Our first stop was to Nebo, where Moses died. We stood on top of the mount and looked out at the view - we could even see the edge of the Dead Sea.
Mt. Nebo features a Byzantine basilica built to honor Moses. Mt. Nebo is on a peak on the west Jordanian Plateau facing the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley. This areas was ruled by the Amorites, whom Moses defeated. To visualize the Promised Land, Moses was taken atop Mt. Nebo, where he viewed the Holy Land and was buried (Deut 34:1) (he was actually translated). The Byzantines built several churches in Madaba and on Nebo to honor these events, and they all have beautiful mosaics we can see until today.
Next we went to the St. George church in Madaba where we saw the famous mosaic map of the Holy Land. You can see Jerusalem and surrounding areas, Jerusalem is in the upper left in the photo, kind of an oval with to streets in it. Historians have used this mosaic map to reconstruct the Near East during the Byzantine period, including the Galilee, the Jordan River Valley, the coastal plains, the city of Jerusalem, and even Egypt. This city is known for Mosaics, and I am OBSESSED with them now!! I want to find some limestone rods or cubes and I want to make my own. That third picture shows the rods and the tools and a piece in progress.
We walked from there to our lunch place!! We walked through the city which was fun. Such a different place.
Our last stop was to Machaerus!! It was so cool! This is where Herod Antipas had a big palace fortress. The fortress was originally built by the Hasmonean king Alexander Janneaus and was later rebuilt by Herod the Great, then his son, Herod Antipas, imprisoned and beheaded John the Baptist.
Machaerus overlooks the Dead Sea from the east. The Nabateans to the south were ruled by King Aretas IV (the same Aretas who was buried in "the Treasury" at Petra). Antipas made an alliance with the Nabataeans and married the daughter of Aretas. Eventually, however, Antipas fell in love with Herodias, who was his niece (the daughter of his brother Aristobulus) as well as his sister-in-law (the wife os his brother, Phillip). Antipas convinced Herodias to divorce Philip and marry him instead.
According to the New Testament, Herod Antipas feared John the Baptist and used to listen to him gladly (Mark 6:20). John the Baptist, however, condemned the marriage of Anitpas to Herodias because it was against the Law of Moses for a man to marry his brother's wife while that brother was still living (Leviticus 20:21). This made Herodias angry and she had her husband put John in prison in Machaerus (Mark 6:17).
During a birthday party for Antipas, the daughter of Herodias (Antipas's step-daughter), Salome, danced before the group, and so Antipas told her she could have anything she wanted. She consulted with her mother, Herodias, and asked for the head of John the Baptist. Antics ordered him to be executed (Mark 6:21-26).
John's disciples eventually came and buried his body (Mark 6:29). In 1829, he appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and restored the Aaronic Priesthood "which holds the keys of the ministering of angels and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins" (D&C 13:1).
We watched the sun go down from the top of those fortress remains, then hiked down and had a long 3.5 hours drive back to Amman.
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