Jordan Day 3 – the land of Edom

Today we started in Petra. This old city was considered to be lost for thousands of years after it was abandoned before it was found in the 1800’s. This city was important because it was on one of the main trade routes into and through this region. Many caravans from all over the known world would pass through the area carrying spices and other goods from the west to the coast in Gaza. There are carvings in the walls along the road entering Petra showing a caravan of camels being led.

spices and incense in a shop - the stuff that looks like amber is frankincense

Tucked away in the middle of the desert it is surprising to find such a well preserved city and one of such size. Water for the city was collected with aqueducts and stored to be used by the city. Being cut into the steep rocks of the wadi seems to provide it with a little more protection from the elements as well. Most impressive part of Petra is the buildings and caves that are carved into the rocks at Petra. The most famous one is the ‘treasury’ that is located as you come into the city. Although it never has (except in Indiana Jones) held treasures, it is commonly called the treasury. 

Carving of camel caravan, merchants feet

camel feet

'treasury'

a couple camels

The Monastery is also quite impressive. Located a little further up, apparently 850 steps, and tuck behind hills it is a spectacular view. Nearby there is also a lookout that looks out over the rift valley. It is from here, the city of Petra, which the traders would make their trek westwards to get to Egypt or to the ports in Gaza. 

hike up to the monestary

looking out over the rift valley

the treasury after the sun rose a little more

In the afternoon we went to the site of Bozrah. It was another city that was there because of the trade routes coming from the East and cutting into the land of Israel. This was in the land of Edom. This land is talked about throughout the Old Testament as the descendants of Esau lived out here. Out here is where the rain shadow is tapering off into nothing and the land provided barely enough to get by on.

It has occurred to me over the past couple of days that this land is made up of many different groups of people and often people who just end up here. It isn’t an ideal land, it isn’t a land with many resources or easy access to anything, rather it is a land where there is just enough to get by.  

This land was filled with the Israelites who asked to stay on this side of the Jordan.  It was frequented with retreating kings and desert wanders. This land was the land given to the brother who sold his birth-rite and sons of Lot who chose the ‘greener’ land. This land has boarders that shift with the weather and hemmed in by the desert. They have figured out how to survive and even thrive in a land that lacks. 

the children seemed excited to welcome us when we got to the hotel

Even today this land is frequented by those who ‘don’t belong’. A good portion of the population of Jordan is made up of Palestinians who left Israel during the war there as refugees. Today there are over three million Syrian refugees who have left Syria due to the fight there. While we were in the North I noticed that there were quite a few tents that had the UN symbol on them that looked like refugee tents.

a refugee tent in between buildings in Pehel

Israel is located just across the rift valley, although it is a national border today, it has seemed to have been a major connecting point between the two regions in the past. Maybe God placed his children in a place so close to the people on the other side, the people that seemed almost related to Israel (Ammonites and Moabites come from Lot, Edomites from Esau) so that they could have the opportunity to bless all nations, maybe starting with them. 

Maybe the love and justice that we are suppose to bless all nations with starts with loving the estranged brother.