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Sodom and Gomorra
and the other cities of the plain are associated with some of the most
dramatic Old Testament stories, including God’s Destruction of Sodom
and Gomorrah for their immorality. Some scholars see Bab ed – Dhra’
and Numeira as good
candidates for Sodom and Gomorra in the Southern Ghors, the wide plain
along Jordan’s south east Dead Sea Coast. Arriving there from Egypt,
Abraham and Lot separated their herds and people and went heir own ways
(Genesis13:1-13). After Lot’s wife Disobeyed God’s order, looked
back at burning Sodom, and was turned into a pillar of salt, Lot and hi
daughters survived and reportedly lived for many years in a nearby cave
(Genesis 19). In the 7th century AD, a Byzantine church and
monastery dedicated to Saint Lot (“a righteous man”) were built over
a cave there. The complex has bee excavated and can be easily visited.
The other cities of the Plain, “Admah, Zeboiim and Bela
(that is, Zoar)” may still be buried amidst the archaeological remains
of Early Bronze Age Towns at Feifa, Safi, Khneizirah, and other sites in
this wide, silent and still haunting valley plain. The
site of the birthplace and home town of the great Prophet Elijag has
long been identified at Listib, in the hills of ancient Gilead in north-
west Jordan. With the Vatican’s naming of this area as a pilgrimage
destination (July 21, 2000) the area is expected to become an important
tourist and pilgrimage destination in the ears to come. The Vatican
calls the area el- Wahadneh; in fact, it comprises two adjacent sites
known as Listib and Tell Mar Elia (Mar Elias means ‘Saint Elijah’ in
Arabic). The
Bible says that Prophet Elijah was a Tishbite, from the village (or
town, or region) of Tishbe, in Gilead (1 Kings 17:1;21 2kings 1:3,8).y
biblical scholars over the past century have identified Tishbe with the
striking archaeological remains at Listib (or ‘el-Istib’ in
Arabic, often interpreted as the equivalent of Tishbe’ but with
a changed order of the consonants). The
Quran calls Elijah “an honorable man” and “a messenger” (6:86;
37:123), and says “we left mention of him among later men” (37:130),
a reference to Elijah’s association with John the Baptist and Jesus.
The extensive tumbled stone remains of Listib comprise at least five
large courtyard complexes with standing walls and doors of square and
rectangular rooms. Caves throughout the sit were used as tombs, shelters
and plastered cisterns. A Mamluke era mosque at the southeastern base of
the hill is thought to have been built over the site of and earlier
Byzantine church. Listib seems to have been first inhabited in the roman
and Byzantine periods, according to the surface architectural and
pottery evidence at the site. The site was then used – probably
without interruption – until the 16th Century. It has never
been excavated and thus its use in the Iron Age, when Elijah is thought
to have lived is not known. The
beautiful natural setting of Listib on a high hilltop enjoys panoramic
vies north and west over the green hills of Gilead, the Wadi Yabis, and
the foothill leading west towards the Jordan Valley. In the valley, 45
minutes away by car at John the Baptist’s settlement at Bethany beyond
the Jordan’, is the small hill from where Elijah is said to have
ascended to heaven on a chariot and horses of fire. On the summit of a
hill that rises nearly a hundred meters above Listib from the out
–west are the Roman-Byzantine hilltop remains at Tel Mar Elias, where
pilgrims from throughout the Middle East go every July 21 to pray. This
unexcavated site includes extensive architectural remains, including
rock- cut citerns, carved architectural stones, wall lines, column bases
and drums, pottery, pieces of squarish mosaic stones, and at least two
structures with apse-like features – perhaps from two Byzantine
churches.
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