this place they had fled with their flocks on the invasion from the north. See Note ch. xv. 7. Vitringa says that that desert around Petra was regarded as a vast common, on which the Moabites and Arabians promiscuously fed their flocks. The situation of the city of Sela, or iroa Petra, meaning the same as Sela, a rock, was for a long time unknown, but it has lately been discovered. It lies about a journey of a day and a half southeast of the south ern extremity of the Dead Sea. It derived its name from the fact that it was situated in a vast hollow in a rocky mountain, and consisted almost entirely of dwellings hewn out of the rock. It was the capital of the Edomites (2 Kings xix. 7); but might have been at this time in the possession of the Moabites. Strabo describes it as the capital of the Nabatheans, and as situated in a vale well watered, but encompassed by insurmountable rocks (xvi. 4), at a distance of three or four days' journey from Jericho. Diodorus (19, 55) mentions it as a place of trade, with caves for dwellings, and strongly fortified by nature. Pliny, in the first century, says, "The Nabatheans inhabit the city called Petra, in a valley less than two [Roman] miles in amplitude, surrounded by inaccessible mountains, with a stream flowing through it." Hist. Nat. vi. 28. Adrian, the successor of Trajan, granted important privileges to that city which led the inhabitants to give his name to it upon coins. Several of these are still extant. In the fourth century, Petra is several times mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome, and in the fifth and sixth centuries it appears as the metropolitan see of the Third Palestine. See the article Petra in Reland's Palestine. From that time, Petra disappeared from the pages of history, and the metropolitan see was transferred to Rabbah. In what way Petra was destroyed is unknown. Whether it was by the Mohammedan conquerors, or whether by the incursions of the hordes of the desert, it is impossible now to ascertain. All Arabian writers of that period are silent as to Petra. The name became changed to that which it bears at present, Wady Musa, and it was not until the travels of Seetzen in 1807 that it attracted the attention of the world. During his excursion from Hebron to the hill Madŭrah, his Arab guide described the place, exclaiming, "Ah! how I weep when I behold the ruins of Wady Musa.” Seetzen did not visit it, but Burckhardt passed a short time there, and described it. Since his time it has been repeatedly visited. See Robinson's Bibli. Research. ii 573–580. This city was formerly celebrated as a place of great commercial importance, from its central position and its being so securely defended. Dr. Vincent in his "Commerce of the Ancients," (vol. xi. p. 263, quoted in Laborde's Journey to Arabia Petrea, p. 17,) describes Petra as the capital of Edom or Sin, the Idumea or Arabia Petrea of the Greeks, the Nabatea considered both by geographers, historians, and poets, as the source of all the precious commodities of the East. The caravans in all ages, from Minea in the interior of Arabia, and from Gerrka on the gulf of Persia, from Hadramont on the occean, and some even from Sabea in Yemen, appear to have pointed to Petra as a common centre; and from Petra the trade seems to have branched out into every direction, to Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, through Arsinoe, Gaza, Tyre, Jerusalem, Damascus, and a variety of intermediate roads that all terminated on the Mediterranean.” Strabo relates, that the merchandise of India and Arabia was transported on camels from Leuke Kome to Petra, and thence to Rhinocolura and other places. Strabo xvi. 4, 18, 23, 24. Under the Romans the trade was still more prosperous. The country was rendered more accessible, and the passage of merchants facilitated by military ways, and by the establishment of military posts to keep in check the predatory hordes of the neighbouring deserts. One great road, of which traces still remain, went from Petra to Damascus ; another went off from this road west of the Dead Sea to Jerusalem, Askelon, and other parts of the Mediterranean. | Laborde, p. 213. Burckhardt, 374, 419. At a period subsequent to the Christian era there always reigned at Petra, according to Strabo, a king of the royal lineage, with whom a prince was associated in the government. Strabo, p. 779. The very situation of this city, once so celebrated, as has been remarked above, was long unknown. Burckhardt, under the assumed name of Sheikh Ibrahim, in the year 1811 made an attempt to reach Petra under the pretext that he had made a vow to sacrifice a goat in honour of Aaron on the summit of Mount Hor near to Petra. He was permitted to enter the city, and to remain there a short time, and to look upon the wonders of that remarkable place, but was permitted to make no notes or drawings on the spot. His object was supposed to be to obtain treasures which the Arabs believe to have been deposited there in great abundance, as all who visit the ruins of ancient cities and towns in that region are regarded as having come there solely for that purpose. If assured that they have no such design, and if the Arabs are reminded that they have no means to remove them, it is replied "that, although they may not remove them in their presence, yet when they return to their own land they will have the power of commanding the treasures to be conveyed to them, and it will be done by magic." Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, pp. 428, 429. Burckhardt's description of this city, as it is brief, may be here given verbatim. "Two long days' journey northeast from Akaba [a town at the extremity of the Elanitic branch of the Red Sea, near the site of the ancient Ezion Geber], is a brook called Wady Mousa, and a valley of the same name. This place is very remarkable for its antiquities, and the remains of an ancient city, which I take to be Petra, the capital of Arabia Petrea, a place which so far as I know no European traveller has ever explored. In the red sand-stone of which the vale consists, there are found more than two hundred and fifty sepulchres, which are entirely hewn out of the rock, generally with architectural ornaments in the Grecian style. There is found there a mausoleum in the form of a temple [obviously the same which Legh and Laborde call the temple of victory, on a colossal scale, which is likewise hewn out of the rock, with all its apartments, portico, peristylum, &c. It is an extremely fine monument of Grecian architecture, and in a fine state of preservation. In the same place there are yet other mausoleums with obelisks, apparently in the Egyptian style; a whole amphitheatre hewn out of the solid rock, and the remains of a palace and many temples." But Mr. Bankes, in company of Mr Legh, and captains Irby and Mangles, have the merit of being the first per sons who, as Europeans, succeeded to any extent in making researches in Petra. Captains Irby and Mangles spent two days amongst its temples, tombs, and ruins, and have furnished a description of what they saw. the most full and satisfactory investigation which has been made of these ruins, was made by M. de Laborde, who visited the city in 1829, and was permitted to remain there eight days, and to examine it at leisure. An account of his journey, with splendid plates, was published in Paris in 1830 and a translation in London in 1836. To this interesting account the reader must be referred. It can only be remarked here, that Petra, or Sela, wag a city entirely encompassed with lofty rocks, except in a single place, where was a deep ravine between the rocks which constituted the principal entrance. On the east and west it was enclosed with lofty rocks of from three to five hundred feet in height; on the north and south the ascent was gradual from the city to the adjacent hills. The ordinary entrance was through a deep ravine, which has been until lately supposed to have been the only way of access to the city. This ravine ap proaches it from the east, and is abou a mile in length. In the narrowes part it is twelve feet in width, and the 2 For it shall be, that as a wandering bird cast out of the 8 or, a nest forsaken. rocks are on each side about three hundred feet in height. On the northern side there are tombs excavated in the rocks nearly the entire distance. The stream which watered Petra runs along in the bottom of the ravine, going through the city, and descending through a ravine to the west. See Robinson's Bibli. Research. vol. ii. pp. 514, 538. Of this magnificent entrance, the following cut will furnish an illustration. The city is wholly uninhabited, except when the wandering Arab makes use of an excavated tomb or palace in which to pass the night, or a caravan pauses there. The rock which encompasses it is a soft free stone. The tombs, with which almost the entire city was encompassed, are cut in the solid rock, and are adorned in the various modes of Grecian and Egyptian architecture. The surface of the solid rock was first made smooth, and then a plan of the tomb or temple was drawn on the smoothed surface, and the workmen began at the top and cut the various pillars, entablatures, and capitals. The tomb was then excavated from the rock, and was usually entered by a single door. Burckhardt counted two hundred and fifty of these tombs, and Laborde has described minutely a large number of them. For a description of these splendid monuments the reader must be referred to the work of Laborde, pp. 152–193. Lond. Ed. One of the temples of Petra is exhibited in the engraving on the following page. nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon. k Num. 21. 13. and Robinson's Biblical Researches, vol. ii. 573-580, 653–659. To the mount of the daughter of Zion. To Mount Zion; i. e. to Jerusalem. Note ch. i. 8. The meaning of this verse, therefore, is, ' Pay the accustomed tribute to the Jews. Continue to seek their protection, and acknowledge your subjection to them, and you shall be safe. They will yield you protection, and these threatened judgments will not come upon you. But refuse, or withhold this, and you will be overthrown.' 2. For it shall be. It shall happen in the time of the calamity that shall come upon Moab. As a wandering bird. See ch. x. 14. The same idea is presented in Prov. xxvii. 