Day 7
Shabbat, May 31, Friday
The day begins in the evening…this is why the Sabbath begins
at sundown.
On this morning of Shabbat, we are heading to our fist stop, by the evening, when the Sabbath begins we will be in the Holy city, Jerusalem.
But now, we travel up by
gondola up, up, to the top of a fortress and walk the ruins; ruins of an
amazing, enormous, colossal palace; a place where the remnants left behind paint
a picture of lives lived so magnificently that we can only imagine; a life
fantastic!
Do you know
the story of Masada…the amazing palace that Herod built in 40 AD on an
impossibly high mountain face in the middle of the desert? The size of it is
massive, one half mile long, cut out of the mountain rock, 38 towers, and each
75 feet high. Inside there are store houses, barracks and cisterns to collect
rain water. Built lavishly and lived
lavishly where royalty of all kinds including Anthony and Cleopatra were
entertained.
Here lies the
story of Herod the Great, a megalomaniac, schizophrenic, egocentric who built
himself a palace unparalleled to anything in this world as we know it. A structure of engineering importance for all
of humanity to behold…amazing!
Do you know
the story of Masada…an amazing abandoned palace that is taken over in 70 AD by
Zealot Jews, a sect that believe they should fight back against the
Romans. When they see that they are
losing the battle and Jerusalem lies beaten into the dust, these Zealots retreat
to the heights of Masada. Here they make
their last stand against the Romans; 960 men, women and children, a remnant of
the scattered Jews. In order to avoid
capture; enslavement, rape and murder by the Roman soldiers, ten men are chosen
and lots are drawn; and they proceed to murder their own families ending in the
final death, suicide. When the Romans
storm the fortress instead of finding a battle to be fought, they find silence…the
sound of death.
Two amazing
events of history, different times in the same place…in one we find the
evidence of lavish living…extravagance beyond compare; Turkish baths, mosaic
floors, and frescoed walls…life defying death.
In the other we find the writings of a lost sect; the scriptures of Ezekiel,
evidence of a simple life overlapping wealth...and the pot chards with names
written on them, evidence of lots cast…death that hoped for life.
Coming down
from this place we drive out to Ein Gedi, an oasis of lush wilderness, out of
the desert and into a refuge for the wild goats and small Koni’s…a place where
the acacia tree grows wild and the jujube plants thrive; one supplies wood for
the tabernacle and the other a crown of thorns.
It is a hiding place. David hides
here from King Saul, up in a cave on the mountain edges overlooking the oasis,
watching out, hoping for his freedom, lamenting for God to look down…worshipping,
praising and waiting…it is a waiting place.
“David is in the desert of Ein Gedi.” So Saul took 3000 able
young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the
crags of the wild goats…”
1 Samuel 24:1-22
Driving from
here to Jericho, the oldest city in the world, we see the remnants of the walls;
the walls that tumbled down from the blasts of the horns, we see the embattled
neighborhoods, depraved and war torn. And we see the villages of the Bedouin
Arabs, their shanty towns along the edges of the mountains, squatters in this
land.
In the blink
of an eye we see the landscape change, we are ascending to the Holy City of
Jerusalem, out of the desert into a green and fertile land, we see the change, we
can feel it, coming in to God’s Holy city and the air itself begins to be
filled with the Holy words of God.
“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem,
the city of the living God.”
Hebrews 12:22
I love that.
