Project Israel- Promised Land

We started our day in Amman, Jordan, and spent the majority of the day seeing sites related to the Old Testament.

(Side note- we weren't able to visit the site of Jesus' Baptism in the Jordan River because the Jordanian army is keeping that area under tight control right now, and we didn't have time to go through all the security. We were all disappointed, as you might imagine. I was looking forward to collecting some water from the Jordan for baptisms. While they sell it on every street corner here, it wouldn't be as meaningful if I purchased it. Oh well, just one more reason to come back!)

First we went to Madaba, also called Moab in the Bible. There we visited St. George's Orthodox Church, which contains a mosaic map of the Holy Land (though not remotely to scale, nor does it contain any of the major roads from the time) on the floor in front of the main altar.

Next we visited Mt. Nebo, where Moses is said to have blessed Joshua as the new leader of the Israelites and glimpsed the promised land right before he died, where God then buried him (Deuteronomy 34). Although the view was hazy today, we could see the Jordan River and the plain leading into Israel.

Next we crossed back into Israel, which only took us about an hour to go through all the checkpoints. Given how strict Israeli security is, we had it very easy. Since it's a military zone, pictures aren't allowed, and I wasn't about to risk getting detained and questioned by the IDF or the Mossad.

We visited Jericho, site of the famous battle in Joshua 6. Herod's Winter Palace is here, but it's only partially excavated. The Jordanians started the excavations when this area was under their control, but it has remained untouched since 1967. Apparently the Israelis aren't interested in archeological sites in the Palestinian territories. "Zacchaeus' sycamore tree" (no sycamore tree lives for 2000) years is also there (Luke 19).

Then we swam in the Dead Sea. The salt content is so high that you can float on it very easily. Many of the minerals from the Dead Sea are sold in cosmetic products, and people cover themselves in the mud because it does something good for your skin. One of my traveling companions has a picture of me covered in the mud, and I'll post it when they send it to me.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Mark Twain has returned, and he's bathing in the Dead Sea.

Lastly, we visited Qumran, where a community of Essenes (they self identified as "The Covenanteers") lived and produced the Dead Sea Scrolls. We could see some of the caves where the scrolls lay undiscovered for two thousand years. Cave #4 is just past my right shoulder in the last picture.

Tomorrow we're staying in the West Bank, visiting Jacob's Well, Mt. Gerazim, Nabalus, and a few other sites. Until then, take care!

Project Israel- Jerash

Unfortunately, our meeting with Jordanian Christians did't work out, so we ended up spending most of the day exploring Jerash (or Gerasa, depending on how you choose to anglicise the word). Jerash is an ancient Roman city that was forgotten for centuries, but has been excavated in recent years. Most Westerners don't know about it, probably because it's not in a Western country. We were told that it's better preserved than Pompeii, a claim of which we were all skeptical, until we saw it. Wow! It's incredible how much of this has been excavated just as it was with no need for restoration!

Among the amazing thing we saw were Hadrian's Triumphal Arch, the Hippodrome (an ovular track where chariot races would be held, like the Circus Maximus in Rome), temples to Artemus and Zeus, two outdoor ampitheaters (the smaller one possibly being the meeting place for the city's parliament), a very ornate marketplace, and the town centre where the north-south and east-west main streets meet (think Monument Circle in Indianapolis).

While Jerash never shows up explicitly in the New Testament, there may be some tangental references. The Gerasene Demoniac (Mark 5) may have been from here, and after Jesus walked on water, he and the disciples may have headed to this region (Matthew 14:34). Also, according to Paul's letters (but not Acts), he went through the Decapolis (Greek for "ten cities" of which Gerasa was one) region/Arabia on his way from Damascus to Jerusalem (Galatians 1:17).

Pics w/ occasional comments are below.

The ancient Roman manhole cover.

Part of the edifice of the Temple of Artemis. If you climbed up the steps, walked back across the wall and down a very narrow set of steps, you would reach...

