Christian Travel News & Information
Arabia in the Bible
AlUla in the Bible: Dedan, the Oasis of Traders, and the Jews Who Came AfterÂ
Ezekiel listed what the merchants of Dedan carried: ivory, ebony, saddlecloths for riding. The town he named is the oasis now called AlUla, and about two thousand inscriptions are carved into a canyon there, in a script that died out.
The Rechabites in Arabia: What Became of the Family That Never Broke Its VowÂ
Jeremiah set wine before them and told them to drink. They refused, having kept a single command for two and a half centuries. Then Babylon came, and the Rechabites disappear from Scripture. A twelfth-century traveler crossing Arabia reported finding them at Tayma, still refusing.
Jews of Khaybar: Four Traditions, One Desert MysteryÂ
Ninety-five miles north of Medina, the ruins of a Jewish fortress rise above a date-palm oasis. The locals call it Jabal al-Yahud, the Mountain of the Jews. The two leading tribes called themselves priestly and claimed descent from Aaron. Four traditions explain how they got there, and they do not agree.
The Cartouche of Rameses III in the Saudi Arabian Desert
In Saudi Arabia’s Hisma Desert, an ancient campsite surrounded by petroglyphs and Thamudic inscriptions bears an Egyptian royal cartouche. The site sits two hours from Jabal al-Lawz. What an Egyptian military presence this deep into Arabia tells us about the region’s connections to the biblical world.