Biblical Geographic

Wadi/Sil Hasa / al Ahsy; Arabic, Brook/Nahal Zered, Biblical Num 21:12; Deut 2:13,14 the way of Luhith, the road to Horonaim Isa 15:5; 2 Sam 13:34; Jer 48:5 dry stream bed  2 Kings 3:16 brook of the willows Isa 15:7.

The brook Zered was a marking point for three distinct reasons in scripture:

1. It was the final road for escape for Lot, following a brief respite at Zoar, arriving at Horonaim from the Dead sea basin Isa 15:5;  Jer 48:5 It demonstrated the end of not seeing with faith, and association with Abraham Heb 11:13; Gen 22:4   Lot (heb veiled see 1 Cor 3:14) could not see afar off, and thus represents a national picture of Israel who were blinded not obtaining what they sought for Rom 11:7 but this “blindness in part” is about to be changed with the recognition of their Messiah Zech 12:10.
2. After crossing Wadi Hasa, all of the children of Israel that were of the generation that left Egypt and were responsible for the revolt at the report of the spies had died. Movement from this point comprised a complete young generation, with very few exceptions: Caleb and Joshua, and possibly some of the Levites/Priests. Deut 2:13,14. This was the end of the law-keepers being described as the way of Luhith [heb tablets the root wood is used for the tablets on which the law was inscribed Ex 24:12; 278; 31:18; 32:15,16; 34:1,4,28; Deut 5:22; 9:9,10,11,15). The new generation were instructed to “arise” Deut 2:13 and to “rise ye up” Deut 2:14 the language of a figuratively resurrected people. It was to be a time when Yahweh would begin to put the fear and dread of them on the nations Deut 2:25 again a figurative picture of the Israel becoming the head of the nations and not the tail Jer 31:7; Zech 1:21.
3. It was the point at which the lands of the Moabites and the Edomites were divided. The northern margins of Edom were considered the governorate or state of Gebal or the country of the Gebalene. (4) Ps 83:7 and it was possibly part of this wadi involved in the conquest by Jerhoram 2 Kings 3:16.

The wadi runs for around 28km, and a tremendous walk can be done covering the western 15km. It is the only perennial watercourse between central Jordanian plateau and the Dead sea. The wadi starts like most in Jordan almost imperceptibly near the potash mines at the mountain road, or the biblical kings highway, and from there an increase in fall leads to some rugged country westwards. In its eastern reaches, the wadi has a Nabatean temple at Khirbet Tannur, adjacent to the modern Tanur dam. The finds from this temple, (one of very few to be excavated) are in the archeology museum in Amman. At the western end of Zered, the entry point into Edom was used for any significant battle or engagement with Edom. The land west of the wadi in the Arabah is called the valley of salt.

Enormous changes are continuing within the wadi. The wadi was formed by the effects of tectonic changes, deposition and varied degrees of erosion:  20 metres of erosion were estimated at Bab edh-Dra and over 50 m at Numeira only 15km away and a similar amount at Safi at the mouth of the wadi, but it is evident from the archeological findings that the majority of the wadi was geologically in situ before settlement. (3)

Both late bronze age and iron age I finds have been located south the wadi. (1) with particular evidence of dramatic increase in the settlement south of the wadi in the c8,7BC, confirming the rise of Edomite power, that coincides with both old testament and Assyrian records, but with little transition into the land between Edom and Moab. (2) A time when the Assyrian inscriptions indicate Edom was a tributary of Adad-nirari ca796BC and Tiglath Pilisser III (2b) The demise of the Edomites may be suggested in the time of Nabonidus, with an insight gained in the inscription at Sela with possibly the standing image of the king of Babylon (2b).

