Mount Nebo

Amman Jordan (Internet Photo)

After our morning in Petra, we drove North through Jordan along the Kings Highway to their capital city of Amman.

We stayed at the Golden Tulip Grand Plaza Hotel in downtown Amman. It was quite a cultural change: from the quaint, antiquated countryside of Petra, to the modern, hustle-bustle of the capitol city. Amman is a city of contrasts. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the world. It has been ruled by many cultures from the Ammonites, to the Greeks, to the Ottoman Turks.

"Recent excavations have uncovered homes and towers believed to have been built many thousands of years ago, with many references to it in the Bible.

Amman was known in the Old Testament as Rabbath-Ammon, the capital of the Ammonites around 1200 BC, it was also referred to as "the City of Waters".

In Greco-Roman times in the 3rd century BC, the City was renamed Philadelphia (Greek for "The Brotherhood Love") after the Ptolemaic ruler Philadelphus (283-246 BC). The City later came under Seleucid as well as Nabataean rule until the Roman General Pompey annexed Syria and made Philadelphia part of the Decapolis League - a loose alliance of ten free city-states, bound by powerful commercial, political, and cultural interests under overall allegiance to Rome.



Under the influence of the Roman culture, Philadelphia was reconstructed in typically grand Roman style with colonnaded streets, baths, an Amphitheater, and impressive public buildings.

During the Byzantine period, Philadelphia was the seat of a Christian Bishop, and therefore several churches were built. The city declined somewhat until the year 635 AD. As Islam spread northwards from the Arabian Peninsula, the land became part of its domain. Its original Semitic name Ammon or Amman was returned to it.

Amman's modern history began in the late 19th Century, when the Ottomans resettled a colony of Circassian emigrants in 1878. As the Great Arab Revolt progressed and the State of Transjordan was established, Emir Abdullah ibn Al-Hussein founder of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan made Amman his capital in 1921. Since then, Amman has grown rapidly into a modern, thriving metropolis of well over two million people."    From http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/amman.html

We checked into our hotel just in time to clean up and enjoy a delicious dinner. 

I haven't spoken much about how I survived food-wise in the Middle East.  It was difficult, but not impossible.  The tour coordinator in California had emailed and alerted each of our hotel's staff of my life threatening allergies.  How kind of him.  Unfortunately, he gave them all suggestions (his idea) of what they could fix me.  He told the hotel chefs that I could eat boiled chicken with no oils and absolutely no seasonings, a boiled potato - again no oils or seasonings (or butter), and a cup of plain boiled white rice.  Well...like I said, I really appreciate the thoughtfulness and the way they cared for me, but after 4 nights, I was tiring of white boiled chicken, white rice, and white boiled potatoes.  Nutritious - but not much flavor!

There is always a salad bar at the hotel buffets, but because all of our hotels were Kosher, there is never any dairy (aka butter, cheese, sour cream) served at an evening meal and most of the vegetable dishes had some oil on them to which I am allergic.  Suffice to say, I was ready for some color and some flavor after a few days.  When we reached the hotel in Amman, I was a little braver with the chef, and I asked if he could please serve me some fresh fruit.  He did bring out the obligatory chicken, potatoes, and rice, but to my surprise and utter delight, he brought out a beautiful plate of delicious kiwi, watermelon, cherries, plums, and fresh pineapple.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  It was so good and so sweet and exactly what I was most hungry for!  

I wasn't always served such luscious morsels, there would be more boiled chicken and rice - but occasionally I had a chef who served a more tasty meal.  For breakfast, I could count on a carton of yogurt and usually some tomatoes and cucumbers, I always skipped lunch (unless I brought a piece of fruit from breakfast in my backpack), and for dinner...  well, you know the menu by now.

We only stayed in Amman for the night and in the morning we packed and loaded the bus for our last day to see sites in Jordan.  

We began by touring Mt. Nebo, a high precipice in Jordan on which Moses was taken to see the Promised Land - but not allowed to enter because of his disobedience to God earlier in his life. It was interesting to stand on that same mountain and see the view of the land that Moses had seen, and our guide pointed out to us different points of interest that we would be visiting in the coming days!

Of course, as with most of the "holy places" around these parts, this particular mountain top is home to the Franciscans. They have a basilica built in 394 AD and a monastery at Mt. Nebo and they care for the mountain top and those who come to visit. (They take your money too.)  We were able to see some beautiful mosaics that were found in the baptistry of the church.  I always thought mosaics were made of tiles, but these mosaics are made of little, tiny pieces of stone!

The baptistery and the mosaic can be precisely dated to August 531 thanks to a Greek inscription, which also names the three workers who created it and the bishop at the time (Elias).

The Old Baptistery mosaic is in remarkably pristine condition because another one was laid over it just a few decades later in 597. The underlying mosaic remained hidden for nearly 1,400 years until it was discovered in 1976 when the one on top was removed for restoration.

Another interesting note:  Here in the Middle East - or at least in Egypt, Jordan, and in Israel, they have a modesty code that is strictly enforced at all the "holy" places.  It doesn't matter if it is a "Christian", Jewish, or Muslim holy place, there is a modesty requirement if you want to visit.  Basically, nothing above your knees should show, so skirts, pants, etc. must all cover the knees (male and female).  No shoulders are to be bare, no sleeveless is allowed.  I believe the mosques have even stricter requirements, but we were not allowed to visit them during our time there, so I didn't experience this.  When we went to the Temple Mound (a Muslim area) I saw a tourist turned away because she had a sleeveless shirt on.  The guard actually helped her take a paper towel and fashion sleeves to tuck into her shirt.  As long as her shoulders are covered - even if by paper - she was allowed to enter!

Hey - you think we could enact some modesty codes in our country?  Think that would fly at say....  Disney?  Isn't that our holy site?  I am sorry...  I couldn't resist.  I digress - again!

Mount Nebo's association with the last days of Moses is described in moving words in Deuteromony (34:1-7).  "Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. And the LORD said to him, "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, 'I will give it to your offspring.' I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there." So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD, and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated."

The episode of Balak and Balaam (Numbers 2:13-26) also took place here.  It is believed that Moses died and God buried Moses somewhere here on Mt. Nebo.  Some think the Ark of the Covenant is hidden here as well.  Who knows?  However, everywhere we go - someone thinks the Ark of the Covenant is hidden there.  I'll leave that up to Indiana Jones, and my archaeological buddies from Wheaton!









This monument, is atop Mt. Nebo.  It was erected in 2000 AD when the Pope visited this holy site.  It depicts man's struggle.  Not sure what that has to do with Moses..... but I took a picture - peer pressure, I guess.


Little Jordanian Lizard lounging on burlap wall of tent on Mt. Nebo.  Peer pressure again...