Masada and En Gedi: Round Two

Today we went back to Masada and En Gedi. A lot of the places we visited in the first class have overlapped with the second class, which has been both good and bad. It's a little disappointing to revisit places that we saw so recently, especially when they are a lot of work to visit and I put a lot of effort into taking them in the first time around. On the other hand, I have been able to absorb a lot more information during the second class, especially when I'm not on sensory overload being in a new place! So going to the same place twice may be a result of God knowing it would take more than once for me to really get it!

Since this class is on Jesus and His Times, we are starting out by creating the context in which Jesus was born and lived his life. Therefore, we are starting with Herod the Great, the ruler at the time of Jesus' birth. As I mentioned before, Masada was one of Herod's palaces. I found out this time, that Herod built it to celebrate not being defeated by Cleopatra. It was built for both luxury (as seen in the bath he built overlooking the desert and the dead sea) and for protection (for himself and his family). Visiting Masada helped to reveal these aspects of Herod's personality, and to get us involved with Josephus' history that explained the first Jewish Revolt (where the Zealots encamped at Masada and fought against the Romans). Josephus' writing also gives good explanations of the religious groups at the time of Jesus' life: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots.

In revisiting En Gedi we went to the remains of a synagogue where we looked at a mosaic. I was glad I took the class before because this time we didn't have a chance to swim in the dead sea or the fresh water springs. I think some people may try to go back...because you can't come to Israel and not go in the dead sea!