After another good breakfast, we loaded the bus for a ten minute drive to the sight of the Nabatean city in Petra. We were able to get some nice shots of Mount Hor which is located behind our hotel. This is the traditional burial place of Aaron where they have erected a tomb monument in his honor. Our guide, Omar, gave us some information about Petra and the small town called Wadi Musa that is near the sight.
Petra was fantastic. It is truly one of those sights that cannot be done justice by any photographs. The reaction of walking around the final turn and seeing the Treasury is one that cannot be forgotten. And the sights that come after are fantastic as well. If you are healthy enough, it is worth every mile that you hike in order to see it. Yes, I did say miles! We walked well over two miles and some, those that decided to hike up the 800 stair steps to the monastery, even more than that. We will definitely sleep well tonight.
Much of the fantastic artwork has to do with their kingly burial places and some worship places. Their homes were very simple caves in the rocks. You will see in the pictures how vast this society was. It is impressive to know that this is not the only sight that the Nabateans developed. There are several others in the Middle Eastern region. These people were amazingly sensitive to detail in their designs and had to be in incredible shape to live in a place like that.
I thought today about what Jesus said to the Pharisees. He called them whited sepulchers. They were pretty and nice looking on the outside, but inside were dead mans bones. These ornate structures are the same way. They are awesome to see and impressive when thinking about the time and ability it took to carve all of the tombs. When you look inside, though, they are dark, very plain, and at one time housed dead men's bones. How often we are so concerned about what is on the outside with little care as to what is in the heart. We spend money to look good, we teach our children to "not embarrass" us, and we try to put up a facade for those around us, but we pay no attention to the thing that really matters; does God have all of our heart and are we living in sensitivity to His leading and obedience to His Word. What does our heart look like in comparison to what people see?
Enjoy the photographs and try to imagine how vast this place really is!
Tomorrow we head back to Israel after some more sights in Jordan. Hopefully we will be able to post at the next hotel.
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