Yes, I did in fact visit Petra! Look closely in this picture, you can see the temple structure from Indiana Jones behind me. But of course that was on my Jordan trip about three weeks ago. Did I tell you about that? I don't think so, let me think back a bit.
We stayed the night in Eilat, a modern almost california-esque beach city located on the very north tip of the Red Sea (which happens to be the very south tip of Israel). Crazy place for shopping, big hotels, and night life. We pretty much only did the shopping part, and played with the glass elevator in the hotel the rest of the time. The next morning we began our escapades in Jordan, which involved crossing the border near Eilat. Oddly the Israeli side of the border crossing took only fifteen minutes or so, while the Arab side made us wait around for what seemed like a couple of hours. Oh yeah, we also snorkeled in the Red Sea before leaving!
Honestly I have not been in a lot of danger here, by which I mean danger to me personally. There's always the danger of a random attack of course, but no one has intentionally given us trouble of any sort. When we got to Jordan that all changed. I am convinced that our taxi driver, a brash fellow, had it in for use. This guy decided that he was going to get us to Petra and get us there fast. We were blazing by at over a hundred miles per hour, skating across from lane to lane, miraculously just missing the oncoming traffic.
There are just so many details to the Jordan trip, I could spend pages and pages describing it all. Everyone seemed to have a really good time despite the lack of rest. I personally enjoyed the challenge of it - it was certainly stretching in many ways. And there was so much to learn, plenty of fun experiences with people, all in all a really great trip!
If you would like to know more I wrote this little report as part of the class. Yes it's long, it's boring, but maybe someone will enjoy hearing some of (there's even more!) historical and biblical significance.
Field Report:
Day one of our Jordan trip began, after the lengthy border crossing into Aquaba, with a trip into the ancient city of Petra, located northeast of where we came into the country. Petra, the capital city of the Nabateans, was built as communal tombs for their kings and citizens. The large facades that it is well-known for are actually graves for great Nabatean kings. Structures such as these were made by carving the rock from top to bottom. Petra also functioned as a hub for their many trading caravans. Nabateans would come to Petra to trade, exchange money, and the like. They kept the location of Petra a secret from the outside world, in order to guard their valuable city from invasion. Indeed it was an impressive city, expanding back into the hills with many houses carved into the rocks.
The Nabatean culture was based around a nomadic lifestyle of trading. Children were raised to believe strongly in the superiority of the nomadic lifestyle, and taught the disciplines necessary for life in a caravan. Their ability to survive in extremely harsh desert conditions was remarkable, as was the great amount of wealth that they amassed by their trading. Their main commodity was frankincense, which they imported from southern Yemen. Jewish nations undoubtedly purchased the goods from the Nabatean caravans.
Coming into Petra brought us toward the land of Edom, distant ancestors of Esau. Edom is located in the trans-jordan to the south of Moab and the north of Midian. Generally speaking the Edomites, or Edumeans as they came to be called, were not on the best terms with Israel. They made an alliance with Israel and Judah at one point to overthrow the king of Moab (2 Ki. 3:9). After this, however, Edom revolted against Judah and did not help in their time of need. Amos rebukes them for this, and for other situations in which the Edomites took advantage of Judah rather than helping her (Amos 1:11-12). There is also a possibility that Job was from the land of Edom.
Standing as the capital over Edom, Bozrah was our first stop on day two of the Jordan trip. Bozrah sits to the southeast of the Dead Sea, overlooking a deep wadi. It was here that we cast our shoes, to commemorate David’s prophecy that “upon Edom I cast my shoe” (Psalm 60:8). A king of Edom named Jobab would have lived in Bozrah, who some people mistakenly identify with the biblical character of Job.
Next we progressed on northward to the Zered river canyon, the southern border of Moab and northern border of Moab. It was here that the Israelites crossed at Iye-Abarim after having traveled all the way around Edom because the king of Edom would not allow them to pass through his land (Nm. 21:11-12). This canyon would have been located along the route of the King’s Highway.
Moab, the region that we entered as a result of crossing the Zered river canyon, was inhabited by descendants of Lot. It is located between the northern Arnon river and the southern Zered river, although Moabite kings would try to take the northern Mishor at various times in history. A fledgling nation at the time, Moab did not give Israel any trouble when they passed through on their way to the promised land. Before the Moabite nation emerged it is likely that Refaim inhabited the territory, but were wiped out by Babylonians and possibly the Moabites. Moab is biblically significant in many ways. It is the place from which Balaam was sent to curse Israel, which actually resulted in Israel’s being blessed (Nm. 22:1-5). Ruth was a Moabitess before immigrating to Judea and being grafted in as a part of the messianic line (Ruth 1). It was due to the influence of his wives that Solomon constructed the temple to Chemosh on top of the Mount of Olives, specifically upon the Hill of Evil Counsel (1 Ki. 11:7).
