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| Mt. Nebo, Madaba and Mukawir
Both to get shelter from the wind and to see the mosaics dating back some
1400 years, we went into the Byzantine church on the site. After making a brief stop at a workshop where artisans continue the ancient
practice of fashioning mosaics from different colors of stone, we visited the
most famous of all the mosaics in Madaba--the map of the Holy Land partially
preserved on the floor of the St. George Orthodox Church. We had planned when we left the hotel this morning to spend part of the afternoon at the hot springs of Hammat Ma'in. However, since Thursday marks the beginning of the weekend in Islamic countries like Jordan, we were warned that the area was "more than full" with school children and others who had come to spend the day. So we rearranged our schedule to include that site later in our trip, and we headed off to Mukawir. Mukawir (Latin, Machaerus) was the site of a series of fortresses used by
Herod the Great as wilderness retreats. After a very busy day, that also included a wonderful lunch at a restaurant in Madaba in located in an old house, we made our way back to Amman. Tomorrow will be a much lighter day in terms of sites to visit. However, Omar assures us he has something special in store for us that is only possible at this time of the year. If you want to know what that is, then you will just have to wait until tomorrow just like the rest of us. |
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Our
site seeing officially began with a visit to Mt. Nebo. It was from this
location, according to Deuteronomy 32, that Moses just before his death looked
across the Jordan Valley into the land promised to Abraham. We were very
interested, given the recent death of Pope John Paul II to see the memorial
erected to commemorate the papal visit to Mt. Nebo on March 20, 2000. We
proceeded around to the western side of the mount to where the cross from the
pope's visit was erected.
It was sculpted in a fashion to recall the passage from John 3 that symbolically
relates Jesus' crucifixion to Moses' act of lifting up the bronze serpent on a
staff in the wilderness in order to heal the people. The wind was blowing so
hard that there was no chance of getting a formal group picture, and the air was
so filled with dust that you could not see across the narrow Jordan Valley.
Larissa particularly liked the mosaic that showed all different animals that
have lived and been brought to the region. While we were inside the church,
Reverend Cargal led a brief devotional about our need to maintain the gift of
faith so that we can faithfully live into God's promises for all God's people.
We need to not only see what God has promised, but faithfully to make it a
reality.
Omar pointed at all the places on the map that we will be visiting during our
tour, as well as the most important places lying to the west of the Jordan
River. In the portion of the map depicting Jerusalem as it was in the 6th
Century, you can see represented several of the most important churches
including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 
Although it is impossible to make out from this picture, the only way to reach
the ruins is by walking along a winding path that rises several hundred feet up
the isolated hill top. According to tradition, it was at this location that John
the Baptist was martyred by Herod the Great because of his opposition to Herod's
remarriage.