Sela ( he, סֶּלַע, transliteration ''Sela‛'', meaning ''
rock''; ar, السلع, ''es-Sela‛''; el, πέτρα, 'Petra'; la, petra)
[ is a geographical name encountered several times in the Hebrew Bible, and applicable to a variety of locations.][
One site by this name is placed by the Second Book of Kings in Edom.]
Hebrew Bible
Book of Judges
In the Book of Judges there is a mention of a place called Sela, "the rock", on the southern border of the lands still inhabited by the Amorites after the partial conquest of Canaan by the Israelites ().
Second Book of Kings
2 Kings sets "Sela" in the great valley extending from the Dead Sea
The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank ...
to the Red Sea (). It was near Mount Hor, close by the desert of Zin.[
In the story of King ]Amaziah of Judah
Amaziah of Judah (pronounced , ; el, Αμασίας; la, Amasias), was the ninth king of Judah and the son and successor of Joash. His mother was Jehoaddan () and his son was Uzziah (). He took the throne at the age of 25, after the assassinat ...
, a place called Sela is mentioned. Amaziah is described as throwing 10,000 Edomites to their death from the heights of Sela (; ).[ When Amaziah took Sela he called it Joktheel (also spelled Jokteel ( JPS) and Jectehel (]DRB
Deshastha Brahmin is a Hindu Brahmin subcaste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra and northern area of the state of Karnataka. Other than these states, according to authors K. S. Singh, Gregory Naik and Pran Nath Chopra, Deshastha Bra ...
)) (q.v.) ( he, יָקְתְאֵל, Yoqtĕ-’Ēl, "the blessedness of God" or "subdued by God";[Meanings from ''Net Bible Study Dictionary'']
Joktheel
/ref> la, Jectehel) or Kathoel ( el, Καθοηλ) in the Septuagint.
Isaiah and Obadiah
Places called Sela are mentioned by the prophets Isaiah and Obadiah ( 15:1; 16:1; ) as to cry in joy in glory of the Lord.
Archaeological site
Sela in Edom is widely identified with the ruins of Sela, east of Tafileh (identified as biblical Tophel
Tophel or Tofel (תפל) was an Edomite town mentioned in the Hebrew Bible: "These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the desert east of the Jordan — that is, in the Arabah — opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and ...
) and near Bozrah, both Edomite cities in the mountains of Edom, in modern-day Jordan.
As of 2012 Sela, or as-Sila‛ or es-Sela in Arabic, had not yet been excavated, but surveys of the plateau have produced surface finds from the Early Bronze Age through to the Nabataean period, but mainly from the time of the Edomites of the Hebrew Bible: the early to mid-first millennium BCE.[ This is the period when Sela was most extensively inhabited.]Nabonidus
Nabonidus (Babylonian cuneiform: ''Nabû-naʾid'', meaning "May Nabu be exalted" or "Nabu is praised") was the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from 556 BC to the fall of Babylon to the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great in 539 ...
Inscription", named after the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (ruled c. 556–539 BCE).
Confusion with Petra
Sela appears in later history and in the Vulgate under the name of 'Petra', the Greek translation of the Semitic word 'Sela', meaning 'rock'. This led to Sela being confused with the Nabataean city of Rekem,Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
world as Petra
Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to t ...
.
External links
Sela
in the Nabataean period and photos of the site; at Nabataea.net
Photos of Sela'
at the American Center of Research
The American Center of Research (ACOR) is a private, not-for-profit scholarly and educational organization. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, with a facility in Amman, Jordan, ACOR promotes knowledge of Jordan and the interconnected region, past and ...
References
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{{reflist
Edom
Former populated places in Southwest Asia
Tafilah Governorate