Then in November, Wooding traveled to Jordan with a group of 10 mainly US-based journalists and broadcasters to report on the Biblical sites in that Middle Eastern land. While, there he was able to see the work of World Vision with Iraqi refugee women and children. A highlight for him was when his cameraman, Clayton Metcalfe, asked to be baptized by Dan and Russ Jones, another journalist, at Bethany Beyond The Jordan, in the River Jordan, at the very spot where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. The very next day, Clayton’s faith was tested when the plane he was returning to London lost cabin pressure and had to make an emergency landing in Serbia.
Take a walk through the Bible in Jordan
You can also take a camel or donkey ride as well
By Dan Wooding
AMMAN, JORDAN (ANS) — I’ve just returned from an extraordinary trip to Jordan where, along with some other journalists from the United States, I was able to see some of the religious sites of Jordan and can recommend it for Christians who want to take a walk through the Bible there, or even take a camel or donkey ride as well to visit the many sights.
Jordan is a modern country with an ancient culture, a land of which visitors can walk through the valleys, hills and plains whose names have become part of human history by virtue of the simple deeds and profound messages of prophets who walked the land and crossed its rivers during their lives.
Many of the sites where they are said to have performed miracles or reached out to ordinary people have been identified, excavated and protected, and are now more easily accessible to visitors.
Jordan is an ideal destination for those seeking cultural knowledge and spiritual enrichment. Jordan values its ethnically and religiously diverse population, consequently providing for the cultural rights of all its citizens. This spirit of tolerance and appreciation is one of the central elements contributing to the stable and peaceful cultural climate flourishing within Jordan. More than 92% of Jordanians are Sunni Muslims and approximately 6% are Christians.
The majority of Christians belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, but there are also Greek Catholics, a small Roman Catholic community, Syrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and a few Protestant denominations. Several small Shi’a and Druze populations can also be found in Jordan.
Here are some of the sites that are mentioned in both the Old and New Testament:
Bethany Beyond the Jordan
A must for Christian pilgrims is the one located on the banks of the River Jordan. It is the site of John the Baptist’s settlement at Bethany Beyond the Jordan, where Jesus was baptized, and has long been known from the Bible (John 1:28 and 10:40) and from the Byzantine and medieval texts.
It is said to be the birthplace of Christianity and is located in what was once a minefield.
The site has now been identified on the east bank of the Jordan River, in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and is being systematically surveyed, excavated, restored, and prepared to receive pilgrims and visitors. Bethany Beyond the Jordan is located half an hour by car from the Jordanian capital Amman.
A wonderful highlight of the visit to “Baptism Site” was when my colleague, Clayton Metcalfe, a talented videographer who was born in Australia, asked to be baptized in the River Jordan by myself and Russ Jones, another journalist. (Clayton and I were shooting a documentary on Jordan for Safe Worlds IPTV and the Missionaries News Service). Some thirty people, including a Jordanian soldier, watched this moving event and many began spontaneously singing “How Great Thou Art” as Clayton emerged after being fully immersed close the spot where many believe that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.
Our group was following part of the pilgrimage route that the early pilgrims followed that took them to the Jordan River, and Mount Nebo.
The area is also associated with the biblical account of how the Prophet Elijah ascended to heaven in a whirlwind on a chariot of fire.
Mount Nebo
I had the privilege of visiting Mount Nebo’s windswept promontory, which overlooks the Dead Sea, the Jordan River Valley, Jericho and the distant hills of Jerusalem, and where Moses viewed the Holy Land of Canaan that he would never enter. He died and was buried in Moab, “in the valley opposite Beth-peor”. His tomb remains unknown. After consulting the Oracle, Jeremiah reportedly hid the Ark of the Covenant, the Tent and the Altar of Incense at Mount Nebo.
Mount Nebo became a place of pilgrimage for early Christians from Jerusalem and a small church was built there in the 4th century to commemorate the end of Moses’ life. Some of the stones from that church remain in their original place in the wall around the apse area. The church was subsequently expanded in the 5th and 6th centuries into the present-day large basilica with its stunning collection of Byzantine mosaics.
The serpentine Cross, which stands just outside the sanctuary, is symbolic of the bronze (or brazen) serpent taken by Moses into the desert and the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.
The Mount Nebo visit was not without humor, for on Monday, November 10, while doing a stand-up piece to camera, I did a double take as I spotted a young man who looked like a young Barack Obama, standing nearby. What was confusing was that I thought the President-to-be was at the White House with his wife Michelle, being shown around by George and Laura Bush.
The young “Obama”, was squinting his eyes as he saw spread out before him what Moses had done all those years ago after wandering the desert for 40 years. The geography was a little different to that what Moses saw at the age of 120, for this young man could see Bethlehem, Jericho and even Jerusalem.
