In one of the Old Testament’s colder and more brutal episodes, King Amaziah of Judah (c. 801–783 B.C.E.), after having slain nearly 10,000 Edomites in battle near the southern end of the Dead Sea, is said to have thrown another 10,000 captives from the top of nearby Sela, where they were “dashed to pieces” (2 Chronicles 25:12; 2 Kings 14:7). While the Biblical account provides only vague clues as to where this horrible event took place (Sela simply means “rock” in Hebrew), the archaeology of a little-known mountaintop stronghold in southern Jordan may hold the answer.
Located just 3 miles north of the Edomite capital of Bozrah (modern Buseirah) in the rugged highlands of southern Jordan is an imposing natural rock fortress that still carries the name es-Sela. Surrounded on all sides by deep ravines, the towering, steep-sided rock of es-Sela rises more than 600 feet above the surrounding valleys,...
Boy, I hope to visit the holy land some day, along with the ancient Grecian, Italian ruins, and Egypt. I'm envious of anyone who has been able to actually walk where Jesus and the apostles walked, look around to see the same landscapes, etc. I think it would really put things into perspective.
Hmm, this was a nifty geography lesson of a barren piece of land. The only real good that might come out of it, is if some serious archeology was carried out on this site and the other one mentioned in the article to see if there are some relics of the Edomites, not only to have the Bible story confirmed, which from my viewpoint doesn't need to be, but perhaps get some ideas about the Edomites themselves, which would be intriguing. This better happen before an Islamic government takes over Jordan, or those sites will be destroyed, e.g., Mali Muslims destroy holy Timbuktu sites: witnesses.
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