Where is Madaba/מֵֽידְבָא֙ ?

Madaba is a town located in the country of

Jordan/Yarden

bordering Israel/Yisrael.

Madaba is mentioned in the Bible:

Recorded as Medeba in the translation; spelled with the vowel e in place of a Recall no vowels in the original text it would have been m d b

מ  ד ב 

But we have cast them down, Heshbon is ruined as far as Dibon, Then we have laid waste even to Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba.

Numbers 21:30

from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, with the city which is in the middle of the valley, and all the plain of Medeba, as far as Dibon;

Joshua 13:9

Their territory was from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, with the city which is in the middle of the valley and all the plain by Medeba;

Joshua 13:16

So they hired for themselves 32,000 chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people, who came and camped before Medeba. And the sons of Ammon gathered together from their cities and came to battle.

1 Chronicles 19:7

They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, even to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba; Everyone’s head is bald and every beard is cut off.

Isaiah 15:2

The

Madaba מֵידְבָ֖א

 Map,

also known as the 

Madaba Mosaic Map,

is part of a floor mosaic 

in the early Byzantine church of Saint George

a

19th-century basilica,

in

מֵידְבָ֖א/Madaba,

Jordan

Yarden/The Descender.

 

This intricate floor mosaic of the Holy Land is believed to have been created in the 6th-century A.D.; being made between 542 and 570 as the floor of the church.

The mosaic was rediscovered in 1884, when the local community in Madaba, Jordan, made an incredible discovery, which has proved to be the oldest Holy Land map in the world.

It was unearthed during the construction of a new Greek Orthodox church on the site of its ancient predecessor.

This floor is the single most important piece of Byzantine Christian mosaic art in the East. 

In 614, Madaba was conquered by the Sasanian Empire. During the eighth century, the ruling Muslim Umayyad Caliphate had some figural motifs removed from the mosaic. In 746, Madaba was largely destroyed by an earthquake and subsequently abandoned.

Because the mosaic map of Madaba is the oldest known geographic floor mosaic in art history, it is used significantly for confirming the position and location of biblical sites. E.g. In 1967, excavations in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem revealed the Nea Church and the Cardo Maximus in the very locations suggested by the Madaba Map.

The floor mosaic is located in the apse of the church of Saint George at Madaba.

An apse is a semicircular recess,

often covered with a hemispherical vault.

It is not oriented northward, as modern maps are, but faces east toward the altar in such a fashion that the position of places on the map coincides with the compass directions.

Originally, it measured 21 by 7 m and

contained more than two million individual tiles

The mosaic map depicts an area from 

Lebanon in the north to the Nile Delta in the south,

and from the Mediterranean Sea 

in the west to the Eastern Desert.

Among other features,

it depicts the Dead Sea 

with two fishing boats,

a variety of bridges linking

the banks of the Yarden/Jordan,

fish swimming in the river

and receding from the Dead Sea;

 Made almost unrecognizable by the insertion of random tiles/tesserae during a period of during a period of opposition to and destruction of, religious images known as Iconoclasm;

is a lion hunting a gazelle in the Moab desert, (top left of picture);

palm-ringed Jericho (at the bottom and below),

Bethlehem, and other biblical sites.

Below, place where

John the Baptist was at Yeshua/Jesus’ immersion

at the mouth of the Yarden/Jordan,

Bethabara

and the (nearly-obliterated) lion hunting a gazelle.

The map may have served to help pilgrims’ orientate themselves in the Holy Land.

All the landscape areas are labeled with explanations in Greek and depict approx. 150 towns and villages.

Ancient church buildings were positioned 180 degrees from the Temple in Yerushalayim/Jerusalem. The Holy of Holies was entered from the East with the ark of the covenant in the west.

Byzantine church buildings were entered from the west with the “altar” in the east. Because of this, the Madaba map is oriented so that those sitting in the pews can look ahead to see the map, then look beyond the map and see the pulpit or “Altar”.

The map is read from the west.

While modern maps are labeled as if one is standing on the south pole and looking north, the Madaba map is labeled from the north looking south. This means that the lettering of the map is upside down to how we would orient the map on paper. It’s like looking at a map of a country at 180 degrees/upside down.

The Madaba map is not to scale.

Yerushalayim/Jerusalem is greatly enlarged and distances are greatly distorted in comparison to what we would expect from an accurate map; because the map was for devotional purposes, not science and geography as we would like it to have been from a modern perspective.

When they built the map, one 1/2 inch cube of stone mosaic at a time, they surely never thought they were working on what would be the most important ancient map in existence!

The largest and most detailed element of the topographic depiction is Jerusalem (Greek: ΙΕΡΟΥΣΑ[ΛΉΜ]), at the centre of the map. The mosaic clearly shows a number of significant structures in the Old City of Jerusalem: the Damascus Gate, the Lions’ Gate, the Golden Gate, the Zion Gate, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the New Church of the Theotokos, the Tower of David.

