The Baptism Site and Mount Nebo - Jordan, Middle East

This video is brought to you in part by the Jordan Tourism Board. Very nice. Wow. So now we're getting to the baptism site. Alright everybody, so we're here at the baptism site. Walking into the actual location where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. And his place is a natural reserve. As you can see, the only thing that is allowed to be built in this area is churches and mosques and places of worship. Okay, now let's get over there. And when you get here, you have to use this easy guide, which gives you all the information on the whole location. And on different points, you have different information. Alright, so this is the trail leading to the baptism site. The river is over there. This is the river. It's over there. But water used to come from the side from here, you see it? Coming from this side and from the west. From down there, filling this area. So the river sometimes wasn't reaching this area. But then they built the churches here. The small chapel you see over there. And this one here, you can see in the picture, in the mosaic. This is the mosaic, by the way. Small mosaic here. It's over there, the small chapel. They believe this is the small chapel where Jesus was being baptized. He took off his robe and he was being baptized. He went down the steps and he was being baptized by John the Baptist. Now, if you look at the churches here, there were five churches and I think there was more to be excavated in this site. Because you can see steps coming from here, maybe, according to the map. Now, how they used to build churches? They used to build them in columns, you see, pillars. To avoid the flash flood, or arches. See, arches? All on top of each other, like this one here on top. So that's the way they used to build churches. For that we have five churches. One, we have two, we have three, we have four, and we have five. So five churches on top of each other. Now, they found the original steps. You see them here, down there? You see the original steps down there? And these are the restored. Alright, so now we're entering the Jordan River. You see where the water is? We're going to go to the water. Are they doing baptisms? They're doing mass. Let me get the bottle. Alright, so this is the entrance to the Jordan River. Let's go. Should we go? So this is the Jordan River right here. And over here they're having a baptism. As you can see. It's not that bad, is it? Look over there. The camels. Alright, so we're here at Mount Nebu. This is where Moses is supposed to be buried by God. And Moses died here when he was 120 years old. And Mount Nebu means Mountain of the Prophet. What does this mean? Water. As the English say, water. Do you remember in Metro we talked about Moses' spring? Moses with his stick, he struck the stone, the water came out. There was one spring and also there's one down there. See the road coming down? And there's a big tree, see the big tree? The big tree at the top to the right. And underneath there's a cave. And that's the spring, Moses' spring. And this is called the Valley of Moses' Spring. They found many churches down there. Wow. And you can see the mountain range in front of us here. You see that these are the mountain range. So right there is the old church and they're building a roof on top of it. The fish was a representation, a Christian representation. The first code which was used by the Christians. So they will hide that they're Christian. The Romans will not know. So it's like telling each other that they were Christian. So I will say to you, Echthos, which means the fish. So you think, the Romans will think that they are talking about fish and selling and buying fish. But actually they're giving a message, a secret code, that they are Christian. Because Echthos, or the fish in Latin, is an abbreviation for Jesus Christ, the Son of Saviour. Iosos, Theos, Seter. Echthos. Iosos, Kostos, Theos, Seter. Jesus Christ, the Son of Saviour. It's different stories here. Like she's carrying a dog with a fruit, they're going to have a meal. She's freeing him, giving him freedom. He's climbing the tree, pulling the leg, preventing him from doing bad things. She is punishing him by slapping him on the bottom. He did something bad. He's kissing the feet of Aphrodite, asking for forgiveness. He's been attacked by the beast and covering his face. He's been punished here. And this one is wondering what's going on in the story. Look at the details of the mosaic. Look at the dresses. Look at the weapons, the chairs. They're sitting, look at the chairs. So right now, we're entering Badaba.