Week 8…Experiencing the desert

The desert is a prominent image in the Bible. Behind it are many different meanings. The desert is more than just a geographical place, although it is that. To mine the myriad nuances "Desert" has within the Bible, one needs to be familiar with how the word is used by various biblical writers. In the Book of Exodus the desert represents freedom from oppression. It is the place where Israel first experiences God as dynamically present to them, where daily God provides for their needs amid the fragile desert landscape where they have no supports or props to make them feel they can manage on their own. It is a place of grumbling as the Israelites struggle to grow to trust God and learn God's ways. The desert is a school for learning how to be formed in the ways of God. The desert is not Israel's final destination, but it is a trackless wasteland that must be crossed so that lessons might be learned and wisdom stored for the future. Roadways are not well marked and the shifting sands blow away the pathways we make. Someone said that it is a desert only if it is so wide we cannot see across. It is a dangerous place for many reasons: sudden desert storms bring torrents that sweep away anything in the path; there are scorpions and snakes and no water. The darkness is thick and dense, the light a burning heat. All this Israel must experience to know who God is for them, who they are in relationship to God. Here Israel learns to trust.

Frequently the prophets return to the desert time as a way of understanding later experiences. The Exodus journey becomes a template to explain the meaning of later events. Deutero-Isaiah, who knows as God knew the sorry plight of his own people and is writing about 800 years after the Exodus, describes the return of the Israelites from Exile using the language of wilderness journey and the tenderness of God. Jeremiah (chapter 2) and Hosea (chapter 2) speaks of the Desert as a place where God courts Israel. Other images make sense if we can situate them in the desert landscape. God as a source of living water…God as a rock to which one clings for any bit of shade.

Many of the places we will visit in the Negev Desert will recall the wandering of Abraham and Sarah and their descendents. Although given the promise of land, they lived as resident aliens, trusting in God's promise but never really owning the land except in death (the burial place at Hebron). As we wander in their footsteps, what message does this have for us? God's promises are not always realized in the ways we imagine. We may not control how God gives us blessings!

If we read the stories of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs (Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel), we become familiar with some desert stops. One of these is Beer Sheba. Here both Abraham and Isaac reportedly make an agreement with Abimelech, king of that place for rights to a well. The name is derived from this biblical account where Abraham offered 7 lambs as sacrifice. Who knows if the well we will see at Beer Sheba is really Abraham's well! Does it matter? What is important is that in remembering these stories, we look to find lessons for our own life. God's word is alive for us today! It is not a story of the past!

Our experience of the desert from our air-conditioned bus and hotel will leave us missing something (so we might not grumble as much!). Oh yes, and our overnight at one of the Dead Sea resorts where we can experience all that that most unique area has to offer was also not listed in the AAA guide book as the Israelites were cris-crossing the Wilderness!. Our intention in spending this time in the desert is that we will remember and recognize that there are moments in our own life that are often like the desert moments of which the Bible speaks many times. Israel leaves the oppression of Egypt, a slavery they know, to venture into a place of freedom, unaccustomed as they are to this experience. They, like us have trouble letting go of small ideas and familiar, enslaving ways for something unknown that can free us. Moments of transition are like the wilderness, so are moments of loss and pain. We are being stretched into new experiences that we would not choose for ourselves. We will not wander endlessly in this place, but looking for God in the wilderness brings us to a promised land of hope and possibilities. We, like the Israelites, need to learn to trust the ways of God that indeed are mysterious. This God is daily alongside us as he was with our ancestors. Sometimes the desert is a painful, fearful place to be (so we learn to trust…we are forced to learn to trust!). Sometimes the desert will be a delight as God sets a banquet for us and we are filled with an overwhelming sense of the God who is present in mysterious ways. Indeed, God leads us into the wilderness and there speaks to our heart (Hosea 2:16). Knowing how to adapt biblical stories to our own experience is one of the fruits of careful study.

We will visit a variety of places in the Negev Desert. Mt Karkom is in the western portion of the Negev, opposite the desert oasis of Kadesh Barnea (in Egyptian Sinai). Here we can recall the long stay of the Israelites and the wilderness testing stories found in Numbers 11-20 (story of the Scouts, of Miriam and Aaron's challenge to Moses' leadership and other stories of rebellion and mistrust). I had suggested you read Numbers in our last reflection. Arad is a fortress in the southern Negev. It was a fortified position to protect Judah from attack from the south and incursions by the Edomites (Numbers 21). Avdat is another stop we will make. I do not believe there is any biblical reference to this place, but it has an interesting history. The remains attest to its prominence as a major stop along the Kings Highway. It was a city put on the map by the Nabateans in the 4th C BCE. The Nabateans were a nomadic people who gained great prominence and wealth because they largely controlled trade routes between Arabia and Egypt. Later these desert cities became home to Christian communities. The remains of a Byzantine Church of St. Theodore is a place where we often celebrate Eucharist…there is an awesome sense of continuity with our ancestors from antiquity.

For those able, there will be time to walk in the wilderness, to visit the unique and wonderful landscape of the Negev (those unable to walk can simply sit and drink it in!). In the silence of that walking (or sitting), it is so important to recall all that we have said here. Silence and reflection befits the expectation I have that you will take with you a deep experience of the richness of this desert time before we enter into the fray of life in Jerusalem where so much will catch us and perhaps disturb us and unsettle us. The sights and sounds of Jerusalem are wonderful, but we need to have settled deeply within us the peace, quiet and God-centered certainty that comes from the desert!

1. Think of a moment in your life that could be called a "desert Moment".

2. How did you survive this experience? Did you just survive or did you look for God

during the wandering?

3. Is your experience of the study of God's word something like a "desert experience"?

In what ways?

4. What can be learned from the desert moments of life?

5. Are all your "desert moments" bad? Are some also good?