Religion: Out of the Desert

The end of the world seemed at hand. The sun beat down on the rock-strewn desert and struck shimmering heat waves from the flat, metallic surface of the Dead Sea. In a room of the community, the elders took council; they were sure that the men of darkness would soon be upon the Children of Light. Reports had come that Vespasian's legionaries, clanking up the road from Caesarea, were already at Jericho, less than seven miles to the north. Before they moved on Jerusalem, the Romans would surely fall upon the Community by the...