See, a king will reign in righteousness
Isaiah 32:1-2
and rulers will rule with justice.
Each man will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
I’ve written in the past about the Nabateans. With their capital in Petra, they controlled trade along the spice route south of Judea. Their peak was in the first century BC and first century AD until the Romans incorporated them into the empire. While Petra is the most well-known site, we stopped at another of their cities on this trip: Mamshit (or Mampsis). It was built as a trade post between Petra and Gaza.
About 10 acres in size, there is a lot to see around Mamshit. Many buildings have remained intact or have been rebuilt, including houses, streets, horse stalls, churches, shops, and more.
What I find most remarkable about the Nabateans is their ingenuity for obtaining enough water in the desert for their cities to thrive. In the case of Avdat they built dams to channel the water from the surrounding hillsides into a smaller area, enabling them to grow food. In Mamshit, they built some dams on the wadi they are situated above to hold the water. Like the Israelites wandering the same wilderness, they didn’t just survive; they thrived.
