Category Archives: Jordan

How Much Territory Does the Madaba Map Cover?

Posted on June 27, 2023 | 1 comment

After the previous post I was ask how far the map extended. I have seen the map several times, but much of my detailed info comes from an article by Victor R. Gold: “The Mosaic Map of Medeba.” This article first appeared in Biblical Archaeologist, XXI.3 (Sept. 1958), pp.59-71. It was included in a 3-volume set called The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, vol. 3.

Here is a section on the extent of the Map:

“Except for the [third century] Tabula Peutingeriana [road map of the world], the Madeba map is the only map of ancient Palestine still in existence. The large remaining section extends from Aenon in the Jordan valley, or near it, in the north, to the Canobic branch of the Nile in the south. Not even this section is complete, however, the footing of one of the columns rests over a section of Judea from Eleutheropolis (Beit Jibin) to Ashdod and Beersheba.” (Campbell, Edward F., and David N. Freedman, editors. The Biblical Archaeologist Reader 3. First ed., vol. 3, Doubleday and Company, 1970, pp. 359-65, 3 vols.

I am including a photo showing the actual size of the map in the church building floor at Madaba, Jordan. I have darkened the portion of the map that has been reconstructed there. We are not seeing all that is known to have existed. I have noted a small portion of the Nile Delta, and coastal towns such as Ashkelon and Ashdod. In my photos I can see mountains of Moab to the east, and Aenon in the northern Jordan Valley.

For the benefit of those who might like to see the size of the map in the Madaba church, I have darkened the map in the area that is cordoned off.

Interior of the Madaba, Jordan, church that protects the map. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.
The Madaba Map is shown darker in the church floor to allow one to see the size of the map there.

The Madaba Map is an amazing piece of work. It would be nice if we had one in the vestibule where I meet with Christians.

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Posted in Bible Lands, Bible Places, Bible Study, Church History, Culture, Jordan, Maps, New Testament, Old Testament, Photography, Travel

The Dead Sea on the Madaba Map

Posted on June 26, 2023 | 2 comments

About AD 560 the church at Madaba, now in Jordan, decided they needed a map in their building. They could not order one from their Bible class publisher, so they made a large Mosaic map on the floor of the building. This map was rediscovered in the 1880s.

Madaba was known as the Ammonite city of Medeba in Joshua 13:9,16 and Isaiah 15:2.

For now I wish to share a photo of a surviving portion showing the Jordan River flowing into the Dead Sea.

Photo of a portion of the Madaba Map showing the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. Fish are shown swimming to the Dead Sea and then turning back.

I understand the designer of the map to be saying that the fish of the Jordan River could not survive in the Salt Sea. This portion of the map also shows Jericho, the city of Palm trees (Deuteronomy 34:3; 2 Chronicles 28:15).

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Posted in Archaeology, Bible Lands, Bible Places, Bible Study, Church History, Jordan, Old Testament, Travel

Dead Sea: Fact and Fun

Posted on June 22, 2023 | Leave a comment

We set the clock to get up in time to see the sunrise across the Dead Sea. I was pleased with the result as the sun rose in the vicinity of Biblical Edom sending a ray across the Dead Sea. The smaller light to the left of center is a reflection from the camera lens.

Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. (Gen. 19:30 ESV)

While we were at the southern end of the Dead Sea we drove a little further south to see the formation nicknamed “Lot’s Wife.” This is based on the Biblical story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19. See especially Genesis 19:26, and the reference by Jesus in Luke 17:32).

As usual, these photos are available for download for use in teaching as long as credit is given to this source. For commercial use see our Photo Permission page.

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Posted in Bible Lands, Bible Places, Bible Study, Family, Israel, Jordan, New Testament, Old Testament, Photography, Travel

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Articles on Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus

Posted on December 19, 2022 | Leave a comment

Recent readers may not have noticed our header having a link on Indexes (Indices). If you go there you will find an Index of articles on Bethlehem and the Birth of Jesus. At this time of the year when many are thinking about the birth of Jesus and it’s meaning for all mankind I thought it would be good to call attention to these articles and photos. There have been several good comments and discussions about the date of the birth of Jesus.

