Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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According to the final chapter of Deuteronomy (34:1), Mount Nebo is where Moses was
given a view of the Promised Land that God was giving to the Jews:
"And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah, which is
opposite Jericho."
It is claimed that, Moses was buried on this mountain by God himself, although his final
resting place is unknown. But that's not all, scholars continue to dispute whether the moun-
tain is the same as the mountain referred to in the Torah where, according to 2 Maccabees
2:4-7, the Prophet Jeremiah hid the Ttabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant.
The view from the summit of Mt Nebo provides a panorama of the Holy Land and, to the
north, a more limited one of the valley of the River Jordan. It was said that you could see
Jericho and Jerusalem on a clear day. Unfortunately it was not a clear day. The outlook in
terms of the landscape and fertility was little better than what we had seen at Shobak Castle.
This was one hard bit of country.
In 1933, on the highest point of the mountain, the remains of a church and monastery were
discovered, with six tombs hollowed from the natural rock beneath the mosaic-covering the
floor of the church
The church was first constructed in the second half of the 4
th
Century to commemorate the
place of Moses' death. The church design follows a typical basilica pattern and was enlarged
in the late 5
th
Century and rebuilt in 597.
The church is first mentioned in an account of a pilgrimage made by a lady, Aetheria, in
394. In the modern chapel, built to protect the site and provide worship space, you can see
remnants of mosaic floors from different periods.
There is a serpentine cross sculpture (the Brazen Serpent Monument) atop Mount Nebo,
created by Italian artist Giovanni Fantoni. It is symbolic of the bronze serpent created by
Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9) and the cross upon which Jesus was crucified
(John 3:14).
