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

Jerash South Theater

The City of Jerash

About 30 miles (48 km) north of Jordan’s capital Amman, Jerash was once known by its Greek name Gérasa, annexed by the Romans to the province of Syria and counted among the ten cities of the Decapolis. By AD 106 it was incorporated into the Roman province of Arabia. Jerash has one of the largest and best preserved sites of an ancient Greco-Roman city, established after the fourth-century BC conquests of Alexander the Great and successively controlled by the Greek Ptolemies, the Greek Seleucids, and the Romans. 

In the Gospel accounts of Jesus casting a Legion of demons into a herd of swine, the general region of the Decapolis is noted (Mark 5:20), while Mark and Luke particularly allude to the country of the Gerasenes (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26, 37), i.e., the region where the city of Gerasa was located. However, Gerasa (Jerash) is about 37 miles (60 km) from the Sea of Galilee. Variant readings among extant manuscripts include the Gerasenes, Gadarenes, and Gergesenes in reference to the municipalities of Gerasa (modern-day city of Jerash), Gadara (modern-day town of Umm Qais), and Gergesa (modern-day lakeside village of El Kursi). While both Gadara and Gerasa were among the ten cities of the Decapolis, none of the Synoptic Gospels names a particular city. They each speak of the χώρα (“country” or “region”) of a much broader territory incorporating and surrounding these townships. Although Gerasa (Jerash) was the farthest from the Sea, it was the largest and better known. Mark and Luke use a geographical marker more familiar to their respective non-Jewish audiences less acquainted with the area.¹ 

Mount Nebo

Mount Nebo is located in what used to be the land of Moab, across the Jordan River southeast from Jericho. From here Moses was allowed to see the Promised Land beyond the Jordan Valley before his death and secret burial (Deut. 32:49-50; 34:1-8). 

View of "the Promised Land" from Mt. Nebo

View of "the Promised Land" from Mt. Nebo

The area became part of the inheritance of the Israelite tribe of Reuben, later known as Perea in the jurisdiction of Herod the Great (Matt. 2:1; Luke 1:5), transferred to his son Antipas (Luke 23:6-7), then to his grandson Agrippa I (Acts 12:19-20). The Hebrew noun nabi’ [נביא] means “prophet,” while the verbal nabah [נבה] means to “be high or prominent.”

The City of Madaba 

Madaba in Central Jordan was once a Moabite border city (Num. 21:30; Josh. 13:9) in the land of Reuben, and later Nabataea. It is now the city known for its Byzantine era mosaics, the most famous of which is the sixth-century-AD Madaba Map, the oldest surviving map of the Bible Lands, from which a number of significant biblical sites have been located.

Madaba Mosaic Map, Church of St. George

 

Madaba Map Reproduction

 The City of Petra 

At one time this region was inhabited by the Edomites (descendants of Jacob’s brother Esau), who assisted the Babylonians in conquering Judah in the sixth century BC. The prophet Obadiah was commissioned to pronounce divine judgment against them: “Thus says the Lord GOD …. ‘The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high …. From there I will bring you down,’ says the LORD” (Ob. 3-4).² The Edomites were driven out of their land by the Nabateans in the fourth century BC and had vanished from history by the end of the first century AD. 

View of the "Treasury" through a cleft of the rock

A major center of trade and commerce, Petra was the capital of Nabataea from the second century BC, then the capital of the Roman province of Arabia in second century AD. The massive mausoleum (mistakenly called the Treasury) carved into the sandstone cliff, with only the top two floors of the three-level structure now visible, is believed to be the burial site of Nabataean King Aretas IV, whose Damascus ethnarch sought to arrest the apostle Paul (2 Cor. 11:32-33). 

The "Treasury" or Mausoleum of Aretas at Petra

Dwellings at Petra

Aaron's tomb, Mt. Haroun

On its southern route is the traditional burial place of Moses’ brother Aaron, identified as Mount Hor in Deuteronomy 32:50. At one time this was the land of the Edomites (Num. 20:23; 33:37). Today known in Arabic as Jabal Haroun or Jebel Harun (“Mountain of the Prophet Aaron”), on the site where a Christian church building of the Byzantine era once stood is a Muslim shrine marking the place believed to be the tomb of Aaron.  

Reflections

We stood atop Mount Nebo, looking across the Jordan Valley from the vantagepoint Moses had over three millennia ago. What would he have thought and felt, knowing his life was ending without entering the Promised Land? I’m not so sure disappointment was felt as strongly as relief, satisfaction, and anticipation. After 120 years of hardship, sacrifice, and displacement, he was on the brink of going home, “… for he looked to the reward” (Heb. 11:26).

--Kevin L. Moore

Endnotes:

     ¹ See K. L. Moore, “Geographical Confusion: the Land of Demon-Possessed Pigs,” Moore Perspective (6 July 2022), <Link>.

     ² Scripture quotations are from the NKJV.

Related Posts: Jordan Part 1, Palestinian West Bank, Israel Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10

 

Image credits:

Jerash South Theater, photo by Katie Wadlington

Views from Mt Nebo, photos by Lydia Todd

Madaba Mosaic Map, photo by Katie Wadlington

Madaba Map Reproduction, Wikipedia 

Petra photos by Lydia Todd

Traditional Site of Aaron’s Tomb, Mt. Haroun <https://sacredsites.com/middle_east/jordan/jebel_haroun.html>