Day 5 - MasadaMay 30, 2009
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Synagogue at Masada
| Ronnie Simon was our new guide for today. We went this morning to the Israeli National Park at Masada. It is like our Gettysburg, Valley Forge, and Bull Run all rolled into one. The reasoning behind why Masada was chosen as a fortress location by King Herod that the Dead Sea area was the eastern edge of the Roman Empire and the primary threat in the east to the sovereignty of Rome were the Syrians. One of the routes that Syria could use to bring an army into Roman occupied Palestine was the land bridge between the upper and lower divisions of the Dead Sea. The land bridge is right at the base of Masada. Herod the Great asked Rome for the funds to build on top of the natural mountain bloc plateau to help watch over this strategic pass. Herod the Great really wanted to build himself a fortress retreat to protect himself from the Jews in the case or they revolting against him. After Herod the Great died in 6 B.C. the Romans brought down their own governors to Judea and those governors did not respect the Jews right to worship at the Temple. When the Jews revolted, the Romans could not allow any disturbance in such a strategically important location. They sent down Legions to put down the revolt. The Jews overtook the fortress from the Romans because at Masada held 10,000 sets of body armor and other provisions. After the Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 A.D., they came to take Masada. The Jews there chose death over being Roman slaves or being abused. They left behind the storehouses full of food and the cisterns full of water so the message would be clear that they chose death by their own will. |
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