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The King’s Highway
through Ammon Moab and Edom
The
king’s Highway, the world’s oldest continuously used communication
route, was first mentioned in Genesis 14 and Numbers 20. Moses’
request to the king of Edom to “travel along the king’s highway
and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through
your territory” was turned down, but visitors today are welcome to
make the journey along the scenic road as it winds, dips, twists and
rambles through the heart of Jordan, form Ammon to Moab to Edom. The
first major site on the King’s
Highway south of Amman is Heshbon, probably ancient Hisban, capital
of king Sihon (number 21, Isaiah 15-16). Fortified in the Roman –
Byzantine period and called Esbus, this was an important early Christian
station on the pilgrims’ route form Jerusalem to the Jordan River and Mount
Nebo.
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Medeba
City and region retain the memory and monuments of two different periods
of biblical history. Medeba town (Madaba today) is repeatedly mentioned
in Old Testament accounts such as Moses and the Exodus, David’s war
against the Moabites, and Isaiah’s oracle against Moab (numbers 21:30;
1 Chronicles 19:7; Isaiah 15:2). King Mesha of Moab’s successful
rebellion against Israel (2 Kings 3) mentions “the whole land of Medeba,” whose rich farmland were
coveted ad repeatedly contested b Moab, Israel, Ammon and other local
kingdoms. In the early Christian Byzantine period, the wealthy
ecclesiastical center of Madaba produced one of the world’s finest
collections of early Christian mosaic art, which is well preserved and
on display today. Its masterpiece, the Orthodox Church of St George’s
mosaic map of Jerusalem and surrounding land, is the earliest original
map of the Holy Land to survive from antiquity.
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Mount
Nebo, ten minutes by car west of Madaba, was the final station in the
life of the prophet Moses, the “friend of God” (Deuteronomy 32:49),
though the location of his tomb remains unknown.
From
Mr. Nebo’s wind – swept promontory overlooking the Dead Sea, the
Jordan Valley and the hills of Jerusalem, Moses viewed the Promised Land
that he would never enter. A small church was built in the 4th
century AD to commemorate this sacred spot, and has expanded into the
current church with its stunning collection of Byzantine mosaics.
Immediately north- east of Mt. Nebo at ‘Ayun Musa (“Springs of
Moses”), is ancient Beth – Peor, “ and soon after Moses died and
“was buried in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth – Peor”
(Deuteronomy 3:29; 34:6; Joshua 13:20). Mephaath, a Moabite city known
for its pasture lands (1 Chronicles 6:79; Jeremiah 48:21), is modern Umm
er-Rasas, south –east of Madaba. Excavations here uncovered some of
the finest Byzantine church mosaics in the Middle East, including a
large carpe depicting cities on the east and west banks of the Jordan
river from the Old and New Testament period.
Some
20 minutes south of Madaba by car is one of the most awe-inspiring sites
in the entire holy land Mechaerus (modern Mukawir), the Herodian
mountain – top fortress- palace with a panoramic view over much of the
Dead Sea and the hills of Palestine and Israel. This is where John the
Baptist ended his life, after Salome’s fateful dance (though his
burial place is not known). Nearby is Dhiban, ancient Dibon, capital of
King Mesha of Moab (numbers 21:21 – 31; Isaiah 15: 1-9), just north of
Wadi Mujib, the Arnon Gorge or River of the bible that was a natural
frontier between warring kingdoms or tribes (numbers 21:24; Judges
11:18).
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Central
and South Jordan
Moab,
Edom,
Midian
and Seir:
The
bibilical land of Moab, famed for its rich agricultural land, generally
was the region south of the Wadi Mujib (Genesis 36:35). Kir Moab (also, Kir-heres or
Kir-hereseth), the capital of Moab, was the scene of King Mesha’s sacrifice of his son on the city walls in order to
stop a siege by hostile forces (2 Kings 3, Isaiah 15:1). Kir Moab today
is the town of Karak, halfway
between Amman and Petra,
renowned of Karak, halfway between Amman and Petra, renowned for its
massive Crusader and medieval Islamic fortress. Nearby is the
shrine-tomb of Prophet Noah, famed for his righteousness (genesis 6:9,
Ezekiel 14:14). The King’s Highway south of Karak wind through the Zered alley
(Torrent of Zered), today’s Wadi
Hassa, where the Israelites and Moses concluded their desert
wanderings and camped on their journey north (Numbers 21:12, Deuteronomy
2:13-14).
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South
of the Wadi Hassa are the
biblical land of
Midian,
Edom, and Seir (or Mount Seir) (Genesis 14:6; 32:3; Exodus 2:15-16),
fabled for their pasture lands, mineral –rich mountains, and strategic
communication routes. King
Amaziah slayed 10,000 Edomites in Edom, and Moses had to detour
around it because the king of Edom refused him passage the 7th
Century BC remains at Buseirah are those of Bozrah, a capital of the
Edomite Kingdom (Isaiah 34:6)
Local legend has it that the spring of Wadi
Moussa (valley of Moses) near Petra is where Moses struck the rock
and brought forth water (Numbers 20:10-12). The summit of Umm
el-Biyara mountain in central Petra, with its 7th
century BC village, is often identified as biblical Sela (“a rock”),
where King Amaziah of Judah “killed ten thousand Edomites in the
Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm,”(2kings 14:7, Isaiah 16:1).
Ancient Sela is also identified with the mountaintop stronghold of
Sele’, near Buseirah, north of Petra. Aaron, the brother of Moses and
Miriam, died in the land of Jordan and was buried at Mount Hor, now
known as Jabal
Haroon (Mount Aaron) at Petra (Exodus 4:14, 7:1, Micah 6:4).
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In
the New Testament period, the East Mediterranean’s commodities
emporium of Petra may have been the place from where the three kings
form the east came with frankincense, gold and myrrh to honor the baby
Jesus. The King Aretas mentioned in 2 Cortinthains 11:32 was a Nabataean
King who ruled form the capital of Petra.
Elath
/ Eloth and Ezion-geber, Two Iron Age port towns located at or near
Jordan’s Red Seaport – resort of Aqaba, are associated with Solomon
and the Queen of Sheba, and the chromic wars between the kings of Judah
and Edom (Deuteronomy 2:8,1 Kings 9:26,2 Kings 14:22). Moses and the
Exodus route: Many places in south and central Jordan are associated
with Moses’ exodus from Egypt to Mt Nebo (Numbers 33), Though many
remain unidentified. Kadesh- barnea and the Wilderness of Zin were
somewhere along south Jordan’s frontiers with Israel, Egypt and Saudi
Arabai, Mount or, on the edge of the land of Edom, is Jabal Harun (Mount
Aaron) at Petra; Zalmonah is often identified as the village of Bir
Mathkur, in the southern Wadi
Arabah; Punon (“precious Stone”(is the huge, excavated ancient
copper mining settlement at Feinan, south – east of the Dead Sea;
Oboth may be ‘Ain Ubur (“Spring of the Passage”), north-east of
Buseirah; Dibon-gad is another name for the Moabite capital of Dibon,
modern Dhiban the Mountains of Ab’arim (“mountain beyond”)
are the range in northern Moab and southern Ammon, north of
Heshbon, including Mount Nebo (Numbers 27:12; Deuteronomy 32:49); the Plains of
Moab are east of the Jordan River opposite Jericho; Beht-jeshimoth and
Abel- Shittim are two towns in the Plains of Moab.
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