This last weekend our Physical Settings class went on yet another field trip. This is my story:
Sarah Wagner
Jordan/Negev Field Study
Physical Settings
Dr. Wright
23 November 2003
Thursday
After getting up at an awful hour in the morning, and after nearly throwing up on the bus twice, we finally made it to the border crossing at a very early hour. I found it amazing how a country that barely has a right to the land there has the right to exert full control over who goes and comes. This was obvious from the fact that the station was oddly layed out, halfway through constructing something official and yet not. On the Jordan side, security was rather lax; the security guard wasn?t even looking at the computer when our baggage was scanned. However, we did have to have an official guide and a Jordanian policeman at all times, but it was probably just to protect the Jordanians from the tourists more than anything else.
Our guide, Omar, otherwise called Jabriel, was a fun guy. I found it interesting that he was a Palestinian Jordanian who didn?t want to go back to his family home in Jerusalem; I also found his stories of being an Evangelical Christian of Aramean Orthodox descent fascinating. From everything I have been learning about the Middle East and the situation of the Christians here, everything Omar said fell right into place in my mind.
Our first stop was Gerash, which is the best-preserved Decapolis town. It mostly dates to the time of Hadrian and includes two temples, one to Zeus and one to Artemis, with theatres connected to both. The steps leading to Artemis?s temple were amazing, they were in sets of seven, so standing at the top of the stairs you couldn?t see them at all, which would be bad for anyone afraid of heights or obsessive/compulsive. The acoustics at the Zeus theatre was amazing, even a whisper would echo, which makes you think that the Romans could be smart sometimes.
After that we had lunch, then got back on the bus and went through the town of Amman. The people there were really nice. All the kids and everyone in the cars around the bus waved and smiled at us. When we stopped for water, Keleigh jumped out of the bus and went up and talked to a lady who is in English lessons right now, all the guys gave Keleigh the strangest look, the woman just lit up and smiled at all of us. It was so nice to finally meet nice decent Arab people.
The next stop was the Jabok river, which is a wadi leading down to the Jordan River where Jacob wrestled with the Angel before meeting back up with Esau. Jordan doesn?t have any environmental controls, so the river was black and smelled awful, but the thought was nice.
The next stop was Mount Nebo, where Moses croaked after seeing the children of Israel into the Promised Land. The traditional spot with the church was closed already, so we climbed the hill next to it and saw the most awesome sunset. The Mount is right across from Jericho, and it was mildly disconcerting to be only a couple miles away from the place I was at 6:30 that morning. When you consider that the Dead Sea is thousands of feet below Sea Level, and Mount Nebo is thousands of feet above, we had a pretty extreme view of the area.
Next was Medeba, the place of the Medeba Mosaic. The city of Medeba is one of the largest Christian cities in Jordan, and the atmosphere there was wonderful. The mosaic there, most famous for its Hagia Polis depiction of Jerusalem, was huge, the original mosaic must have been spectacular. We stuck around a little after and the custodian there told me the story of the oldest icon, which is also in their sanctuary. It is an amazing thing of woven silver and gold, which is poorly tacked into a frame.
Friday
We stayed in Petra that night, so when we got up, early, we went straight to Petra. Being the place where Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade filmed, there was an Indiana Jones coffee shop, but I don?t think it had trademark rights. The place reminded me a lot of Canyon de Chelly in Arizona; sand, rocks, dirt, and unfathomable cliffs. The Treasury, which is where the Crusader lived in the movie, was really amazing. It was rather disappointing to see that those kinds of things were everywhere, and there was nothing interesting inside them.
So instead, I walked up the 800 steps to the High Place where the Nabateans sacrificed. The steps were a pain in the butt, I can?t imagine having to carry a little creature up there with me. There was a lady on top who showed us around, but since it was Ramadan she kept on hocking up her spit, which was kind of disconcerting, plus I was dying of thirst and I couldn?t drink in front of her. The sacrificial altar was cool, fully equipped with a drainage pipe for the blood. The view from up there was amazing. On the way down we all got lost a couple times because the path wasn?t marked, but finally we made it past the goats, cats, and the Garden Tomb, we finally made it back to civilization.
We then went on another long bus trip to Wadi Rum, where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. We took trucks out into the desert and looked out into Bedouin Land. Basically, it was a vast nothingness, but it was a flat place between the Spices of Arabia and the Mediterranean, so it was a great trade route.
