Mount Nebo

On Friday, we headed a short distance out of town to visit Mount Nebo, the place mentioned in the Hebrew Bible where Moses viewed the Promised Land.

The kids were disappointed when they discovered Mount Nebo wasn't actually a mountain and there wouldn't be a hike or climb to the top. The 'mount' is actually an elevated ridge, and our tour bus drove us all the way to the top, but from there -- 2,800 ft above sea level -- you can see the Dead Sea and -- on clearer day than the one we had -- all the way to Jerusalem.

At the highest point of the mount are the remains of the Byzantine church and monastery, first discovered in 1933. 

Inside the monastery, were tile mosaics. The mosaics had been laid down in two layers, with less elaborate patterns covering mosaics with images on them. Evidently, churches weren't allowed to have images in them at that time, so the mosaics with images (as shown above) were covered over by the patterned mosaics. 

The second layer of tile served the double purpose of protecting the later underneath from damage to the monastery suffered during an earthquake. Sam, ever observant, noticed the writing in the mosaics wasn't Arabic and asked me what language it was. I told him it looked like Greek, and he asked me why it was written in Greek and not Arabic. I told him I didn't know and that was a good question. "Why don't you ask Mr. Nasser (our tour guide)?"

So, I accompanied Sam, Pete, Clementine, as Sam asked Mr. Nasser why the script in the mosaics was Greek and not Arabic. 

Mr. Nasser explained that at the time, Greek was the more universal language. In many ways, it was what English is today, the language of commerce and diplomacy. It was spoken by the elite, and since Mount Nebo, even then, was a holy destination, the language was used for the convenience of those travelling from Europe to visit there. 

Mr. Nasser was so impressed by Sam's question, he made a point of adding the comment to his lecture when we got back on the tour bus!

I'm not usually one to drop a few coins and buy a candle, but I think -- of all the places we had visited so far -- my mom would have really enjoyed this one, because of its religious significance, so I lit a candle in her memory there. 

A serpentine cross sculpture, the Brazen Serpent Monument, at the top was created by Italian artist Giovanni Fantoni. It is symbolic of the bronze serpent created by Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4–9) and the cross upon which Jesus was crucified (John 3:14).

On March 20, 2000, Pope John Paul II visited the site during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. During his visit he planted an olive tree beside the Byzantine chapel as a symbol of peace. The monument above marks his visit. Barely visible in the lower left hand corner, written in Latin, is the inscription, "One God, Father of All, Above All".