Day Two: Mt. Nebo, Qumran, Herodian, Bethlehem 24 May, 2018

Up at the crack of dawn and packing to leave Jordan. Still have the bucket. We have to cross into Israel today. I had kind of hoped that this tour would be different than other tours I have taken. The guided tour we took in China stopped at the Tea Ceremony (i.e. selling tea) and the Silk Museum (i.e. selling silk). I get the fact that an economy that depends on tourism needs to have tourist buy things in order to make a living for the people. So, I wasn’t surprised that our first stop was at the Ceramic shop. Jordan does not have a law that requires goods to have a country of origin label. So, I have no idea where the materials were made but the coolest part of the shop was the outside.

As we left the shop and head to Mt Nebo we passed a flock of those rock eating sheep I told you about. The rocks are evidently high in nutrients because the seep look fat and fluffy.

Our first real stop was Mt. Nebo.

Deuteronomy 32 New International Version (NIV)

Moses to Die on Mount Nebo

⁴⁸On that same day the Lord told Moses, ⁴⁹“Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo in Moab, across from Jericho, and view Canaan, the land I am giving the Israelites as their own possession. ⁵⁰There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.⁵¹This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. ⁵²Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.”

If I did not trust Dr. Anderson so very much I might have given in to my skeptical and cynical nature and have questioned if this is really the spot that Moses stood. I have a video of Dr. Anderson pointing and explaining what we would have seen had this been a clear day. It wasn’t clear and the wind was blowing making the sound on the video difficult to hear. So, you will have to trust my retelling of his description.

Dr. A points into the haze in the south-southwest direction and says that over there is the Dead Sea. That haze just a bit to the west is preventing us from seeing the city of Jericho. Behind that to the east a bit you could see the Mount of Olives if the haze wasn’t occluding your vista. Jerusalem is behind the Mount of Olives and down the hill. Good News: even on a clear day you couldn’t see that. Then beyond that you would be able to see all the way to Joppa (a city where Jonah booked passage on the ill-fated ship as he ran from God) and Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea beyond. Look toward the Northwest and you would have seen Gibeah the first capital of Israel after they entered the promise land. See Judges chapters 19 and 20. This is also where Saul lived.

1 Samuel 10:26 New International Version (NIV)

²⁶Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched.

Dr. A pointing at Mt Herman

Despite not being able to see what Moses saw, in my mind’s eye I could see Moses standing on this very mountain and looking into the land that God had given to the Nation of Israel. I had read and heard about this moment all of my life and to be standing where Moses stood was a very moving experience.

Then to look across the valley to the northwest and see Mount Herman where Jesus was very probably transfigured. Mount Hermon is just north of Caesarea Philippi the area where Jesus asked his disciples “Who do you say I am?” Then Peter, James and John went with Jesus up the Mountain.

Luke 9:28-36 New International Version (NIV)

The Transfiguration

²⁸About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. ²⁹As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. ³⁰Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. ³¹They spoke about his departure,^[a] which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. ³²Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. ³³As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)

³⁴While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” ³⁶When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

I must comment that 3000 plus years ago was a long time and the vegetation and regional weather patterns might have been very different but looking across this land (what I could see of it) did not look very promising.

As we headed for the Jordan River to cross from Jordan into Israel this was more often what we saw rather than milk and honey. There are no pictures for our border crossing because there were signs and instructions everywhere to take no pictures. I assumed they were serious and took none.

The crossing involved having our Jordanian bus and driver stop and we unloaded and claimed our luggage. We carried the luggage into a building with airport type security. After the x-raying of our luggage we went through the lines and were given a card with the Israeli entry stamp on it. They did not stamp our passport because going back into an Arab state you do not want an Israeli stamp in your passport. Of course, with a land crossing this makes no sense since you are coming directly from Israel.

We gathered our luggage and loaded it into an Israeli bus with an Israeli driver. The bus was just a few weeks old and very nice. We drove on.

It is amazing what you can grow in the desert if you can get water to the dry and parched land. These are date palms, as far as you know. I enjoyed fresh dates at breakfast almost every morning. I think this is the first time I have eaten them fresh. Mom used to buy dried dates at Christmas to make one of her famous recipes. They came in a paper box about the size of box of double six dominoes. The dates when eaten right out of the box were sticky and very sugary. Fresh dates have the same taste without the sticky part and have the consistency of a plumb. The pit is pretty large compared to the prune size date.

We passed several of these gas-station/camel ride stands. I guess if you own a camel and are not going to join a caravan across the desert you have to find something for your camel to do.

Our first stop in Israel (West Bank) was Qumran. This is the site where the famous Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Bedouin shepherds Muhammed edh-Dhib and cousin Jum’a Muhammed, and Khalil Musa trying to find some lost sheep and throwing stones into a cave to see if the sheep would come out but on hearing a breaking sound they soon discovered several scrolls in 1946. They kept them for a while and finally sold them to an antiquities dealer who showed them to John C Trever an American Biblical scholar living in Jerusalem. Trever took photos and sent them to William F. Albright a scholar who recognized them as the greatest manuscript discovery of the modern age.

This is Cave 1 where the first scrolls were found. One of which was a complete copy of the Book of Isaiah in Hebrew. This confirmed that the oldest copies we had prior to this were accurate.

The people who made the copies were a Jewish sect that set up the Qumran community to among other things, copy precisely the Holy texts and other important documents. When in 66 AD the Jews rebelled against Rome the community began to worry about their scrolls and took the step to hide the scrolls in clay jars and place them in cave in the mountain above their community. Their worry was well placed. Their community was destroyed not many years later.

This is an excavated water cistern with the plaster lining to make it water proof. They needed lots of water because they were constantly bathing (baptizing themselves) so as to be ceremonially clean before they began to copy the sacred texts.

We drove from Qumran into Jerusalem. This is the first sight I had from the bus of the Mosque known as the Dome of the Rock. Built on the site of Solomon’s temple. All that is left of that Temple is the Western Wall known by non-Jews as the Wailing Wall. We visited that later.

We were driving through Jerusalem to get to Bethlehem.

A watermelon salesman on the streets of Jerusalem.

For many centuries the places where tradition says that Biblical events took place have been secured inside of churches, cathedrals and basilica. One of our first stops was the Shepard’s caves. This is where tradition says the angels appeared to the shepherds.

Luke 2 New International Version (NIV)

⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Now despite the fact that scripture does not mention a cave this is where it supposedly took place, or at least somewhere very close to this cave.

Not far from here we went to the Church of the Nativity.

I am not sure whether tradition that this was the place of Jesus birth is true or not. But it is true that I was in Bethlehem and that clearly and truly is the place of His birth. It was special.

Our last stop for the day was Herodion a palace and fortress built by Herod the Great the guy who had all the baby boys killed after the birth of Jesus. Herod was not anything if not lavish. This palace was pretty impressive: saunas, theaters, mosaic floors, and many believe this to be the birth place of rock and roll.