We then went back into Israel at Eilat, and we realized that getting back into Israel is incredibly difficult. We went through a huge detector and the inside of my bag was tested for drugs twice. And then we had to walk across the border to Israel. At Customs we had twenty questions and the lady insisted that I was Jewish, and didn?t believe me when I said I wasn?t. From living here I have realized that I have a great name, both Jews and Muslims love anyone named after Abraham?s wife.
Saturday
After waking up in Eilat, once again very early, we went a checked out the Red Sea. It was very interesting to learn how Solomon was the only Israelite ever able to send ships down the Sea, and his collaboration with the Phoenicians in order to do it.
We then went up to the Negev by way of the border with Egypt. The tension between the two is immediately obvious. The security fence between the two doesn?t look that impenetrable, but the surveillance towers makes everything so much better. There wasn?t much out there except military outposts and it made me realize why the Israelites could wander around for forty years, the hills are huge, the wadis are deeper, and everything looks the same and desolate.
We then went to Mizpe Ramon, which overlooks the huge primeval crater. I thought it would be fun to hang glide off of it. It was amazing to me that of all the crazy things Israel has and of all the variety of ecosystems in this little land, it would also have a unique geological formation.
The next stop was Avdot, which was a Roman/Byzantine way station for desert caravans. Even though it?s out in the middle of the desert it has the largest wine press ever found, only built after the Christians came to the town. There were two churches there; one of them had a tomb with both a menorah and two crosses on it. The other one had a baptismal in the back. There was a cruciform shaped bath about 3 feet deep and 4 feet across. Next to it was a small basin. You would think that this place would solve the whole baptism debate, but it just raises more questions. It might be possible to do adult immersion baptism in the cruciform pool, but it would be really tight. My theory is that it was adult poured in the large basin, and then sprinkle from the small basin. Water was pretty scarce, so I was surprised that they didn?t simply follow the Didache and baptism by sprinkling sand.
The next site was Beersheba. This site gave us a good look at regular Israeli life during the monarchial period. The four-room house and the city streets really did give me the feeling that I could play house there, if I was younger that is, maybe. After that we went to Arad and checked out the Citadel there. In that there was a temple on the same plan as the one in Jerusalem, with two standing stones, one to Yahweh and one to Asherah. There were two incense altars there, and Rachel and Keleigh totally desecrated them by sitting on them. On one hand, I can understand the desire to not go all the way to Jerusalem just to pray to God. On the other hand, the prophets understood that the worship of Yahweh had to be pure.
Sunday
We started out in Arad and went down Vomit Highway to Masada. I usually get sick in the bus, and so I did get a bit sick going down the twisty mountains there. Masada was really cool. We walked up the siege ramp, and I had to stop and wonder how many 1st century Jewish people died and were buried beneath my feet. The coolest things on top was the swimming pool and the bathhouse. I found that it was interesting that the account Josephus gives of the Zealot?s last stand was probably all wrong. The siege ramp into Herod?s citadel was most telling that something happened there that Josephus didn?t want to say. I think that he just had a identity complex over the fact that he couldn?t carry out his own suicide pact so he projected upon everyone else that he thought was noble and good.
The next stop was the Dead Sea, where I got to swim, I mean, float, and smear black mud all over my body. It was kind of gross at first, but the feeling was amazing. And now my skin is super soft. I thought the Sea would hurt, but it actually wasn?t all that bad, and it was an amazing feeling to just float there and let the tides carry me like a piece of driftwood. Then we went up the road to the National Park of En Gedi, where there were Ibex?s, hyraxes, and load of other critters. It is here that traditionally David fled from King Saul, and the huge waterfall and numerous caves here makes it an obvious reason to hole up here.
Next was Qumran, which was so exciting. The ruins there aren?t much to look at, but I remembered the reconstruction I saw in the Grand Rapids exhibit and it was really neat to put it all together to the actual place. I also saw Cave 4, which was so exciting. At some parks there is a movie about the site, and the one here at Qumran was really bad. It was in the first person about a guy who lived there, which was interesting, but it made all kinds of conjectures that were annoying. You don?t need to say that John the Baptist was there in order to bring in the Christian crowd, it?s all interesting enough as it is. Nonetheless, I got to call Dr. Mohrmann from there and rub it in that I was there and he was spending the day sitting in lectures at SBL, which was sweet.