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Jordan Holy Sites
History
Jordan is a modern country a spiritual panorama of
prophets, miracles, and human faith. The very name
of the country - Jordan - retains the unique
baptismal aura of a holy river and a blessed land.
The region around the capital Amman was known in the
Bible as Amman (Genesis 36:35), famed for its
springs and citadel. Most visitors to Jordan start
their visits in Amman, the ancients Rabbath-Ammon
(or Rabba), Citadel-capital of the Ammonite Kingdom.
North Jordan
The fertile plains of Bashan in north Jordan
belonged to the Amorite King Og (Numbers 21:33), and
were renowned for their fine cattle. The dense
forests of Gilead were known for being the Prophet
Elijah’s Gideon, and other kings and prophets. The
southern border of Gilead was usually the Jabbok
River, now Wadi Zerqa or the Zerqa River (Genesis
32:22). Gideon and Jacob traveled along its banks
east of the Jordan (Judges 8:4-9; Genesis 33:17).
Archaeological remains of biblical towns in North
Jordan include Rammoth-gilead (Tell Rumeith), which
is linked with events in the lives of Ahab, Jezebel,
Elijah, and Elisha(2 Kings 9:1, 36) and,
Jabesh-gilead in Wadi Yabis (Tell el-Meqbereh, Tell
Abu Kharaz, or Tell El-Maqlub) (Judges 21:8-15:2
Samuel 2:4-7).
In the New Testament period, north Jordan was the
region of the Decapolis (ten cities), where Jesus
preached and performed miracles (Matthew 4:25 Mark
5:20) the Trans Jordanian lands around the Dead Sea
were Perea (“beyond” in Greek). The Decapolis city
of Gadara (modern Umm Qais), overlooking the Sea of
Galilee, is the site of Jesus miracle of the
Gadarene swine (Matthew 8:28-34 Luke 8:26-37).
Other easy to visit Decapolis cities in Jordan are :
Amman (Roman Philadelphia), with it’s Byzantine
churches and Roman theatres, Jerash (Gerasa) in “the
region of the Gerasenes” (Mark 5:19, Luke 8:26),
whose Byzantine citizens annually celebrated the
miracle of Jesus, turning water into wine at a
fountain within a large ecclesiastical complex,
Tabaqat Fahl (Pella), in the northern Jordan Valley
foothills, to which early Christians fled from
Jerusalem to escape the first Jewish Revolt in AD
66-70 and Roman persecution in the earliest
Christian centuries; and Umm El-Jimal, a Classical
era provincial town noteworthy for it’s remains of
the earliest dated church in Jordan (from 345 AD).
The Dead Sea & Wadi Araba
The Bible refers to the Dead Sea as the sea of the
Arabah, the Salt Sea, and the Eastern Sea
(Deuteronomy 3:17, Joshua 3:16, Numbers 34:12,
Ezekiel 47:18). It is easily accessible today along
fine roads from central and south Jordan to the
length of it’s eastern shore. The Valley of salt
where David “Slew 18,000 Edonmites” is the broad
plain at the south end of the Dead Sea, where
natural Salt formation form along the water’s edge
(2 Samuel 8:13) The Arabah desert or wilderness of
the Bible is the semi-arid, steppe region in south
Jordan between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba,
known in Arabic today as Wadi Arabh (Deuteronomy
1:1). Sodom and Gomorra and the other cities of the
plain are associated with some of the most dramatic
Old Testament stories, including God’s destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah for their immorality.
Some scholars see Bab Ed-Dhra’ and Numeira as good
candidates for Sodom and Gomorra in the Southern
Ghors, the wide plain along Jordan’s south-east Dead
Sea coast. Arriving there from Egypt, Abraham and
Lot separated their herds and people and went their
own ways (Genesis 13:1-13). After Lot’s wife
disobeyed God’s order, looked back at burning Sodom,
and was turned into apillar of salt, Lot and his
daughters survived and reportedly lived for many
years in nearby cave (Genesis 19). In the 7th
Century AD< a Byzantine church and monastery
dedicated to Saint Lot (“a righteous man”) were
built over a cave there. The complex has been
excavated and can be easily visited. The other
cities of the plain, “Admah, Zeboiim and Bela (that
is, Zoar)” may still be buried amidst the
archaeological remains of Early Bronze age towns at
Feifa, Safi, Khneizirah, and other sites in this
wide, silent and still haunting valley plain.
