Moore Perspective: A Biblical Journey Through the Bible Lands: Jordan (Part 1 of 2)

This is the beginning of a series of articles inspired by a recent trip to “the Bible Lands,” highlighting the biblical significance of the places we visited.

The Kingdom of Jordan

Our journey begins in the Kingdom of Jordan, which shares its name with the River and Valley along its western border.¹ Biblically this is the southern part of the “Transjordan,” often alluded to in scripture as “beyond the Jordan” from the vantagepoint of the nine-and-a-half western Israelite tribes.² At one time this was the land of the Ammonites and Moabites—descendants of Ben-Ammi and Moab, sons of Lot (Abraham’s nephew) and his two daughters (Gen. 19:30-38)—and the Amorites, descendants of Noah’s son Ham and grandson Canaan (Gen. 10:15-16).

Moses led the post-exodus Israelites here, where their covenant was renewed and Moses was allowed to view the Promised Land across the Jordan Valley (Deut. 29:1–32:52) <see Part 2>. It was in this area, east of the Jordan, that Moses died and was buried (Deut. 34:1-8) and where the Israelite tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half-Manasseh settled (Num. 21:21-35; 32:1-22; Josh. 13:8-32). Elijah was taken up into heaven from here, after he and Elisha had crossed the Jordan River eastwardly on dry ground (2 Kings 2:6-12).

In New Testament times the expansive territory included the southern Decapolis, Perea, and the land of the Nabateans, just south of the Sea of Galilee down to the northern tip of the Red Sea. John the baptizer ministered here (John 1:28; 3:26; 10:40) and most likely died here. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, having ventured “beyond the Jordan” on multiple occasions, he had many followers in the general region (Matt. 4:25).

Much of the country of Jordan was once known as the Nabatean Kingdom, which the Romans called Arabia (cf. Gal. 4:25). From the first century BC this was a client state of the Roman Empire that lost its independence in AD 106. The Nabatean Kingdom was ruled approximately forty-eight years (9 BC–AD 40) by King Aretas IV (mentioned in 2 Cor. 11:32-33), whose daughter Phasaelis was married to and divorced by Herod Antipas before his unlawful marriage to Herodias (cf. Mark 6:14-29).

Jews and proselytes from Arabia (Nabatea) were in Jerusalem on Pentecost (Acts 2:11), with the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel of Christ. Later Saul of Tarsus was converted and spent the first three years of his Christian life in Damascus and Arabia (Acts 9:3-19; Gal. 1:15-18), during which he aroused the disfavor of the Nabatean king (2 Cor. 11:32). It is plausible that Paul worked alongside Arabian-Nabatean-Jordanian-Jewish Christians during this time (Acts 2:11, 41; 8:1-4; 11:19).

Northwest Jordan is where Pella was located, a city of the Decapolis incorporated into Roman Judea. When Jerusalem was besieged by the Romans and later fell in AD 70, according to Christ’s warnings (Luke 21:20-24) Christians fled eastward to Pella (Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. 3.5.3) and were reported there and in other Decapolis territories centuries later (Epiphanius, Panarion 29.7.8). The remains of Christian church buildings from the third century onward have been found all around the area.

The King’s Highway

Mentioned in Numbers 20:17; 21:22; and Deuteronomy 2:27, the King's Highway is now a 174-mile (280 km) paved roadway, believed to be one of the world’s oldest continuously used roads. It was a major trade route in antiquity, connecting Syria in the north with Arabia and Egypt in the south. The king of Edom refused to allow Moses to lead the Israelites through his territory along this highway. Much earlier it was likely the route taken by the four northern kings defeated by Abraham as he rescued his nephew Lot (Gen. 14:8-16).

Amman: Capital of Jordan

Formerly the capital of the Ammonite kingdom (12th–11th centuries BC), the city was renamed Philadelphia in the third century BC and became the southernmost city of the Decapolis. The Ammonites were descendants of Lot (Abraham’s nephew) and his youngest daughter’s son Ben-Ammi (Gen. 19:30-38), whose territory bordered the Israelite lands of Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh (cf. Deut. 2:19; 3:16; Josh. 13:10). The Ammonites were polytheists (1 Kings 11:7, 33) and enemies of God’s people (Deut. 23:3-6). The Lord used them to punish Israel, but also helped Israel defeat them (Judg. 3:13; 10:7-9; 11:4; 1 Sam. 11:11; 14:47).

Amman: Capital of Jordan

Jephthah’s foolish vow involved the people of Ammon (Judg. 11:30-33). Israel was at war with them when David sinned with Bathsheba and the Ammonites killed her husband Uriah (2 Sam. 11:1–12:9). Solomon married an Ammonite woman (1 Kings 14:21). In the fifth century BC, Ammonite women were among the mixed marriages of Ezra 9:1-2, and the Ammonites joined Sanballat to oppose the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall (Neh. 4:7-8). The Ammonite people were eventually absorbed into the Nabatean Arab population.

Reflections

How humbling it is to have been in the same geographical region where Moses, Elijah, John the baptizer, Jesus, and Paul had been, even though, like me, their stay was relatively brief. This was not their permanent home. For at least the first three centuries AD a strong community of Christians resided here. Yet this was not their permanent home either. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced [them] and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb. 11:13, NKJV).

--Kevin L. Moore

Endnotes:

1 The etymology of the name is uncertain. The Hebrew Yardēn and Arabic Urdunn signify “going down” or “descending,” seemingly descriptive of the River’s southward flow. Our Jordanian guide suggested that the name is a combination of the Aramaic gor (“deep valley”) + Dan (the territory where the Jordan River begins), but I have not been able to confirm this.

2 From the speaker’s point of reference: Deut. 3:8; Josh. 1:15; 2:10; 7:7; 9:10; 18:7; 22:4; 24:8; Judg. 5:17; 33:32; 35:14; from the writer’s point of reference: Gen. 50:10-11; Num. 22:1; 34:15; Josh. 12:1; 13:8; 14:3; 17:5; Judg. 7:25; 10:8; 1 Sam. 31:7; 1 Chron. 12:37. See K. L. Moore, “Beyond the Jordan: an Ethnogeographical Study,” Moore Perspective (9 June 2021), <Link>.