Petra

I remember back at Seminary when a group of my friends went to the Middle East and to the Holy Land.  To be sure they talked about following in Jesus' footsteps.  But they also all talked about Petra.   

I have now spent an entire day in Petra.  I think I walked its grounds, surveyed its crags, up and down slopes in and out of caves for nearly 9 hours.  In all I think I walked 10 or more miles.

And like near everyone before me, I am speechless.

There is more to write than I can write.  More to say than I can say.  There is a reason that the world is trying to preserve it -- there are Unesco and USAid stickers in lots of places. It is, by my reckoning, singular.

Constructed in the hills of southern Jordan, bordering Israel, the Nabateans (who spoke Aramaic) and who were near the height of their power at the time of Jesus dominated the lands west of the Jordan River for hundreds of years.  They were master builders -- particularly of aqueducts and cisterns.  They were master traders.  Dominating the trades roots across Arabia -- connecting Africa, Europe, and the Far East.  So powerful were they, that they resisted the Romans until 106 A.D..  Which for a near-Meditteranean people, is a long time.  

The city would be polytheistic, then Roman worshipping, Christian, and Muslim before it was abandoned and turned over to Bedouins.  Lost to the West for hundreds of years, it was rediscovered as a lost city in 1812 by a Swiss explorer.

I think it is an important part of our trip for many reasons.  Primarily because it is amazing and it is singular in the world.  But also, and even more, it gives an idea of the complexity of the world in which Jesus was born, in which he taught, and then died and rose.  Look at the picture above.  It is the most famous Nabatean monument and it is a tomb for a 1st Century (BC) King.  Constructed just before the time of Jesus, it is a piece of multicultural and multi-national genius.    The figures?  Nabatean.  The urn at the top?  Greek.  The columns and the triangles?  Roman.  They had traded all over the world, and multiple cultures were infulencing their thinking and styling.  These people who spoke Aramaic, the language Jesus would have spoken at home, were world travelers and wanted to be seen as cosmopolitan, current, and engaging.

Are we any different?

I don't think so.

It boggles the mind.

The world in which our Bible takes place was complex, diverse, and in flux.  We'll see even more evidence in Israel.  But for now in Petra (Greek name), Sela in the Bible (Isaiah 16 and 2 Kings 14), the land of the Edomites in the days of Moses and later, Jesus, we saw evidence a plenty.  It is a day I shall never forget and I thank God for allowing these eyes to behold the majesty of the mountains and a specific genius of people, like us, created in God's image.  Both forms of genius are in abundance at Petra.

(Our group with Naim.  Naim led us off on a side trail, which included some light caving.)

(You might see someone you know here as we enter the cave.  I am proud to report everyone got out just fine.  I suspect we were very different than the folk who lived here 2,000 years ago.  The insides were plain but amazing.  Imaging this -- all that you see in this blog was cut by hand.  I'll say it again, it was cut by hand.  And the walls inside? Smooth-ish and realtively straight.)

(This is called the monastery because it was a tomb so large that it was made by the Christians into a Byzatine church for 300 or so years.  Yes, it is that big.  And it is up about 1000 feet or more above the rest of Petra.  Climbing up here was like climbing the trails near Montreat.  Only in desert conditions.  Again, remember, all carved by hand.)

(A Panoramic of the "Grand Canyon" of Jordan.  Way out to the west and in the distance are Israel and the Red Sea.)

(One of my personal favorites.  This is the cistern and baptistry of the Christian church excavation at Petra - you'll note the modern covering left by US archaeologists.  There was a church here from the 300's to 600 AD.  This was at the end of the day, and seeing this site, looking at the mosaics which still remain, and getting to pray here and recite a favorite Psalm or two was my worship on this Lord's day.  A blessing of a different sort.  An unexpected treat for me, really.)