Bet She’an and Masada

Sunday and Monday were quite wintry and rainy here in Israel! The cooler weather has finally arrived and we had also some very good and welcome rain! I did feel it also on my skin as, on both days, while visiting these two very interesting places I got caught in the rain. However, yesterday, I experienced the most amazing thing on Masada: a cloudburst which lasted some 10 minutes. Thanks be to God, we did manage to find a partial shelter! Apart from that, while Masada is renowned for being hot and very hot, yesterday’s temperature was very comfortable (almost cool)!

Bet She’an

This city was founded sometime in the 5^th millennium BC. It is strategically situated at the intersection of the Jezreel Valley (the area of Nazareth, Mt Tabor etc) and the Jordan Valley. According to my guide (Lonely Planet), Bet She’an’s extraordinary Roman ruins are the best place in Israel to get a sense of what it might have been like to live, work and shop in the Roman Empire. Still very visible are the 7000-seat theatre, the colonnaded streets, thermal houses, and mosaics. 

A magnificent mosaic along the Cardo,
or as it is known at Bet She'an, Palladius Street

The Tell al-Hosn, which dominates over the Roman ruins, is witness to some 20 layers of settlement. On the Tell (where we got caught in the rain) there is an Egyptian Palace, coming from the 12-century BC, and some remains dated back to the 5^th millennium BC. The Talmud tells us: “If Paradise is located in the Land of Israel, then Bet-She’an is the gateway to it.”

Bet She'an: the Roman Remains and Tell al-Hosn

I went here together with two others Franciscan Friars (one from Hong Kong, and another one from Japan) and an MC Father (from Mexico). It’s interesting that when a police officer came on the bus to check our passports (from time to time you get these spot-checks), she told us: what brings you together? The priest whom she questioned answered her: we are religious and she was satisfied with that! An answer which came to my mind (although I am not sure whether she would have been happy with it!) was that it is Jesus Christ which brings us together! We were almost a UN-delegation (China, Japan, Mexico, and Malta)!

Bet She’an overlooks Mt Gilboa to the Western side. Here the Israelites fought with the Philistines at the time of Saul, which we read about in 1 Sam 28-31. Here Saul and his sons, including Jonathan, were killed by the Philistines on Mt Gilboa. I Samuel tells us that “when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. They cut off his head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to the houses of their idols and to the people. They put his armor in the temple of Astarte; and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan” (1 Sam 31,8-10). The remains of the Canaanite Temple of Astarte are found on the Tell al-Hosn.

Mt Gilboa from the Tel al-Hosn at Bet She'an

The Jordan Valley ... a continuously changing marvel

The Jordan Valley ... again!

Masada

On Monday then I travelled to Masada, the last bastion of Jewish rebels during the rebellion against the Romans in the years 66-74 AD. Its fall signaled the violent destruction of the kingdom of Judea and the end of the Second Temple period. I went to Masada together with two Franciscan Friars, the priest from Hong Kong (we have become two real buddies) and a priest from Italy (who is here as a visiting lecturer). Masada overlooks the Dead Sea. Fr Joseph (Hong Kong) and myself took the Snake Path up the mountain. It was quite a feat: it is 350 meters high, some 2 kilometers long and some 700 steps! It took us some 45 minutes to reach the top … breathless!

Masada

The story of Masada began during the Hasmonean Period where a fortress was probably built here. King Herod the Great chose this site as a refuge against his enemies and as a winter palace. A number of luxurious palaces were built here together with well-stocked storerooms, cisterns, and a public pool. After Herod’s death in 4 BC, the Romans stationed a garrison at Masada.

Josephus Flavius was a Jewish commander in Galilee and later surrendered to the Romans as Yodfat and became a chronicler of the great revolt of the Jews. According to him, at the beginning of this revolt which broke out in 66 AD, the Jews (a group called Sicarii or Zealots led by Eleazar Ben Yair) conquered the mountain where the last of the rebels sought refuge. These Jews lived in rooms in the casemate wall as well as in Herod’s palaces. They constructed a synagogue and some mikvehs (Jewish ritual baths). In 73/74 AD the Tenth Legion of the Roman Army, led by Flavius Silva, laid siege to the mountain. They built eight camps around the base and a siege wall. To win over the mountain they began to build a ramp on the western side of the mountain. They built also a tower which would be taken up the ramp and eventually batter the wall of the fortress on Masada.

The Dead Sea from Masada

According to Josephus, Eleazar Ben Yair, who was the leader of the 1000-strong community of rebels on Masada, convinced the leaders that it would be better to take their own lives and the lives of their families than to live in shame and humiliation as Roman slaves. So they cast out lots to choose ten men who would kill everyone, and then one to kill the other nine. The last one would kill himself. In one of the rooms, archaeologists brought to light ostraca (sherds made of potter) where ten names were written, among which was also the name Ben Yair. As a matter of fact, when the Romans succeeded in overtaking Masada they found everyone dead, except two women and five children, who succeeded to hide in the cisterns from those seeking their lives. Today, Masada has become an icon of resistance for the Jews. Some army units hold their swearing-in ceremonies here, vowing that “Masada shall not fall again”.

On Masada, during the Byzantine period there was also a community of monks who built a basilica here.

Meetings

These past days I also met a number of friends. On Saturday, I met Bishop Angelus Kujur SJ who was here for a week with some other bishops from India. The pilgrimage was organized by the Neo-Cathecumenal Way who are opening a new Major Seminary in the Archdiocese of Ranchi. 

With Bishop Angelus Kujur SJ at the Holy Sepulcher Church

On Sunday, and then again on Tuesday, I met the Maltese Pilgrimage led by Fr Twanny Chircop OFM. There were a number of familiar faces, whom I was very happy to meet. Fr Rene’ Vella and Fr Glen Buhagiar were members of the pilgrimage. I spent some precious time with them. I am very grateful for that.