Matthew 2 (WEB)
Ride up to the top of Masada, with brief explanation.
What you're looking at is a cable car taking you up to the top of Masada.
Masada is in the desert next to the Dead Sea.
And this is the most efficient way to get up there, because if you go on the other side of the mountain, it takes you longer to get there.
And by car, you have a ramp that the Romans built with the help of slave labor.
That takes a little bit to climb.
It's not too bad.
But there's a snake path here, and in all the tours I've done I've only had two men who were quite good at running, who ran up the snake path to meet on top of Masada.
The problem is, by the time they got there we were almost finished with our looking around and about ready to head back.
The cable car is just a standard one, and you'll see one come this way in just a moment.
But if you'll look to the right, it looks like sort of a Z. That is the path, and it doesn't just go straight up.
It sort of zigs and zags across until you get to the top.
So this is one of the places that Herod the Great had set aside.
One was at Machaerus, which is across the Jordan of the Dead Sea there, which eventually Herod Antipas occupied.
Then you have in Jericho — not only do you have the ruins there of the City of Jericho, but you also have a palace that Herod has that's low on the ground, but he built one for his mother at the top,
if you go the Roman road route from Jericho back to the road that takes you to Jerusalem.
Another place obviously is the Herodium, which is one of the areas that are designated for debate at that point between the Jews and the Arabs.
But Herodium is a very important site.
Herod had a number of places that he had built for him, not so much for luxury, but a place he could go with his military in case there was a revolution of some sort, and an insurrection.
So here we are approaching the very top now.
You're going to see that this sort of fits right into that little place you're looking at, right above where that bird was.
It just takes you right off the top.
Then you get off, and then you can look around.
And of course, you come back the same way.
So I hope you've enjoyed this little tour getting up there.
All right.
Have a great day.
1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, 2“Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.” 3When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ would be born. 5They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is written through the prophet,
6‘You Bethlehem, land of Judah,
are in no way least among the princes of Judah;
for out of you shall come a governor
who shall shepherd my people, Israel.’”
7Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him.”
9They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them until it came and stood over where the young child was. 10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.
13Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”
14He arose and took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt, 15and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men. 17Then that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,
18“A voice was heard in Ramah,
lamentation, weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she wouldn’t be comforted,
because they are no more.”
19But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, 20“Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child’s life are dead.”
21He arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee, 23and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets that he will be called a Nazarene.