Page 62 - Advanced Bible Geography ebook

Though the war with the Jews was obviously won, one group of Jewish rebels held out for another three
years at Herod’s palace-fortress of Masada. The story of what happened there is a great example of
both the determination of the Zealots to never give in to Roman rule, and of Roman determination to
never allow rebellion among its subjects.

Because of the supplies already stored at the fortress, the Zealots were able to hold the fortress in
relative ease despite being in one of the most desolate locations in the world. They could have lived on
Masada for many more years. They had all the water and food they needed.

On the other hand, the Roman troops were camped in the unrelenting heat alongside the Dead Sea.
Archaeological work shows that six Roman camps and a rock wall surrounded the fortress. For months,
the Romans faced severe water shortages.

Under the guidance of Roman general Flavius Silva, the Romans built a ramp on the western side of
Masada, using 30,000 Jewish slaves as laborers. Once the ramp was completed, Roman forces breached
a final barrier with fire and prepared to enter Masada the following morning.

However, as the Jews saw that their cause was hopeless, this last Zealot community made a difficult
choice. Each man killed his own family. A small group of men was chosen by lot to kill the other men.
Finally, one man killed the surviving men and then took his own life. According to the written record of
their community, the group had elected to die at their own hands as free men rather than be subjected
to the brutal treatment sure to come from the Romans. More than 900 men, women and children were
found dead when the Roman soldiers arrived. Only two women and five children were found alive, in
hiding.

The small band of rebels atop Masada were the last Jews to live in freedom in Israel until 1948, when
the modern-day state of Israel was founded. Little wonder why Masada holds such a special place
among Jews today, or why it is the most visited site in Israel.

The 19 centuries between Masada’s fall and the new creation of the modern-day state of Israel
consisted of three more centuries of Roman rule, another three centuries of a weaker coalition of
“Christian” rule known as the Byzantine Era, the early Muslim reign in the area from the 7th through the
10th centuries, two centuries of rule under the European Christian Crusaders, and then more than six
centuries of strong rule from Islamic forces based in Turkey.

Turkish rule in Palestine came to an end during World War I. British forces ruled the land from 1917 until
1948, when a United Nations declaration created a “partitioned” area for Jewish people in their biblical
homeland.

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