Sela
סֶלַע
Where was biblical Sela? At As-Sila', near Buseira (Bozrah), in Jordan, about 90 km southeast of Beersheba. I mark it probable.
King Amaziah of Judah crushed Edom in the Valley of Salt, stormed its rock fortress, and renamed it Joktheel. Chronicles adds a grim detail. Ten thousand captives were led to the top of the rock and thrown down.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- As-Sila', near Buseira (Bozrah), in Jordan
- How sure
- Probable The best case we have, with real alternatives.
- Other names
- Joktheel, Selah, Jokteel, Petra
- Location
- 30.7714° N, 35.5831° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
Sela means rock. Translate that into Greek and you get petra. So Eusebius, and centuries of readers after him, placed Sela at Petra.
Most scholars now look to a different rock. As-Sila' is a sheer-sided plateau in northern Edom, very hard to reach, and it still carries the name. It sits close to Bozrah, the Edomite capital, and close to the Valley of Salt where Amaziah won his battle. The story moves from the battle straight to the fortress, and the map does the same.
The ground backs it up. Surveys on the plateau found pottery mainly from the Edomite Iron Age. A relief of the Babylonian king Nabonidus is carved into the cliff, which shows the rock was a stronghold worth claiming. But nobody has excavated it, so the identification is not proven.
The prophets used the word with Edom in mind. Obadiah mocks Edom as the one who dwells "in the clefts of the rock." Isaiah tells Moab to send tribute "from Sela in the wilderness."
The older view keeps Sela at Petra, on the mountain of Umm el-Biyara above the city. It rests mostly on the Greek translation. The map follows as-Sila', where the Hebrew name survived.
Visiting today
As-Sila' is an unexcavated rock fortress reached by a steep climb from the village, with rock-cut stairs, cisterns and the weathered Nabonidus relief.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Sela on the interactive map →
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