Gary Kent takes us on an amazing journey to Masada, the natural mountain fortress in the desert in Israel, next to the Dead Sea. Gary recounts with wonderful detail and interesting drama and drone photography the accounts of two well-known inhabitants of Masada, and one very famous person who is rarely if ever associated with Masada.
One of the two well-known inhabitants was King Herod, who reigned as a Roman vessel from 37 BCE to 4 BCE, during the time of the birth of Yeshua. Herod was a remarkable builder. He built the Western Wall retaining wall that still stands today, and the beautiful marble Temple that sat above it to which Yeshua was brought for His circumcision on the eighth day of His life, as well as for His bar mitzvah at 12 going on 13 years of age, and many other times after that. Herod also built the startling port city of Caesarea from scratch, bringing fresh water from far away sources via an elaborate aqueduct system that still stands today, and a huge man-made jetty to break the waves so he could create a calm port for large boats from Rome and around the world to safely port in.
That same talented builder built a fortress on the desolate flat top mountain known as Masada, which was virtually impregnable because it is surrounded on all sides by steep high cliffs. Many believe that Herod built this in case he needed to flee there if he was attacked by the many enemies he had which could have been Jews, Romans, or even Egyptian Cleopatra. There is no fresh water or vegetation at Masada, yet Herod built a vacation resort in this fortress with hot tubs and saunas by carving out huge cisterns for collecting water, and giant storehouses for grain and food, and a three tiered palace on the northern slope with amazing views of the Dead Sea and which received a pleasant cooling breeze. The beautifully painted tiles of the palace complex and other remains are visible on Masada today over 2,000 years later.
The other well-known inhabitants came about 70 years later and were the Jewish Zealots who fought against Rome in 73 CE. When Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE a little more than 900 people fled to Masada including warrior Jewish zealots, women, children, and religious Essenes. The Romans could not stand for there to be any remains of resistance to their tyrannical rule, thus they sent thousands of heavily armored soldiers into the sweltering desert to erect 8 large camps and a long wall all around the mountain to siege the inhabitants. A last great battle of wits to the death took place and it is one of the hallmarks of Israel’s “never again” determination. I won’t take away from the real life drama that took place there and spoil it with telling you the results of that heroic stand at Masada. I will let Gary and the video tell you.
Both of those stories are fascinating to hear over and over again, and Gary, with terrific videography, does a fantastic job of retelling them.
But Gary takes us a step further and tells of another inhabitant of Masada of Biblical proportions. Gary backs his position with scripture and makes an interesting case for his belief. Gary then uses that to bring home a wonderful message from Masada for you and me today.
