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5.0 out of 5 stars
The "Red Rock City"., October 16, 2004
This review is from: Petra in History & Prophecy (Paperback)
"...there is a basis for the belief by some that Petra was formed by a combination of volcanic and earthquake activities." (Page 13). Petra has a very colorful history and this wor by Hutchings includes an unbelievably thorough compendium of Petra history from many reliable sources: The Bible, Strabo, Josephus and many other authorative documents are quoted within.
Do read this book if you don't know about the Essau/Edomite -- Jacob birthright!!! Read it if you do know the story, as there are parts included that are most interesting. Solomon "... is depicted in the Bible as perhaps the richest man in the world of his day. Most of this wealth came through Petra, a valuable trade center even in 1000 BC...it was important to have control of the red rock city..." (Page 4. Enroute from The Queen of Sheba's homeland to Jerusalem, the author-- Hutchings accords that The Queen would have passed through Petra as it was a trading and merchandise metropolis. Hutching continues Solomon "... was actually double all that she had heard about him (Page 4...the queen gave birth to a son by Solomon,,. Menelik I."(Page 49). "The Jewish population of Ethiopia is commonly accepted as being descendants of the male offspring of Solomon and the ancient queen. The government of Israel accepts this traditional story as being true; thus, Operation Solomon was initiated in 1991 to finally bring home these long-lost Jewish brethren to await the coming of Messiah."(Page 49). "In a September 1935 article in the National Geographic magazine, L. Roberts recorded his interviews with various priests in different parts of Ethiopia who consistently told the same story. They recounted that the Queen of Sheba had visited King Solomon and had a child, Menelik I. Solomon educated the lad in Jerusalem until he was nineteen years old. The boy then returned to Ethiopia with a large group of Jews, taking with him the true Ark of the Covenant.' Many people believe that this Ark is now in some church along the northern boundary of present-day Ethiopia, near Aduwa or Aksum; but, if it is here, it is so well guarded by priests ..."(Page 49.-- I had heard of this theory a number of times, not knowing from whence it came. Throughout ancient history, the Edomites invaded Israel in their "spare time." "...After Amaziah conquered Petra, he threw another ten thousand Edomites from the cliffs":And other ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they all were broken in pieces'(2Chron. 25:12). All who have been to Petra can imagine the awesome scene as ten thousand Edomites were taken to the top of the five hundred foot cliffs and thrown down to the stone boulders below. This was supposed to have been a gruesome object lesson to the Edomites to never invade Israel again."(Page 58.) "God would not spare Edom, because they remembered not the 'brotherly covenant,' and this pronouncement is found in verse 11(of Amos 1:9):'Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did puruse his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. The brotherly covenant is in Deuteronomy 23:7:'Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother...' God declared that his covenant was set aside because of the continual anger of Edom against Israel, and the scripture indicates that it was the Edomites who first tried to kill their brothers, the Israelites, with the sword."(Pag59). Nebuchadnezzar marched against Jerusalem, many of the Jews fled to Edom and Petra for safety."(Page 61). The author theorizes that once again Petra will be occupied by fleeing Jewish people when the final days unfold. Throughout the book Hutchings unleashes his beliefs in this theory. "Oh daughter of Edom; He will discover thy sins..."(Page 61). "The futility of Judah's alliance with Edom is also reflected in Psalm 137:1,7:'By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion... Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof."...(Page 61). One could not help but note one of the Amazon reviewers statement regarding Mary. Hutchings begins the heated debate: "There is not one single word of evidence in the records of the early church that Mary was worshiped or considered more than being the mother of the Lord..."(Page 74).Hutchings continues the debate by writing:"The Encyclopedia Britannica states that in the Christian churches of the first centuries, no emphasis was placed upon the worship of Mary. The Catholic Encyclopedia reports:'Devotion to our Blessed Lady in its ultimate analysis must be regarded as a practical application of the doctrine of the Communion of Saints. Seeing that this doctrine is not contained, at least explicitly, in the earlier forms of the Apostles' Creed, there is perhaps no ground for surprise if we do not meet with any clear traces of the cultus of the Blessed Virgin in the first Christian centuries.' It was not until the Emperor Constantine made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire that Mariology became an important part of church doctrine..."(Page 75). Hutchings informs the reader MANY religions and cultures are so similar in beliefs the names have been changed yet the actions are alike. "...A further indication that Mary worship developed out of the old worship of the mother goddess may be seen in the titles by which the Babylonian goddess was known. In deified form, Nimrod came to be known as Baal. The title of his wife, the female divinity, would be in the equivalent of Ballti. In English, the word means 'My Lady'; in Latin, 'Mea Domina'; and in Italian, it is corrupted into the well-known 'Madonna'!"(Page 75.) Wars are fought in the "name of religion" though we have so many likenesses, in many respects "we are right/we are wrong"... if we could only "talk, study and share our beliefs like civilized adults!"
