The oldest arched city gate in the world is in the Ashkelon National Park, located in the heart of the Old City (of Ashkelon). 

Surrounded by beauty and lush lawns, this site is by the seaside and bordered by an ancient dike that was built by the Canaanites to guard against raiders. It is believed that the arched gate dates back to 1,850 BCE.

There are other ruins found in the park that include a Roman basilica and city hall dating back to the time of Herod.

 

 

Ashkelon was an important and large seaport of ancient Canaan, one of the cities of Philistia. The name, possibly related to be from the ancient Hebrew root šql, “to weigh,” and could be refer to the city’s economic role.

Ashkelon is located on the southern coast of Israel, in a strategic position along the coastal highway, the Via Maris. Today, the ancient ruins are part of Ashkelon National Park, distance of 16 km north of Gaza, 64 km south to Tel Aviv.

Inhabited since at least 3000 BC, Ashkelon was under Canaanites until 1270 BC, after it was under Philistines rule, Phoenicians, Jews, Greeks, Romans, Byzantine Christians, Muslims, and Crusaders.

In the Bible Ashkelon is listed as one of the five major Philistine cities, the Philistine Pentapolis (Josh. 13:3; 1 Sam. 6:17). According to Judg. 1:18 Judah took but could not hold Ashkelon. At Ashkelon Samson killed and stripped the corpses of 30 men in order to make good on a wager (Judg. 14:12, 19). In his elegy for Absalom and Saul David refers to Ashkelon (2 Sam. 1:20). The majority of biblical references to Ashkelon are in prophetic oracles against Philistia (e.g., Jer. 25:20).

Ashkelon ask′ke-lon (AV Eshkalon, esh′ka-lon (Eshkalonites; Josh 13:3); Askelon, as′kĕ-lon (Jgs 1:18; 1 Sa 6:17; 2 Sa 1:20); אַשְׁקְלוֹן; modern Askelan): A maritime town between Jaffa and Gaza, one of the five chief cities of the Philistines. The Ashkelonites are mentioned by Joshua (Josh 13:3), and the city was taken by the tribe of Judah (Jgs 1:18). One of the golden tumors (AV “emerods”) sent back with the ark by the Philistines was from Ashkelon (1 Sa 6:17). David couples Ashkelon with Gath in his lament over Saul and Jonathan (2 Sa 1:20) indicating its importance, and it is joined with Gaza, Ashdod and Ekron in the denunciations of Amos (1:7,8). It is referred to in a similar way by Jeremiah (Jer 25:20; 47:5,7). Zephaniah (2:4,7) speaks of the desolation of Ashkelon and Zechariah announces the fear of Ashkelon on the destruction of Tyre (9:5). The city is mentioned in the Tell el-Amarna Letters, and a certain Yitia is referred to as king. It revolted against Rameses II and was subdued, and we have mention of it as being under the rule of Assyria. Tiglath-pileser III names it among his tributaries, and its king, Mitinti, is said to have lost his reason when he heard of the fall of Damascus in 732 BC. It revolted in the reign of Sennacherib and was punished, and remained tributary to Assyria until the decay of that power. In Maccabean times we learn of its capture by Jonathan (1 Macc 10:86; 11:60, RV “Ascalon”). Herod the Great was born there (BJ, III, ii, 1 ff). In the 4th century AD it was the seat of a bishopric. It became subject to the Moslems in the 7th century and was taken by the Crusaders. It was taken in 1187 by Saladin, who dismantled it in 1191 to make it useless to Richard of England, into whose hands it was expected to fall. Richard restored it the next year but it was again destroyed by Saladin. It was an important fortress because of its vicinity to the trade route between Syria and Egypt.

“Ashkelon,” ISBE, paragraph 5093.

Ashkelon and the Ark

“And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: And they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods. And the kine took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh. And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD. And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD. And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day. And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one; And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the LORD: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite.”

1 Samuel 6:10–18 KJV

A beautiful oasis in the Negev desert, surrounded by white and sandy cliffs. This rare and natural reserve has various plants and wildlife throughout the park.