I have many photos of shepherds and sheep, but not one of shepherds watching their sheep by night in the vicinity of Bethlehem. I do have some photos of shepherds with their sheep in the sheepfold at Heshbon in Jordan. I had been at Heshbon one afternoon visiting with the shepherds and making photos. When I saw their makeshift sheepfold I asked if I could come back in the evening and make some photos. The photo here is one made a dusk after the sheep had been gathered into the sheepfold. The shepherd and his family live in the tent. Heshbon was a former Moabite town given to the tribe of Reuben after the Israelites captured the Trans-Jordan tableland (Numbers 32:37).

Shepherds watching their sheep by night at Heshbon in Jordan.
Shepherds at Heshbon watching their flock at night.

To access the articles on Bethlehem click through here.

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Posted in Bible Places, Bible Study, Culture, Israel, Jordan, New Testament, Palestine, Photography

“The stork in the heavens knows her time”

Posted on July 16, 2020 | 1 comment

The stork is listed among the unclean birds in Leviticus 11:19 and Deuteronomy 14:18. The Psalmist says, “the stork has her home in the fir trees” (Psalm 104:17.

I have not seen a stork nest in a fir tree, but I have often seen them on the top of electric poles, chimneys, and ruined columns.

These storks are building a nest on the top of an old brick column at Kovanlik, Turkey. This photo was made yards away from the beginning of the Via Sebaste or Imperial Road that leads northeast across the mountains from the Pamphylian coastal plain to the Anatolian plateau. The approximate location is 37 10.4234N, 30 35.875E. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins

The prophet Jeremiah uses the faithfulness of the stork as it moves from one continent to another and then returns as an illustration of the faithfulness not seen in the people of the LORD.

Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming, but my people know not the rules of the LORD. (Jeremiah 8:7 ESV)

I have seen this played out repeatedly in my travels in Israel and Turkey. The storks fly from Europe and other northern climes to Africa in the fall of the year. The Great Rift provides the way for them to navigate through Syria and Israel/Jordan.

A stork heading north and a sunrise over the Golan Heights. Photo: ferrelljenkins.blog.

This is a composite photo showing a stork in the Jordan Valley and a sunrise over the Golan Heights. Photos by Ferrell Jenkins.

The prophet Zechariah also uses the wingspan of the stork as an illustration. In one of his visions he says,

Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward! The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven. (Zechariah 5:9 ESV)

The Keren Kayemeth Leisrael JNF website provides good information about storks, and other birds, in the Hulah valley here. Here is another nice site with information about storks and some good photos.

HT: Dr. Mark Wilson, author of Biblical Turkey, who gave the directions of the Via Sebaste mentioned with the first photo to Leon Mauldin and me. An article by Mark R. Fairchild in BAR includes a map showing two possible routes from Perga in Pampylia to Pisidian Antioch. The caption with the map suggests the Via Sebaste as possibly being used by Paul, but Dr. Fairchild does not think Paul would have traveled that way. Nonetheless it is possible that Paul might have used this route in one direction or the other, more likely on the return. (Fairchild, Mark R. “Why Perga?” Biblical Archaeology Review 39.6 (2013): 53–59.)

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Posted in Bible Lands, Bible Study, Flora and Fauna, Israel, Jordan, Old Testament, Photography, Travel, Turkey

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Jerash (Gerasa) in Jordan

Posted on June 4, 2020 | 2 comments

Jerash is also called Gerasa and Jarash. It was founded by Alexander the Great about 332 B.C., but declined as an important city about 300 B.C. The ruins are seen today are principally from the second century A.D. Roman city. We can imagine what the city of the time of Jesus looked like.

Gerasa/Jerash

This map shows the relationship of Gerasa/Jerash to Galilee, the principal area of Jesus’ ministry. Photo prepared with BibleMapper v.5. ferrelljenkins.blog.

Jerash is located in a well-watered valley in the mountains of Gilead. The modern village is inhabited mostly by Circassians, who were brought there by the Turks in the last part of the 19th century.

Hadrian's Arch, Jerash, Jordan. Photo: ferrelljenkins.blog.

The Triumphal Arch was constructed at the time of the visit of the Emperor Hadrian in A.D. 129. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

A German traveler named Seetzen rediscovered Gerash for the Western world in 1806. Excavations were begun in the 1920s. The main points of interest include the following: Triumphal Arch (built in 129 A.D. to celebrate Hadrian’s visit; Oval-shaped Forum (only one of its kind from the Roman period, from 1st century); Temple of Artemis (columns are 45 feet high with Corinthian capitals); Cathedral Church (ca. A.D. 350-375). Thirteen Byzantine churches have been excavated at Jerash.

