Jordan Day Alef

Today has been one crazy day! We started out by crossing the Israeli/Jordanian border by Jericho. We took the Allenby bridge over the Jordan River and through the Rift Valley. We had to change buses at the border and in Jordan we met our tour guide whose name is Zafer. He was pretty hilarious. He graduated from Texas A&M and absolutely loves his school! It was funny. He explained a little about his nation and the government that is in place there. It was interesting to hear. Jordan has type of monarchy in place. They have a King whose name is Hussein. That was interesting being somewhere with leadership having the name of Hussein. His son, the crowned prince is Abdullah. Abdullah is very much well loved by his country, mostly because of his beautiful wife the princess. Their pictures are literally plastered everyone in Jordan! I thought it was pretty funny that the prince looks quite a bit like my sister’s boyfriend, Easy. Abdullah just looks a little bit older. After the initial bus ride we ended up at a cut of the Jabbok Canyon. This was Tel Deir Allah, known in the Bible as Succoth. From this tel there was an easy access to Pella (Penuel) and excellent connections to the international trade routes by means of the King’s Highway. This tel is also located in prime agricultural territory which an be seen even today. There have been several digs at this location though it pretty much just looks like a big dirt mound today. In these digs, a temple and many Bronze items were found, as well as international goods. This proves two things: 1) the tel was established in the late Bronze age 2) it was very much in connection with international trade routes. There were also many stone and plaster inscriptions found in which the book of Numbers story in the Bible was described. It spoke of the Balaam story. Then after Succoth we were off to Pella/Penuel which was the second capital of the Samaritan region. This was the sister city to Scythopolis and has an excellent view of the Herod Valley. Pella has been settled for over 6000 years! There have been digs there continuously for tens of years and they still have not uncovered everything. Pella was strategic in location because of its connections with trade and the protective physical geography of the region. The next place we went to was Gadera, another Decapolis city. Here, a basilica was found from the Roman period, and statues of Royalty. We had excellent views of the Sea of Galilee and the Yarmuk Canyon. It was really a breathtaking view! The remains of Gadera were quite impressive with the columns and both the cardo and the decumanos. There was also found an octagonal church which usually constitutes some sort of memorial. Lastly we went to Ramoth Gilead which is on the road to Damascus in Syria. It was an important hinge for trade and described in 1 Kings 20. Nowadays the Tel of Ramoth Gilead is just a dirt mound. The remains are not too visible. We were there at sunset and when the moon was coming up it was incredibly big and bright red. It was beautiful!