In between the impressive cliffs, a fresh water stream runs through it and patches of shade cover the various trails. Making it an attractive hike for visitors walking among  the gorgeous canyon that rises above.   

The Ein Avdat National Park and Natural Reserve is located off the Be'er Sheva-Mitspe Ramon, road number 40. The lower entrance to En Avdat is near Ben-Gurion’s tomb and Midreshet Sde Boker. The upper entrance is about 5 km to the south.

Ein Avdat have two entrances to the parking area, one is southern and second is northern.

The blessing and curse here have played out repeatedly in history. The nations or groups (plural: “those”) who have blessed Abram or his descendants have been blessed by God. The individuals (singular: “him”) who have cursed Abram or Israel have been “cursed,” coming eventually to a bad end. This, however, is not a blank check for the actions of unbelieving Israel, as if the nation could do no wrong or deserves no criticism or has no accountability for its actions. It is a general ongoing promise. Acts 3:25 and Gl 3:8 indicate that all the families of the earth are blessed in the availability of salvation through Jesus Christ, and Gl 6:16 refers to the church as “the Israel of God” through which, by implication, that blessing is extended.

Ted Cabal, ed., The Apologetics Study Bible, Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2007, paragraph 712.

One of the most spectacular natural wonders of the world, the Dea Sea is shared by Israel, Jordan and the West Bank. This famous landmark is a healing bath to millions of people from all over the world, who come to heal, soothe and pamper themselves in the mineral-rich waters. Breathtaking in its beauty, surrounded by the Judean Desert, deep cliffs with red and sandy colored walls, and cobalt blue-white waters.  In the bible, the Dead Sea is known as the "Salt Sea" or the "Sea of Arabah" due to its high mineral content where nothing can live it in. Other names also appear, such as the Valley of Siddim or Shedim. During biblical times this sea was mostly known to be a barrier of traffic to Judah from the east.

 

The “Valley of Siddim” was apparently the name of the land now covered by the Dead Sea, one of the world’s richest areas in mineral content (perhaps reflected by the presence of “many asphalt pits,” v. 10). How the valley filled in to become a great body of water is not known, though it appears the flow of the Jordan River out of the south end of the valley into the Arabah was blocked, damming the river. That could have been caused by upheaval related to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Ted Cabal, ed., The Apologetics Study Bible, Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2007, paragraph 728.

Located west of the Dead Sea, Arad is one of the most important archaelogical sites in Israel from the time of the Judean Kings. It is where the ruins from the fortified Canaanite city and fortresses dated back to the time of the Israelite Kingdom period.

The king of Arad “fought against Israel and took of them prisoners” when they were retreating from the confines of Edom, as described in the book of Numbers 21:1, chapter 33:40 and in Judges 1:16. 
Afterwards, Joshua conquered the city; Book of Joshua 12:14.

And they departed from Cades, and encamped in mount Or near the land of Edom. And Aaron the priest went up by the command of the Lord, and died there in the fortieth year of the departure of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month. And Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old, when he died in mount Or. And Arad the Chananitish king (he too dwelt in the land of Chanaan) having heard when the children of Israel were entering the land

Numbers 33:37–40

A city in the Negeb desert region. In the account of the entry of the Israelites into the region, the “King of Arad” is mentioned as fighting against Israel (Num. 21:1-3). After an initial defeat the Israelites were victorious and “destroyed them and their cities”; the place was named Hormah, or “destruction” (cf. Num. 33:40). In Josh. 12:14 Arad appears in a list of kings defeated by Joshua. Judg. 1:16 reports that Kenites joined Judahites in settling near Arad.

The list of cities conquered by Shishak of Egypt (960 B.C.E.) includes “the citadels of Arad the Great and Arad of the house of YRHM” — either the house of Yeroham or Jerahmiel. Archaeological evidence does not clarify the identifications of these Arads.

