The Negev, Tel Arad, the Bedouin, and a Wadi Walk

We started our day by climbing in the bus to a plateau a mere 100ft below sea level. We stopped in what seemed like nowhere, climbed out and checked out the Negev desert. I’ve always thought of a desert as sand but where we were was rocks, lots and lots of rocks. It looks barren on first glance with leftover bottles and cans from kids camping (the army is good about cleaning up after themselves). 

  
It’s not as lifeless as it first seems. We found many snails all curled up in their shells against the heat of the day. It’s 9am and 25C with no available shade. 

 
When we looked closely we could see plant life which is slightly red in colour. These plants make up what is translated in the bible as ‘green pastures’ yet they’re clearly not green!
  

That is what sheep, goats and comels will graze on when their shepherd leads them to it. Most shepherds don’t come into this part of the Negev anymore (it’s used for military training) but for thousands of years this was pasture land. 
We headed to Tel Arad, a site that I had been quite curious about. It is a small city including a temple and the layout is clear with the rubble. A few houses have had their walls rebuilt to show how a house would look but it’s mostly rubble including the walls. 
  

The city was occupied around 2600BC and after being destoyed twice it was finally abandoned 1500 years later. The temple, while it has had some reconstruction work, is one of the few found that still contains an altar of sacrifice and the Holy of Holies. 
Altar of sacrifice (altar of uncut stones) Exodus 20:25

  

Holy of Holies (Most Holy Place) Leviticus 16
 
The line of plaster on the right wall indicates that everything below the line is original, above was reconstructed using the stones that had fallen on the ground. According to our guide the pillar at the front on the left is original while the one on the right is a reconstruction as the original is in the museum in Jerusalem. 
The Holy of Holies was  used once a year on the Day of Attonement. I remember hearing somewhere that it was tradition to tie a rope around the priest who entered as if they hadn’t followed the instructions to enter exactly and died in the presence of God (like Aaron’s sons) then the other priests could pull him out. 

Next stop was to visit the Bedouins, a tribal community living in Israel, Jordan and surrounding areas. Their way of life is changing dramatically and the traditional Bedouin won’t be around much longer. There is usually one man who is the head of the household and he may have several wives. Within some areas a man may have up to four wives but will have many more as he will ‘set aside’ those that don’t produce males or begin to age. He will still care for them, have them as his family, they are still his wife but not in law. 

Many men who take many wives in the past would do so because the woman was a widower, perhaps she was in need of a home, or maybe was pregnant out of wedlock. The men would take the woman as a wife to give her a home and a chance at survival. 
We went to visit the home of a Bedouin family, the man having two wives, one bearing him fourteen children, the other seven. When arriving we were given the rules of respect. Under no circumstances could any of the men in our group touch any of the women of the Bedouin. No high fives, hand shaking, accepting a cup of tea from a woman’s hands etc. yet the women of our group need not worry about this. 
The family was awesome and have us tea sweetened with sage as well as making fresh bread for us. 

  
Several of the women from our group congregated and had the opportunity to talk to the young girls. Three were sisters, one a half sister, and one a wife (she was in her twenties). The one girl is sixteen and attending a university studying English. She was quite good at translating the basics but ‘sawmill’ does’t translate in an area where there are virtually no trees and the houses are made of stone. They asked about children, our ages, and what we do. We found out later that in their culture the eldest demands respect so they were trying to find out who was the eldest and give the appropriate respect. The experience was amazing and we were all very grateful that they opened their home to our group. 
After tea we set off on our ‘wadi walk.’ A wadi is where water runs when it rains. Sometimes it’s just a bit, sometimes it’s a flash flood. Before entering a wadi our Israeli guide (required by law for all tours in Israel) has to know where it has rained. Many upstream areas can pool water so there may be danger of the banks breaking as well as rain falling that could cause us to drown. Apparently the main cause of death in wadis is being struck by rocks that are carried downstream. 
The view from the top:

  
Where the groups split. This is heading to the longer hike.  

The ropes section.  

Climbing down. 

  

 
Me at the bottom of the wadi.     

It was a great downhill walk. Amazing views and the wind kept it cooler than the ambient temperature. At least half of the group opted for the longer hike which included requiring ropes to cross one section. A great trip which I recorded on the gps watch but can’t download until I get home. Here’s the ending altitude though.