Suddenly, one of his friends caught my eye and said, “Do you think he looks like Barack Obama?”
I had to agree that he did look a little like a younger Barack and so I decided to interview him. It turned out that he was a Jordanian student and so I asked him if he had thought of a new career as a Barack lookalike.
He laughed and said, “I hadn’t thought of it, but it might be a way to earn some money to help pay for my college fees.”
Amman
The Jordanian capital, Amman, and its surrounding regions is referred to in the Bible as Ammon, or the Ammonite Kingdom, and was famous for its springs and citadel. This is the place where the Biblical story of David and Goliath (Uriah the Hittite) took place. The massive fortifications, where David, an ancestor of Jesus, brought about Uriah’s death so that he could marry his widow Bathsheba, are still standing.
Gadara
The old Decapolis city of Gadara (modern-day Umm Qays), with its spectacular panoramic views overlooking the Sea of Galilee, is the site of Jesus’ miracle of the Gadarene swine. It is here that He encountered a demented man who lived in the tombs near the entrance to the city, Jesus cast the bad spirits out of the man and into a herd of pigs, which then ran down the hill into the waters of the Sea of Galilee and drowned.
A rare five-aisled basilica from the 4th century was recently discovered and excavated at Umm Qays. It has been built directly over a Roman-Byzantine tomb and has a view into the tomb from the interior of the church. It is also located alongside the old Roman city gate on the road from the Sea of Galilee. Everything about this distinctive arrangement of a church above a tomb at this particular place, strongly indicates that it was designed and built to commemorate the very spot where the Byzantine faithful believed that Jesus performed his miracle.
Madaba
Madaba and its hinterlands were repeatedly mentioned in the Old Testament. Then it was known as Medeba and it featured in narratives related to Moses and the Exodus, David’s war against the Moabites, Isaiah’s oracle against Moab and King Mesha of Moab’s rebellion against Israel.
Between the 4th and 7th centuries AD, the prosperous ecclesiastical centre of Madaba produced one of the world’s finest collections of Byzantine mosaics, many fine examples of which are well preserved. Several church floor mosaics can be seen in their original locations, while other have been moved for protection and displayed in the Madaba Archaeological Park.
Madaba’s real masterpiece, in the Orthodox Church of Saint George, is the 6th century AD mosaic map of Jerusalem and the Holy Land – the earliest religious map of the Holy Land in any form to survive from antiquity.
The Pillar of Salt by the Dead Sea
The Dead Sea is one of the most dramatic places on earth, with its stunning natural environment equally matched by its powerful spiritual symbolism.
The infamous Sodom and Gomorrah and other cities of the Dead Sea plain, or (Cities of the Valley) were the subjects of some of the most dramatic and enduring Old Testament stories, including that of Lot, whose wife was turned into a pillar of salt for disobeying God’s will.
I did another stand-up with the “Pillar of Salt” towering above me on a cliff that overlooks the Dead Sea. It probably was not Lot’s Wife, who looked back, but certainly was quite spectacular and a lesson for all of us to not look back but to move forward.
Lot and his two daughters survived and fled to a cave near the small town of Zoar (modern-day Safi). The Bible says Lot’s daughters gave birth to sons whose descendents would become the Ammonite and Moabite people, whose kingdoms were in what is now central Jordan.
Although not confirmed, the sites of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are believed to be the remains of the ancient walled towns of Bab ed-Dhra’ and Numeira, in the southeastern Dead Sea central plain. On a hillside above the town of Zoar (modern-day Safi), Byzantine Christians built a church and monastery dedicated to Saint Lot. The complex was built around the cave where Lot and his daughters found refuge.
Umm ar-Rasas
Here you can find a rectangular walled city, about 30 kilometers southeast of Madaba, which is mentioned on both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. It was fortified by the Romans and local Christians were still embellishing it with Byzantine-style mosaics well over 100 years after the start of the Muslim Umayyad rule.
Just outside the city walls is the recently unearthed Church of Saint Stephen with its perfectly preserved outstanding mosaic floor, the largest of its kind to be discovered in Jordan and second only to the world famous mosaic map at Madaba.
The Kings Highway
The Kings Highway is the world’s oldest continuously used communication route. It linked ancient Bashan, Giliad and Ammon in the north with Moab, Edom, Paran and Midian in the south.
Abraham, a common patriarch of Jews, Christians and Muslims, who passed through northern, central and southern Jordan, would certainly have used this route on his journey from Mesopotamia to Canaan.
Moses asked the King of Edom if he and his people could “go along the Kings Highway” during their journey to Canaan, but his request was refused. The Kings Highway is also mentioned in an earlier story in Genesis 14:5-8, in relation to the four Kings from the north, who attacked Sodom and Gomorrah and the three other Cities of the Plain.