Central and South Jordan Moab, Edom, Midian and
Seir
The biblical land of Moab, famed for it’s rich
agricultural lands, generally was the region south
of the Wadi Mujib (Genesis 36:35 ). Kir Moab (also,
Kir-heres or Kir-hereseth), the capital of Moab, was
the scene of King Mesha’s sacrifice of his son on
the city walls in order to stop a siege by hostile
forces (2 Kings 3, Isaiah 15:1). Kir Moab today is
the town of Karak, halfway between Amman and Petra,
renowned for it’s massive Crusader and medieval
Islamic fortress. Nearby is the shrine-tomb of
Prophet Noah, famed for his righteousness (Genesis
6:9, Ezekiel 14:14). The King’s Highway south of
Karak winds through the Zered valley (Torrent of
Zered), today’s Wadi Hassa, where the Israelites and
Moses concluded their desert wanderings and camped
on their journey north (Numbers 21:12,
Deuteronomy(2:13-14).
South of the Wadi Hassa are the biblical land of
Midian, Edom, and Seir (or Mount Seir) (Genesis
14:6, 32:3, Exodus 2:15-16), fabled for their
pasture lands, mineral-rich mountains, and strategic
communication routes, King Amaziah slayed 10,000 Edo
mites in Edom, and Moses had to detour around it
because the King of Edom refused him passage.
The 7th Century BC remains at Buseirah are those of
Bozrah, a capital of the Edo mite Kingdom (Isaiah
34:6). Local legend has it that the spring of Wadi
Moussa (Valley of Moses) near Petra is where Moses
struck the rock and brought forth water (Numbers
20:10-12). The summit of Umm El-Biyara mountain in
central Petra, with it’s 7th century BC village, is
often identified as biblical sela (“a rock”), where
King Amaziah of Judah “killed ten thousand Edo mites
in the valley of salt and took Sela by storm”, (2
Kings 14:7, Isaiah 16:1). Ancient Sela is also
identified with the mountaintop stronghold of Sele”,
near Buseirah, north of Petra. Aaron, the brother of
Moses and Miriam, died in the land of Jordan and was
buried at Mount Hor, now known as Jabal Haroon
(Mount Aaron) at Petra (Exodus 4:14, 7:1, Micah
6:4).
In the New Testament period, the East
Mediterranean’s commodities emporium of Petra may
have been the place from where the three kings from
the east came with frankincense, gold and myrrh to
honor the baby Jesus. The King Aretas menyioneed in
2 Corinthians 11:32 was a Nabataean King who ruled
from the capital of Petra.
Elath/Eloth and Ezion-geber, two Iron Age port towns
located at or near Jordan’s Red Sea port-resort of
Aqaba, are associated with Solomon and the Queen of
Sheba, and the chronic was between the Kings of
Judah and Edom (Deuteromy 2:8, 1 Kings 9:26, 2 Kings
14:22). Moses and the Exodus route : Many places in
south and central Jordan are associated with Moses’
exodus from Egypt to Mount Nebo (Numbers 33), though
many remain unidentified. Kadesh-barnea and the
Wilderness of Zin were somewhere along south
Jordan’s frontiers with Israel, Egypt and Saudi
Arabia, Mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom,
is Jabal Harun (Mount Aaron) at Petra; Zalmonah is
often identified as the village of Bir Mathkur, in
the southern Wadi Arabah, punon (‘precious stone”)
is the huge excavated ancient copper mining
settlement at feinan, south-east of the Dead sea,
Oboth may be “Ain Ubut (“Spring of the Passage”),
north-east of Buseirah, Dibon-gad is another name
for the Moabite capital of Dibon, modern Dhiban, the
Mountainsof Ab’arim (“mountain beyond”) are the
range in northern Moab and southern Ammon, north of
Heshbon, including Mount Nebo (Numbers 27:12,
Deuteronomy 32;49) the plains of Boab are east of
the Jordan Rive, opposite Jericho, Beth-Jeshimoth
and Abel-Shittim are two twons in the plains of
Moab.
Central Jordan Valley Sites
The main road through the central Jordan Valley
probably follows the path of the Bible’s way of the
plain (2 Samuel 18:23). Adjacent to the road at the
massive Tell Deir ‘Alla is the anvient market and
cultic centre of Succoth, fortified by Jeroboam and
visited by Gideon as he chased the Midianites back
to the east (1 Kings 12:25, Judges 8:5-16). Three
miles to the east was Mhanaim in gilead (Tulul ed-Dhahad
el-Gharbi), or the eastern hills of gold), where
Jacob camped on his way to meet Esau and saw the
angels of God (Joshua 13:26-30). A shrine to King
David near Mazar el-Shamali, in the north Jordan
Valley, recalls his visit to Mahanaim (1 Samuel
16:13 – 1 Kings 2:12 ). The adjacent Tulul
edh-Dhahab el-Sharqi (the western hills of gold) may
be ancient Penuel (the face of God) – so named by
Jacob after he wrestled all night there with God in
the form of a man (Genesis 32:22-30).