8: As a bird that wanders from her nest, So is a man that wandereth from his place. The idea here is that of a bird driven away from her nest, where the nest is destroyed, and the young fly about without any home or place of rest. So would Moab be when the inhabitants were driven from their dwellings. The reason why this is introduced seems to be, to enforce what the prophet had said in the previous verse-the duty of paying the usual tribute to the Jews and seeking their protection. time is coming, says the prophet, when the Moabites shall be driven from their homes, and when they will need that protection which they can obtain by paying the usual tribute to the Jews. The The daughters of Moab. The females shall be driven from their homes, and shall wander about, and endeavour to flee from the invasion which has come upon the land. By the appre That this is the Sela referred to here there can be no doubt; and the discovery of this place is only one of the instances out of many, in which the re-hension, therefore, that their wives and searches of oriental travellers contribute to throw light on the geography of the Scriptures, or otherwise illustrate them. For a description of this city, see Stephens's Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petrea, and the Holy Land, vol. ii. ch. iv. p. 65, seq.; the work of Laborde referred to above; daughters would be exposed to this danger, the prophet calls upon the Moabites to secure the protection of the king of Judah. At the fords of Arnon. Arnon was the northern boundary of the land of Moab. They would endeavour to cross that river and thus flee from the land, and escape 3 Take counsel, execute judg- | night in the midst of the noonment; make thy shadow as the day; hide the outcasts, bewray not him that wandereth. 9 bring. the boundary between the provinces of Belka and Karrak. Seetzen. Bridges were not common in the times here referred to; and indeed permanent bridges among the ancients were things almost unknown. Hence they selected the places where the streams were most shallow and gentle as the usual places of crossing. driven from their land kindness and protection, and thus preserve the friendship of the Jewish nation. This is, probably, the correct interpretation, as if he had said, 'take counsel; seek advice in your circumstances; be not hasty, rash, impetuous, unwise; do not cast off the friendship of the Jews; do not deal unkindly with those who may seek a refuge in your land, and thus provoke the nation to enmity; but let your land be an asylum, and thus conciliate and secure the friendship of the Jewish nation, and thus mercy shall be 3. Take counsel. Heb. Bring counsel; or cause it to come, or as is in the keri, . The Vulgate renders this in the singular number, and so is the keri, and so many MSS. J. D. Michaelis, Lowth, Eich-reciprocated and shown to you by him horn, Gesenius, and Noyes regard verses 3-5 as a supplicatory address of the fugitive Moabites to the Jews to take them under their protection, and as imploring a blessing on the Jewish people if they would do it; and ver. 6 as the negative answer of the Jews, or as a refusal to protect them on account of their pride. But most commentators regard it as addressed to the Moabites by the prophet, or by the Jews, calling upon the Moabites to afford such protection to the Jews who might be driven from their homes as to secure their favour, and confirm the alliance between them; and ver. 6 as an intimation of the prophet, that the pride of Moab is such that there is no reason to suppose the advice will be followed. It makes no difference in the sense here whether the verb "give counsel" be in the singular or the plural number. If singular, it may be understood as addressed to Moab itself; if plural, to the inhabitants of Moab. Vitringa supposes that this is an additional advice given to the Moabites by the prophet, or by a chorus of the Jews, to exercise the offices of kindness and humanity towards the Jews, that thus they might avoid the calamities which were impending. The first counsel was (ver. 1), to pay the proper tribute to the Jewish nation; this is (ver. 3-5) to show to those Jews who might be who shall occupy the throne of David.' Ver. 5. The design is, to induce the Moabites to show kindness to the fugitive Jews who might seek a refuge there, that thus in turn the Jews might show them kindness. But the prophet foresaw (ver. 6) that Moab was so proud that he would neither pay the accustomed tribute to the Jews, nor afford them protection; and therefore the judgment is threatened against them which is finally to overthrow them. ¶ Execute judgment. That is, do that which is equitable and right; which you would desire to be done in like circumstances. Make thy shadow. A shadow or shade is often in the Scriptures an emblem of protection from the burning heat of the sun, and thence of those burning, consuming judgments, which are represented by the intense heat of the sun. Note Isa. iv. 6. Comp. Isa. xxv. 4, xxxii. 2. Lam. iv. 20. As the night. That is, a deep, dense shade, such as the night is, compared with the intense heat of noon. This idea was one that was very striking in the East. Nothing, to travellers crossing the burning deserts, could be more refreshing than the shade of a far-projecting rock, or of a grove, or of the night. Thus Isaiah counsels - the Moabites to be to the Jews to furnish protection to them which may be like the grateful shade |