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1. Khairieh ‘Amr: The archeology of the Wadi Hasa, west central Jordan. vol 2
2. P. M. Michèle Daviau: The world of the Arameans vol 2 pg 256ff 265 (2b) 266
3. Burton MacDonald: The Wadi el Ḥasā Archaeological Survey, 1979-1983, west-central Jordan pg 33
4. Robinson: Physical geography of the holy land pg 167

For More Photos Visit: Baal Meon, (Khibet) Ma’in, JORDAN

Baal Meon Num 32:38;l  Ezek 25:9; 1Chron 5:8, Beon Num 32:3,  Beth Baal Meon Josh 13:17;, Bethmeon Jer 48:23 Beelmaus; greek, Ma’in; modern  Heb master or Baal of the house/dwelling/habitation or the temple/house of Baal.

Baal Meon was a signal location. Here the prophet Balaam was to view the camp of Israel on his heedless attempt to thwart the blessings of deity. Following the conquest against Sihon, the town was taken for inheritance by the tribe of Rueben.  There is a few insights to be gleaned from this record: The town was reconstructed by the men of Reuben, indicating a devastation of the previous occupation. Further if Balaam and the  king of Moab were present to view the encampment at the plains of Moab, the tribe of Reuben did not take their inheritance until after the campaign of Sihon and Og, Num 32:28. After this time its name was also changed. That is the name of Yahweh as worshipped by the nation of Israel was appended to in the location, by the very nature of the worship of Reuben, cf Num 6:23.

Baal Meon is near the modern location of Main, around 8km SW of Madaba. The location is confirmed on the evidence of Eusebius, with a distance measured from Heshbon to Beelmaus near the springs of Ba-aru.(1) It has a dramatic panorama overlooking the northern Dead sea and the southwestern portion of the kirkar, or the plain of Moab in which the encampment of Israel was located. The modern town is built on a more ancient location as byzantine mosaics depicting holy-land churches was found here. Artefacts from before roman times have not however been found in this area. That Bela dwelt in Aroer even to Nebo and Baal-meon 1Chron 5:8, seems to indicate that as Areor was the southern boundary, and Nebo was the northern boundary of the Madaba plateau, Baal Meon should be found as another of its limits. Khirbet Main or tel Ma’in (3) is on the slopes before the country falls dramatically into the Jordan rift on the western margins of the plateau. (To mark the eastern margins of the plateau is almost impossible, as the country gradually flattens off into the wide expanses of the eastern desert)

This was one of the towns that Mesha captured from Israel ca870-840BC (2) with the reconstruction of water channels and reservoirs indicating agricultural prosperity in the immediate area.

The town continued to be a reasonable size as it was both mentioned by Jeremiah and Ezekiel under the campaign lists of Nebuchadnezzar 587BC Jer 48:23; Ezek 25:9.

The spiritual lesson from Baal-Meon is the way that we should look at things. When Balaam and Balak were looking for faults in Israel, they found them in the weakness to challenges of morality, Num 25. But it was at this very time that Yahweh saw no iniquity in Jacob! Num 23:21 but was active in providing atonement for the nation, Micah 6:4,5. Baal Meon was a town in the very last days of Israel before they took their inheritance. There is a call for perseverance in righteousness in the light of the return of Christ from heaven.

1. Onom. 44:21; 46:2
2. Mesha stelle inscription lines 1.9,30: Chemosh in my days. I built Baal-Meon  and made therein the reservoirs
3. Claude Conder; Survey of Eastern Palestine pg 91,176; Claude Conder: Heth and Moab Explorations in Syria 1881,1882 pg 139,140
4. Photographs courtesy M Pitt

Zoar means insignificant, and the meaning is given in Gen 19:20: “it is small, it is very small!” NIV.   The city was one of the cities of the plain, and a town to which Lot would flee with his two daughters before ascending into the hill country east of the Jordan into the location of Horonaim. It was described as the limits of the well watered area of the southern kirkar or circuit of Jordan Gen 13:10 cf Deut 34:3 and was considered like the gardens of Egypt in their productivity. Zoar is repeatedly demonstrated as the end of the line. It was here that Lot fled after Sodom, Gen 19:32; it was given as a description of the end of Moab in a later invasion Isa 15:5. It is interesting to note the mention of  a heifer of three years, the same peculiar animal offered for Abraham Gen 15:9, but rejected by Lot in his dismissal of the shared company of the patriarch Isa 15:5; Jer 48:34. The ascent of Luhtith to Horonaim mentioned within this verse is the path of Lot into the northern reaches of Wadi al Hasa or the biblical brook Zered.

