We arrived at Masada at 9:30 a.m. and Stephanie got out of the van and headed to the trailhead....only to find out that they closed the Snake Path at 9 a.m. She was disappointed and we were disappointed for her. We all got tickets for the cable car and headed up.
From this high vantage point we got a good view of the Dead Sea from the Israeli side. We have now driven completely around the Dead Sea.
There is too much to explore on the top of Masada in the June heat. We had to pick and choose.
Masada has a long history. Herod the Great, who was the king when Jesus was born, had a winter palace built here. The bath house had a cold bath, a tepid bath, and a warm bath in which a furnace kept the room warm and heated the floor.
The palace was built on the hill with a hilltop terrace, a mid level terrace and a lower terrace. Here you get a sense of it.
Stephanie, Zandra and Bob hiked down tons of stairs to experience each terrace. I stayed up top and enjoyed watching them. In the photo below you can see Stephanie waving to me from the lower terrace.
At the time of the Jewish revolt, over 900 Jews hid on this hilltop. Roman Soldiers camped out below for three years trying to figure out how to get to them. They built a stone wall around the whole hill and posted soldiers along it to kill any one who tried to cross.
Eventually they built a seige wall and a wooden tower to the top.
The night before the Romans broke in the men on top of the hill made a pact that they would kill their wives and children and then each other. They felt it was better than having the Romans kill them or force them into slavery. They drew lots to see who would be the last man standing who would have to fall on his own sword. When the Romans finally breached the hill the next morning they found over 900 dead bodies. The only people they found alive were two women and several children hiding in a cave.
Masada has a colorful history and while we were up there we learned that Bob had been part of the dig at Masada, eating his meals up here and sleeping under the stars. Bob has a deep archeological history in Israel and we were once again so grateful he took them time to show it to us. By now it was around noon and we were very hot and tired. We headed back down on the cable car and bought ice cream and popsicles to restore ourselves.
Our next stop is Qumran, home of the Essenes (a Jewish sect) and the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Qumran had a large Essene community of all men, many celibate, who spent their days studying the scriptures and serving as scribes. They existed from the second century BC until the Romans killed Jews following the Jewish revolt in the first century. We walked among the ruins at Qumran.
The interesting thing about the ruins is that no where are there sleeping quarters. Did they sleep in the caves above Qumran? No evidence in the caves to prove that theory. It remains a mystery. In 1948, a Bedouin boy found ancient scrolls hidden in jars in a cave above Qumran. Since then scrolls have been found in eleven caves. Bob told us that he had climbed into Cave 1 from the top many years ago.
He drove us over to Cave 11 and we said we wanted to go inside. So we climbed a steep hill to get there.
The place was heavy with the smell of years and years of bat poop. I can still smell it if I just think about it. Stephanie and Zandra were intent on seeing some bats so they crawled further into the cave.
I was content to stay close to the front, as far away from the smell as possible.
Then Stephanie, who loves to climb, went up even higher.
As I was climbing up to the cave I began to worry that I might not be able to get back down. Steep inclines are hard for me to go down as I heal from knee replacement. Steep inclines with slippery gravel and stones are the worst. But I put my hand on Stephanie's shoulder and she got me down. All the while the Beatles lyric, "I'm going to try with a little help from my friends" blasted in my head. I wanted to see a Dead Sea Scroll cave so I climbed the hill with no plan about how I might get down. There was no shaming, just friendship and aid to make my return possible. How blessed I am!
By then we were hot and tired and our noses were filled with the smell of bat feces. We drove back to Jerusalem. We had time to rest before we met for dinner at a restaurant called Zuni that is open on Shabbat. It was delicious, especially the chocolate peanut butter pie.
Tomorrow we go to Bethlehem.
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