posted by Victor Vejil

Jude and Vienna Flurry in front of the Treasury, along with some camels

Declared to be one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, Petra sits quiescently in a basin surrounded by the dry desert mountains of Jordan. Its hundreds of empty caves and rock-hewn structures are remnants of an abandoned ancient city now turned major tourist attraction.

Brent Nagetgaal and I had the opportunity to return to Petra during the first weekend of August. We made the short trip with the Flurry family and the Jerusalem project’s latest addition, Richard Palmer. Arriving at Petra on a Friday afternoon, we hurriedly checked into a hotel close to the entrance of the park, dropped off our luggage, and headed into Petra.

Entering the park through the Siq, we started our hike by walking through the narrow gorge that serves as Petra’s eastern and main entrance. Declining offers to ride on donkeys and horse-driven carriages, we walked about a mile, surrounded by weather-worn walls stretching between 300 and 600 feet high on both sides.

Waiting for us on the other side of the Siq was the famous Treasury building, one of Petra’s most elaborate structures. Recent excavations revealed another floor of rooms below the building’s entrance that had been completely covered by the red sand for many years. After spending some time at the Treasury, we continued on our hike, passing by caves, rock-cut tombs, an amphitheater and other impressive structures.

Our goal for our first day in Petra was to reach the Monastery, a structure even larger than the Treasury, located on top of a mountain at the end of the park. So we breezed through a valley with rolling hills, passing by ancient temples and more caves, to reach the bottom of the mountain the Monastery sat on. We finally made it to the staircase and started our ascent. We climbed up 864 winding steps to the top! And I counted every single one. Our reward for accomplishing the small feat was to have our breath taken away by the massive Monastery in all its hugeness.

After we played tag with Jude and Vienna inside the Monastery, we continued our hike a little more ways up the mountain to a lookout point, where we made our final stop for the day before turning around. While we were at the lookout point, we could look west over into Israel and see a beautiful view of the land God promised to give the ancient Israelites. Not too far from where we were standing is Mt. Hor, the mountain on which Aaron was buried.

When we finished taking in the view, we hurried back out of Petra and to our hotel where we took a dip in the pool to cool off before the sun set. But not before I got ripped off by a local Arab when buying bottles of water.

We headed back into Petra once more on Saturday. This time, instead of hiking and touring Petra, we found a secluded cave a little ways from the path and near the amphitheater to listen to a recording of Mr. Gerald Flurry’s sermon from the week before—the sermon in which he revealed that Israel has reached the point of no return. Listening to that particular sermon in the place that is very likely to be our place of safety during the Great Tribulation was one of the trip’s highlights for us. After we heard the sermon we had a hymn sing and then we made our way back to the hotel. The next morning we packed our bags and started our journey back to Israel. We made a short stop by the Red Sea to snorkel before finishing our drive back to Jerusalem.

While we were in Petra we read articles written about the place in old issues of the Good News magazine. Knowing that Petra could be the place of safety makes visiting the rocky fortress cool enough, but to learn about its ancient history added to an already incredible experience.

We were reminded that Petra was known as Sela during the time of Moses and the Israelites. In his article “This Is Petra!,” Dr. Hoeh wrote that Paran, which means full of caverns, actually refers to Petra as well. So when the Israelites left the wilderness of Sinai, God led them to Petra, and it was from here that the 12 spies were sent out to the land of Palestine (Numbers 13:3).

Dr. Hoeh also made a strong case for Kadesh-barnea and Seir being Petra as well. After God condemned the unbelieving Israelites to wander the wilderness for 40 years, some of the Israelites decided to fight against the Amalekites without God’s help and were handed a severe defeat (Numbers 14:40-45). So the Israelites were commanded to leave Petra, and they wandered in the wilderness located in the Sinai peninsula.

After 39 years, according to Dr. Hoeh, the Israelites returned to Petra. It was here that Miriam and Aaron died (Numbers 20:1, 22-24). And this was the place that Moses struck the rock (instead of speaking to it) from which running water came out to quench the Israelites’ thirst (Numbers 20:2-12).

So we delved into all of this rich history about Petra and learned that many of the post-Egyptian captivity but pre-Promised Land Israelite events took place at that very location. And to think it could be the very spot God’s people will gather again!

And now that you’ve read about the Jerusalem project’s most recent trip to Petra and the interesting history behind Petra, check out this video the J-diggers made of their visit to Petra last year and catch snippets of some of the attractions in Petra, including but not limited to the Treasury, the Monastery and the lookout point. Enjoy!