Cardo from Roman city Jerash, Jordan. Photo: ferrelljenkins.blog.

A view of the cardo of Jerash in Jordan. Jerash was one of the cities of the Decapolis. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

People from the Decapolis followed Jesus during His ministry in Galilee. Jerash was the second largest city of the Decapolis, after Damascus (Matthew 4:23-25). When Jesus traveled through the Decapolis he possibly visited the area around Jerash (Mark 7:31).

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Posted in Archaeology, Bible Lands, Bible Places, Bible Study, Church History, Greece, Jordan, New Testament, Photography, Travel, Turkey

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Gibeah of Saul

Posted on May 8, 2020 | 2 comments

Gibeah in 1980-81. Photo: ferrelljenkins.blog.

Gibeah of Saul. Scanned from a 1980 or 1981 slide. View from the east. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Gibeah from the east. The town in the foreground is the Israeli town of Pisgat Ze'ev Mizrah. Photo: ferrelljenkns.blog.

This is a modern view of Tall al Ful (formerly called Tell el-Ful) from the west side town of Pisgat Ze’ev Mizrah. Notice the structure on top of the mound. Explanation below.

It is not uncommon in the Palestinian territory for houses to be built along the slopes of a tell if not the top. See this next picture as an example of the encroachment.

Construction in progress on the mound of ancient Gibeah. Photo: ferrelljenkins.blog.

Construction underway that encroaches on the mound of ancient Gibeah. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Israel’s first king was a man of the tribe of Benjamin named Saul. The Bible records that he was from Gibeah (1 Samuel 10:26). More than once the text refers to the town as “Gibeah of Saul” (1 Samuel 11:4; Isaiah 10:29).

Location of Gibeah of Saul

Gibeah of Saul in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. Made with BibleMapper 5.

Gibeah was located about three miles north of Jerusalem on a main road leading north at an elevation of more than 2700 feet, about 300 feet higher than Jerusalem. It was a city of the tribe of Benjamin (1 Samuel 14:16) and is presently called Tal al-Ful (hill of beans) by the Arabs. William F. Albright excavated Gibeah during 1922 and 1933. From the time of King Saul, in the second half of the 11th century B.C., Albright found “a corner tower and part of the adjacent wall” (Albright, The Archaeology of Palestine, p. 120). The southwest tower of the fortress had three rooms and the indication was that the whole structure was at least two stories high. Some modern scholars have called this identification in question.

Reconstructed citadel excavated by Albright at Tall al-Ful.

King Hussein of Jordan was in the process of building a palace on top of this impressive mound when Israel occupied the territory in June, 1967. The unfinished structure can still be seen.

The unfinished summer royal palace of King Hussein of Jordan. Photo: Todd Bolen, Pictorial Library of Bible Places.

And finally, here is another view made from Pisgat Ze’ev.

Gibeah of Saul. Photo: ferrelljenkins.blog.

Gibeah (Tall al-Ful) View from Pisgat Ze’ev to the east of the mound. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

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Posted in Archaeology, Bible Places, Bible Study, Israel, Jordan, Old Testament, Photography, Travel

The Jordan River at Qasr el Yahud

Posted on April 19, 2020 | 4 comments

From the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea is a distance of 65 miles but the Jordan river twists and turns for about 200 miles. The fall is about 590 feet (about 9 feet per mile). Nelson Glueck began his 1945 book, The River Jordan, by describing the river in beautiful terms.

THE JORDAN is a weird stream. It twists and tears its way swiftly downward in an almost incredibly sinuous manner from the sweet waters of the Lake of Galilee to the bitter wastes of the Sea of Salt or Dead Sea. Squirming frantically, burrowing madly, seeking wildly to escape its fate, the Jordan’s course from its crystal-clear beginnings to its literally dark and bitter end is a helpless race to a hopeless goal. Like Lot’s wife, it looks backward, but only inevitably to perish in the perdition of Bahr Lut, the “Sea of Lot,” as the Dead Sea is called by the Arabs. (p. 3)

At the traditional site of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, a place called Qasr el Yahud, a few miles north of the Dead Sea, only very short stretches of the river are visible (Matthew 3:13-17; John 1:28). The photo below shows one of the many curves in the river. Click on the photo for a larger image.

