Meaning of SELA

(a) (Heb.: "rock").
City of Edom. Amaziah, king of Judah, took possession of it and gave it the name Jocteel (2 Kings 14:7). She is probably the one mentioned in 2 Chron. 25:12; Isaiah 16:1; 42:11; Abd. 3.

The inhabitants of Shela lived "in the clefts of the rocks" (Abd. 3), an expression that evokes the rocky city that the Greeks called Petra, translation from the Heb. "Shela."

Around 300 BC, Petra passed from the Edomites to the Nabataean Arabs. In the dynasty that reigned over Petra since then there were several kings with the name of Aretas; one of them is mentioned in 2 Cor. 11:32.

The Nabataean monarchy disappeared in 105 AD. when Stone Arabia became a Roman province (see NABATEANS). Petra was rediscovered by Burckhardt in 1812.

It is located at the bottom of a deep cirque, excavated by the action of water, on the northeast flank of Mount Hor. The circus and its branches measure around 1,400 m. long, and the width varies between 225 and 450 m.

It is closed by steep sandstone cliffs. The main gorge is called Wadi Mûsa, Valley of Moses, although there is no known indication that it was ever there. A stream runs through this place longitudinally.

The rocks have diverse colors, from red to brown, purple and yellow, which adds to the beauty of the place. There you can see tombs, temples in ruins, an amphitheater, a triumphal arch. Most of these monuments date back to Roman times.

There are many buildings, some of them possibly prior to Roman times, tombs, houses, etc., carved into the rocks near the city. On the summit of the mountain that dominates the ancient city there are vestiges of the "high place" in which the cult was held, and ruins of altars are seen rising above the neighboring rock formations.

(b) (Heb.: "prayer.") Third son of Judah and a Canaanite woman: founder of a clan (Gen. 38:2, 5, 11, 14, 26; Num. 26:20).