 Lot had sadly been affected by his time in Egypt. He did not select the lessons learnt by his uncle Abram, and leaving with his handmaids, servants and abundant flocks sought an existence where there was less reliance of deity. His name means veiled, and demonstrated the inability to see with faith the promised inheritance,. Both Moab and Ammon are national demonstrations of this ignorance extended in apostacy, and demonstrated individuals who were of uncertain fatherhood, (not seeing their father in heaven) and so were not permitted to worship in the tabernacle, Deut 23:1-4.

The position of men in the judgment of deity is manifestly demonstrated in this location. That men can reserve personal ability, possession or ambitions in the light of spiritual inheritance is clearly demonstrated in the judgments on Sodom and Lot. God had demonstrated that righteousness would come to Abraham in a time when the iniquity of the Amorites would be full, not personal or national merit established Gen 15:6. In respect to the judgment of Sodom, there was a protracted discussion about the rightness of execution before the event. Would not the Elohim, the judge of the eretz do right? 18:25. In the light to the effects of Lot’s righteousness there could be found 10 righteous! 18:-26-33. Elohim consuming the iniquity of the city 19:15. So when Lot ended at Zoar, the town represented his position. He was insignificant in the operation of God, and the gift of salvation from the inferno was a token of the generosity of his Lord.

This becomes a national principle as outlined by Moses: “Not for thy righteousness or for the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh thy Elohim doth drive them out from before thee, that he may perform the word which Yahweh sware unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” Deut 9:5.

Zoar is also known as Bela Gen 14:2 a name incorporated into the princes of the land of Edom Gen 36;32 The location of Zoar is like the other cities of the plain difficult to pinpoint, but consider the following; The location of Zoar is demonstrated in the Madaba map as being in the southern area of the Dead sea. Josephus considered Zoar to be a place within the country of Arabia. (1)  in roman times there was a town called Zoara south of the Dead sea. Ghor es safi is built around a significant oasis, with a good water supply. Archeological excavations including recent finds demonstrate a considerable cemetery indicating a sizable city in the area, with finds as far back as c30BC Although most inscriptions are in Greek, a number were found with Aramaic names. It may be the same as Suhru mentioned twice in the el Amarna letters (2) There are five ancient sites within a short distance of Ghor es Safi. One of these, a village with ancient fortifications called Numeira was found with an ash layer over 7 feet thick! possibly indicating that the conflagration of Sodom affected this far south (3)  Note that Zoar is clearly within the land of Moab Isa 15;5. The silts from the streams in the past, including wadi al Hasa, appear to have provided enormous alluvial deposits and supported rich agricultural settlements.

However for the enormous debate over the location of these cities, the lesson of Zoar remains clear: God made Christ to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God (who knew no righteousness) We then as workers together with him beseech you (periclesis) to not take the grace of God in vain 2 Cor 5:21; 6:1.

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1. Josephus: Wars iv.42 antiq i.204
2. Avraham Negev: Archeological encyclopaedia of the holy land pg 554
3. Randal Price: The stones cry out pg 11

• Um Qais, Um Qeis, Umm Qays; the mother of Qays was a marble statue once standing in the amphitheatre. [Arabic Umm, Hebrew Imma, mother]
• Latin: Gedara; Greek MSS: Geresa, Gergesa,Gergesnes,Gerasenians those who take flight/pilgrimage. (1) These names should not be confused with Gerasa which is another name for Jerash, a Decapolis city around 45km further south.
• Kursi is retained as a name for both the area of northern Jordan, and for a specific location on the eastern sea of Galilee
• Gedar is incorporated into the name of the hot springs at the foot of the city of Gedara called Hammat Gedar

View of the Golan from Gedara

Mentioned in Matt 8:28; Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26 and amongst the cities of the Decapolis, the country surrounding Gedara gets the most attention within the biblical record. Whilst the capital is based in northern Jordan, its administrative area extended over the southern portion of the Golan heights, and the eastern margins of the sea of Galilee, in which location the parable of Legion was to occur. Some  authors believe that the toponym is contained in Gergasa, Chorsia or mod Kursi, a location on the eastern shore of the sea of Galilee around 8km north of En Gev where this event occurred (2,3) It appears however, that the majority of the findings at the location relate to c5 ADf  byzantine church(es), and it appears a byzantine tradition to locate the miracle here. Talmudic tradition has it as a place of idol worship (4) The Kursi national park now is located surrounding the site. It should be noted that the northern district of Jordan bordering the Yarmuk is also called al-Kursi.

