Exploring Jordan

What an amazing trip! We arrived back in Jerusalem Sunday night around 7:00 pm tired and dirty. Four days of riding on the bus, visiting various historical and biblical sites, and enjoying each other's fellowship filled out our days. We left at 6:00 am on Thursday to make our way to the crossing into Jordan at Beth Shean. It took two hours for us to maneuver through the protocol for leaving Israel. Once we got through passport control, we picked up our luggage and then rode a shuttle bus to the Jordanian side and then retrieved our luggage, met our tour guide, got through Jordan's passport control, and loaded our luggage on a Jordanian bus. We are required to have a Jordanian guide, along with Dr. Wright, for all our travels in Jordan. Nasser was a very helpful Muslim guide who makes his home in Amman. He told me that he used to be a computer programmer but when his company wanted him to go to Baghdad and work he asked for an astronomical wage because he felt it was too dangerous. "I have my family who counts on me," he said. At that point he decided to become a tour guide and he has not had a day off since the end of August because this is the high tourist season. It will be like this until early December he told us.

The highlight that day for me was visiting ancient Gadara in the Gilead area (you might want to check one of your Bible maps for these place names). It is a huge site and could possibly be the home of the Gerasene demoniac mentioned in the Gospels. It is recorded that as Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee and came to the east side he encountered this man who was demon possessed and Jesus freed him from this bondage. When he asked to go with Jesus, Jesus encouraged him to go back to his home town and tell them the great things God had done for him. I thought of this as we climbed all over the remains of this city and wondered if this was the exact location. A special lunch was planned for us at the restaurant at the top of the hill and we each had a cheeseburger, fries, fruit and a coke--a real American lunch! The view was fantastic as Gadara is situated on a high hill and overlooks a valley (Wadi). This was the kind of place where you want to come and have a relaxing dinner late in the day with a beautiful view. Such a treat to be there!

We spent the night in Amman--a huge city of 2.6 million people. One of the things we all noticed as we traveled throughout Jordan were the number of pictures of the King of Jordan and his family. Dr. Wright saw for the first time that the King's son is now being included in the photos. He is 16 years old but some day will be King. Our guide told us that all the people love the King and his family and that because they are Sunni Muslims we can feel safe in Jordan. "We are not like the Shites." He said, "You can be out at 2:00 am on the streets in Amman and be safe." We stayed in a lovely hotel called The Geneva and tasted a wonderful buffet dinner.

On Friday we traveled to Iraq Al Amir, which means Fortress of the Prince, and was built by an outlawed Jewish family member during the second century BC. During the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, Hyrcannus Tobiah is the one who built this beautiful building. It is not absolutely for certain but either it is a fortress, a country estate, or some have even said a "pleasure palace." There were caves near the sight that we were able to see. This is located in a valley out of Amman with lots of fig and olive trees plus grape vines. As we looked at a house nearby, Dr. Wright pointed out that it really is a fulfillment of the verse in the Bible that says, "Every man under his own vine and fig tree." We rarely see lawns by houses here but trees and plants grow right up to the front door of many houses. Water is scarce and rain is desperately needed in Jordan as it is in Israel.

One of the largest sites I have ever seen is at Jerash in Jordan. It is filled with temples, theatres and remains of shops, and other signs of a large city that had both Greek and Roman influence.
We were told that each night our accommodations would be less than the night before. It took us almost four hours to reach the modern city of Petra where we spent the night before exploring ancient Petra. If you get a chance, Google Petra, and look at some of the most amazing photographs of this Nabatean city. It has been declared one of the "modern" seven wonders of the world. We walked about two miles to enter the main city and then walked to see the various buildings. One cannot see it in a day because it is so huge so we just scratched the surface. We were inundated with tourists and Bedouins wanting us to ride camels, horses, and buy trinkets. Little children, some as young as four years old were trying to sell us postcards. I thought, "Shouldn't they be in school?" Our guide assured me that education is compuslory in Jordan but it was close to a holiday and besides they only go to school until 1:00 pm. The Bedouins lived among these ruins for years until the Jordanian government built a village for them not far from this site. They moved them off their land so it could be preserved and provided a different location for them. Uhmmm.....does this story sound familiar? The guide told me that the Bedouin are very rich. Interesting!

