The Promised Land viewed from Mount Nebo

On 26 May 2014, we left KL for a 6-day pilgrimage tour of Israel. Our plane landed at Queen Alia International Airport, Amman in Jordan in the early morning of 27 May 2014.

After breakfast, we headed straight to the 19th Century Greek Orthodox Church of St. George in Madaba in Jordan. From Madaba, we moved to our next destination, Mount Nebo.

On 27 May 2014, my wife and I together with the other Malaysian tour group members set foot on Mount Nebo, a mountain situated at the east of southern end of Jordan River and a mere 13Km from the northern tip of the Dead Sea. During Moses' time, this place was in the territory of Moab but is now within the territory of modern day Jordan.

More than three thousand years ago, Moses climbed this same mountain to view the Promised Land - the land that stretches from Jordan river to the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. On top of this mountain, God said to Moses, "This is the land I promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I will give this land to your descendants. I have let you see the land, but you cannot go there". Sadly, Moses never made it to the Promised Land and he died in Moab at the age of 120 and was buried there. To this day, no one knows where his grave is.

Unlike Moses who had to literally climb the mountain, we now have the luxury of being driven to the car park near the top of the mountain by air-conditioned bus on well paved road. What a difference!

Aerial view of Mount Nebo.

A map from the web site illustrates well the vast tract of land
to the west of Mt. Nebo which is present day Israel.

At the time of Moses, it was hard to imagine that over the vast desert and barren land, there could be found land of milk and honey as promised by God. This is still equally true today when we cast our eyes over this vast barren plain with hardly any sign of green and water.

The ladies of the Group posed for a group photo on top of Mount Nebo.

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This land of milk and honey slowly emerged in a new country, Israel since its founding on 14 May 1948. With a land area of only 20,770 Sq. Km which is barely 1/3 the size of Sabah and more than half of the land is desert, Israel has managed to become a world leader in agricultural technologies. 

Compared to Sabah which has an average annual rainfall of 3,000mm, Israel experiences the opposite extreme. In the extreme south, rainfall averages near 30mm (1.18 inches) annually. In the north, average annual rainfall is around 900mm (35.4 inches).

Even as our tour bus traversed along the highway in Israel, the sights of agricultural activities speak volume of the emphasis and development in this sector.

Credit must be given to the Kibbutz which is the pioneer and the driving force behind the success story of Israeli agriculture. Kibbutz is a collective community formed originally for agriculture. Today, some Kibbutzim has diversified and ventured into other sectors such as high-tech and military industries.

We had lunch in at least two Kibbutz. In one of them, in-house service is minimal and patrons are required  to queue up for their meals and to pick up their own soiled utensils and deposit them into the large collection bin for washing by the staff.

Israel is also a world leader in the development of solar energy, water conservation and geothermal energy. 

Indeed, God delivers what He promised Abraham and Moses!

Note: This blog is last edited on 7 December 2022.