Holy Jordan

1. Gadara (site of Jesus’ miracle of the Gadarene swine);
2. Pella (early Christians found refuge here from turmoil and Roman conquest in Jerusalem after 70 AD; perhaps the site of Pennuel, where Jacob wrestled with the angel all night);
3. Brook of Cherith (where Elijah hid for 3 years upon God’s orders and was fed by ravens);
4. Rammoth-gilead (one of six Cities of Refuge in the Bible; Kings Ahab and Joram wounded in battles here);
5. Jabesh-gilead (its citizens appealed to Saul for help against the Ammonites, and later retrieved his body from Beth-shean and buried it at Jabesh-gilead);
6. Zaphon (perhaps Jephthah’s hometown and/or burial place);
7. Gerasa/Jerash (Decapolis town: in the Byzantine era it annually celebrated the miracle of turning water into wine;
8. Succoth (associated with Gideon, Jacob, King Jeroboam, and bronze castings for King Solomon’s temple);
9. Jabbok River;
10. Rabbath-‘ammoun/ Amman (Uriah the Hittite died upon order of David); Philadelphia (a Decapolis city); Ammonite tower;
11. Heshbon (capital of the Amorite King Sihon)
12. Bethany Beyond the Jordan/Tell Mar Ellias/Bethabara/Beth-hoglah/Beth-barah/Beth-araba (where Joshoa, Elijah and Elisha crossed the Jordan River, Elijah was taken up to heaven, John he Baptist preached and baptized, and Jesus was baptized and started his public ministry);
13. Mt. Nebo/Pisgah (mountain from where Moses saw the land of Canaan before dying, and from where the folk prophet Bala’am was asked by the Moabite King Balak to curse the Israelites camped below in the Jordan Balley);
14. Medeba/Madaba (an Amorite and Moabite town that was later a major center for Byzantine mosaic art);
15. Machaerus/Mukawir (Herodian fortress where John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded);
16. Dibon (capital of the Moabite King Mesha);
17. Aro’er (the capital of the Amorite King Sihon, a fortress of the Moabite King Mesha, and the starting point for David’s census);
18. Arnon Valley (often the northern boarder of Moab and the southern boarder of Reuben and Gad);
19. Sodom and Gomorrah (Early Bronze Age towns with massive fire destruction);
20. Kir Moab (once a capital of Moab where King Mesha offered to sacrifice his eldest son and stopped an attack by Judah, Israel and Edom);
21. Zoar (the town to which Lot and his daughters fled from Sodom);
22. Zered Valley (where Moses and his people concluded their desert wanderings and camped on their journey north towards Canaan);
23. Punon (copper mining center and the Exodus route encampment where Moses made a bronze serpent);
24. Bozrah (a capital of Edom, and according to Isaiah, the place from which the Messiah would come);
25. Sela (the rock from which King Amaziah hurled 10,000 Edomites to their death);
26. Joktheel/Petra/Wadi Mousa (the capital of the Nabataeans; a place where Moses struck the rock and brought forth water, Wadi Mousa means ‘Valley of Moses’ in Arabic);
27. Mt. Hor/Aaron’s tomb (where Aarom was buried and the priesthood was passed on to his son Eleazer);
28. Eloth/Aqaba (Edomite and Israelite port town, perhaps has the oldest known church in the world)