Jordan Times
Tuesday, March 21, 2000
A tour of the biblical sites of Jordan
By Amy Henderson
AMMAN — Before the discovery of Bethany beyond the Jordan, Mount Nebo reigned as the crowning jewel of Jordan's Christian heritage, and along with it a handful of sites have shed light on early Christianity and are closely associated with biblical legend.
Mt. Nebo, or Jabal Siyagha, lays just outside of the city of Madaba — whose resplendent mosaics are also a testament to the early Arab Christian culture.
Christian pilgrims flocked by the hundreds annually to Mt. Nebo, where the Prophet Moses first surveyed the promised land following the Jewish exodus from Egypt and subsequent 40 year trek through the desert in search of the Promised Land.
The Book of Deuteronomy tells us that Moses surveyed the glorious expanse from Mt. Nebo's heights, but died on the mountain, before ever reaching it himself.
Chapter 34: 1-8 details that “Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is across from Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gidead as far as Dan. All Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea. The south and the plain of the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.
“Then the Lord said to him, this is the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying: `I will give it to your descendants. I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.' “So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day.”
During the 6th century A.D., a church was built on the site, and eventually Mt. Nebo grew as a large monastic complex during the late Byzantine period. The monastery flourished until at least the 8th century A.D. It was extensively adorned with mosaics, depicting the wine making process and a plethora of flora and fauna from the region and beyond.
The Franciscan Biblical Institute of Jerusalem, which acquired the ruins of the site in 1932, have carried out extensive excavations of the area, rebuilding, when possible, what remained of the sanctuary, and restoring many of the mosaics. A sculpture of a bronze snake on a cross rests on the promontory overlooking the western vista — that on a clear day includes the Dead Sea, the West Bank, the Jordan River, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The sculpture, by Fantoni of Florence, is symbolic of the serpent which Moses lifted up in the desert and the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified.
Madaba itself lays no special claim to a role in biblical history, but it is the home of the 6th century Madaba Mosaic Map of Palestine, housed today in the Church of St. George in the middle of the bustling city.
Not far from Madaba-Mt. Nebo is Mukawer, site of the Biblical Machaerus – or the Citadel of the Gallows — the recognised site of one of the New Testament's more gruesome episodes. It is here that Herod the Great erected an ancient fortress and where Salome danced for Herod Antipas in return for John the Baptist's head on a platter; a story related in the Gospel of Mark.
John the Baptist was critical of Herod's incestuous marriage to Herodias, the wife of his half-brother, Philip.
Herodias was known to have nursed a grudge against John for his criticism, and sought revenge for it, but she feared also the wrath of Herod, who feared and protected John, “knowing him to be a righteous and holy man.” She proved more cunning than her husband.
Mark 6: 17-29 relates: “Finally, the opportunity came. On his birthday, Herod Antipas gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. (Herod) said to the girl: `Ask me for anything you want, and I will give it to you.' And he promised her with an oath up to half his kingdom.
“She went out and asked her mother, `What shall I ask for?'
“'The head of John the Baptist,' she answered. The girl hurried to the king with the request: `I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.'
“Herod was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl and she gave it to her mother. On hearing this, John's disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.”
Herod built a city at Machaerus, surrounded with walls and protected by towers. A citadel was constructed on the summit and was enclosed by an outer wall and four 27-metre high towers. In spite of its key geographical position, Machaerus lacked a natural water supply, and under Herod, a comprehensive waterworks was constructed. Herod also improved the roads connecting Machaerus to the Dead Sea; the tracks today are still evident and very much in use.
Other than the roads, though, little more than an exhilarating view of the Dead Sea and the West Bank remains at the heights where Machaerus once stood.
Machaerus was an envied territory in successive struggles for power among the Hasmonean factions and between them and the Romans. It was first fortified in 80 B.C., and then successively refortified, expanded and utilised until circa 72 AD, when the Romans laid siege to the fortress during the Jewish revolt. The Romans destroyed the fortress, and it was never reoccupied.
Both Mt. Nebo and Machaerus overlook the Dead Sea, also a geographical reference point in biblical history.
The sea and the expansive sultry plain along the sea's southeastern coast — known as the Southern Ghor — are believed to be the location of a number of some of the most dramatic and defining biblical episodes.
Accounts in the Christian holy book refer to the Dead Sea as the Salt Sea, the Eastern Sea and the Sea of the Araba, the latter being a reference to the desert basin, today known as Wadi Araba, that stretches from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. The area is also believed to be the place where David slew 18,000 Edomites, a tale documented in 2 Samuel, and where the prophets Abraham and Lot parted ways after the journey from Egypt.
Genesis 13 relates that Lot chose for himself “all the valley of the Jordan, so Abraham turned to the west and settled in the land of Canaan.”
Genesis says that Lot “settled in the cities of the valley and moved his tents as far as Sodom.”
A handful of archaeological remains uncovered in the Southern Ghor, referred to in the Bible as the Valley of Salt, are candidates for the Biblical Cities of the Plain, particularly the biblically significant Sodom and Gomorrah.
The modern-day Bab Al Dhraa and Numeira are plausible candidates for the sites of Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities on which God bestowed his wrath as a sign of his displeasure with the evil ways of their people. Genesis says that the cities were consumed by fire. Only Lot and his daughters were spared, fleeing to the hills in the onslaught. (His wife, incidentally, was turned into a pillar of salt, when she stopped and turned around to glance at the devastation.)
