Masada The Ambition

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Not long after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Romans turned their thoughts to the rebels who were still holding out in Masada.

They were an embarrassment to the great Roman empire and had to be taken care of. Rome sent out possibly as many as 20, soldiers and prisoners of war to lay siege on them, a small group of Looking down from on top of the cliff, I could still see the clearly visible remains of the Roman camps circling around me and could imagine the feeling of the Zealots after months of being surrounded. The Romans built a siege wall and camps all about, but with the help of their supplies and water cisterns, the Zealots withstood the siege for two years.

Then came the tragic fall of Masada. I walked slowly beside the outer wall of the fortress as what I knew of the fateful day came to my memory. The lonely wailing of the wind around me seemed to cry from the dust.

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I looked over the edge of the cliff to where the Romans had built a ramp and had finally broken through the outer wall surrounding the fortress. The defenders had quickly improvised an inner wall that could withstand the battering ram, but the Romans soon flung fiery arrows onto the wall, and the wooden staves began to burn.

A gust of wind came up behind me as I was remembering that moment. The Jewish rebels too had been surprised by this strange, lonely wind. Just at the moment their wall was about to be burned, the wind suddenly changed direction and blew the flames into the faces of the Romans.

The defenders of Masada thought they had been delivered, but just as suddenly as before, the wind changed back and the fire continued its destruction of their wall. The Romans descended from the ramp and returned to camp to prepare for the dawn when they would finally conquer Masada. The power of their numbers assured them of victory over their enemies, the rebel Jews. Eleazar, the rebel leader who had lived so long on top of the mountain in spite of the thousands of soldiers Rome sent against him, faced the defeat that would come with the rising sun.

He called together all of his followers and in a powerful, moving speech cried to them to choose death rather than surrender to the slavery that would follow defeat. These are the words he spoke that night on the top of Masada, with the blaze of the burning wall behind him and his enemies waiting below for the dawn to come:. At such a time we must not disgrace ourselves: For we were the first of all to revolt, and shall be the last to break off the struggle.

And I think it is God who has given us this privilege, that we can die nobly and as free men, unlike others who were unexpectedly defeated.

Masada, Ancient Drama

In our case it is evident the day-break will end our resistance, but we are free to choose an honourable death with our loved ones. This our enemies cannot prevent, however earnestly they pray to take us alive; nor can we defeat them in battle. But first let our possessions and the whole fortress go up in flames: One thing only let us spare—our store of food: God alone fulfills His promises and makes all things, whether people accept them or not, come to pass.

The miracle seed growth from Masada is an admonishment to keep preaching the Word 2 Tim. It will bear fruit. For it is God alone who causes the seed of His Word that is planted in hearts and minds to germinate into new life and grow. Peter serves as creative resource coordinator for The Friends of Israel. A unique aspect of his ministry is to communicate the gospel in biblical and historical reenactments.

Masada, Ancient Drama - new-era

Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. They were shouted in a Rabbis have said that Jehovah created seven seas, but the Sea of Galilee is His delight.

On one of my early trips to Israel, I stood one blustery evening on the pier of Kibbutz Nof Ginosar on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee and watched as whitecaps Others go there to see the reality of the Zionist dream birthed Masada Masada is spectacular. Being made mostly of wood it soon caught fire: Just as the fire broke out a gust of wind from the north alarmed the Romans: Then all of a sudden as if by divine providence the wind swung.

God was indeed on the side of the Romans, who returned to camp full of delight, intending to assail the enemy early next day, and all night long kept watch with unusual vigilance to ensure that none of them slipped out unobserved. But Eleazar had no intention of slipping out himself, or of allowing anyone else to do so.

He saw his wall going up in flames; he could think of no other means of escape or heroic endeavour; he had a dear picture of what the Romans would do to men, women, and children if they won the day; and death seemed to him the right choice for them all. Making up his mind that in the circumstances this was the wisest course, he collected the toughest of his comrades and urged it upon them in a speech of which this was the substance: At such a time we must not disgrace ourselves: For we were the first of all to revolt, and shall be the last to break off the struggle.