The capital of Moab is Karak, the site which we next visited after arriving in the area of Moab. Most notable of the sights to see in Karak was the largely impressive Crusader castle which was probably built to guard against any approaches by the Arabs from the east. The geographical advantages of height and visibility make this an ideal place for a fortification. Biblically, the coalition of Judah, Israel, and Edom drove back Mesha, king of Moab, to Kir-Hereseth. Amos again curses Moab for wickedness in the war with Edom, possibly because of the murder of the Edomite prince.
Bab edh-Dhra, which some say is a candidate for the ancient city of Sodom, is located in the Wadi Araba As many as five cities from the Early Bronze Age have been discovered in this area, so even if Babe dh-Dhra is not the location of Sodom it was certainly in the same region as the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot dwelt in these lands, known as the Cities of the Plains (Gen. 13:10-12). There is very little left to see at Babe dh-Dhra, owing to its having been destroyed an extremely long time ago around 2067 B.C.
We approached the mouth of the Arnon canyon, known in Arabic as the Wadi Mujib, a river which runs west downward from the desert into the Dead Sea. After a hike down the Wadi Zarka Ma’in, we continued on in the bus northward to Medeba, which is past the Arnon and up in the plateau area, where we stayed the night.
The third day began with our backtracking to the site of Machaerus, where both the Bible and Josephus record the execution of John the Baptist. Herod Antipas wanted to marry Herodias, the daughter of Aristobulus. One condition of the marriage, however, was that Herod divorce his Nabatean wife, the daughter of Aretas. John the Baptist criticized these actions, saying that it was not lawful for Herod to divorce his wife, and consequently was thrown into prison. While Herod was feasting and, no doubt, drinking, Herodias’ daughter pleased him so much with her dancing that he offered her whatever she should ask for. Out of spite for John the Baptist, her mother advised her to ask for John’s head on a platter, which she then received (Mk. 6:14-29). These things happened at Herod Antipas’ palace in Machaerus.
Dibon, located between Medeba and the Arnon river, was settled by the tribe of Gad (Josh. 13:9). It was at Dibon that the Mesha Stele was uncovered, and eventually destroyed. The reason for its destruction is still somewhat of a mystery, some claiming that the Bedouin destroyed it out of spite for the government, others saying that they thought it might have gold or some other valuable commodity inside. The Mesha Stele was written by Mesha to commemorate his victories, which alone seems to make it of little value. However it corroborates the same struggles between Mesha and Israel found in 2 Kings 3:4-27, as well as being a valuable tool for better understanding the ancient language which existed at that time. It also contains the oldest physical reference to Yahweh.
We traveled on through the Arnon Canyon again, coming back into the city of Medeba where we stayed the night before. Here we visited a Byzantine chapel with a 6th century mosaic map of Jerusalem. It is also mentioned in an Israelite song of victory (Nm. 21:27-30). Reuben settled here, next to Gad, after the Israelites captured the region from Sihon (Josh. 13:9-16). Near the edge of the Medaba Plateu rests Mount Nebo, where Jeremiah hid the Ark of the Covenant in order to avoid its being destroyed by the Babylonians (2 Macabees 2:4-8).
Continuing the journey northward, we came to the city of Amman. Amman is capital city of Jordan, as well as being the capital city of ancient Amman. Originally its name was Rabat Amon, given by the Ammonites. After the Ammonite kingdom was conquered, the Greeks renamed it Philadelphia, meaning “brotherly love”. It would later go on to become the site of an important Byzantine church. Abdullah I of Jordan chose it as the location for his capital city in 1921.
Like the Moabites, the Ammonites were descendants of Lot, their name’s original meaning being “Son of my people”. God commanded the Israelites to not harm the Ammonites during their period of conquest, because He had intentionally given it to them (Dt. 2:16-24). Solomon also had Ammonite wives, and built altars to their Gods as well (1 Ki. 11:1-7). The people of Israel began to intermarry with the Ammonites during the second temple period.
A major city of the Roman decapolis, Jaresh still contains the impressive architecture of the Romans. Here we visited an amphitheatre, a temple to Artemis, saw an impressive fountain structure, and many other unique structures. The sheer size of this marble-paved city was astounding. The amphitheatre was very similar to the one in Ephesus, where Acts tells us of Paul’s preaching and the thunderous reaction of the audience to his denouncing of Artemis.
While we did not visit Bethany beyond the Jordan, it is worth mentioning because it is often a subject of much confusion. Many people make the mistake of placing Bethany beyond the Jordan, where Jesus again meets John the Baptist after coming out of the wilderness. It is not the location where John was baptizing, or the location of Jesus’ baptism. Bethany beyond the Jordan is located in the north of Israel by the Golon heights. The baptism that John speaks of is simply his recounting of the story to his disciples (Jn. 1:28). This is clear because after seeing John in Bethany beyond the Jordan, Jesus travels eastward to Cana for the wedding.
We then returned to Israel over the Beth-Shan border crossing north of the Dead Sea, having completely circled the Dead Sea much as the Israelites did upon their first coming to the Promised Land.
