After packing up and bidding our resort hotel goodbye, we made a short trip north on the road to Masada which is situated in a striking mountain range. Many of us commented on how familiar this topography seems - it is comparable to Central Oregon or Arizona and New Mexico, only the desert of Israel and Jordan is endless with scattered Bedouin communities and a few small cities and villages.
Our tour guide pointed out how Masada is a natural military fortress because it is physically disconnected from all sides of the surrounding mountains. King Herod, who was also responsible for building Caesarea, spent 3-7 years constructing a small city on top of Masada in case he needed to run back home to Edom (he was not well-liked and was a descendant from Esau). We rode a three minute cable car up to the imposing mountain; three minutes from those heights was about all some of us could handle while others were stunned by the breath-taking views.
Once up high we were told how Herod had used gravity and flash floods to channel water down nearby hills up through rock "pipes"to cisterns on Masada. It is said 1,000 people could live there with the stores of olive oil, grain, water, and pigeons for 7 years. Although Herod never used Masada for his intended purpose, a group of Zealots who were rebelling against Rome in Caesarea retreated. Until Rome built a siege ramp, the Israelites lived comfortably...then they were faced with a choice live and become slaves or die free. Most of the community chose suicide, without destroying any earthly goods (food, water, animals etc.), to show Rome they did not die due to a lack of provision but because they were protecting their freedom.
A little while later we rolled Northward to Qumran where we saw the ruins of a small community who referred to themselves as the Sons of Light. This is the site near where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. I was amazed at how close the caves were to the Dead Sea - literally within sight of each other.
No comments:
Post a Comment