Tel ʿArad (162075), 30 km. (19 mi.) E of Beersheba and 32 km. (20 mi.) S of Hebron, has retained the ancient name. It is a large site with a smaller but pronounced citadel mound. The lower city was excavated between 1964 and 1982 by Ruth Amiran. Unfortified settlements are attested from the Chalcolithic period to 2950 (EB I). The city walls fortifying the site date to EB II, and enclose an area of 10 ha. (25 a.). Public and private buildings including a palace and temples have been identified, as has a well-built water reservoir. The city suffered a major destruction ca. 2800, but occupation continued until ca. 2650. The demise of Canaanite Arad is probably to be attributed to declining rainfall in the area, and perhaps as well to political unrest throughout the Near East.

Excavation of the citadel by Yohanan Aharoni shows a gap of ca. 1500 years from the abandonment of the EB city to the building of a settlement in the citadel area ca. 1200. Six successive Iron III strata followed in the shape of a rectangular fortress. A temple or cult center with a holy of holies has been identified here. Aharoni suggests that stratum XI was destroyed by Shishak. Also on the citadel was an unfortified Persian settlement, followed by Hellenistic and Roman forts. The site is notable for having produced more ostraca — mostly Hebrew but some Aramaic — than any other archaeological site in the ancient biblical world.

“ARAD,” Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible,

Important finds

An ostracon from Arad, dated to the late seventh century B.C., has an eleven-line list of names such as “Shemaiahu son of Micaiahu ... Tanhum son of Jedaiahu, Gealiahu son of Jedaiahu”

Israelite altars at Arad

Archaeologists have found Israelite altars at Arad, Dan, and Beersheba (cf. Y. Aharoni, “The Israelite Sanctuary at Arad

EBC Notes, 1st, Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990), paragraph 4320.

The Herodium is partly man-made and the biggest mausoleum in the Holy Land atop of the Judean Desert. In 200, Professor Ehud Metzer found the tomb of Herod and his wife Myriam during excavations of Herodium.

The palace has a breathtaking view and great vantage point expanding across the Judean Desert. The complex was meticulously planned including a great palace, fortifications with impressive pools and gardens, a bath house and guest accommodations. 

It was Flavius Joseph who described the burial place of Herod to be at Herodium two thousand years ago.

One of his fortresses, the Herodium, was within sight of Bethlehem, and he may have dispatched guards from there. Jewish people saw infanticide (killing babies) as a hideous, pagan act; normally applied by the Romans to deformed babies, it had also been used to control oppressed populations (Ex 1:16; 1 Macc 1:60-61; 2 Macc 8:4). Like Moses, Jesus escaped the fate of other male babies (Ex 1:22-2:10), and some Jews were expecting the coming of a prophet “like Moses” (Deut 18:15, 18).

Jeremiah 31:15 refers to the figurative weeping of Rachel, who was buried in Bethlehem (Gen 35:19). Jeremiah said she mourned for her descendants carried off into captivity during the Babylonian exile. Like righteous Jeremiah, Jesus was carried off to Egypt, but Rachel had cause to mourn anew at Herod’s murder of her people.

Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993, 51.

A main attraction in the park is the Colt house, used by the archeologists led by H. Colt (son of the famous American gun manufacturer), who dug at Shivta from 1933 to 1934. Over the entrance is an inscription in ancient Greek that translates: “With good luck. Colt built (this house) with his own money.”

Houses at Avdat and Shivta used arches that came out from the walls to form the roof. After placing thin slabs of limestone over the arches, the builders plastered the entire roof. In the lower city of Jerusalem, houses constructed with small stones were crowded closely together. Yet they still maintained small courtyards.

“ARCHITECTURE,” Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, paragraph 1506.

The blessing and curse here have played out repeatedly in history. The nations or groups (plural: “those”) who have blessed Abram or his descendants have been blessed by God. The individuals (singular: “him”) who have cursed Abram or Israel have been “cursed,” coming eventually to a bad end. This, however, is not a blank check for the actions of unbelieving Israel, as if the nation could do no wrong or deserves no criticism or has no accountability for its actions. It is a general ongoing promise. Acts 3:25 and Gl 3:8 indicate that all the families of the earth are blessed in the availability of salvation through Jesus Christ, and Gl 6:16 refers to the church as “the Israel of God” through which, by implication, that blessing is extended.