This post on

Madaba

and its amazing mosaic map has an important place

in verifying the location of Yeshua/Jesus’ immersion

from our previous 2 posts. 

Passing through the waters may have a much deeper meaning than we first thought on reading the Bible the

Jordan/Yarden River

has a major part in many of the prophetic scriptures.

From as far back as Abraham…

Abraham entered the Promised Land through the gateway of the Jordan River Valley when he first journeyed from Ur of the Chaldeans (Gen. 12:1–9).

 The Book of Genesis refers to the

patriarch Abram as:

ha-ivri  הָעִבְרִי

or

the Hebrew. Gen. 14:13.

…to those which were fulfilled in John/Yocananan and Jesus/Yeshua’s day.

Recall an earlier post concerning the meaning of the word

Hebrew – ivri

עברי

ivri means: to cross over.

pronounced: eevriy

The actual definition of the word is:

one who has crossed over, passed over or beyond

ivri or ivrim

depending on whether you’re speaking

of an individual or a group. 

From the root word ivr   עבר

to cross over, or pass through.

An IVRI one who crosses over into both a promised land and a life of divinely determined service. One who crosses over (ovr) boundaries and obstacles, and in particular the obstacle of meaninglessness and despair.

He was the first Hebrew (Ivrit)

or

one who crossed over.

Crossing over means going from

being a worldly Babylonian

to

becoming the Israel of Elohim.

Gal 6:16; Eph 2:1.

Abraham crossed over

from false gods to the one and only true God.

He crossed over

physically by leaving his homeland

He forsook Babylon and

crossed over

the Euphrates and

Yarden/Jordan Rivers 

in his journey westward en route

to the Promised Land as he followed YHVH’s leading.

The Israelites were delivered from the Egyptians as they

crossed over

through the Red/Reed Sea, and then they

crossed over

through the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

All these acts are pictures of deliverance and salvation.

We also

crossed over

from death to life through Messiah.

Origin of the word Hebrew:

 From the time of the Abraham until the time of Jesus Christ, the world knew the Israelites as עברי (Erverh)

The Israelites wrote their name in their language with the letters עברי. The letters I V R I represent עברי in English.

The name ‘Hebrew,’ is the English translation of the name pronounced Erverh from Latin. The name “Hebrew,” is the result of translating the Latin “Hebraicus,” into English.

Thus, the name, “Hebrew” is the result of a double translation of the original name עברי, (Erverh). Had the translation been from the original texts with the name, עברי, we’d never have heard the name Hebrew.

The proper pronunciation in the native language of the ancient Israelites’ designation, commonly known, as “Hebrew” in English is “IVRI” pronounced Erh-Verh. Because most modern Bibles are direct translations or carbon copies of the Latin translation, the result is all modern Bibles carry the name Hebrew. Derived from the Latin name Hebraicus. Without the Latin name “Hebraicus,” a direct translation from the original Dead Sea scrolls would read “Erverh,” instead of Hebrew.

The name “Hebrew,” is the English translation from the original ancient texts of the name עברי (IVRI) pronounced Erh-Verh. (Ever or eber.)

One final thought as to the name

Jorden – Yarden – Descender:

In modern Hebrew letters reads:

ירדן

nun-dalet-resh-yod

(Recall, Hebrew-  ivri, reads from right to left and there are no vowels like our alphabet: i.e. no aeiou).

And in Paleo Hebrew Pictographs

Yod = Y = A hand closed or closing upon, to work, a deed done, a finished work.

Reysh = R = A head, a person, what is the highest, the most important, chief.

Daleth = D = A door, a path, a way of life, movement into or out of.

Nun = N = A fish, to sprout, to spread, offspring, descendant, action, life, heir to the throne, faithfulness.

The meaning of

Jordan/Yarden

could be said to be:

A visible tangible representation of His Hand opening and closing the waters and as the most important and highest Authority giving His instructions which when applied declares He is the door. The only WAY in is by recognizing the authority which results in our exemption and freedom, release from past sins. As heir to the throne, He is our deliverance He is our life.

Isa 43:2  When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

Our Descender Yeshua/Jesus

will never leave us nor forsake us…ever!

He is our LIFES/CHAIM

Hallelujah!! He is with us always!

שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם‎,

Shalom aleikhem

chaverim and mishpachah!

Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week, you are greatly loved and prayed for daily. Please don’t leave here without assurance of your salvation or without our Heavenly Fathers’ shalom ENVELOPING you and the deep inner knowing that you are sealed to the day of redemption by the Blood of Messiah Jesus/Yeshua.

Not sure ..you can be…

Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.

You are very precious in His sight.

SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute, SAY IT RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.