And I think it is God who has given us this privilege, that we can die nobly and as free men, unlike others who were unexpectedly defeated. In our case it is evident that daybreak will end our resistance, but we are free to choose an honourable death with our loved ones.

This our enemies cannot prevent, however earnestly they may pray to take us alive; nor can we defeat them in battle. For if he had remained gracious or only slightly indignant with us, He would not have shut His eyes to the destruction of so many thousands or allowed His most holy City to be burnt to the ground by our enemies. We hoped, or so it would seem, that of all the Jewish race we alone would come through safe, still in possession of our freedom, as if we had committed no sin against God and taken part in no crime—we who had taught the others!

Now see how He shows the folly of our hopes, plunging us into miseries more terrible than any we had dreamt of. Not even the impregnability of our fortress has sufficed to save us, but though we have food in abundance, ample supplies of arms, and more than enough of every other requisite, God Himself without a doubt has taken away all hope of survival. The fire that was being carried into the enemy lines did not turn back of its own accord towards the wall we had built: It will be easier to bear. Let our wives die unabused, our children without knowledge of slavery: But first let our possessions and the whole fortress go up in flames: One thing only let us spare—our store of food: Such was Eleazar's appeal.

It did not meet with the same response from all his hearers: So instead of abandoning his appeal he roused himself, and bursting with ardour began a more dazzling display of oratory on the immortality of the soul. Looking hard at his wet-eyed listeners and complaining bitterly he began: You are not a bit different from all and sundry in courage and boldness, you who fear death even when it means the end of utter misery, a course in which you ought not to hesitate or wait for someone to advise you. Ever since primitive man began to think, the words of our ancestors and of the gods, supported by the actions and spirit of our forefathers, have constantly impressed onus that life is the calamity for man, not death.

Death gives freedom to our souls and lets them depart to their own pure home where they will know nothing of any calamity; but while they are confined within a mortal body and share its miseries, in strict truth they are dead. For association of the divine with the mortal is most improper. Certainly the soul can do a great deal even when imprisoned in the body: But when, freed from the weight that drags it down to earth and is hung about it, the soul returns to its own place, then in truth it partakes of a blessed power and an utterly unfettered strength, remaining as invisible to human eyes as God Himself.

Not even while it is in the body can it be viewed; it enters undetected and departs unseen, having itself one imperishable nature, but causing a change in the body; for whatever the soul touches lives and blossoms, whatever it deserts withers and dies: In sleep souls left to themselves and free from bodily distractions enjoy the most blissful repose, and consorting with God whose kin they are they go wherever they will and foretell many of the things to come.

Why, pray, should we fear death if we love to repose in sleep? But if we do need the testimony of foreigners, let us look to those Indians who profess to practise philosophy. They are men of true courage who, regarding this life as a kind of service we must render to nature, undergo it with reluctance and hasten to release their souls from their bodies; and though no misfortune presses or drives them away, desire for immortal life impels them to inform their friends that they are going to depart.

No one tries to stop them, but everyone congratulates them and gives them messages for his dear ones: Then after receiving these commissions they consign their bodies to the flames, that the soul may be as pure as possible when it is separated from the body, and hymns are sung to them as they die. In fact they are sent off more happily by their dearest ones to death than other men are sent by their fellow-citizens on a long journey: Are we not ashamed to show a poorer spirit than Indians, and by our want of courage to bring the Law of our fathers, the envy of all the world, into utter contempt?

Long ago, it seems God issued this warning to the whole Jewish race together, that life would be taken from us if we misused it.

Do not fasten the blame on yourselves or give the Romans the credit for the fact that we are all ruined by the war against them: What Roman weapons slew the Jews who lived in Caesarea? Why, they had no thought of rebelling against Rome, but were in the middle of their seventh-day ceremonies when the Caesarean mob rushed at them, and though they offered no resistance butchered them with their wives and children, paying no heed to the Romans who were treating none as enemies except ourselves, who had in fact rebelled.

No doubt I shall be told that the Caesareans had a permanent quarrel with the Jews in their midst and simply seized their chance to vent their old hatred.

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