View of Tiberias from Gedara

Alongside Jerash and Ammon (Philadelphia) the ruins of Gedara are the most visible. Colonnaded streets, theatre and public buildings and a local artefact museum are a delight during a visit of this location. Various greek, roman and other artefacts are displayed, but the most remarkable display is the view obtained from climbing onto the roof of the museum itself, for portrayed is an uninterrupted view of the Golan, the sea of Galilee, Gilboa and the northern Massif.

View of Tiberias from Gedara

Legion was convinced that this was the Messiah, as who else could survive the terrible storm? The psalmist wrote: “By terrible things in righteousness whit thou answer us, O God of our salvation, who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girt with power. which stilleth the noise of the seas the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples“  Ps 65:5-7. If this man could still the seas, then he could still the tumult in the mind of Legion. A legion was 6000 men! represented the myriad of mankind in their struggles with human nature and it’s effects. He was naked, that is without covering or source of atonement. He was among the tombs, that is he was bound within the destiny of sin, a dying man.  About 2000 swine were to be into the sea that could be calmed, and represented the 2000 years afforded for the conversion of the gentiles.

The result of the action was to be clothed and in a right mind. Mark 5:15 Atonement now offered, and a soundness of reasoning regarding decisions and action, and in nothing terrified of the enemies of sin, 2 Tim 1:7; Phil 1:27,28.

What a marvelous vista of the work that Christ can accomplish for all the troubles of life. The largest issues are the position of covering to which we find ourselves, and sitting of ourselves with our master.

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1. Augustin Calmet, Charles Taylor: Calmet’s dictionary of the Holy Bible: with the Biblical fragments, vol 1 pg 570
2. Avraham Negev, Shimon Gibson: Archaeological encyclopedia of the Holy Land  pg 286
3.  Bargil Pixner: Paths of the Messiah  pg 152-155  An in-depth description of the excavations at Kursi, incl Gluck
4. Amelia Thomas et al Israel and the Palestinian territories pg 266

El Karama is settled in the sweltering valley of Jordan, this town became infamous as the home-town for Yassar Arafat a terrorising champion of the Palestinians. The house of his family is still visible standing to the southeast of the village itself on the foothills of the valley. Palestinians are not Philistines. They originate not from the coastal strip in Israel, but were at the best a group of Arabic peoples who settled in the same area. The mosque illustrated above was used for target practice by the Israelis in the 1967 war, with only one of the four minarets left standing

Just to the south of this village is the rocky outcrops of the northern margins of the kirkar, the circle of the Jordan, and the biblical location of Beth Nimrah, the house of the leopards/panthers, or house of still waters (1)  Num 32:36; Josh 13:27.  The village given to the tribe of Gad, whose inheritance extended northward to the base of the sea of Chinnereth (Heb. harp, after the shape of the sea of Galilee) Josh 13:27.  The name of Bethnimrah is preserved in tel-Nimrah and the nahr (river) Nimrin the lower end of the wadi (valley) Shoiab running from es-Salt, with some suggestion of the location at the adjacent tel Bleibil. The remarkable feature of this location is the only spring water in a water-table that is not penetrated until significantly further north, where most of the country is laced by relics of ancient roman aqueducts moving ground water.

1. Cyclopaedia of biblical, theological, and ecclesiastical literature, John McClintock, James Strong vol 1 pg 785
2. Robinson, researches in Palestine and adjacent regions vol 2 pg 318

3. The land of the Bible: a historical geography Y Aharoni pg 126

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