Two of the gals on our trip returned to the bus very excited. "Guess who we saw?" was their first comment. Amy said she thought she saw the actor Leonardo DiCaprio but wasn't sure so she went up to him and said, "I don't want to be rude or obnoxious but are you Leonardo...?"
He just smiled and his bodyguard smiled and nodded yes and they walked away. That made their day! We all had a good time laughing with them and realized Petra attracts everyone.

Larry and I walked most of the way out of Petra but did have a short ride on a horse part of the way. As I waited for the bus, I felt something in my shoe and when I took it off I poured out quite a bit of sand that had worked its way under my socks from walking in Petra. After doing the laundry today, those socks will never be white again!

After several more stops, we made our way to Kerak to spend the night. Because of the great distances between the sites that Dr. Wright wants us to see, it takes awhile to get there and some of these sites the average tourist does not visit. The "Rest House" we stayed in that night was very interesting. At least the sheets were clean and the bed was comfortable but it was a very dingy place. I finally noticed that women here do not serve as waitresses/servers but men serve in this capacity and in maintaining the hotels. That is not always the case but in the more conservative villages that is true. I began to look for women on the streets as we drove through various towns but rarely saw them. When I did they had children with them or they were in a store and a brother or husband was waiting for them outside. Since Jordan is 94% Muslim and 6% Christian, most all of the women wear the Hajib (scarf) on their heads even if they are dressed western style. Some women were in Burkas (totally covered except for their eyes) but not many. It would appear that women seem to stay at home most of the time but there are always exceptions. It was interesting to see sheep in small fenced enclaves by the road. Our guide said that families purchase a sheep to sacrifice as they begin the Al Haj holiday. It can be very expensive for them--sometimes $250.

We saw lovely huge homes but culturally what is outside the home does not seem to bother them. We had heard that inside the homes are lovely and clean but outside we saw lots of trash on the side of the roads and in general a lot of debris everywhere. As I think of the efforts in America to keep the roadsides clean and the groups that have been formed to pick up trash, etc., I realized that movement has not yet reached many countries in the Middle East. I think there are efforts to build infrastructure to handle all of this but it's a huge educational task.

As we traveled west toward the Jordan River Valley, we were delighted by wonderful views of the Jabbok River and then the Arnon River and to think about how Moses led the children of Israel through this area to the Promised Land. We wrapped up the day standing on Mt. Nebo where Moses was allowed to view the Promised Land but he could not enter. I was surprised at how emotional I felt at this spot as we read the last chapter in Deuteronomy. As I looked across to Israel and north toward Galilee and south toward the Negev, I tried to imagine how Moses must have felt. He had been disobedient to God by dishonoring His name in front of the Israelites over their cries for water and assumed that it was his responsibility to provide it. It was a reminder to me of how God views disobedience and how important it is for religious leaders, and all of us, to be obedient to God and to honor His name. It's a huge responsibility.
The Bible tells us that Moses died on Mt. Nebo, one of God's great servants but one who failed in this area. It was very humbling to be there and to contemplate the significance of this event.

It took us almost two hours to cross from Jordan back into Israel. We were tired but grateful for this wonderful opportunity to have been in Jordan. We crossed this time at the Allenby Bridge crossing (that's the old name) and I noticed the foilage around the Jordan River was very dense and prolific. Lions and other wild animals used to wander through this area. I can see how difficult it would be to flush them out from this thick foilage. When I think of lions I usually think of forests in Africa but they did roam this land at one time.

As I read the OT, I see in my mind's eye these various locations and realize how brave and courageous the Patriarchs were to travel through this "forbidding" land. I feel as though I need more time to process all I am seeing and experiencing and look forward to some quiet snowy days back in Upland when I can contemplate, read and review all that God has been teaching me over these last three months.

We fly out on the evening of December 5th for home and look forward to seeing family and friends. I finished cataloging the Lindsay Collection the day before we left for Jordan. That's a good feeling! Larry only has three more class sessions and during one of those we will be visiting the Temple Mount area. Tomorrow night we will be going with a Rabbi who teaches Rabbinical Thought at JUC to explore the Rabbinical Tunnels under the Western Wall near the Temple Mount area. Still much to see and experience. I will let you know about those experiences next time.