Ted Cabal, ed., The Apologetics Study Bible, Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2007, paragraph 712.

Ashdod is Israel's fifth largest city and continues to be an important port city with many archaeological finds. 

During biblical times, Ashdod was populated by the Philistines who settled in an area southeast to the port and the Israelites couldn't conquer Ashdod from them.

Ashdod was known for having two cities during the Philitines time, Ashdod Yam, the seaside town, and Tel Ashdod, an inland town. These two cities coexisted and Ashdod Yam was a very important port of trade.

 

One of five principal cities of the Philistines, where the Philistines defeated Israel and captured the ark of the covenant.
Ashdod was 10 miles north of Ashkelon and two and a half miles east of the Mediterranean Sea on the Philistine plain. It was the northernmost city of the Philistine Pentapolis recorded in Josh. 13:3. Ashdod occurs in written history first in the Late Bronze period where it is mentioned in the trade documents of the Ras Shamra tablets discovered at Ugarit (ancient trade center near the Mediterranean coast in northern Syria). Ashdod is described as a manufacturer and exporter of textiles, specifically purple wool. The city name also occurs in the Egyptian list of names , Onomasticon of Amanope (263).

“ASHDOD,” Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, paragraph 1627.

Tel Ashdod, 6 km SE of the modern village, was a major Philistinian city, first mentioned in Late Bronze Age texts (Jos. 11:22) dealing with Ugarit. It may have withstood attempts by Judah to conquer it and settle there (Jos. 13:3; 15:46–47). It had a principal port (Ashdod-Yam; in Akkadian sources Asdudimmu cf. ANET, p. 286) and a temple of Dagon to which the ark was taken (1 Sa. 5:1ff.). It was attacked by Uzziah of Judah (2 Ch. 26:6). When it rebelled against Assyria, who replaced King Azuri by his brother, Asdudu was sacked, according to Assyr. inscriptions, by Sargon II in 711 BC. These calamities were noted by Amos (1:8) and Isaiah (20:1). Later besieged by Psamtik I of Egypt for 29 years (Herodotus 2. 157), it became a Bab. province and was weak (Je. 25:20) and derelict (Zp. 2:4; Zc. 9:6). It was partially repopulated after the Exile (Ne. 13:23–24). As Azotus, its idolatry provoked attacks by the Maccabeans (John the Hasmonean and John Hyrcanus, 1 Macc. 5:68; 10:84). Separated from Judaea by Pompey (Jos., BJ 1.156), reconstructed by Gabinius, and given to Salome, Herod’s sister, by Augustus, it flourished (Acts 8:40) until it surrendered to Titus.

“Ashdod,” NBD, 91.

The Philistines were ruled by five rulers, not just one. Each ruler ruled from a different city—Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath, or Gaza. Each of these cities was an important center for trade and commerce. Given Delilah’s character, it is little wonder that she betrayed Samson when these rich and powerful men paid her a personal visit.

Ein Gedi is  one of the largest oasis in Israel, located thirty-five miles southeast of Jerusalem on the western shore of the Dead Sea.

Bringing together a beautiful natural setting, history, and archaeology, Ein Gedi remains a well-visited site to both local and foreign tourists. 

There are several times that Ein Gedi was mentioned in the bible. As it is one of the towns of the tribe Judah and it was a place of refuge for David when he fled from King Saul persecutions as referred to various times by Solomon in the book Song of Songs. These reasons and others make this nature reserve a main attraction for many visitors. 

This is an oasis located thirty-five miles southeast of Jerusalem and nestled within a ravine on the western shore of the Dead Sea. The name means “spring of the young goat,” and the excavation of the fourth-millennium temple within its precincts attests the antiquity of its refreshing character. In this metaphor the peculiar location of the oasis between the ridges of the surrounding hills makes it an apt parallel to the sachet of myrrh and the bouquet of henna blossoms between the “beloved’s” breasts.

John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, Accordance electronic ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 577.

