On isolated peaks accessible only by a single steep path, over ten sites have been discovered beneath the inhabited limestone ridge of Edom Mountains. The sites were probably used as emergency shelters for the permanent residents of the biblical kingdom of Edom. Most of them contain hewn cisterns, buildings, and storage vessels.
“Sela” as a name of a place appears many times in the Hebrew Bible, some of which refer to places in the land of Edom. Just for clarity, Sela in Hebrew is a Rock. For years, scholars have debated the identification of the biblical Sela of Edom. In chapter 49, verse16 of his book, the prophet Jeremiah describes the pride of Edom in that they build their nests in the highest places, but the LORD promises to bring them down from there. Many scholars have interpreted these sites in relation to one site in Edom, the site known as A-Sela meaning ‘the Rock’. In the description of the conquest campaign of Amaziah, King of Judah, it is written as follows in the 2nd book of Kings chapter 14: “7 He struck Edom in the Valley of Salt ten thousand, and took Sela by war, and called its name Joktheel, unto this day.” However, it seems that Jeremiah’s words are directed to the phenomenon of rock sites that characterizes all of Edom, and not to a single site. An example of abandoning permanent settlements and fleeing to the rocks is given in Jeremiah’s prophecy about Moab in chapter 48:28 “O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock; and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the pit’s mouth.” Meaning – The inhabitants of Moab have left the cities and settled at the rock; they have become like a dove, making its nest on the edge of a pit. However, as far as I know, no sites of rock fortresses from the biblical period have been found so far in Moab, but as I have mentioned, over ten sites have been found in Edom that apparently served as emergency shelters for the inhabitants of biblical Edom. We are in A-Sela, “The Rock” and I will refer to the place in a minute.
There is some uncertainty, but it seems that for several decades before the middle of the reign of Amaziah, King of Judah, which started in 797 BCE, Edom was not subject to the Kingdom of Judah. Amaziah, ascended the throne during a period of severe upheaval in Judah, when bloody conflicts broke out between the royal house and the sons of Jehoiada the High Priest, which led to the murder of Amaziah’s father, Joash, as described in the 2nd book of Chronicles 24:15-22. Despite being an all-powerful king-ruler, Amaziah did not want to take revenge on the priestly families who were guilty of his father’s murder. The murder of Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the High Priest, by order of Amaziah father Joash, was certainly not yet forgotten, and Amaziah tried to reconcile the royal house and the priestly families. Therefore, he did not punish all the family members guilty of the murder, and sentenced to death only his father’s murderers, a fact that is credited to him in the Hebrew Bible because he acted as stated in the 2nd book of Kings:14:6 “….The fathers shall not be put to death for their children action, nor the children be put to death for the actions of their fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin.”
In order to restore control of Edom to the Kingdom of Judah, mainly for economic reasons, King Amaziah went to battle against Edom. The outcome of which is briefly summarized in the 2nd book of Kings 14:7: “He struck Edom in the Valley of Salt ten thousand, and took Sela (Rock) by war, and called it Joktheel, unto this day. ”The Rock” is probably A-Sela, the place where we are. We are about 5 km south of Tefilah which is identified with “Tophel” in the Hebrew Bible, and a similar distance north of Busaira, which is identified with Batzra. Tophel and Batzra were important cities in Edom during the biblical period, which reinforces the location of ‘The Rock’ or ‘A Sela’ here. Even the village here has preserved the name As-Sala. We are on an isolated rock platform at an altitude of 880 meters above sea level, covering an area of about 82 dunams, and there are cisterns and rock-hewn installations and a few remains of building structures. The site is from the biblical period, but there are also remains from other periods, such as an impressive fortification at the entrance to the site from the Mamluk period.
The war during Amaziah’s reign was fought on the entrances to the land of Edom from the Arava. The conquest of A-Sela near Batzra, which was the main city in the north of Edom during the First Temple period, gave Amaziah control of northern Edom, but he apparently did not succeed in conquering all of Edom, since it was his son Uzziah who completed the takeover of Edom. The site probably served as a place of refuge for the king of Edom and the senior officials of his kingdom when they fled Batzra, the nearby capital. The rock sites are not located near the roads leading from Edom Mountains to the Arava, and therefore should not be seen as a system of fortifications, but rather as places of refuge for people from the nearby permanent settlements, just as this place served as a refuge for the residents of Batzra. Remember I read about the battle described in 2nd book of Kings chapter 14:7 “He struck Edom in the Valley of Salt, ten thousand, and took Sela by war”, how are the 10,000 related? Well, the 2nd book of Chronicles chapter 25 completes the picture: based on verses 11-12: Amaziah went to war with the Edomites at the Valley of Salt. He also took in captive ten thousand, and he brought them to the top of the Rock, and through them down where they all died. It is important to note that the Sages strongly criticize Amaziah’s cruel act of throwing the captives from the rock.
The success of the war with Edom raised Amaziah’s confidence to the point that the king began to make mistakes. The 2nd book of Kings chapter 14, tells us that Amaziah king of Judah, launched a war against the Kingdom of Israel, which was then significantly stronger than the Kingdom of Judah. A war that ended in the severe defeat of Amaziah (2 Kings 14:4-13). It is difficult to understand Amaziah’s lack of judgment, which probably cost him later in his life. There are various interpretations of Amaziah’s defeat, from the recruitment of a battalion of the army of the Kingdom of Israel contrary to the words of the prophet, or to the worship of Cos, the god of the Edomites. I will not elaborate on this subject because in my opinion it is really difficult to explain Amaziah’s declaration of war on the kingdom of Israel. It was not stated anywhere, yet it is likely that his failure in the war against Jehoash led to his removal from the throne, so Amaziah, like his father, ultimately died by his courtiers, as written in the 2nd book of Kings chapter 14: “19 And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and killed him there. 20 And they brought him upon horses; and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David”. The great success here at the rock in Edom led to a fatally wrong decision and the death of Amaziah.
We reached the end, and as usual I have a question for you: Amaziah’s son became famous for conquering and building a famous city in Israel. Which city is it? The answer will appear at the end of the video.
