A long post about Masada

For those of you playing along at home it’s time to take out your map of Israel and follow along! Yesterday we went on a field trip. No it wasn’t for any class and we did not receive credit for it. We rented a car up in Jerusalem, a tiny little Hyundai hatchback. We greased ourselves up and squeezed into the little econo-car for day of fun. We started out from Bethlehem in the morning and traveled up to pick up Josh and Lauren in their neighborhood just north of the Old City of Jerusalem. From there we headed due west. That may seem a little counter intuitive seeing as our ultimate destination was Masada to the south and east of us, but we had our reasons. The pleasure is in the journey. We went out Highway 1 and stopped in a little town known as Kiryat Ye’arim. Kiryat Ye’arim was where the Ark of the Covenant was for a little while until it was moved up to Jerusalem. (See 1 Chronicles 13:5) It’s a beautiful spot where you can look out over the Hill Country. There’s also a small church there and we stopped to take a picture.
Shortly after that stop we turned south down Highway 38 made another stop at the Soreq Caves. This was not a Biblical spot. In fact it was discovered in 1968 when an Israeli company was doing some quarrying in the area. A blast uncovered a beautiful stalactite cave. So we stopped to take the tour. Unfortunately it was in Hebrew but the stalactites were still really cool even though we couldn’t catch much of what the guy said. Josh & Lauren could understand a bunch though and they translated when they could.
From there we continued down 38 through the Elah Valley where David fought Goliath and over the brook where David picked up his 5 stones to Highway 35 where we again made a westward turn, this time to avoid driving straight into Hebron. We traveled through the Shephelah, the Low Hill Country or Foothills. Then we turned south at Kiryat Gat onto Highway 40. Gath you might remember as one of the Philistine cities. We were out on the coastal plain for a while here. It’s much flatter than the Hill country and there’s a lot of agriculture on the coastal plain once the rains come.
A little bit north of Beer Sheva, we turned eastward. Beer Sheva you will perhaps remember from the Biblical expression “from Dan to Beer Sheva.” Dan was seen as the northernmost Israelite city while Beer Sheva was seen as the southernmost city. Today, of course, the border extends all the way from the Golan heights to the Red Sea. Beer Sheva was also a popular Patriarch hang out. We traveled east along Highway 31 to Arad. Through this part of the trip the country becomes significantly more desert like. We stopped for lunch in a little park under some trees, they would be some of the last trees we saw for the rest of the day except for the occasional Palm tree or Acacia tree. At Arad we turned slightly to the north and began the winding descent to Masada. Being now completely in the heart of the Judean wilderness and months from the last time this region saw rain it was very arid. Even though the hills are completely bare this desert landscape is beautiful. We passed Bedouins with camels and their flocks out on the hills.
Masada lies at the bottom of this descent. It is large plateau that Herod the Great fortified. Herod the Great was a terribly paranoid man. (Hence the fact that he slaughtered all the Jewish babies to prevent king from being born among the Jews.) As a result of this paranoia he was constantly building desert getaways to which he could escape if necessary. Masada is one of these. Of course Masada’s story doesn’t end there. It fell out of use until after the Jewish Revolt and the destruction of the Temple. A last remaining group of Jewish rebels hid out down at Masada. Here they were able to eek out an existence until they were found and besieged by the Romans. Now the Romans who had built Masada found themselves on the outside looking in. But as often seems the case the Romans were patient in their wrath and they built an enormous siege ramp to enter Masada. On the night before the Romans were to breach the wall and take the fortress the Jewish rebels all committed suicide rather than be taken by the Romans. The last few drew lots to see who would kill whom. This grim scene and the mountain of Masada have now become a symbol of Jewish nationalism and the determination of the Jewish people to survive under persecution and hardship.
Perhaps what could be called the last chapter of Masada before the present day would be the Byzantine presence. There was a group of Byzantine Monks who began a community atop the rugged mountain. Their church and it’s beautiful mosaic floors along with some of their humble dwelling caves can still be seen.
Today there are several ways to get up Masada: Difficult – the Snake path (so named because it snakes its way up the long way, Medium- the Siege Ramp path (taking the road the Romans made up to the top) and Easy (the Sky Tram). We took the Medium difficulty road up the Siege Ramp.
It was an absolutely beautiful day. We could see clear across the Dead Sea into the mountains of Jordan. After our time at Masada we went back up to Arad where we got on the road that goes down to the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is the lowest spot on the face of the earth. We took some pictures by the Dead Sea. We passed the front of Masada, Ein Gedi, and Qumran but we’ll have to do these on a different day. We enjoyed some wine by the Dead Sea at sunset and we on up Highway 90 back up into the Judean Hill Country. We dropped Josh and Lauren off in Jerusalem and made it back to Bethlehem by about 8:00. It was full day but a good day.