Mount Nebo, Jordan where Moses Saw Promised Land
Egeria and Peter the Iberian Offer Historical Context to Moses Story
Jul 3, 2009
The Bible, Deuteronomy 34:1-7, tells the story of Moses’s journey to Mount Nebo. It says: “Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Mount Pisgah east of Jericho and there the Lord showed him the whole land: the territory of Gilead as far north as the town of Dan…”
Mount Nebo
Today a view from the top of Mount Nebo would of course still reveal many of the same topographical features that Moses gazed on.
On a clear day the view from this lofty Jordanian eyrie stretches west across the Dead Sea towards Jerusalem, and south along a King’s Highway that leads to distant Crusader Castles. To the north a glimpse of the seven hills of Amman and turning east the Jordanian desert runs off to join the distant sandy wastes of Saudi Arabia.
On a recent visit to the site Pope Benedict XVI said: “It is appropriate that my pilgrimage should begin on this mountain, where Moses contemplated the Promised Land from afar.”
Although prehistoric dolmens (two vertical stones supporting a horizontal one) offer scant evidence of an ancient civilisation, further, more substantial information about Mount Nebo’s link with Moses comes from two sources.
Writings of Egeria
The writings of Egeria, a fourth century European traveller who came to Mount Nebo on an extended Christian pilgrimage has much to offer historians. She said: “ On reaching the mountaintop we came to a church, not a very big one right on the summit of Mount Nebo, and inside, I saw a slightly raised place about the size of a normal tomb. I asked about it and the holy man replied, ‘Holy Moses was buried here by angels’.”
Peter the Iberian
A later diary (5th century) from Peter the Iberian, Bishop of Gaza, told of similar experiences to those of Egeria: “There on that occasion we learned from the inhabitants of the mountain (Nebo) how the builders of the temple became convinced that the body of holy Moses was lying there…”
These two invaluable sources of information were the catalyst for considerable archaeological study on the site, under the auspices of the Jerusalemite Franciscan Fathers who bought the land on two of Nebo’s peaks, Siyagha and el-Mukhayyat, in 1932.
Memorial Church of Moses
By 1937 excavations had exposed the Memorial Church of Moses with its beautiful mosaic floors. Nearby Greek inscriptions revealed the names of the craftsmen who completed this work, the abbot of the monastery, the incumbent Roman consuls and the date, August 531.
These excavations, which continue today, are now covered by a modern church, which attracts many thousands of visitors to this holy Jordanian place.
Sources:
The Good News Bible, Deuteronomy 34:1-7
S Saler, translator, The Memorial of Moses on Mount Nebo, The Life of Peter the Iberian, 1941
Franciscan Archaeological Institute website, The memorial of Moses at Mount Nebo.
Sources for translated writing of Egeria came from:
Sherry Michelle Hardin, The Christianization of the Kerak Plateau in Ancient times, A thesis submitted to North Carolina State University and approved by Dr J Banker, Dr J Riddle and Dr S Parker, May 6, 2008
Note: A copy of Egeria’s original Latin manuscript was made in the 11th century but not published until 1887
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