Jordan, Day 4

This was the last day of our Jordan trip, and also the last day of field study for this class. It was a little bittersweet. More so for others, though. I get to come back for more!

November 16, 2008

The morning started bright and early in a Medieval castle with a view down to the Dead Sea and Masada.
We were at Kerak, location of a crusader castle, formerly the capital (or one of the capitals) of Moab. What a place to defend! Perhaps not quite as impenetrable as Bozrah would have been in its day, but still pretty hard to get into if the inhabitants didn’t want you to.
Our guide, Zaffer, also told a couple good stories about the interaction between the crusaders and Suliman.

We drove through the Wadi Arnon to get to our next sight. Boy, was it impressive! That's quite a valley to cross if you want to conquer land on the other side.

Our next stop was Dibon, Mesha’s Moabite capital on the Medeba plateau and the place where his stele was found. Again, a little less defensible than even Kerak, but still probably better than Jerusalem. We talked about Mesha’s battles and how they related to events and people in the Biblical account. The Medeba plateau was indeed a contested place, both politically and (in a related way) religiously.

At Dibon, I think that Dr. Wright managed to infuse into us a little of his longing to have these places excavated and displayed properly, both for the benefit of Jordan and for the furtherance of our knowledge.
(This is Dibon. See, a little excavation has been done, but what you see is about the extent of it.)
We visited the locations of 4 different ancient capitals (Rabbah, Bozrah, Kir, and Dibon). Most of them have been excavated very little. We were “lucky” with the finding of the Moabite stone – it gives us a bit of insight into Moab. We still know so little of that, though, and next to nothing about the other capitals and their inhabitants, except what we can learn from the Bible, which is limited and written from the perspective of their enemies. And for Jordan’s sake…one would think that they could increase tourism a lot and bring in more money if they would take the trouble to fix up these sites and charge an entrance fee. These were all fairly major cities for centuries. It’s seems likely that at least some ostraca or something would have survived. There is so much we could learn.

After Dibon we skipped Heshbon due to time constraints and headed straight to St. George’s church, the location of the famous mosaic map of the Levant from around the 6th century AD. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a whole lot of time to take it in as we were off running again, this time to grab a lunch to eat on the buses. Still, it was fun to see.
(This is me pointing to where our school would be on the Jerusalem portion of the map.)

As we drove I observed the passing country-side. They have some really good soil in the region of Moab and the Medeba plateau, where we were today. There are also houses scattered here and there, more or less densely. Most houses are colored grey, tan, or whitish (unpainted or white-washed concrete bricks mostly, I think.) Occasionally you’ll see one that is green or blue or orange. And sometimes, far more often than you might suspect, you’ll see one that is pink. All different shades of pink: bubblegum, salmon, Pepto-Bismol, even fuchsia. I entertained myself by trying to take pictures of pink houses and of the trucks with colorful railings.

Our final stop of the day, trip, and semester, was on top of the traditional location of Mt. Nebo. Like Moses, we looked into the “promised land.”
It was a clear day and we could see clear across to the Mount of Olives with its three towers. It was a very poignant moment as we considered Moses’ last words to the Israelites. From where the Israelites were stationed near Jericho, the future could have looked pretty bleak. Most of the land that they could see looked just like more of the wilderness they had been wandering in. This was the promised land? But Moses had surely seen farther up, even before his sight on Mt. Nebo. He knew the promises of God and he reminded the people of those promises. And as the people were preparing for a change of life style (from wandering to a settled life) he reminded them of God’s law and told them how to apply it in this new lifestyle. Moses’ last words…He must have loved these people, some of them especially. This was good-bye. What must have he felt? I think I can relate to some extent. When I decided not to return to Petra (the school, not the Nabatean city) the hardest part was saying good-bye to my students, and I also tried to leave them with some last words. Nothing as lengthy as Deuteronomy, but, I think, reflecting the same desires. Over the 5 (or so) years I spent with them, I came to love them so dearly. I learned with them, played with them, laughed with them, and tried to encourage them in their faith. I want so much for them to follow God with all their heart, and I am so afraid for some of them, especially, who seem to be flirting with the world. (Some of them are doing very well, and will probably read this, so really, I don't think y'all are heathens. :) Moses must have had the same fear for his people.

I think Dr. Wright also has some of the same feelings and thoughts toward us. He’s spent a semester pouring his life into us, and that was pretty much our last class. As we looked across the Jordan to what was Israel’s future, he reminded us that, although our future after this semester is more or less unknown, we know the God we serve. Even if the immediate future looks bleak, like the wilderness of Judah, there is hope – the hill country of Judah is behind it, just out of sight. May we trust and obey God as we move into it, whatever it is!

And to finish it off, a quote from the trip home (across the Israeli border):
Dr. Wright: Good thing we’re not tourist, huh?
Matt: Yeah. We’re home.

I have been blessed, indeed, to have been able to call Israel “home” for the past semester. I’m looking forward to next semester!

(Sunset by Jericho)