In fact, archaeological digs uncovered the once walled city of Numeira, buried in a foot of ash, suggesting that a fiery destruction brought the city's end.
Other Bronze Age remains have been found in Fifa, Khanzir and Safi. Some believe that these, along with Bab Al Dhraa and Numeira may have been the five Cities of the Plain: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar. But archaeological evidence is still inconclusive, and some believe that the Cities of the plain remain entombed either beneath the earth or under the warm saline waters of the Dead Sea.
Just northeast of the present day farming village of Safi, embedded in the mountain side is the Sanctuary of Lot.
Excavations at the one time Byzantine monastic complex have uncovered mosaic floors, a reservoir, living quarters, burial chambers and a cave. An inscription mentions Lot by name, while pottery shards found there date to 3000 BC, consistent with the presumed era of the cities' destruction.
The King's Highway, passing just west of the Southern Ghor, is believed to be the world's oldest continuously used communications route and a component of the silk and spice trade routes.
Today it connects Madaba, Karak, Tafileh, Shobak and Petra. But in ancient times it traversed the biblical kingdoms of Edom and Moab.
Numbers 20 details that Moses appealed to the Edomites to allow the Israelites to pass through on their way to the Promised Land: “Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or through vineyard; we will not even drink water from a well. We will go along the King's Highway, turning neither to the right nor to the left until we have passed through your territory.'”
“Edom, however, said to him, `You shall not pass through us, or I will come out with the sword against you.'”
The highway wanders south from Amman, and passes near to the biblical site of Hisban. Little is visible of Hisban, save for the clutter of archaeological undertakings there. But, the Song of Solomon refers to the pools of Hisban, saying that “thy neck is as a tower of ivory, thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon.”
The highway carries on to Madaba and nearby Mt. Nebo, passes Mukawer to Dhiban, the capital of Moab, where the book of Ruth is believed to have unfolded. A black basalt stele, known as the Mesha Stele found in Dhiban details in a mix of Hebrew and Phoenician the Moabite King Mesha's exploits against the Israelites in the 9th century B.C. The Mesha Stele likely embellishes somewhat King Mesha's successful rebellion against the Israelites, while the biblical account of the battle is weighted heavily in favour of the Israelites!
Early Christianity extended itself into the northern and southern-most reaches of the modern Kingdom, as well.
The Graeco-Roman ruins of Gadara, now Um Qais, are believed to have been witness to the miracle of the Gadarene swine, documented in the Book of Matthew.
The Book of Matthew relates that two men possessed by demons met Jesus as they were “coming out of the tombs.” They taunted Jesus asking: “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have you come to torment us before the time?”
“Now there was a herd of swine feeding at a distance. The demons began to entreat Him, saying, `If you are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.' “And He said to them, `Go.' And they came out and went into the swine, and the whole heard rushed down the steep bank, into the sea and perished in the waters.”
Today, as then, Um Qais towers over the north Jordan Valley, the Lake Tiberias (the biblical Sea of Galilee) and the Syrian Golan Heights. Among an extravagant array of Greek, Roman, Islamic and Ottoman ruins, the remains of a Byzantine church, believed to have been built on the spot where Jesus was thought to have performed the miracle, can be visited.
The church lies mysteriously on top of a mausoleum. A hole in the centre of the floor allowed passers by to peep into the tomb. Excavations into the burial place in the late 1980s found a skeleton bound in chains about the legs. Interestingly, two other accounts in the gospels of Luke and Mark refer to a possessed man who “lived among the tombs” and who was chained and kept under guard.
The southern port city of Aqaba, although devoid of archaeological evidence attesting to its role in biblical history, religious historians associate the port city with the Biblical Ezion-Geber, where King Solomon built a fleet of ships, as documented in 1 Kings 9:26: “King Solomon also built a “fleet of ships in Ezion-Geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. “Elath” is generally assumed to be the site of the modern day Israeli city of Eilat, which neighbours Aqaba on the western shores of the Aqaba Gulf.
Although the site bears no biblical significance, Aqaba is also the site of what archaeologists believe may be the world's oldest church. The discovery in 1998 of a structure dating from the late 3rd century AD is the oldest known building believed to have been used exclusively as a church. It is slightly older than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Both churches were built in the early 4th century AD. Most of the early churches uncovered in Jordan are thought to date from the late 5th or early 6th centuries.
Christianity also shares a common heritage with Islam and Judaism, and several sites in the Kingdom, such as Mt. Nebo and Lot's Cave mentioned above, are revered by the faithful of all three great religions.
Followers of all three faiths also visit the Tomb of the Prophet Aaron, who is believed to have been buried on the summit of Jabal Haroun (Aaron), near Petra, which has been revered as his final resting place before the time of Jesus. Aaron was the brother of Moses, and the Bible says Aaron often spoke on his shy brother's behalf.
Today, travellers to Petra can easily distinguish Jabal Haroun (Aaron) by a gleaming white dome that caps a mosque built at the summit of the mount. The Islamic shrine erected there is thought to date to the 14th century AD, but may have been a Christian church constructed in the mid 5th century AD and later reconstructed as a mosque.
Recent archaeological excavations have confirmed the existence of a Byzantine monastic complex below the summit of the mountain.
Although the site was occupied from the days of the Nabataeans through much of the Islamic period, its greatest usage was during the Byzantine era as a pilgrimage station. An Islamic shrine at the top of the mountain built during the 14th century may have been a Christian church circa 550 AD and later rebuilt as a mosque.