O RIO JORDÃO COMO VOCÊ NUNCA VIU!

Shalom and welcome back to Israel with Aline! Today we are going to dive into the history and traditions of the Jordan River; we are going to learn a little bit about the miracles, the Biblical passages, and the geography of this place. We are going to see it by land, by water and also by sky! So if you are ready, let’s get started! We have now arrived at the place called Yardenit, which means “the little Jordan River,” the Jordan River in Hebrew is Yarden, and Yardenit is the little Jordan. Let’s now understand what this place is; this is where the Jordan River is reborn because it starts there in the far north of Israel, at the foot of Mount Hermon, the River goes down through Israel until it reaches the Sea of Galilee, where it enters the Sea of Galilee, and at the end, in the South of the Sea of Galilee the River is reborn! So, a few meters from here is where the Jordan River begins again, and from here it goes on a long journey until it flows into the Dead Sea. Let’s now go down a little further together and get closer to the waters. I often come here with groups and pilgrims and there are usually hundreds, if not thousands of people here and it is quite impressive to see this place so empty, not completely, there are two people down here now with jugs filling them with Jordan water, but it is really different to see this place so empty. And this Great River, it is very important for Israel since Biblical times; first because it is a great source of freshwater, but the main thing is that many and many Biblical passages happen here: the first one that appears is when the Jews are returning from slavery in Egypt after four hundred years of slavery in Egypt, and forty years in the desert, finally the long-awaited moment to enter the Promised Land has arrived, and between the desert where they spent the forty years that today is Jordan, and the land of Israel has a River that divides that is the Jordan River. So the people of Israel prepare to cross the River. Sometimes it may seem that it is not so much, but think that it is not one or two people crossing, it is a whole people! And so the Ark of the Covenant goes ahead along with the priests, and when they put one foot in the water, the water opens up and the people can cross over to the other side where they will camp at Gilgal, later conquer the city of Jericho and begin the reconquest of the promised land. And the Jordan River is so important that it is even used as a reference point in the Bible; when the land of Israel is to be divided among the twelve tribes, it is clearly stated that there are two and a half tribes on the other side of the Jordan River and nine and a half tribes on this side. So we see this as a very clear reference point, and by the way the tribe that will be divided part here and part there you can see on the map is the tribe of Manasseh. And another passage that takes place here on the Jordan River is Naaman’s passage, what happens to Naaman? He was a very important general in the Syrian Army, but he was very sick with Tzara’at, which we translate as leprosy. And then he starts thinking what am I going to do? But Naaman had a Hebrew slave, a slave from the land of Israel and she tells him that “there is a great prophet in the people of Israel, this prophet is Elisha, and he can help you”, he writes a letter to the then King of Israel, and the King of Israel receives this letter and says “this is a trick, he wants to find a reason to declare war with me”, and he doesn’t want to mess with it because he thinks that everything is a political game, but in fact this enemy general, wanted to help from someone from the people of Israel. And Elisha, he says “ok, let him come to us, let him come to the land of Israel to the Jordan River area”, but who receives him will not be Elisha, and the general is extremely offended: “how come the prophet won’t come to receive me personally” and instead sends someone else to receive him? But again the slaves say “give him a chance”, and he does what Elisha says and he comes to the Jordan River and does the dips, and he comes out healed of his leprosy. And this also shows us a lesson that Elisha gives us, who was doing the healings was not Elisha either to be quite honest it is not the waters of the River, but healing comes from God, it comes through faith. And that is why this whole story of Naaman and Elisha has a lot for us to learn from it. But the most important passage, without any doubt, that happened here in the Jordan River is the passage of Jesus’ baptism; we even see this passage written on the walls in different languages this passage, and of course, as you are now seeing, our Portuguese could not be missing. “At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you, I am well pleased.” Mark 1: 9-11 And this passage, despite being relatively short, is very striking: we see at this moment in the Jordan River the presence of Jesus coming out of the waters, the Holy Spirit coming down in the form of a dove, and also the Father in the form of a voice; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the three present here and in the eyes of everyone around! Imagine those people who were there that day also coming to be baptized by John the Baptist, and everyone was witness to what was happening! No doubt about it, a unique passage! But this passage will also change the life of Jesus, Jesus lived 33 years, but of these 33 years, 30 years were relatively silent, we could say; they were not of public life, and suddenly in the last three years of his life, Jesus will perform one miracle after another, hundreds of miracles in only three years! Starting in Cana of Galilee, and going throughout the whole region of Galilee and also other areas here in the region. And what will be the game changer in Jesus’ life? The game changer will be the baptism in the Jordan River, because after he is baptized in the Jordan River, then he goes to the desert, goes through his temptations, his forty days and forty nights of fasting, and then he goes on to perform miracles. So without any doubt, this place changed Jesus’ life, and consequently also changed the history of humanity. And now, folks, I am here with my friend Tal Hanoci and he is a great photographer and an aerial photographer as well, and he will now follow the journey with us, because we will also see the Jordan River from the skies. So we will travel together along the Jordan River and understand a little more of the meaning of this place. And this way, we get a unique view of the Jordan River, or as we call it in Hebrew Nehar Yarden, which begins on the Golan Heights, with the thawing of Mount Hermon, that is over one thousand miles high, and ends at the Dead Sea; the deepest place in the world that is 1,410 feet below sea level. The Jordan River has a course of more than 155 miles, so it varies a lot from one zone to another. There is even the southernmost zone, which is in the desert and where the Jordan River actively acts as a border between Israel and Jordan. We even have a video here on the channel about this, and I’ll leave it up here for those who want to know the other part of the Jordan River after this video. And it is wonderful to think how many Biblical passages happened here! And other passages that we didn’t even get to comment on today; like Elijah and Elisha cross the Jordan River and also on the other side of the Jordan River, from where Elijah ascends to heaven. These stories here in the Jordan River happened at different points in it. But because Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, to this day thousands of Christians come here every year to enter the waters and also many come to have their baptism here in the waters. At the moment the borders are closed but I want to invite you to enter with me into the waters! So we are here with our water camera as well, let’s go in so you can have the feeling of entering the waters of the Jordan River, come on! [Background music] A lot has changed in Israel in the last two thousand years, but one thing that is practically untouched is the Jordan River, you can see that the waters are still crystal clear and full of life! There is a whole ecosystem that lives here from birds, fish, amphibians. Life here on the Jordan River is very similar to how it was in Biblical times. And this place really has peace and tranquility like no other! There is something very special here in Galilee, and especially on the Jordan River. If you like this video and want to support the channel, don’t forget to leave your like and subscribe for more videos, a big kiss from Israel and see you next time!