PETRA: Safe in the Wilderness?

The Israel tour Terry and I went on offered a three day Petra Extension.  We didn’t know much (if anything) about Petra, but decided if we were going this far, we just as well see all we could.  So we signed up for Petra.

It took all day to travel by bus from Jerusalem down to Eliat, an Israeli city located along the Red Sea.  (Of course we stopped for snacks, lunch and sightseeing on the way.)  After crossing over into Jordan we spent the night in our hotel, before starting the two hour trip north to Petra.

“Petra is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago, turning it into an important junction for the silk, spice and other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome.”         visitjordan.com

It was amazing to walk through the mountains of Petra, to see the homes carved in the stone.  We felt like explorers in an Indiana Jones movies. As we walked through the “city”, climbing up to check out the inside of the “buildings”.

All very interesting but what does all this have to do with Israel, you may ask.

It is believed at some time in the future the Jews will need to flee Jerusalem. Petra is a place in the wilderness that is big enough for a large number of people and designed for  people to live in.

Then the women (Israel) fled into the wliderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.  Revelation 12:6 

Israel’s “place” of refuge is not specified, but it could be Petra, in present-day Jordan: Zechariah identifies “Azal,” a place associated with Petra, as Israel’s refuge (see exposition on Zech. 14:1–5); Isaiah portrayed a triumphant Christ coming from Edom (see Isa. 63:1–6), of which Petra was the capital; Edom will be spared from the Antichrist (see Dan. 11:41), perhaps so that it can protect Israel.^[1]