Saul replied by a frank confession that he had wronged David, and that David had never wronged him. Looking into the future, he acknowledged that David would be king.
Here again, the text is intended to defend David from later accusations of ruthless hostility to Saul and his descendants (21). The chapter makes it abundantly clear that David not only spared Saul’s life but also took a solemn oath to spare the lives of Saul’s family after him. The emphasis in David’s words on the sacredness of the king’s person and life may have been a sermon to later men and groups who wished to overthrow kings by assassination or rebellion.
25:1-11 Nabal’s hostility. Samuel’s death (1) marked the end of an era. He died before David, whom he had anointed (ch. 16), actually became king; but at least Saul had now recognized that David would be the next king (24:20). Samuel’s work was done.

D.F. Payne, 1 and 2 Samuel, New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition; ed. D. A Carson et al.; Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1994, 316.

Despite Saul’s words of repentance in 24:16-21, there was no possibility of real reconciliation between Saul and David, and David remained with his large band of men in the semi–barren areas of Judah. It would not be long before Saul made fresh attempts to capture him. Meanwhile David had the daily task of finding provisions for his followers, and this passage shows how difficult that could be. He tried to win support and provisions from rich farmers like Nabal by giving them assistance and protection from raiders (like the Amalekites), and then seeking generosity from them. No doubt there were other farmers who gladly helped David, and probably some who helped rather reluctantly; Nabal was mean by nature in his dealings (3) and rudely refused. Technically, he had the right to act as he did, and his remark that David was a ‘servant’ who had broken away from his ‘master’ was not too far from the truth. The reader, however, knows that David was no rebel against Saul, and that God had chosen David to be king; so Nabal is seen to be completely out of touch with God’s plans.

D.F. Payne, 1 and 2 Samuel, New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition; ed. D. A Carson et al.; Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1994, 316.

Qumran is on most important places according to biblical archaeology. It is the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found by a bedouin shepherd in 1947.

The Dead Sea Scrolls include the most ancient manuscripts of the Bible, administrative inscriptions and other hundreds of ancient Jewish literature. The scrolls were discovered in 1947 after hidden from the eyes of the world for over two thousand years.

Qumran is located south of Jericho overlooking the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, the ruins of the site were inhabited by the community that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls, some scholars related it to Essenes or to Priest society.

Current understanding of the Qumran community is therefore based on evidence from a number of sources: the excavations of Khirbet Qumran (and a subsidiary building 3 km (c. 2 miles) to the S at Ain Feshkha), the contents of the scrolls from the nearby caves, and information on the sect of the Essenes supplied by Pliny, Philo and Josephus.

John J. Bimson and J. P. Kane, New Bible Atlas, Wheaton: InterVarsity Press, 1985, 59.

1. Understanding the Qumran Community and Scrolls.

Since their discovery the Qumran Scrolls have evoked varied and sometimes bizarre theories as to the origin of the community that penned them and its relationship to individuals and groups known from the NT.
1.1. Identity of the Sect. By the late 1950s a consensus among scholars identified the Qumran sect with the Essenes mentioned by Josephus, Pliny and Philo of Alexandria. Further, it was claimed that the Essenes took rise from the Hasidean reaction to Hellenization of Judaism under the Seleucid kings such as Antiochus IV and the Jewish Hasmonean priest-kings who replaced them. The “Wicked Priest” who persecuted the sect’s founder, the Teacher of Righteousness, was identified as the Maccabean priest-king Jonathan (152–142 BC.) or Simon (142–134 BC.). The “seekers after smooth things” (CD 1:18) were identified with the Pharisees, who split from the Essenes and subsequently allied themselves with the Hasmonean and Herodian regimes.
Since 1970 several well argued reconstructions, not to mention several speculative proposals, have complicated this scholarly consensus. Archeological data do provide a terminus a quo of the mid-second century BC. and a terminus ad quem of the Jewish Revolt in a.d. 66–73 (see Revolutionary Movements). However, analysis of Qumran texts like the Damascus Covenant and the Temple Scroll suggest a longer prehistory to the movement than that focused on the Maccabean era. The collection at Qumran of nonsectarian apocalypses like 1 Enoch, the Aramaic Testament of Levi and Jubilees suggests that the Essene movement predates and subsumes the group at Qumran, as Josephus claimed. A newly published “halakic letter” (4QMMT) strengthens the view that the primary cause of the withdrawal to Qumran was a dispute over legal and calendrical rulings. The new text has also led one leading scholar (L. H. Schiffman) to conclude that the sect was not Essene in origin but Sadducean.
Despite the complexity of Qumran origins, the large overlap between Josephus’s description and the Qumran texts themselves still favors the Essene hypothesis, but publication of new texts may force a change in the scholarly consensus.

