In the first century Herod built a spectacular palace in the middle of nowhere atop a giant rock formation. It’s literally a rock island in the middle of a giant desert canyony area. Scripture refers to it as the “stronghold” because you can perch yourself on top of it and see everything all around you and be safe from all enemies because they would have to climb a giant hill to get to you.
(we hiked up this giant hill to get to Masada)
Herods palace was a testimony to his opulence. In an area where there is no water, he created a lush garden paradise on top of a hill, complete with Roman bath houses and two separate palaces and living areas. His southern palace stair stepped down the south side of Masada – in the picture you can see there are three tiers to that side of the mount and he suspended his residence there overlooking the Dead Sea and modern day Jordan just to his East.
He plastered all of the walls of the palaces and painted exquisite frescos on each of them – some of which are preserved to this day. He also had marvelous tiled mosaic floors everywhere; many of those also still stand.
After Herod’s death, Masada fell into the hands of one of his four sons. This son was a moron and somehow found himself exhiled all the way into France just a few years into his reign leaving Masada abandoned. In 60AD the Jewish zealots revolted against the rule of Rome in their land. Rome decisively squashed this rebellion in Jerusalem killing thousands of people and destroying the temple. It is said that the sounds of the stones of the temple walls coming down were so loud and so horrific that the people living in the hillside outside of Jerusalem could hear and spend days weeping over it.
A small band of this zealot revolutionaries fled to Masada around the time that the temple fell. They lived comfortable on top of the giant hill with supplies left behind by Herod. Rome wasn’t content to let them stay though and ordered one of their generals, Silva, to go find and wipe out any remaining zealots.
Silva arrived at Masada and was certainly puzzled as to how to capture or kill the thousands of people living on top. They set up bases on either side of Masada in order to make sure that nobody escaped and then went to work building a siege ramp that went straight up the western side. When we were at Masada this week we hiked up that siege ramp in order to get to the top and explore the remains. It was a serious hike straight up hill. This pictures shows the snake path that winds it way upwards.
The story goes that Silva and his men made it to the top of Masada and set fire to the city wall. For the first few hours of this battle the fire burned outward and actually destroyed a lot of the siege rams and killed many Roman soldiers. The Jews took this as a sign that God was on their side. Near nightfall the winds changed and the fire started burning inward, towards the zealot stronghold.
I could tell the tragic story of what happened next, but ancient historian Josephus does it best;
“Atop Masada that night the Zealots were despondent. The incident of the changing winds convinced the zealot commander, Eleazar ben Yahir, that God had abandoned them. He saw only one possible course of action – self slaughter. “Long ago we resolved to serve neither the Romans nor anyone else but only God” he declared. “We must not choose slavery now… Daybreak will end our resistance, but we are free to choose an honorable death.” The men were moved by pity for their wives and families and by the prospect of their own end. As they exchanged glances the tears in their eyes betrayed any reluctance they may have had.
Each man took responsibility for killing his own family. With streaming eyes, they embraced their wives and took their children in their arms and in the end not a man failed to carry out his terrible resolve but one and all disposed of his entire family, victims of the cruel necessity who with their own hands murdered their wives and children and felt it to be the lightest of evils”
The men then set about destroying the citadel so the Romans would find nothing to loot. They heaped all their belongings up and set the whole top of the mountain ablaze. They pointedly spared enough food to show the Romans that they perished not through want but because they choose death rather than slavery.
The last men wrote their names on potsherds and cast lots to decide which 10 of them would execute the others. Each man lay down beside his wife and children and all were unflinchingly slaughtered. The 10 executioners cast lots a second time to determine which man would kill the rest then summon all his strength and fall upon his own sword.
The next morning when the Romans climbed through the breach in the walls they found no enemy but dreadful solitude on every side. They did not exult over them as enemies but admired the way in which so many had shown an utter contempt of death”
This is a crazy tragic story. And an incredible symbol and rallying cry for the nation of Israel. Just after the war for Israeli independence in 1948, one of the generals received permission to dig the site of Masada. Rather than pay Bedouins as cheap labor to help with the excavations he advertised and asked people to pay to come have the privilege of digging such an historic site. He really rallied the country around the story of the zealots and their bravery.
It’s not a story of overwhelming military success, but it’s a principal of freedom and bravery in the face of impossible odds that people admire and rally behind. Our professor said we didn’t really have anything like it in America and I quickly interjected my deep love for Texas and said yes huh, we have the Alamo. This was a popular comparison. I wandered around Masada the rest of the afternoon saying “come and take it” under my breath.
It’s an incredible place to visit. We spend about three hours on top and it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. The ruins are impeccable, the story is incredible and the view is outstanding. It’s easy to be moved standing in a place with such rich history and that means so much to the Jewish people.
The saying goes “Masada will never fall again” and the Israelis take their responsibility to this very seriously. At Masada soldiers are initiated, boys celebrate their Bar Mitzvahs, every time a plane flies by it dips a wing in respect to this sacred site.
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