From Biblicalarchaeology.com
The New Testament recounts many episodes from the apostle Paul’s life. Yet it provides scant details about his visit to Arabia. In his letter to the Galatians, while describing his conversion to Christianity, Paul mentions his time in Arabia:
When God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. (Galatians 1:15–17, NRSV)
What happened in Arabia? Ben Witherington III of Asbury Theological Seminary explores these hidden years of Paul’s life in “Paul of Arabia? The Apostle’s Early Adventures,”
Although the specifics do not appear in the biblical text, Witherington reconstructs elements of this time.
He clarifies that the region called Arabia in Galatians 1:17 should be associated with Arabia Petrea, or the kingdom of Nabatea. With its capital at Petra, Nabatea flourished for several centuries and remained independent from Roman control during Paul’s lifetime. Witherington thinks that Paul likely spent time in Petra, which was situated on the major trade route that brought spices across the Arabian Peninsula—from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
Later in his life, when Paul would travel to other Mediterranean cities, he typically sought out the local Jewish community and shared the Christian message, first with the Jews and then with Gentiles (non-Jews). He spoke Greek, the lingua franca of the day. To support himself, he practiced leatherworking, such as making tents. Witherington thinks it likely that Paul did these same things at Petra.
The Nabatean city of Petra, in modern Jordan, is one of the Seven New Wonders of the World. Carved into a sandstone cliff, this structure is called Al-Khazneh, “the Treasury.” Many scholars now presume it was the tomb of the Nabatean king Aretas IV. Photo: Antoine Taveneaux/CC by-SA 3.0.
Another biblical passage seems to support the idea that Paul preached while in Arabia. In 2 Corinthians 11:32–33, Paul says that King Aretas tried to arrest him in Damascus. This refers to King Aretas IV, who ruled Nabatea from 9 B.C.E. to 40 C.E. Why would the Nabatean king have known about Paul and wanted to arrest him? Witherington thinks it likely that Paul came to the king’s attention while preaching in Nabatea: “The best bet is that Paul had tried out his gospel in Arabia Petrea, and the king wanted to arrest him for promulgating a non-Nabatean religion in his territory without permission.”
These reconstructed details give a glimpse of the apostle Paul’s time in Arabia.
Certainly one of the verses that Pauline scholars have regularly puzzled over is Galatians 1:17. Talking about the time immediately after his Damascus road experience—an encounter with the heavenly Jesus—and his days in Damascus recovering from that experience, Paul says this: “I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus” (NIV; italics mine).
Arabia? In the first place, Paul is not referring to the area we today call Saudi Arabia. He is talking about the region that bordered the Holy Land to the south and east, namely the kingdom of Nabatea or, as it was sometimes called, Arabia Petrea (see map).The Nabateans were neither Greeks nor Romans, but rather a formerly nomadic Semitic people who had their own language, kingdom, and deities. Because the major trade route, the so-called spice road, passed right through Petra, their capital city, located in what is today southern Jordan, the Nabateans became a prosperous people. They were a rising power in Paul’s day, and their kingdom was independent of Roman control—even though later, in the early second century A.D., it would become part of the Roman Empire.
One indication of the importance of this kingdom in the mid-first century A.D. is shown by the fact that, according to Josephus (Antiquities 18.109–114), the daughter of King Aretas IV of Nabatea had been married off to Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee. When Antipas decided to divorce her and marry his brother’s wife Herodias, Aretas came and conquered a good deal of Herod’s territory east of the Jordan River in revenge.
How long was Paul in Nabatea and where? The most likely scenario is that he went to the famous city of Petra to preach his gospel. It is clear that he was there long enough to attract the attention of King Aretas himself, for we hear in 2 Corinthians 11:32-33, “In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.” (I like to call this story, “Paul the basket case,” a story repeated briefly in Acts 9:25.) It isn’t clear whether Damascus was already in control of the Nabateans, but it seems probable because King Aretas ordered his ethnarch, a regional governor of sorts, to capture and arrest Paul. This means Paul had, in the mind of King Aretas, committed some crime in Nabatean territory.
The best bet is that Paul had tried out his gospel in Arabia Petrea, and the king wanted to arrest him for promulgating a non-Nabatean religion in his territory without permission. Paul narrowly escaped capture and finally made his way to Jerusalem, three years after his conversion.
We have no letters from Paul to the Nabateans, so we must assume that Paul’s early efforts at evangelism didn’t bear much, if any, significant fruit. Indeed, we have no letters from Paul until after his first missionary efforts on Cyprus and west of Antioch where Paul and Barnabas had been based in the late 40s A.D. This means that Paul’s first evangelistic success was likely 12 to 14 years after his encounter with the heavenly Jesus on Damascus road.
In my historical novella, Paul of Arabia, I have explored what those “hidden years” of Paul’s life might have been like.1 What seems relatively certain is that there were likely Jewish traders, families, and individuals living in and around Petra with whom Paul could have established a relationship. Since it is unlikely that Paul knew or learned the Nabatean language, he probably communicated in Greek, the lingua franca of the whole area. Most likely, Paul began in Petra, as he did elsewhere, by practicing his trade of leather working, including tent making. No doubt he learned this trade in Tarsus, a city famous for making tents and other leather products.
Sometimes the hagiography about Paul makes it seem as if he went from strength to strength, converting people right and left after his conversion on Damascus road. The reality, however, was rather different. He had both failures and successes, both acceptance and rejection. In fact, early on, including during his time in Nabatea and later upon his return to Tarsus after his first visit to Jerusalem, it appears that Paul did not have much positive results to show for his evangelizing efforts. But he did not give up hope, and in this same period while suffering physically and having visions and dreams (see 2 Corinthians 12:1-10), he continued to share the good news.
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