Weekend in Jordan

MAY 25—This is a short post about a long weekend. I could write about the many miles we traveled in a bus, or about the process of crossing the border from Israel to Jordan (and back again), or about the long and late meals we enjoyed along the way, or about the fine hotel we stayed in Madaba, or …. I could write about a host of things, but I won’t. Instead, I’ll touch on a few highlights.

Highlight number one was Bethany Beyond the Jordan. This is the site where Jesus was baptized with John the Baptist, where the Holy Spirit descended upon him with a voice proclaiming Him to be the beloved Son of God. It’s the place from which He was driven into the wilderness. And wilderness it is—hot and inhospitable, dry, dusty, barren and foreboding.

It’s also the place where Elijah was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. Elijah, John and Jesus converge in this place on the banks of the Jordan River. Powerful.


Mount Nebo was next. This is reputed to be the mountain where Moses stood to take in a panoramic view of the Promised Land he would never enter himself. And what a view it is. Below us are the plains of Moab (Jordan Valley). We can see the Dead Sea, the Jordan River and the city of Jericho. Beyond the valley are the mountains rising to Jerusalem. On a clear day the Holy City is visible, perhaps even the Mediterranean beyond.

Nebo is near Madaba, the city of mosaics. A Greek Orthodox Church in the heart of the city contains the oldest known map of the Middle East, a floor mosaic dating back to the 6th century.

Not far away are the remains of another mountaintop fortress built by Herod the Great. This one fell to the Romans a few years before Masada. It too commands a remarkable view of the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley, and was situated to protect the trade route up the historic King’s Highway linking Egypt to Mesopotamia and beyond.

On Saturday we headed north, past the capital city of Amman to the Roman Decapolis city of Jerash. Along the way we crossed the Jabok River, the place where Jacob had a midlife crisis moment, wrestled with an angel and emerged with a new name—Israel—and the fortitude to face his brother, Esau.


Jerash is phenomenal. The large site contains a vast collection of fairly intact ruins from Roman times. Great gates, an amphitheatre, various temples and shopping streets can be walked and observed. Huge columns from a temple to Artemis stand straight and tall in the blistering son. These are sites to be seen.


Our agenda for the day also included a visit to Pella, where early Christians fled persecution and insurrection in Jerusalem. Then it was on to Gadara, another city of the Decapolis and home of the demoniac from whom Jesus cast out multiple demons, who entered a herd of swine who stampeded down a slope into the sea (Mark 5:1-20).

On Sunday we attended parts of a Greek Orthodox worship service in Madaba, where we were staying, and then conducted a city tour of Amman.