Petra

Located along an ancient trade route in southern Jordan, Petra is known for its breathtaking grandeur, fabulous ruins, iconic Treasury, and other elaborate monuments carved into the red sandstone cliffs.  Its history goes back over 3,000 years and was once the capital city of the ancient Nabataeans between 400 BC - 106 AD.  At some point, the caravans it supplied along the trade route the city served stopped coming and it was abandoned and lost to the desert sands.  It was rediscovered in 1812 by Swiss traveler Johann Burckhardt.  It is believed that only 15% of Petra is uncovered.

BIBLICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Petra is along the main route Moses and the Israelites would have traveled in their exodus journey to the Promised Land.

Petra's biblical name is the Hebrew word, Sela.  

Judges 1:36  The boundary of the Amorites ran from Scorpion Pass to Sela and continued upward from there.

2 Kings 14:7  Amaziah also killed 10,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. He also conquered Sela and changed its name to Joktheel, as it is called to this day.

Isaiah 16:1  Send lambs from Sela as tribute to the ruler of the land. Send them through the desert to the mountain of beautiful Zion.

Isaiah 42:11  Join in the chorus, you desert towns; let the villages of Kedar rejoice! Let the people of Sela sing for joy; shout praises from the mountaintops!