“QUMRAN AND PAUL,” Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, 776.

1.2. Contents of the Library. The 800-plus scrolls from the Dead Sea caves comprise OT texts (including Tobit, Sirach and Baruch from the Apocrypha), pseudepigraphal works and sectarian compositions. All the books of the OT canon are represented except Esther, reflecting an intermediate stage of canon formation. It is unclear, however, what status the Essenes granted to patriarchal revelations such as 1 Enoch or “deuteronomic” restatements of the Law like the Temple Scroll.
The earliest scrolls published from cave 1 were, on the whole, the most complete because they were preserved in jars. They represent different genres: (1) sectarian rules, such as the Manual of Discipline (1QS); (2) exegesis, such as the pesher commentaries on the Prophets; (3) prayers and liturgies, such as the Hymns (1QH); and (4) messianic visions and plans, such as the War of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness (1QM), the Messianic Rule (1QSa) and the New Jerusalem texts (e.g., 1Q32, 2Q24, 5Q15).
Much of the community library was deposited in the more vulnerable cave 4; the massive collection of fragments from this cave has been published over the past twenty-five years. Numerous manuscripts of The Book of Enoch written in Aramaic were published in 1976. The most startling discovery from the Aramaic versions of 1 Enoch is that an original “Book of Giants,” detailing the escapades of the bastard sons of the “Watchers” (Gen 6:1–4), was replaced by the “Similitudes of Enoch” (1 Enoch 37–71) in the first century a.d. Since the latter book makes the most overt connection between a heavenly “son of man” and messiah, its relevance for NT Christology is a matter of renewed debate. Several large scrolls have been published since the late 1970s. The Temple Scroll, confiscated by the Israelis in 1967 and published in 1978, appears to be an “inspired” revision of biblical Law, adapting earlier Essene legal rulings to the expected messianic age. In 1985 the full collection of the angelic liturgy texts, entitled Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, saw the light of publication.The scholarly logjam to publishing the remaining Qumran scrolls seems to have broken up, and we should expect to have the entire Qumran corpus available by the end of the century. These new texts will sharpen our knowledge of the sect and Second Temple Judaism and thus further supplement our knowledge of NT background.

“QUMRAN AND PAUL,” Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, 776-777.

Masada is considerate by many people as the most spectacular site in Israel, it is built on a plateau shaped like a battleship and located on the western shore of the Dead Sea. The firsts buildings in the site was built by Hasmonean King but developed by Herod the Great between 37 and 31 B.C..

After Herod fall, Masada became the last stronghold of the Jews against the Romans in A.D. 73. After Masada has no Jewish resistance in the Judea until the second century.

The first archeological excavations was running under the direction of Ygal Yadin from 1963 to 1965, Yadin revel to the World the finds of tragic between the Zealots and the Roman Legion.

One of the marvels of Herod’s construction was the creation of huge cisterns to hold 1,400,000 cubic feet of water.

Facilities using this water included a Roman bath house and a swimming pool. At the northern end of Masada Herod built a three-tiered palace with plastered walls painted to imitate marble.

The mosaic designs were all aniconic in deference to Herod’s Jewish subjects. A columbarium is believed to have held ashes of Herod’s Gentile soldiers.