Jordan River at the site of the baptism of Jesus. Photo: ferrelljenkins.blog.

This photo was made at Qasr el Yahud, the traditional site of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The prophet Jeremiah describes the heavy growth on the banks of the Jordan as the thicket of the Jordan (Jeremiah 12:5; 50:44). Perhaps the reading in the Net Bible, “the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River,” provides a clearer understanding. “Lions could suddenly appear from the bushes” (Jeremiah 49:19; Lalleman, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries).

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Posted in Bible Lands, Bible Places, Bible Study, Israel, Jordan, New Testament, Old Testament, Photography, Travel

Ferrell’s Favorite Foto # 35 – Roman Milestone

Posted on March 6, 2020 | Leave a comment

In the IVP Bible Background Commentary Craig Keener says,

Roman soldiers had the legal right to impress the labor, work animal or substance of local residents (cf. Mk 15:21). Although impressment may not have happened often in Galilee, it happened elsewhere, and the fact that it could happen would be enough to raise the eyebrows of Jesus’ hearers at this example of nonresistance and even loving service to the oppressor. (Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993. Print.)

Though the milestone pictured below has been moved to the current location at Bethany Beyond (or across) the Jordan (in Jordan, John 1:28), it provided a beautiful setting. Our picture looks west to the Jordan Valley. The various buildings you see in the left part of the photo are mostly church buildings on the Jordanian side of the Jordan River. On the other side we see the eastern slopes of the Judean Wilderness. Jericho is in that general vicinity.

Milestone at Bethany Beyond the Jordan. Photo: ferrelljenkins.blog.

Roman period milestone at Bethany Beyond the Jordan. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

In the sermon recorded in Matthew 5-7 Jesus taught His disciples about the attitude they should have toward the Roman authorities.

And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. (Matthew 5:41 ESV)

New Testament writers gave distances in their descriptions of travel from one city to another. Luke says that Emmaus was about seven miles from Jerusalem (Luke 24:13). John says that Bethany [not Beyond the Jordan] was about two miles from Jerusalem (John 11:18).

Milestones were common in Roman times and numerous ones have been found throughout the land of Israel. Most of them have now been moved to some of the small museums found throughout the land. The same is true of some in Jordan.

Most of the Roman roads for which we have remnants were built in the second half of the first century A.D. and in the second century. Certainly in many cases it is reasonable to think that these roads were built over dirt paths that already existed.

For documentation about the Roman Road System in Galilee see James F. Strange, “The Galilean Road System,” in Galilee in the Late Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods, vol. 1, Life, Culture, and Society (ed. David A. Fiensy and James Riley Strange; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014), 263-71 . Maps of the major and minor roads of Galilee are found in the front of the same volume.

David Graves has imposed known Roman roads in the vicinity of Bethany Beyond the Jordan on a Google Earth map here.

See one of our earlier post about Roman Roads and Milestones here.

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Posted in Archaeology, Bible Lands, Bible Places, Bible Study, Israel, Jordan, New Testament, Photography, Travel

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Ferrell’s Favorite Foto # 29 – the Siq and Treasury at Petra

Posted on October 7, 2019 | 2 comments

When I began this series I stated that there was no significance to the order of the photos. Of all the photos I have made and of those recently published I suspect this one would be very near the top. What most tourists see at Petra has little to do with anything in the Bible. The carvings we see there were made mostly by the Nabateans.

The Nabateans have been described as “one of the most gifted and vigorous peoples in the Near East of Jesus’ time” (Wright, Biblical Archaeology 229). They exacted high tolls from the caravans which passed their way. The greatest king of the Nabateans was Aretas IV (9 B.C. to A.D. 40). His rule extended as far north as Damascus during the last part of his reign; this was at the time Paul escaped from Damascus (2 Corinthians 11:32).

I recall the impression walking through the Siq and then the first glimpse of the Treasury carved into the stone. That first trip was 1967, and I have been back several times, the most recent in 2018. I hope you will enjoy this photo made in 2006.

Traveling through the siq at Petra and the first glance of the Treasury. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins 2006.

 

 

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Posted in Bible Lands, Bible Study, Culture, Jordan, New Testament, Photography, Travel