Recap of Jordan as well as Field Trips to Bethlehem and the Jewish Quarter

I think that last week I sent some pictures of our trip to Jordan, but I didn’t send much commentary. So here I go. It was a great trip. The stops that were most memorable for me were Machaerus, Petra, the Jabbok River, and the Baptismal site on the Jordan River. 

Machearus was a palace fortress that Herod the Great built on the eastern side of the Dead Sea. It was built to protect the border with the Nabateans and it was also used as a prison. In fact, it was here that John the Baptist was imprisoned for criticizing the marriage of Herod Agrippa to his brother’s wife, Herodias. It was also where John was eventually beheaded. It is out in the middle of nowhere and there were a LOT of uneven stairs to go down and climb back—without any rail, which wasn’t wonderful for my knees or ankle, but I started the trek a little before my students to give me some extra time. Of course, they all caught up and overtook me. The view from the top was magnificent, but I didn’t get any photos because when we got up there I started teaching, and then in the middle it started pouring with rain! So we stayed for a while and then once we started going down, of course, it stopped. But as we started going down two of the guys from my Old Testament class (we switched classes just before we left for Jordan) came up independently and offered to help me so that I didn’t slip on the wet, slippery stones and to help me up all of those difficult stairs. I was so grateful for them. So they are in the picture with  Machaerus in the background. Ben is on the right and Adam is on the left.

Petra was an ancient Nabatean city that controlled the lucrative north-south trade routes. They displaced the Edomites who moved into southern desert area of Canaan and eventually became known as the Idumeans. (Herod the Great was an Idumean). You enter the city by walking for about a mile through a narrow canyon known as the Siq. Then all of a sudden you look up and you can see the Treasury cut into a massive rock face wall. It was so magnificent to see it. The camel picture was taken in front of the Treasury. It cost $3 to sit on the camel, have it stand up, take some pictures and then have it sit down again. Even though I have done this before, it was a horrible feeling when they stood up and sat down. I thought for sure that I was going to be thrown to the ground! It cost $5 if you wanted to walk around in a circle—but I was too cheap! We had lots of free time. Many of the students made treks up to the High place and to the Monastery. I knew that I couldn’t do both. In fact, I wasn’t sure that I would be able to do either. But I decided that I want to at least try to climb to the Monastery. Even though I am going to come here 3 times, during winter there’s a good chance that it will be wet and in summer it will be way too hot. So I decided to take my time and go as far as I could. I had students walking with me, but I was afraid that if they stayed with me they wouldn’t get to the see it themselves, so I shooed them off to go do it with their friends. Even so, one couple stayed with me all the way. I don’t know if I would have kept going if they hadn’t been with me. But I was SO GLAD that I kept going. It was absolutely magnificent to turn the corner and see it! I stayed up there for a while to recuperate and then headed down. Going down was so much worse for my knees than going up! And I’ve paid the price for the next 10 days! And I think that a tortoise would have been faster than me walking out of the Siq and back to the bus! There was a carriage that I could have paid to take me out, but it was so bumpy that I would have gotten whiplash. Some of the elderly people who I saw in it looked like they were hanging on for dear life! Next trip I am going to try and climb to the High Place.

The Jabbok River was the place where Jacob stopped with his family on his way back from Haran. This was the place where Jacob had his wrestle with the messenger from God and had his name changed to Israel. This site was the completion of his spiritual journey, which began at Bethel where the Lord invited him to enter into a covenant, but at a time when Jacob wasn’t sure that he wanted to enter into it. But by the time he came to the Jabbok river he had matured spiritually, and wanted the covenant more than anything else. He called the place Peniel, which in Hebrew means the “face of God.” Later he recalls that this was the place that he was “redeemed from all evil” (Gen. 48:16). So we took some time to talk with the students about this temple experience and God’s hope that all of us would have a Peniel experience in our lives. I’ve included a photo of me at the river and one of Spencer and Bryce in a contemplative moment.

 Oh, the other thing that was fun in the Jordan trip was to go to the traditional site of Jesus’ baptism on the Jordan River. As a faculty we had gone to the Israeli side, but it was a great time to go with the students and to talk about the supernal events that took place there. I’ve include a photo of the archaeological discoveries of ancient baptismal places. 

This week we had two field trips: Bethlehem and the Jewish quarter. Bethlehem was a great site. We went first to the Herodion, where Herod the Great was buried and then raced into Bethlehem to try and get their before all the cruise ship buses. Fortunately we got there before they did, but it was still a matter of going down to the grotto, take a picture and then be pushed out. There wasn’t much contemplative time. We did however get to go next door to the Catholic church and spend some time there. They have the grotto where Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, which was the standard biblical text until Erasmus. It was great to be there. We got some time to sing some Christmas carols and the sound was divine! Then we went and spent the evening in Shepherds’ Fields looking out over Bethlehem. The students put together a nativity program and we sang lots of Christmas carols, and Christmas will never be the same again!

Our trip to the Jewish Quarter focused mainly on Herodian Jerusalem, which was during the time of Jesus. After the Six Day War, much of the Jewish quarter of the Old City had to be rebuilt and so they took the time to excavate first. They found the remains of the residential area to the west of the Temple mount. It seems to have been where the priestly class lived because the houses were clearly interested in ritual purity. The priests seemed to have lived in opulence and were trying in imitate the Roman aristocracy. This is probably the backdrop for Jesus’ cleansing of the temple—that he would not allow the “widow’s mites” of the pilgrims to the temple to fund the excesses of the Sadducees. We finished the trip on the ancient stairs that led to the entrance of the temple. I’ve included a picture of the South West wall of the temple mount. This was the place where the ancient priests would stand and blow their trumpets. Part of the rock where the priest’s stood has been excavated with an inscription identifying it as the place of trumpeting. This was probably the pinnacle of the temple mentioned in the temptations of Jesus.

Well, this has been a long epistle this week. This program is physically, emotionally and spiritually demanding, but I have to say that have come to love these students. I’ve never had such an experience like this with students. They are amazing and I am loving participating on this spiritual journey with them.