“but as he was marching to those that were in Masada (for he was obliged to endeavor to save those that were in that fortress, now they were besieged, because they were his relations), Joppa was a hindrance to him, for it was necessary for him to take that place first, it being a city at variance with him, that no stronghold might be left in his enemies’ hands behind him when he should go to Jerusalem. (14.15.1) And when Silo made this a pretense for rising up from Jerusalem, and was thereupon pursued by the Jews, Herod fell upon them with a small body of men, and both put the Jews to flight and saved Silo, when he was very poorly able to defend himself; but when Herod had taken Joppa, he made haste to set free those of his family that were in Masada.”

Antiquities 14:396–397 JOSEPH

so Herod received those of his family out of Masada, and the fortress Ressa, and then went on for Jerusalem. The soldiery also that was with Silo accompanied him all along, as did many of the citizens, being afraid of his power;

But Herod was not pleased with lying still, but sent out his brother Joseph against Idumea with two thousand armed footmen, and four hundred horsemen, while he himself came to Samaria, and left his mother and his other relations there, for they were already gone out of Masada, and went into Galilee, and took certain places which were held by the garrisons of Antigonus;

Antiquities 14:400, 413 JOSEPH

“owever, nothing could be insufficient for him against the force of Herod, who, as soon as he was recovered, took the other fortresses again, and drove him out of Masada in the posture of a supplicant; he also drove away Marion, the tyrant of the Tyrians, out of Galilee, when he had already possessed himself of three fortified places; but as to those Tyrians whom he had caught, he preserved them all alive; nay, some of them he gave presents to, and so sent them away, and thereby procured good will to himself from the city, and hatred to the tyrant. (1.13.7) But as soon as the Parthians perceived it, they pursued after them; and, as he gave orders for his mother, and sister, and the young woman who was betrothed to him, with her mother, and his youngest brother, to make the best of their way, he himself, with his servants, took all the care they could to keep off the barbarians; and when at every assault, he had slain a great many of them, he came to the stronghold of Masada.”

War 1:238, 264 JOSEPH

Mamshit is one of the ancient Nabatean cities located in the Negev, an amazing ruins associated to the ancient Incense Route that connect Petra in the Jordan Desert to Gaza in the Mediterranean Coast. 

Mamshit was founded in the first century BCE and was inhabited for eight centuries. Today, you can visit and explore the Roman ruins that have been in Mashmit from the time of the first century, BC and date back to the time of the Byzantine period, between the fourth and seventh centuries, AD.

Mamshit was later abandoned due to an earthquake that flooded the main water source of the city, making it unfit for habitation.

During the Byzantine era, between the 5th and 6th century, a citadel and a monastery with two churches were built on the acropolis of Avdat on the top hill. The city includes important churches, Saint Theodore's Church is the most interesting Byzantine relic in Avdat.

In the church, marble tombstones was inserted in the floor are covered with cleared Greek inscriptions. St. Theodore was a Greek martyr of the 4th century. The Monastery stands next to the church and nearby a lintel is carved with lions and it marks the entrance to the castle.

A main attraction in the park is the Nabatean market that is planned to exist every passover festival, every year.

Houses at Mamshit, Avdat and Shivta used arches that came out from the walls to form the roof. After placing thin slabs of limestone over the arches, the builders plastered the entire roof. In the lower city of Jerusalem, houses constructed with small stones were crowded closely together. Yet they still maintained small courtyards.

“ARCHITECTURE,” Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, paragraph 1506.

The blessing and curse here have played out repeatedly in history. The nations or groups (plural: “those”) who have blessed Abram or his descendants have been blessed by God. The individuals (singular: “him”) who have cursed Abram or Israel have been “cursed,” coming eventually to a bad end. This, however, is not a blank check for the actions of unbelieving Israel, as if the nation could do no wrong or deserves no criticism or has no accountability for its actions. It is a general ongoing promise. Acts 3:25 and Gl 3:8 indicate that all the families of the earth are blessed in the availability of salvation through Jesus Christ, and Gl 6:16 refers to the church as “the Israel of God” through which, by implication, that blessing is extended.

Ted Cabal, ed., The Apologetics Study Bible, Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2007, paragraph 712.