Sunday, May 8, 2016

Jordan: Bethany Beyond The Jordan and Mount Nebo


Being basically the birthplace of Christianity, Jordan is filled with sites of religious significance. One is Bethany Beyond the Jordan, which is where Christ was baptized by John the Baptist. This site is on the side of the Jordan River (the border between Israel and Jordan) and excavation of the site only began in 1996, after peace was established between Israel and Jordan in 1994 so that the minefield on top of the site could be removed.

Below is a picture of where the actual baptism took place. Remains of 5 different churches have been found at this site, each built on top of the last over the years.



This is a photo of what the area looked like for the baptism - the Jordan river used to flow right by it but over the years it has meandered away. Sorry the photo isn't that good - the site is on the bottom right and you can see the river used to be right next to it.



A few photos of the Jordan river meandering around the area. There's a lot of sediment in it - it used to be much wider and faster flowing but over the years Israel and Jordan have diverted the waters upstream for use in agriculture and the flow is now reduced to almost nothing. The water barely moves at all.



This is a Greek Orthodox church that is right on the bank of the river. There are several other churches in the area as well, and a few more under construction.



Since the baptism site is so close to the Israel-Jordan border, you can't just drive up to the site and see it and then leave; you have to take an organized tour that shuttles you in from a location an acceptable distance from the border and then you have to stay with your your group at all times. The border is patrolled on both sides by armed guards. On the tour, there is an option to purchase a special robe and wade into or swim in the Jordan river, which is considered holy, in order to be blessed. Several people on our tour did this. I didn't take pictures of that happening, instead I took pictures of the Israel side of the border across the river where they were better outfitted to baptize or bless large groups all at once. It's definitely more of an organized business over there. The first picture below is a tour group on the Israel side waiting to be baptized and the second photo shows another group, all outfitted in the white robes, waiting to swim in the river for a blessing. Also, it's neat that Israel is so close.



If you are not religious and are on this tour, prepare yourself to be out in the hot sun for 2 hours not only waiting for people to swim in the river but also waiting for a shuttle to come and take you back to your car. They make you wait awhile in hopes that you'll buy some religious trinket from their shop.

The other site we went to was Mount Nebo, which is where Moses viewed the promised land and then supposedly died there - I say supposedly because nobody has ever found his remains in the area, and depending on which religion you follow he was either buried in the surrounding valley somewhere or on the mountain itself.



We didn't take a ton of pictures here. There's the view of the surrounding area, which is nice but it was kind of hazy the day we went, and there are ruins of the church from the 4th century there and they've put a few of the mosaics from the church under a tent for visitors to see but that's it. There's a modern church up there to provide worship space and that shows more of the original mosaics but it's been closed for renovations since 2007 and isn't likely to reopen anytime soon. On a clear day you can see Jericho and Jerusalem.

Some photos of the view and the area at the top where you can wander around to look in different directions:

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