Masada is an ancient fortress perched high above the Dead Sea in the Judean wilderness. Its name comes from a Hebrew word meaning “stronghold” or “fortress,” which makes the place especially interesting when reading the Psalms and all those references to rocks, refuges, and strongholds.
I stumbled onto Masada while working through Day 105 of my Bible Recap, reading Psalms David wrote during the years he was on the run from Saul and hiding in the wilderness. Suddenly all that talk about rocks, fortresses, and strongholds felt a little less figurative. The ruins are still there today, so instead of just trying to picture what a wilderness fortress looked like, we can actually go see one.