After exploring the Dead Sea, our adventure continues to a place called Qasr el Yahood- A historical rendezvous point. It is the place where the children of Israel first crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land. "You swim under.." -"With a straw!" "With a straw swim over to Jordan and then go to Petra.." Also the place where Elijah and Elisha divided the water and crossed over on dry ground. And the very same place where John baptized Jesus. We're standing in the Jordan River the baptismal place of Jesus Christ. "But there are mines here, babe, right?" Since the Six Day War, the site languished behind barbed wire and minefields for five decades. What is your name by the way? "Stav" -"Stav" And my name is Eden. "Eden.. the Garden of Eden" So Eden, okay! But in Hebrew "Eden" "Eden", Okay Fortunately however a few years ago some of the mines were cleared out. So we are able to take a peek at one of the most significant historical sites in Israel. We are in Qasr el Yahood, the baptismal place of Jesus Christ. It's an incredible place because a lot of things happen here! It all started when the children of Israel crossed from Jordan through this river.. You can see it's very low right now very small, but back at the time, it was much bigger. They crossed through this river and into the Land of Israel. Now in the very place, Joshua did something.. God told him to take 12 stones from the river and place them in the camp of Gilgal in Israel. But Joshua did something more than that.. he also took 12 stones from outside of the Jordan River and placed them into the Jordan River, When it was still dry when God stopped a flow. And he placed them under the feet of the priests that carried the Ark of the Covenant. So why is it important what Joshua did here with the stones? Because when John the Baptist came here and he rebuked the Jews, Calling them brood of vipers and he said You have.. you say you have Abram for your father, but God could raise his children out of these stones. These stones! What are these stones? These are the very stones that joshua placed into the river. And I think of the symbolism.. Joshua takes stones out of the Jordan River- Jordan represents, what? Jesus! "Yarden"- Yarden means descender. So descender, Jesus the descender.. Its through the water that washes, thats why the baptism that happened here is the washing of water. So, he takes 12 stones, 12 tribes out of the covenant, they are placed out, And he replaces them with stones from outside of the river. What are those12 stones? The 12 disciples! Isn't that incredible? This is exactly what happens And then right after that in Matthew 3 Jesus gets baptized in this very place. Another thing that happened here is Elijah and Elisha.. This is where they cross the Jordan River. Also the very same place. And he had the water recede and open up like the miracle that happened in the Red Sea for the Israelites, They walked on it, and then on the way back After Elijah was taken, Elisha took his belt and his power to double of that actually because he asked for it, And then he did the same miracle again. It all happened here at this spot- wonderful! Isn't it crazy to think, that Jordan is a hand reach away beyond this yellow floating barrier. And sometimes you can even see Jordanian soldiers on the other side of the river. Making sure that nobody's crossing over, just like these Israeli soldiers. So this place is called Qasr el Yahood that means the palace of the Jews. Where does this thing come from? It comes from a monastery that was built in the 6th century by Byzantine Orthodox Christians. They built it because this was the baptismal place of Jesus Christ. And next to that monastery that built many more monasteries. In fact this land is called the land of monasteries. There are so many. Back in the 12th century they had a recorded event of 60,000 people coming here - pilgrims. So until 1968 this was the primary baptismal place in Israel. But due to Wars and dangers around as you see all the minefields. They moved it to Yardenit. And if you haven't watched that episode, I really recommended it. Its where Rhodas sister got baptized a few episodes ago. So go back and watch that beautiful place as well. That's not the primary place, but this used to be it. And put you really low, and you can skip to the Jordan side. Oh, yes imagine Oh, yes imagine you go as if you're going to be baptized.. You hold your breath underwater.. You swim under.. With a straw.. with a straw swim over to Jordan and then go to Petra. Yes! But you could also just go to Petra with.. Except there are.. a car.. .. Soldiers of Jordanians over there too. Right. Gosh... I wonder if they electrocute the.. Click the subscribe button below and stay tuned for our next episode, As we calmly and peacefully hike up the mountain of Qumran in a search for ancient Hebrew manuscripts. Tell you what, looking up it looked much closer and much easier than it actually is!
