Three Amazing Sites

Mt. Nebo

Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. Then the LORD said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”

And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.  Deuteronomy 34: 1-7

 While driving around you will see many bedouins (desert dwellers). 

 The Jordan River

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." Matthew 3:13-17

 While no one knows the exact location, this is the place that is believed to be the baptism place of Jesus. There is not much reference in the bible to the exact location in the river, but there are some other indications that would help, for example, the remains of the earliest church in the area was found near this spot (under the covered area in the above picture).

 The Jordan River is the border between Jordan and Israel (where we will be heading next week). We went to another part of the river which was literally just a few yards wide. So, right on the other side of it you could see the Israel flag flying.

 Landon putting his hand in the river.

 These police are pretty much everywhere. Aaron happened to catch this guy smiling, and while most of them are friendly, they are very intimidating.

It's not uncommon to see this while driving. Most of these people (even kids) are trying to get you to pay for a ride. In fact, when we stopped at the Dead Sea we were bombarded with 3 or 4 camels at our car doors. They wanted to put the kids on the camel for a picture and then try to convinvce us to ride and pay them. They attempted to pick up Caedmon who was not interested and immediately just picked up Landon and threw him on a camel without thinking twice about asking if this was OK. The second that camel started rising up in the air with my 28 lb. child I turned into mama bear. I immediately started shouting at them and thankfully Matt stepped in to help.

The Dead Sea

 It's not uncommon to see people swimming in the Dead Sea (as we witnessed today) but we chose to only put our hands in. It feels very odd, almost slimy and oily like.  

 Salt deposits