Ofcourse the "obelisks" and the obelisk/phallus debate "had" to appear within the framework of this study. I am not going to qualify it more than this with the exception to draw attention to this matter if someone needs the history of this for a class or the like, as this is discussed within many literature classes. The history of this begins on page 76.
"The Romans left their mark in the architecture of Petra. Rows of Roman columns that supported buildings are still standing in what was once the center of the Petra complex, and a Roman theater"(allusion to Mark Antony's gift of Petra to Cleopatra), " is for most part intact, located about five hundred yards from the Treasury Building at the entrance to the Ciq. The last king of Petra was Rabel, who died in A.D. 106, and it was after this that the Nabateans lost their identity as a RACE."(Page 88.)
The wording RACE dots the pages of the book, I questioned the context in which it was used, and checked the dictionary. What was once deemed incorrect can eventually with time, change by the dictionary standards. Any Sunday school child would remember the colors of race in the words of "Jesus Loves Me", but now the dictionary includes Slavic and Dutch as RACE- when years ago this was not the definition of race. The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew and Luke, it appears that only Jesus was the sole heir to David's throne. After the death of Jesus, no pretender to the throne of David has arisen."(Page 113).
The most interesting concept, which I previously alluded to is worded as such an arguement by the author: (Regarding the antichrist and armageddon) "...he will honor his commitments to Jordan, but not to Israel. Herod was an Edomite who became a Roman citizen in order to be king of Judea, a Roman province. Perhaps the Antichrist may have a similar racial identity, and this is why Jordan will not be under Antichrist's control during the last half of the Tribulation. We also should remember that the vast armies of Antichrist will not be gathered in Israel until the very last of the Tribulation, so his overall military power in that area until that time may be limited. In any event, Jordan will be the one nation in the world that will be released from the Antichrist kingdom, and in the last half of the Tribulation, Israel will flee through the old territories of Moab and Edom to Petra. God will doubtless have a hand in this matter in order that this will be made possible..." (Page 144). Re-thinking Petra as the final mountainous refuge during the apocalypse Hastings argues quite convincingly- geographically, geologically, availability, logistically, etc. for the site of Petra as refuge. "...most tourists who go to Petra actually see only about five percent of the city. Altogether it is a vast complex of cave dwellings, covering a twenty square mile area. Some of these dwellings will hold up one thousand people. Therefore, Petra will certainly be big enough. It will not have to be vacated; it is still practically empty, with only a few Bedouins living I a few of the caves near the Ciq. So far, all the clues we have considered point to Petra as the `hiding place' for Israel during the last half of the Tribulation. In the final chapter is an interesting account from a party who used to be of The Jewish faith. I do not wish to comment on what was said, preferring your reading this chapter. The final acceptance or rejection of the validity of the author's theorization is totally up to you, those who choose to read this book. I found this book to be a learning experience, of which I thoroughly enjoyed-- especially gleaning more knowledge about many thought provoking topics. Religion can be confusing at times, but Hutchings certainly was able to put it into perspective! Posted on: 6:12 pm on Sep.6,2002
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