This particular opening, which would have been a display stand for statues. Not the smartest thing I've ever done, but it was cool!

The "inner sanctum" of the Temple of Artemus. The layout is pretty much identical to the Second Temple in Jerusalem built by Herod the Great, so this is like the view out from the Holy of Holies.

Of course, I had someone take a picture of me speaking on the stage of the ampitheatre. Anyone who knows me will not be shocked by this at all.

Yes, this is a band of Arabs that includes bagpipes. No, I don't know why.

Me at the top of the other ampitheater, overlooking the city center.

An ancient bridge, still in use in the modern city of Jerash. Notice the minaret in the background.

Amazing chicken schwarma sandwiches/rollups that hit the spot after walking over four miles and lots of steep steps through the ancient city.

That's all for today. Tomorrow brings trips to Mt. Nebo, Qumeran, the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized by John, and crossing the border from Jordan back into the West Bank, which will likely be eventful. Until then, take care!

Project Israel- Regional Unrest and the Stories We Tell

As I've said in earlier posts, I'm watching the political upheaval in Egypt and other countries in the region with more interest than I might otherwise, because I'll be traveling to the region in a few weeks. I spent most of my academic energy as a political science major in college studying the region, its history, and conflict, even before 9/11 made the average American realize that what happens overseas really does affect us.

Last night I got an interesting email from the Executive Director of the Society for Biblical Studies (the group that is guiding our trip), addressing the anxieties many people no doubt feel about traveling in the region.

One thing that he pointed out was that while the Western corporate media (an industry for whom he clearly has little regard) have reported that the King of Jordan recently dissolved his Parliament in the wake of anti-government demonstrations, they were only telling half the story. Jordan's government, while far from being free an democratic, is far more tolerant of dissent than is Egypt's, and such demonstrations are a regular occurrence. Furthermore, this is the third time in the last year that Jordan's King has dissolved Parliament. So while this particular news item was reporting the facts, it was only telling part of the story in an attempt to have it fit in with the main narrative of chaos and instability we've been seeing for the last two weeks.

This new information reminded me of how powerful the stories we tell about people, places, and groups really are. When we talk about a particular group or issue (or ourselves, as Donald Miller points out so well in A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life), we don't say every single thing we know, because it would take too long. Instead, we craft a story to encapsulate what we believe.

One of the most common stories I hear about the Middle East from people I encounter on a daily basis goes something like this: "those people have been fighting each other over little pieces of land for thousands of years. I don't see why we (the United States) have to get involved when all they want to do is kill each other."

There are certain truths to that story. The Middle East has seen a lot of conflict throughout recorded human history, but it has a whole lot more to do with geography than some fundamental character flaw on the part of the people who live there. The Middle East, Israel in particular, has long been at the intersection of several crucial trade routes. Its coast offers easy access to Mediterranean Sea, and it lies on the land route between Europe, Asia, and Africa. So naturally it has been in the interest of many empires to control such trade routes, and different empires have fought each other for that control.

We also have to consider that under hundreds of years of rule by the Ottoman Empire, Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived together in relative peace. In 1919 the Ottomans found themselves on the losing end of World War I, and the whole Middle East region was carved up by diplomats in Versailles, and came under the rule of the British Empire. In the century since that time there has been lots of conflict, but it's clearly more complicated than just being an attribute of "those people".

I can't help but wonder if the "those people" story is one that is meant to keep a complex situation inside a box up on the shelf, so that we don't have to really engage with what our brothers and sisters experience on the other side of the world. Instead of the story inviting us into a deeper engagement, it keeps these others at arms length.

One of the most exciting things about the journey I will take later this month is that we will be spending time with locals, Israeli and Palestinian, learning from them what their day-to-day experience of this conflict is. Hopefully when I return I will be able to tell a better story about the Middle East than what I'm currently capable of doing.