Short video on Masada

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority has prepared a short video on Masada. The narrator presents a brief history of the fortress of Masada while beautiful scenes of the site are shown.

Arutz Sheva (Israel National News) provides a link to the video with an article about Masada here. (A direct link to the video on You Tube is here.) Elad Benari, author of the article, describes Masada in these words:

The top level had four bedrooms and a semicircular balcony, from which there was a spectacular view of the Dead Sea, Ein Gedi, and the Moab Mountains. A sophisticated and hidden staircase led to a middle level in which a large hall was built, surrounded by a veranda whose poles were placed at the edge of the cliff. The staircase went down to the bottom level, in which a large hall surrounded by vestibules was established. The walls of the hall were decorated with spectacular frescoes. A private bathhouse was built adjacent to the hall for the occupants of the northern palace.

At the peak were 29 large warehouses, each one 27 meters long. Excavations of the site found hundreds of pottery vessels in which huge amounts of food were stored. Thus, using a rare combination of natural conditions and human endeavors, Masada became a cliff that was almost impossible to conquer.

The great halls of the palaces were unsuitable for housing families, and thus became headquarters and public buildings.

The building near the north wall, which served as a stable in the days of Herod, was later turned into a synagogue. This is one of the Jewish people’s most ancient synagogues, known to be in use during the period of the second Holy Temple in Jerusalem, an unusual occurrence as synagogues became the accepted place to pray only after the destruction of the second Temple.

Our photo shows some of the large warehouses at the fortress. The Dead Sea and the mountains of Edom are visible in the left background.

Warehouses at Masada with the Dead Sea visible in the distance. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

It is possible that David visited the site of Masada long before it was turned into a fortress by King Herod. Gordon Franz has examined evidence for this suggestion at his Life and Land blog here.

One of the verses examined is Psalm 18:2 in which the term for fortress is the Hebrew metsudah (our English masada)

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD rescued him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psa 18:1-2 ESV)

HT: Joseph I. Lauer

Monday meandering — August 8

St Cuthbert Gospel. Copyright British Library Image.

British Library launches a campaign to raise $14.3 million for a 1300 year old copy of the Gospel of John. St. Cuthbert’s Gospel is said to be Europe’s oldest book. The Latin book is also called the Stonyhurst Gospel.

Information about the small bound book may be read here. The British Library has a nice video about the book, including clear images, may be viewed here. (HT: Paleojudaica).

Latin works such as this one play an important role in the history of the English Bible.

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Wood used in the Roman siege of Masada came from other areas, according to a study by scientists at the University of Haifa.

First, the researchers examined the amount of wood that exists today in the Judean Desert and in the wadi deltas in the vicinity of Masada, and thereby were able to estimate the amount and types of wood that the desert could supply. Next, they calculated the amount of timber and firewood that would have been needed for the inhabitants of Masada, from 150 BCE, when it was a small fortress, through the Herodian period, when the fortress as we know it was constructed, and up to the siege, which ended in 73 CE. According to the researchers, in those times, timber was mostly used for construction, heating and cooking. Based on accepted evaluations of wood consumption for these purposes in traditional societies, on the conservatively estimated number of Masada inhabitants in each time period, the harsh climatic conditions in the desert and Masada’s topography, the researchers were able to conclude that by the time the Romans arrived at Masada and began their siege (73 CE), the entire area was void of timber and firewood, due to 2,220 years of massive exploitation of the immediate environment up to that point. The Romans would have had no choice but to import wood from other areas for their weapon machinery, ramparts and basic living requirements.

The brief report may be read here. (HT: Joseph Lauer)

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C. S. Lewis and the Devil. John A. Murray has a fascinating article on “C. S. Lewis and the Devil” in The Wall Street Journal. Read the complete article here. Here is a small excerpt.

As Lewis explained, “There is no uncreated being except God. God has no opposite. . . . The proper question is whether I believe in devils. I do. That is to say, I believe in angels, and I believe that some of these, by the abuse of their free will, have become enemies to God. . . . Satan, the leader or dictator of devils, is the opposite, not of God, but of Michael.”

In his original preface written from Magdalen College at Oxford on July 5, 1941, Lewis warned of what he called “the two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils.” One error “is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” Lewis concluded that the devils “are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”

Dr. David McClister, Bible professor at Florida College, visited Oxford during his summer break. He shares one of his photos of Lewis’s study at the Kilns.

C. S. Lewis Study at the Kilns. Photo by David McClister.

No wonder Lewis accomplished so much. No phone. No computer. If you are a fan of any of Lewis’s work, you might enjoy our earlier photos and info here.

HT: Bible X.