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| Mount Nebo |
Day Eleven - Shoback Castle, Madaba, Mount Nebo:
Hello again from Alex the blogmaster--j/k, but since I am formally “in charge” of delegating the blogging duties, I reserve the right to assign it to myself when I’m practically going crazy to share an experience with all who will listen, because it was about the most powerful feeling I have ever experienced, at least in a very long time. Today, our last full day in Jordan, we did indeed visit Shoback Castle, a structure dating to the crusades, as well as a Greek Orthodox church in the town of Madaba, but neither of these warrant anything more than a mention of what they are—not when today was the day we also went to Mount Nebo. For anyone not familiar with this location, you must read the last two chapters of Deuteronomy dealing with the death of Moses. It is the location to which Moses was ordered by God to ascend when his days were numbered. There was discussion in our group today of what the reasoning may have been for Moses, after all he had done for the people of Israel, being barred from actually entering the Promised Land. I had personally heard several possible explanations, any combination thereof all adding up to Moses’s possibly unjust punishment (but who are we to make such a statement anyway?) One says that it even goes as far back as Moses killing the taskmaster in Egypt, even though it seemed to be the only way to save the life of the slave who was being beaten. Another theory is more fatalistic, saying that God simply decided Moses had done all he was meant to do and it was time for a new leader—Joshua—to take over. The last, and most often cited, refers to Moses’s apparent, if momentary, loss of trust in God—so vital to someone already having to contend with a people so prone to losing it, as the Golden Calf episode shows us—in his doubting of the ability to bring water from the rock, even with the help of a God who had led the children of Israel out of Egypt and fed them with manna in the desert for all those years. The incident in question is, of course, often known as the rock striking, in which he struck a rock for water rather than trust God’s word that all he had to do was to ask the rock to bring forth water. The striking, of course, did bring water, but also along with it, Moses’s punishment.
In any event, Moses is told by God to climb Mount Nebo across from Jericho, where he will be able to SEE the land into which his people will soon be crossing, but will not make this final step of the journey with them, as he will die on the mountain after seeing the land. And that is where we stood today. We saw the final view taken in by Moses before he died. Obviously, again, we cannot know the exact spot, but we can at least know the direction, as there is only one way from which one can see Jericho, Jerusalem, and other places in Israel, from Mount Nebo, so the sensation in knowing the significance of where we were standing simply cannot be put in words. The group asked me to read the final chapter of Deuteronomy, detailing exactly what happened there so many eons ago, all of us understanding the significance of the line paraphrased as “Never again has there been another prophet like Moses, whom God knew face to face.” I just stood there transfixed at the sight—it was through a bit of a haze today, so I was not seeing as clearly, perhaps, as Moses, but no matter. I was taking in Moses’s final look at the world—there is simply nothing else that can be said. I remembered the presence on my iPod (fitting how technology works its way into everything these days, isn’t it?) of a song written by a wonderful artist whom I know personally, written from the perspective of Moses as he stares out with an almost haunting serenity at the land he has brought his people within reach of but cannot be there with them as they take that final step. I stood there listening to my recording of the composer himself singing the song, and singing quietly, half to myself, along with him. (A young woman came up to me and asked me what the singing was about—I think she originally thought I was a bit crazy, but I explained what it was and why I was doing so, and she understood its significance). Again, you’ll have to try to imagine the power of that moment for yourself, but I’ll leave you with the words to that song, written by Danny Maseng, and see what you feel just reading it or saying it, and then picture yourself hearing it and saying it and singing it, while looking out at the very expanse in which the actual words (or at least the ideas conveyed in those words) could have been spoken:
On this rock I stand
And see the Promised Land.
Isn’t it pure, isn’t it sweet as honey?
Flowing with milk, rivers of silk and wine.
I led you by the hand
Into the Promised Land
Out of the past, out of the night
Your souls were drawn to the light
Calling you near, you’ve nothing to fear
No more to roam, your home is here.
And keep on walking to the Promised Land
And cross that glowing river hand in hand
All the chosen, the children, the promise of tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s at your command
Through these weary eyes
I see how close it lies.
I reach out my hand, now I can almost touch it
Land of my dreams, star of my hopes
Within my sight
Through the desert sand
To the Promised Land
Follow the lead, follow the sign,
Your fate is no longer mine,
Now I can see, there’s nothing for me
Leave me to die, don’t cry, you’re finally free
Alex
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