Our entrance into Jordan went pretty smoothly. We took our normal Net Buses to the Border station and then switched to Jordanian buses, with Jordanian drivers, a Jordanian tourist police escort, and our Jordanian tour guide - Zafer. These are all just regulations, Jordan is not terribly unsafe or anything.
We first visited the tell of Succoth. This city was located on the Transjordan side of the Rift Valley. One can see a big difference in the way of agriculture when it comes to the east and west sides of the Rift Valley. The Transjordan mountains get a lot of rain because they are very high. This rain is then drained down into the Rift Valley. Now because the east side if the Rift Valley would have more agriculture the majority of travel for trade and what not would pass on this side. Succoth was a very popular city because of this reason. Succoth is located right on the east side of the Rift Valley, which makes it a really good resting point for travelers and traders. Here we also talked about Judges 8 where Gidean pursues his enemies to Succoth and Penuel. These people would not help Gidean and later were punished for their lack of aid.
After Succoth we visited Pella (the Old Testament site here was called Pehel). This Decapolis city is located on the opposite side of the Rift Valley from Scythopolis. From here one can locate Mt. Giboa and the Hills of Moreh if you look across the Rift Valley.
Next, we travelled to Gadara. Gadara was a rather large Decapolis city. It has a very nice theater on the site. Apparently, each Decapolis city would have a theater constructed in their own unique way. Therefore, each Decapolis theater would reflect the character of that specific city. Located at Geddara is also an octagonal church. It is suggested that octagonal churches were used to commemorate different events in Jesus' life. For instance, the one at Geddara commemorated the "pig story" that took place very near here. Geddara is also located just south of the Yarmuk wadi and close enough to the Sea of Galilee that we could view it from the site.
Our final stop was at Ramoth Gilead. Ramoth Gilead is very important because Damascus sees this city as an extension of itself and Israel sees this city as their access to Damascus. Whenever Israel came up against Damascus they went through Ramoth Gilead, as you can see in 1 Kings 23 and 2 Kings 8. Ramoth Gilead also has major connections bringing in much trade. For example, those in Arabia would come up this way to take the route that leads through the Jezreel Valley to the coast. Everyone inland is always trying to get to the coast and everyone on the coast is trying to get inland. Trade is the main source of wealth for this land. This puts those cities connecting the two areas in prime position for making a lot of money.
We finally came to our rest in Ammon, the capital of Jordan. A number of us went out to Star Bucks because there are no Star Bucks in Israel, and therefore this was our only chance to have "real" coffee (or hot chocolate for me) before we get home. It was actually really fun, other than finding out that we took the most expensive taxi to the place. Apparently, you should never take the white ones, but look for the yellow ones (well, we at least learned for our way back). Claire met a Jewish student from Chicago that is here for a semester. I think he is studying in Jordan, but I am not certain. It was fun all the same, and I got to take a few sugar packets with Arabic on them. After that Claire and I watched television in our really nice room; which had a towel warmer, safe, mini-frig, and telephone in the bathroom.
~Jennilee~
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