Spelunking in Israel

Spelunking is the technical word for cave exploring. Think Carlsbad Caverns. When Lynn and I lived in Carlsbad we went to these magnificent caves a few times. An amazing place! If you've never been, put it on your bucket list.

This picture is of some really old caves. Not a huge cavern like in Carlsbad, but dozens of small caves. This is Qumran...the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 20th century. Here's the short story of how the first DSS were found. A 15 year old Bedouin was doing what bored boys do: throwing rocks. After throwing a certain rock into a cave, he heard a crash. Upon exploration (spelunking, remember) he discovered clay pots containing some ancient scrolls. To keep the story short, the discovery of the DSS was on. Of the fragments found, all but two OT books were found, including the entire book of Isaiah. Wow!

Here is a picture of myself standing in a cave. Yes, I almost killed myself hiking up the mountain to the caves with Zac (19 year old). Maybe a fragment was found in this cave. Maybe not. The important fact to remember here is how these scrolls found in the 1900's matched up to OT books written thousands of years prior.

I came away from this visit with something powerful. No, not the pounding of my heart in my chest or extremely rapid respiration from climbing. But, rather, the trustworthiness of God's Word, the Bible. How big is your God? Do you believe He is totally capable of preserving His Word for us, even today? I do...and the DSS give me a small glimpse of this truth. Take a moment today and read the Bible a little, OT or NT!