SELA

(Seʹla) [rock].

1. A location on the boundary of Amorite territory after the Israelites took possession of the Promised Land. (Judg. 1:36) The site is unknown today. Some would identify this Sela with the one in Edom (2 Ki. 14:7), but there is no evidence that Amorite territory ever extended so far S into the region controlled by the Edomites.

2. A major Edomite city that was captured by Judean King Amaziah and renamed Joktheel. (2 Ki. 14:7) Sela may be the unnamed “fortified city” referred to at Psalm 108:10.

This city is commonly identified with Umm el-Bayyarah, a rocky acropolis lying about fifty miles (80 kilometers) S of the southern tip of the Dead Sea. This site is located in the W corner of the plain where the Nabatean city of Petra was later built. Accessible by means of a narrow, twisting gorge and surrounded by precipitous sandstone cliffs, this plain is well protected. The impressive ruins of Petra, including temples, tombs and dwellings hewn out of the rock, were no part of the ancient Edomite city of Sela.

3. A place mentioned in a pronouncement against Moab. (Isa. 15:1; 16:1) There is uncertainty as to whether or not it is the same site as No. 2 above.