Tuesday, Oct. 15, Read Obadiah 2-4; Isaiah 63:1-6

There are no references to Petra by that name in the Bible.  Many consider it to have been the capital of Edom, Bozrah.  Maybe so or not.  But certainly when Obadiah pronounced judgment on Edom the prophet referred to Petra and what it is all about.  It was the city of rock, fully protected from attack by enemies.  And yet God was able (of course) to fulfill His word of judgment.  One of the problems with Edom (there were many) was her pride and self-confidence.  But that pride was not well placed.  The pride of your heart has deceived you.  Such is always the case.  The pride of the heart will always lead us to trust in a “god” that cannot sustain us.


Furthermore, the pride of our hearts gives God a great opportunity to glorify His holy Name.  It appears He does this with respect to Bozrah/Petra.  When the Messiah returns He comes to Jerusalem from Bozrah.  His robe is bloodied because He has waged a righteous war that no one else would wage.  No one joined Him.  Again, our pride will always be based on something that cannot hold us up when we come upon the Righteous Judge.  


I was not part of the group that went to Petra as we have been there once before.  Thus, we have no photos of that adventure.  For those who stayed in Eilat we made a trip to the Yotvata animal refuge, a kind of “lion country safari” with Biblical animals, such as ostriches, gazelles, oryx, onyx, and two types of donkeys.  It’s always interesting and free once we purchased our Israeli Nat’l Park passes.  Then we took a little tour of Eilat.  So today you get animal photos. :)


By the way, Eilat is a Biblical city.  We mentioned earlier that the Israelites were through here on their wilderness wanderings (Num. 33:35-36; Deut. 2:8).  Also, being on the Red Sea (Gulf of Aqaba today) Solomon had a fleet of ships here that brought gold from Ophir (1 Ki. 9:26-28).  Jehoshaphat tried the same thing, in compromise with the King of Samaria, but the fleet never sailed; it didn’t have God’s blessing (1 Ki. 22:48).