely the home of the Essenes, a First Century Jewish sect which may have influenced early Christianity, and the site of the most exciting
archaeological discovery ever made in Israel – the Dead Sea Scrolls.