NO WOE ZONE

Exact Dating of the Exodus

Khashm et Tarif

Where is the Mountain of God, Horeb, where Moses received the 10 Commandments? If we start with the Exodus and then pick Mount Sinai, we are 40 years late. Scripture, geography, and archaeology can narrow Moses’ first journey to the Mountain near Midian.

Moses saw an Egyptian beating one of his Hebrew people and killed the abuser. “When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.” (Exodus 2:15) Midian refers to an ancient settlement, not an area, that was not controlled by the Egyptians. Moses would have trailed into the ancient Sinai trade route east to the seaport and copper mines. He crossed the Wilderness of Paran just before reaching a well at Midian. He stopped to catch his breath, a sip of water, and to smile back at Zipporah, a Kenite Jew. There he settled.

When Moses encountered the Burning Bush “Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.” (Exodus 3:1) How far from Midian might Moses have taken Jethro’s flock? In grazing the flock might cover 6-9 miles around the fields, but the area near Midian would have been well-chewed. Traveling further for fresh fodder might extend the distance and require a night or two in the open. However, “Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ sons and wife, came to him in the wilderness, where he was camped near the mountain of God.” (Exodus 18:5) Without the flock this suggests the distance to Horeb was likely a family’s long day’s journey, within a 25-mile range[1] from the town of Midian.

Midian was a son of Abraham and the place where he settled became known as Midian, with regular water and grazing. The village would have grown when Moses lived there about 1,600 years later. Over 300 years after Moses “the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.” (Judges 6:1) Midian had become large with an army. Continuing in local knowledge was “Midian, which lay upon the Red Sea.” (Josephus, Antiquities 2:11:1) Over the millennia Midian became an important city and must leave a large archaeological footprint.

At the head of the Red Sea north of Aqaba / Eilat lies Timna which dates its founding from before 4,000 BC with Midianite pottery.[2] It lies on the first fringe of the area known as Midian, and today further into Saudi Arabia. On the outskirts of town is Tell Hujayrat al-Ghuzlan,[3] which covers occupation during the Bronze and Iron Ages. A building whose walls were inscribed with human and animal drawings suggests this was a religious site. The people who inhabited the area had developed an extensive water system for irrigating their crops (mostly grapes and wheat). Searchers also uncovered several different-sized clay pots used in copper production, a major industry in the region. The location fits Moses’ travels and geography. Aqaba qualifies as downtown Midian.[4]

Horeb is from the root “waste” or “desolate.” At Midian “the Lord said to Aaron, ‘Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.’ So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.” (Exodus 4:27) This suggests a nearby location west of Aqaba in the Wilderness of Paran. Aaron is not traveling with a flock. Within that 25-mile loop from Midian / Aqaba lies the only candidate for Horeb: Khashm et Tarif.

Khashm et Tarif is a flat-topped mountain along the trans-Sinai trade route.[5] Besides proximity to Midian it has the open space to accommodate hundreds of thousands to hear Moses speak from the mountain. Local ancient symbols and burials there are yet to be verified. But there was once water.

God said to Moses, “I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” (Exodus 17:6) Calcium deposit on the top of the mountain provide evidence of an ancient spring. Moses spent 40 days on Horeb and water was a survival necessity.[6]

Khashm et Tarif is also a reasonable location to confirm “It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.” (Deuteronomy 1:2) Moses spoke this in the nearby Arabah, the valley at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba. He turned the peoples of the Exodus loose up the valley past Mount Seir and across the hills to Kadesh Barnea. They speeded up the level valley northward toward the Promised Land and exceeded 10 miles per day.[7]

When the Exodus did occur, "The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt." (Exodus 16:1) Start with a parting of the "reed sea" as in the original Hebrew, thus on the delta. Then arrange the days to find there were 14 days[8] between between Elim at the head of the Red Sea near Suez to Mount Sinai. On the ancient trade route this was through the Wilderness of Paran toward Khashm et Tarif, and a bit further to Timna and Aqaba.

Khashm et Tarif[9] was proposed as Mount Sinai in the James Cameron 2006 documentary The Exodus Decoded[10] with a limited examination of the mountain by filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici. It was then soon resurveyed by Bryant G. Wood.[11] Jacobovici visited again with a bit of drama.[12] Further research has been prevented as in an Egyptian military zone.

In searching for Mount Sinai start with Midian where Moses stopped at the well. Horeb is nearby. The Exodus wanderings came later and must end up back at the Mountain of God, Khashm et Tarif.

The Exodus dating can also shift expectations by hundreds of years. It is more exciting with Charlton Heston leading his people away from Ramses II about 1250 BC. Wood is at a “scriptural” date of 1440. Cameron and Jacobovici move back to 1500 to line up events with the eruption of Thera. Slide a bit more to 1552 and scripture and Thera line up with archaeology. http://nowoezone.com/OT_Chronology.htm