Zerathan town, excavated at the nearby Tell
es-Saidiyyeh is linked with episodes in the lives of
Solomon, Joshua and Gideon (1 Kings 7:46, Joshua
3:16, Judges 7:22). At Zaphon, nearby Tell el-Qos,
Jephthah the Gileadite defeated the Ephraimites
(Judges 12:1).
The Kings Highway through Amman Moab & Edom
The King’s highway, the world’s oldest continuously
used communication route, was first mentioned in
Genesis 14 and Numbers 20. Moses request to the king
of Edom to “travel along the King’s highway and not
turn to the right or to the left until we have
passed through your territory” was turned down, but
visitors today are welcome to make the journey along
the scenic road as it winds, dips, twists and
rambles through the heart of Jordan, from Ammon to
Moab to Edom. The first major site on the King’s
Highway south of Amman is Heshbon, probably ancient
Hisban, capital of King Sihon (Numbers 21, Isaiah
15-16). Fortified in the Roman-Byzantine period and
called Esbus, this was an important early Christian
station on the pilgrims’ route from Jerusalem to the
Jordan River amd Mount Nebo. Medaba city and region
retain the memory and monuments of two different
periods of biblical history. Medaba town (Madaba
today) is repeatedly mentioned in Old Testament
accounts such as Moses and the Exodus, David’s war
against the Mobites, and Isaiah’s oracle against
Moab (Numbers 21:30, 1 Chronicles 19:7, Isaiah
15:2).
King Mesha of Moab’s successful rebellion against
Israel (2 Kings 3) mentions “the whole land of
Medeba” whose rich farmlands were coveted and
repeatedly contested by Moab, Israel, Ammon and
other local Kingdoms. In the early Christian
Byzantine period, the wealthy ecclesiastical centre
of Madaba produced one of the world’s finest
collections of early Christian mosaic art, which is
well preserved and on display today. It’s
masterpiece, the Orthodox Church of St.George’s
mosaic map of Jerusalem and surrounding lands, is
the earliest original map of the Holy Land to
survive from antiquity. Mount Nebo, ten minutes by
car west of Madaba, was the final station in the
life of the prophet Moses, the ‘friend of God”
(Deuteronomy 32:49), though the location of his tomb
remains unknown.
From Mount nebo’s wind-serpt promontory overlooking
the Dead Sea, the Jordan Velley and the hills of
Jerusalem, Moses viewed the Promised land that he
would never enter. A small church was built in the
4th century AD to commemorate this sacred spot, and
has expanded into the current church with it’s
stunning collection of Byzantine mosaics.
Immediately north-east of Mount Nebo, at “Ayun Musa
(“Sprins of Moses”), is ancient Beth-Peor. Moses and
his people camped “in the valley near Beth-Peor,”
and soon after Moses died and “was buried in Moab,
in the valley opposite Beth-Peor” (Deuteronomy 3:29,
34:6, Joshua 13:20). Mephaath, a Moabite city known
for it’s pasture lands (1 Chronicles 6:79, Jeremiah
48:21), is modern Umm Er-Rasas, south-east of Madaba.
Excavations here uncovered some of the finest
Byzantine church mosaics in the Middle East,
including a large carpet depicting cities on the
east and west banks of the Jordan Rive from the Old
and new Testament periods.
Some 20 minutes south of Madaba by car is one of the
most awe-inspiring site in the entire holy land –
Mechaerus (Modern Mukawir), the Herodian
mountain-top fortress-palace with a panoramic view
over much of the Dead Sea and the hills of Palestine
and Israel. This is where John the Baptist ended his
life, after Salome’s fateful dance (though his
burial place is not know). Nearby is Dhiban, ancient
Dibon, capital of King Mesha of Moab (Numbers
21:21-31, Isaiah 15:1-9 ), just north of wadi Mujib,
the Arnon Gorge or River of the Bible that was a
natural frontier between warring Kingdoms or tribes
( Numbers 21:24, Judges 11:18 ).
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