The Bible comes alive in Jordan
Chris Hutchings, AAP
6/4/13
There are few better ways of bringing the Bible alive than a trip to Jordan.
Whether you’re religious or not, it’s fascinating to think you might be standing where Moses, John the Baptist, King Herod, even Jesus, did so long ago.
There’s no mistaking: the Bible is a historical document that has played a strong role in the western view of the world and life, forming the foundation of its value system.
Visiting some of the sites today that featured in the Old Testament is significant.
Standing, on Mount Nebo, about 10km northwest of Madaba, where Moses is said to have died and been buried, gets one thinking.
As you gaze out over the vast panorama encompassing the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea, Jericho and Jerusalem, you can’t help to wonder how Moses would have felt as he looked out to the Promised Land after leading the Israelites from 40 years in the wilderness.
One might not wholeheartedly accept that God spoke directly to Moses, but there’s no mistaking the leader of the Israelites is a major figure of western culture.
Mt Nebo is not grandiose. There’s a plaque indicating the features of the landscape seen from the lookout – what Moses would have seen centuries ago. And there’s the church that was built in the fourth century to mark the site of his death. Sadly, it is still undergoing renovation – past its completion due date – but its remnant mosaics from its presbytery and other artefacts are still viewable in an exhibition hall.
But Mt Nebo is just one of the many sites that have become an object of pilgrimage, for the religious and not-so-devout alike.
In Mataba itself, known as the city of mosaics, the Greek Orthodox Church of St George houses a sixth-century Byzantine mosaic map showing Jerusalem and other holy sites.
Just southwest of the capital Amman is another – perhaps the most significant – of Jordan’s holiest sites, the region known as Bethany beyond the Jordan.
The area opposite Jericho has been identified as where John the Baptist baptised Jesus.
The area between the Jordan River and Tall Al-Kharra, on the east side of the river Jordan, is where John the Baptist lived, while Tall-Al-Kharrars, also known as Tall Mar Elias or St Elijah’s Hill, is reminiscent of the Prophet Elijah who’s said to have risen to heaven from here.
Recent archaeological discoveries include 11 Byzantine churches, five baptismal pools from Roman and Byzantine times, monks and hermits’ caves and lodges for pilgrims.
The ancient town of Anjara, in the Gilead hills east of the Jordan Valley, is mentioned in the Bible as where Jesus, his mother Mary and his disciples rested in a cave. The cave, designated by the Catholic Churches of the Middle East in 2000 as one of five pilgrimage sites, now has the commemorative Our Lady of the Mountain shrine/church.
Mukawir was the hilltop stronghold of King Herod and is where his son Herod Antipas later ordered the beheading of John the Baptist.
And, on the road along the Dead Sea, to the southern end, is a column of stone high on the cliff.
Some say it’s reminiscent of when Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt. And south of the Karak turnoff is Lot’s Sanctuary and evidence of Early and Middle Bronze Age habitation.
Even if one isn’t interested in a personal pilgrimage, a tour of Jordan’s Biblical sites offers plenty of history, beautiful landscapes and artefacts of ancient civilisation.
