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| Masada |
Today the journey took us down toward the Dead Sea, down the western slopes of the Jordan Rift valley, to two very unique locations: the historical sites of Masada and Ein Gedi. The first location testifies to King Herod’s struggle for power, his accomplishment of a marvelous engineering task, and finally a story of tragedy and death. The other site, an oasis of plant and animal life in the midst of a desert, is associated with the Biblical events of king David’s life.
Our cable car ride to the top of the mountain of Masada took us about 900 feet up in elevation. After making our short way from the cable car station we came upon a vast, flat area which contained the remains of fortress. King Herod the Great throughout his reign (37 B.C. – 4 B.C) engaged in numerous building projects including this one, which was meant to be a military outpost and one of his hideaways. As we made our way through desolate area, we were overwhelmed by its engineering complexity, a vast system of aqueducts with water collecting cisterns, different bathhouses and pools, even a palace on the northern cliff of the mountain. This enormous construction must have taken much “sweat” towards its completion, 1,000’s of laborers and slaves!
Our next stop was Ein Gedi. In the First Book of Samuel chapter 24 we read a story of how David fled to the regions of Ein Gedi because Saul was after his life. On one occasion, after the pursuit of the Philistines, Saul came into the cave in En Gedi where David and his men were hiding. This gave David an opportune moment to kill Saul, yet being a man of humility and trusting in God, he restrained himself from this act saying: “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, as to lay a hand on him, for his the Lord’s anointed” (1 Sam 24, 7).
The story of the two kings associated with Masada and Ein Gedi can draw for us an interesting contrast, as one of our classmates commented. David proved himself to be a God fearing man, humbly respectful of God’s “logic” and appointments, a person who trusts in God’s providence. King Herod on the other hand was a man full of fear and insecurity, constantly in search of stability through worldly means. Seeing possible enemies everywhere, he destroyed many of those around him. Despite all of his efforts he ultimately was overtaken by severe sickness and died.
As David made his way to the hills of Ein Gedi he remained near the “living waters,” a life giving spring, trusting in God’s goodness and providence over all his needs, including triumph over his enemies. As we continue to make our ministry in the kingdom of God, we too must remain near the “living waters” of Christ, the One who ensures His goodness and providence over our daily lives. We must resist the tendency of constructing structures and fortresses that are meant to secure our future and our place in the world solely by our own efforts and labors. We must be always able to cooperate with God who is the one who builds and further expands His kingdom.
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| Ein Gedi |
Unless the LORD build the house,
they labor in vain who build.
Unless the LORD guard the city,
in vain does the guard keep watch.
It is vain for you to rise early
and put off your rest at night,
To eat bread earned by hard toil—
all this God gives to his beloved in sleep. (Ps 127, 1-2)