Page 40 - Holyland Magazine - 2010 Edition
P. 40
FLOWER
of theDESERT
The little-known ancient churches of the
Negev tell the story of how the new faith
of Christianity took root in the wilderness.
The Nabatean temple that gave way to When Israel was founded in 1948,
the church at Avdat still beckons visitors
to step through the gateway of history. its first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion,
Photos: Miriam Feinberg Vamosh encouraged people to move to this semi-arid
southern part of the country. And when he
40 retired from politics, Ben-Gurion himself moved
there. Under the glass on the desk in his study,
he kept an index card with the words of Isaiah
35:1-2: “The desert and the parched land will
be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom.”
Ben-Gurion based his belief about the future of
the Negev on what he knew of its past.
Thousands of years ago, this region was a major
