The Land of Moses

This evening I'm sitting in a cozy hotel room with a balcony view of the Sea of Galilee watching the sun quietly descend the horizon.  I'm thinking and reflecting on the fact that "Jesus was HERE!"  Oh my, oh my, those words bring chills to my body.  I'm standing/sitting in the place where Jesus was.  Whew, that's major.  But...that's for the next blog post.  I just wanted to make sure everyone knew what I was looking at while sitting at my laptop.

Back to Moses, the land of Moab, the Moabites, the city of Madaba,  Jordan.  Our first stop was the breakfast buffet at our hotel.  They have been feeding us excellent meals as part of our tour.  No one has gone hungry.  After breakfast, we checked out of Geneva Hotel and headed to the land of Biblical Moab.  

Mosaic artwork on the church sign

Our guide, Rami, was excellent at giving us history and pointing out highlights throughout the bus ride to our first stop, the church in Madaba.  Well, actually, we parked in a parking lot of the future visitor's center where a very large mosaic is in the works of a map of the land of Jordan.  We walked to the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George and viewed the earliest surviving mosaic map of the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea.  This map was not complete, some pieces had been destroyed by an earthquake, fire and age.  However, the surviving part was the Holy Land in exquisite detail.  Made of natural stone from the Jordan Valley, this map on the floor of the church was just breathtaking.  It's hard to imagine putting the map together, but the detail and size was impressive.

  

Part of them mosaic in the church

While at the church, Pastor Reggie reminded us that if not for Moab, none of us would be Christians.  Ruth was a Moabite woman.  She was the mother of Obed, the father of Jessie, the father of David.  Ruth is one of only 2 women named in the Biblical genealogy recorded in Luke.  Wow, what a fabulous reminder.  I love the story of Ruth and her kinsman redeemer.  

After the church, we headed to Mt. Nebo.  This is the place believed to contain the bones of Moses or tomb of Moses,  Nobody really knows where Moses was buried, but the Bible says that he died on Mt. Nebo.  This is also the place where God took Moses at 120 years of age and showed him the promised land.  Moses was forbidden entry into the promised land due to his disobedience to God for striking the rock for water rather than just speaking to the rock for water.  However, God in His divine grace gave Moses the view of the promised land, and oh what a VIEW he had.  It was stunning and breathtaking.  There are no words, just awe and wonder.

View to the north from Mt. Neba

Pastor Reggie spoke about the spot and we read from  Deuteonomy 32: 48-50.  One of the most interesting thoughts to take with me from Mt. Nebo was that Moses was the giver of the law.  He gave the law to Israel.  The law is not what gets us into the promised land.  Jesus, the grace giver was the only way we could ever enter into that land of promise, heaven.  This was a simple, yet profound correlation that Pastor spoke.  It will stay with me, especially since I was on top of Mt. Nebo, the last place the law giver, Moses, took a breath.  We did not have time to just sit and ponder and look around, but Mt. Nebo is in my mind and in my heart.  It really made an impression on my heart.   Not just due to the beauty and wonder of the place, but the events that took place there and the significance it holds to me and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ today and forever.

There are also the remnants of 4 churches on Mt. Nebo.  As Rami said, it was obviously a place of great importance if 4 churches were built there.  Each church was similiar in design and all faced East.  All of the 4 churches were destroyed but a remnant remained and has been preserved for us to view and enjoy today.  The mosaics were incredible.  I didn't realize how specialized mosaic art was until our visit to Jordan.  Each mosaic was made from natural stone, no color added and hand pieced.  Just incredible.  We visited a mosaic workshop in the town of Madaba after leaving the churches and Mt. Nebo.  It was also here where we realized the value of mosaic art.  One piece was what they called microstone art, a depiction of Christ and the disciples at the last supper.  Retail price was 400,000 JD (Jordanian Denari) or over $450,000.  Pricey but beautiful art and very unique to Jordan.

After our shopping excursion at the mosaic workshop, we boarded the bus and headed to the border to cross into Israel.  The border crossing went splendidly, no problems, and it didn't take much time.  Thankfully, it was fairly quick and painless.  Israel takes their security extremely serious and scrutinizes every entry.  Our passports were checked at least 3 times on arrival to Israel.  However, I don't mind that if it makes the country safe and my visit safer. 

We boarded a new bus, met our new guide Hela and driver Omar.  Our next adventure began.