Petra
Without a doubt, Petra, the ancient rock city, in present-day Jordan, known to the Arabs as Wadi Musa for the stream that flows through it, is the most visited site in the country and is now listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
A narrow, winding pass between towering walls leads to the open plain upon which stood the ancient city. The plain is surrounded by hills in which tombs have been carved in the pink sandstone. The site includes some 800 structures, the best known of which is the Khazneh el-Farun (or so-called Pharoah’s Treasury), a mausoleum, monument, or temple with a two-story facade and Hellenistic split pediment.
Petra was occupied by the Edomites (see Edom) and by the Nabataeans (an Arab tribe; see Nabataea), who had their capital there from the 4th cent. B.C. until the Roman occupation in A.D. 106. The city is referred to as Sela in the Bible (2 Kings 14.7). It was for many centuries the focal point of a vast caravan trade but declined with the rise of Palmyra; however, it remained a religious center of Arabia. Under the Romans in the 2d and 3d cent. it was included in the province of Arabia Petraea. An early seat of Christianity, it was conquered by the Muslims in the 7th cent. and in the 12th cent. was captured by the Crusaders, who built a citadel there. Petra was unknown to the Western world until its ruins were visited by Johann Burckhardt in 1812.
During the Exodus, Moses and the Israelites passed through the Petra area in Edom. Local tradition says that the spring at Wadi Musa (Valley of Moses), just outside Petra, is the place where Moses struck the rock and brought forth water (Numbers 20:10-11).
Aaron, the brother of Moses and Miriam, died in Jordan and was buried in Petra at Mount Hor, now called Jabal Harun in Arabic (Mount Aaron). A Byzantine church and later an Islamic shrine/tomb of Aaron were built on the summit of the mountain, which today attracts pilgrims from all over the world.
Petra was almost certainly the last staging post of the three kings, who took frankincense, gold and myrrh to honor the baby Jesus in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1-12).
Wadi Rum
TE Lawrence – Lawrence of Arabia – once described Wadi Rum as “vast, echoing and god-like.” He was writing about the maze of monolithic rockscapes rising up from the desert floor; imposing, towering rocks and crags – God’s skyscrapers – that are all over this stupendous and timeless area of Jordan.
Having been a traveling journalist for 40 years now, I thought I had seen and experienced just about everything in this world, but I have to say that a visit to Wadi Rum with other journalists with four four-wheel-drives vehicles that carried us, as they weaved in and out of the rockscapes.
Time seemed to stand still as we saw the tents and camels of the Bedouins of the area who still practice a semi-nomadic lifestyle, grazing their flocks of sheep and goats for months at a time before packing up their goat’s hair tents and moving on to better pastures.
Then we were treated to a cup of tea by our Bedouin drivers who found pieces of wood and then started a fire despite the high winds sweeping through the area and boiled the water for the team in their blackened teapots.
TE Lawrence, in his book, “Seven Pillars of Wisdom,” wrote, “Our little caravan grew self-conscious, and fell dead quiet, afraid and ashamed to flaunt its smallness in the presence of the stupendous hills.”
I felt just the same. Just traveling through this incredible area, one can only marvel at God’s breathtaking creation.
Then came the highlight of the whole experience and we watch the sun quickly dip below the rocks and then a full moon appeared. It wasn’t long before you could see literally thousands of stars, some with the faint glow and others shining brightly and glistening. It was like watching a tapestry of celestial spheres.
In a world so much of hate, violence and ugliness, Wadi Rum provided for me, an incredible experience of drawing closer to God and marveling at his creation.
And by the way, much of David Lean’s epic 1962 movie “Lawrence of Arabia” starring Peter O Toole, Alec Guiness and Omar Sharif was filmed on location in Wadi Rum.
One Jordanian leader told me on a previous visit, “Jordan is the birthplace of Christianity and Christians should come and visit its Biblical sites.
“We have in this country some of the most revered and some of the most important sites in the Christian religion. In fact, you can say that Jordan is where the Christian religion actually started — at the baptismal site [at Bethany Beyond the Jordan] where the Holy Spirit came down on Jesus when he was baptized by John The Baptist. This is where the ministry of Jesus began and it can he found on the east side of the Jordan River in Jordan.
“Other than that, we have many more biblical sites if you want go over a much longer span of the history of Christianity and Judaism. They are in Jordan than in what is now properly called the Holy Land.”
I agree wholeheartedly with that he said. Jordan is often forgotten by pilgrims today, but after visiting so many of these sites, I can say, “Take your own walk through the Bible” there. It will be a spiritual experience that you will never forget!
For more information on Jordan, go to http://na.visitjordan.com/
