By Daoud Kuttab

A German Biblical Archeological expert, Johannes Stamps,  believes that after his conversion, the Apostle Paul’s first trip spent time in what is now modern Jordan, and his destination was possibly the Nabatean capital at the time Petra.

In the letter to Galatians 1:17, the Apostle Paul details his immediate travel after  Jesus called him to His service. “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.”

Johannes Stamps says that the entire region at that time was under the rule of King Aretas IV. “You have some coins from King Areta, a Nabatean King who ruled in this area at the national museum in Amman. “Petra was one of the main cities of the Nabataeans, the ruling city in modern Jordan.

So, if Paul tells us that he went to Arabia, we could think that he went down from Damascus southeast of the river Jordan, through modern Jordan to this region, perhaps to Petra. And afterward, it was that he went to Jerusalem that he, became the apostle of the nations.”

So, we believe that the first trips of Paul as a Christian apostle were to ancient Arabia, to the realm of the Nabataeans, the kingdom of Aretas. And later Paul himself tells us that Aretas wanted to arrest him in Damascus, and he had to escape from the wall using a breadbasket.” In II Corinthians 11:32 the apostle Paul states ^“In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded to arrest me.  But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands”.

Johannes Stamps believes that “it is very reasonable that he went down through modern Jordan on the King’s Highway. We could assume that he could have reached Petra. There is no hard evidence yet, but this seems to be the best scenario.” The biblical archeologist concludes that “modern Jordan would have been the first country to which Paul traveled after becoming a believer.”