Bethany Beyond the Jordan

John answered them saying, "I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. John 1:26-28

Ok, we did go to a few tourist spots this past spring. And "Bethany beyond the Jordan" is the tourist coup de gras of all Christendom. I would have fit right in if only I had thought to wear my Bermuda shorts, white socks with penny loafers, and tee-shirt that read "I saw Elvis at the Western Wall". I wasn't going to mention this site at all, but there are a couple of things here that I thought were note worthy.

I have traveled through the Sinai, the Negev, and the Judean Wilderness. They are rugged, rocky, tree barren places of solitude. Even as you travel north, both in Jordan and Israel, much of what was forested in Biblical times no longer exists. That is why I was surprised at the wilderness area where John was baptising. It was covered in scrub brush and scraggly evergreen trees, very much the way it was in the first century. This dense thicket went out from the river several hundred yards before returning to dry, desolate terrain.

There was also a tree there known as the locust tree. It grew green bean pods that our guide in Israel called carob. Let me pause here to say that this particular guide was a young Christian Arab studying at one of the Christian Universities in Israel. He was extremely knowledgeable about Biblical sites and had studied under some of the most well known archaeologist in the Middle East. He told us current academian thought believed that this was the "locust" that John ate. A bean pod, not a bug! You have to admit, it is an intriguing theory.

Inside the carob pod are reddish brown pea size kernels called karats. Not only were these karats eaten, they were used as a weight to counter balance gold and other precious metals and stones. Today the term "karat" is still used as a unit of measuring gold and diamonds.

So I guess the lesson here is that if one can look beyond all the encrusted trappings of some of the more popular Biblical sites, there are valuable lessons to be learned.