Stupid Rebels...War isn't for Families!

Good evening ladies and gents. The Dead Sea was dead and so were most of the rebels in Masada. Who were the rebels in Masada, you ask? Great question!

Albert Camus asked the question, “What is a rebel? A man who says no.” The Sicarii sect of Jews was a group of men (and women) that said no. They said no to Rome. They even said no to their country-men who did not hold to their ideology. Their no was violent and it resounded in Israel’s arena on Masada for one whole year. Masada was the site of a year-long siege that the Romans placed on this group of extremists holed up in Masada. Before it was a fortress for the Sicarii though, it was a fortress/palace that Herod the Great built just in case. Just in case of what, you ask? Well, Herod was one paranoid king who built multiple “escape” palaces ICOR (in case of rebellion). All he had to do was push the big red ICOR button and he would be whisked away to one of his many palaces. But, really, he was one paranoid human being. The palace was gorgeous and had water shipped in because there was absolutely no water anywhere near Masada on a consistent basis. He built aqueducts to bring water in from the various wadis in the area when it did rain (though that was rare). His storehouses filled with food to the brim and his swimming pool filled with Roman soldiers, Herod’s palace was an absolute waste of time and money. Herod himself was only there two or three times that we know of. The Sicarii took the fortress in 66 CE (Herod only had it between 37 and 31 BCE) from the Romans and after the destruction of the Second temple more and more members of the Sicarii fled to Masada along with their families. In 72 CE a year-long Roman siege began against Masada. During the siege the Sicarii and their families enjoyed the rich storehouses of Herod as well as all the water he had stored in cisterns around the palace. The Romans had to take a day-long trip just to bring water from the Ein Gedi for the next day. As the story goes the Sicarii would taunt the Romans by jumping up on the wall and pouring water on themselves because they had so much they could waste it. Let’s just say the Romans were anxious to get inside and bust some heads.

The day came when the wall was broken through and as Josephus the Jewish Historian writes the Romans pulled away before entering the city because it was nighttime. General Eleazer ben Ya’ir gathered the men in their synagogue (one of the oldest synagogues in Israel right now) and proposed this plan: “The Romans will come tomorrow and they will kill us all and take our women and children into slavery. They will show no mercy and our women will be raped and some of them brutally killed. Let us burn almost all the food (not all of it lest they think we starved and laugh at us) and have each man kill his wife and children. Then we will select ten men by lots to kill the other men and then of those men we will select one man by lots to kill the other nine and then fall on his own sword.” Perfect! Rebels holed up in Masada almost acting surprised that Rome broke through their defenses and now they would rather kill themselves than face Rome. Some call it courage. I call it cowardice. First of all, you are a rebel against a government that owns the world at the moment. Taking your family along to your fortress does not seem wise. You are going to die and they will suffer. Second, if you were really a rebel you would be one to the day you die. Killing your family and yourself rather than fighting Rome with one last stand is not one last act of rebellion but the coward’s way out. Granted, I understand seeking to save your families from the pain Rome would brutally inflict upon them, but again they should not have been up there in the first place. The Sicarii have to be some of the stupidest rebels I have ever heard about. But it makes for a good story.

After leaving Masada shaking my head at the Sicarii I was excited to go to the springs of Ein Gedi and the Dead Sea. The waterfalls of the Ein Gedi were beautiful and along with the clear water of the spring I could definitely picture David sitting by writing various psalms to God. He could very well have done that (we can’t prove it but it is possible) and it was pretty sweet to see something like what David would have seen when writing his poetry. The Dead Sea on the other hand was, well let’s just say it was interesting. I literally sat in the water and stayed afloat through no effort of my own. The water felt like kerosene or oil all over your body and the salt definitely reminded you of every little cut you had. We rubbed the Dead Sea mud all over our bodies because it is supposed to be extremely healthy for your skin. All I know is it made a good picture.

All in all it was a great day and we ended it by “letting” ourselves into the already closed site of Qumran, where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. Ending your day facing the National Park authorities is definitely placing an exclamation point where a period was going to go. My favorite scripture read today was Ezekiel 47:1-12. Ezekiel’s vision is of a man measuring out the temple and showing him the boundaries. In this particular instance there is a prophecy or an image (we are not sure) concerning water flowing from the temple all the way to the Dead Sea causing it become fresh. It began to thrive and even have water teeming with life. God is seen as rock, redeemer, and judge among other things but in this image He is the water that makes the Dead Sea alive. He is life-giver and sustainer. He is the one from whom all life flows. A beautiful picture of the Creator.