I have shown you that there were multiple places named Kadesh meaning ‘holy’. It makes sense to conclude that there was a northern location named Kadesh and a more southern location. To conclude that there were two sites in particular help us to understand the apparent confusion in the journey. The controversy is contained in the association of Kadesh with Petra as recorded by David Rohl on the map. Yes I thought most of you would miss the clue to that fact. It is that which we will turn our attention to in this Nugget. But like I wrote in the Gem 2148, I waited to see how my readers responded as to the timing of the Gems and Nuggets over this holiday period – whether you wanted a break or would choose for me to BRING IT ON. It became clear to me that many of you were not opening the Gems and Nuggets during the holiday period. Understandably, why would you want to trek through the wilderness when you were on holiday. Also I figured that I had 38 years where I could pause at Kadesh before we moved on. In that way we could replicate the time the Israelites spent there. But now a number of you have been asking when I was going to continue the Unravelling-the-Remaining-Route Nuggets and conclude the matter of multiple Kadeshes and where the second one was?
Most scholars identify Ain el-Kudeirat as being Kadesh Barnea. There are ten scripture references which refer to this place, the remainder simply refer to Kadesh. Some scholars think that both Kadesh and Kadesh Barnea refer to the same place. However all the references to Kadesh or Kadesh Barnea cannot be referring to the same place or we would have utter confusion. David Rohl has come up with the theory, perhaps better called a suggested alternative, as referring to a Greater and Lesser Kadesh. The terms Greater and Lesser Kadesh are not references in terms of the size of the camp at Kadesh but rather the length of time spent there. Rohl uses Lesser Kadesh to refer to the Kadesh located in the north and Greater Kadesh to be the Kadesh located further south, where they camped for the bulk of the 38 years mentioned in Scripture.
The locations listed in Numbers 33 leading to Greater Kadesh are:-
- Moseroth
- Bene-Jaakan
- Hor-Hagidgad
- Jotbathah
- Ebronah
- Ezion-Gaber
- Kadesh
David Rohl sees a solution to the difficulty in Deuteronomy 10:6-7
(The people of Israel set out from the wells of the people of Jaakan and traveled to Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried. His son Eleazar ministered as high priest in his place. Then they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from there to Jotbathah, a land with many brooks and streams.)
Deuteronomy 10:6-7
In a number of versions this section (wider than just verses 6 to 7) is bracketed. David Rohl’s suggestion is that Moserah is likely the same place as Moseroth (the plural of Moserah). If that is the case, Rohl suggests the word “later” needs to be added to the text, resulting in “Moserah, where Aaron [later] died and was buried.” If this were a later editorial comment, Moseroth could well be referring to Lesser Kadesh, which would then solve some of the toponym confusion.
In Rohl’s own words:
The mention of Aaron’s death now becomes an editorial note concerning a later event not related to the initial arrival at Moserah. And Moserah can be associated with the Israelite camp at Kadesh Barnea which was close by. Now we can have the Israelites arriving at Moserah, having crossed the Araba from Bene Jaakan. They remain there, in the vicinity, for thirty-eight years, at a place later called Kadesh because of its association with Moses and the Israelites, until Miriam dies and is buried on one of the local mountains.
David Rohl
What is the place later called Kadesh because of its association with Moses and the Israelites? Rohl’s suggestion is that Greater Kadesh is actually Petra, given the close proximity of Bene-Jaakan with Petra (Kadesh). The pieces all fit if that is the case. But this is not just conjecture on Rohl’s part. There is a some earlier textual evidence for such a supposition.
When Moses had made these constitutions, (at Kadesh of the spies) after the sedition was over, he removed, together with the whole army, and came to the borders of Idumea (Edom). He then sent ambassadors to the king of the Idumeans, and desired him to give him (Moses) a passage through his country; … But the king was not pleased with this embassy from Moses: nor did he allow a passage for the army, … There it was that Miriam, the sister of Moses, came to her end, having completed her fortieth year since she left Egypt, on the first day of the lunar month Xanthicus. She was buried upon a certain mountain, which they called Sin … Now when this purification was over, he caused the army to march through the wilderness and through Arabia; and when he came to a place which the Arabians esteem their metropolis, which was formerly called Arce – but has now the name of Petra – at this place, which was encompassed with high mountains, Aaron went up one of them in the sight of the whole army, Moses having before told him that he was to die … He died in the same year wherein he lost his sister …
Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews, Book IV, Chapter IV:5-7.]
Flavius Josephus, in the 1st Century AD) was given the ancient scrolls from the temple before the destruction of the temple in AD 70. These facts add credence to what Josephus wrote to summarise the history of the Jews. There are also two later notes by Eusebius the Bishop of Caesarea (263-339 AD) and Saint Jerome (347-420 AD) in the 5th Century AD which add weight to the statements of Josephus.
Kades Barne of Numbers 32: A desert alongside the city of Petra in Arabia where Miriam went and died, and Moses doubtingly struck the rock and gave water to the people to drink. Miriam’s tomb is shown there even until today.
Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea
Cades (i.e. Kadesh): Where the Fountain of Justice is, and Cades Barne in the desert, which adjoins the city of Petra in Arabia. Here Miriam died, and Moses stuck the rock to give the people water. Up to the present day too they show Miriam’s tomb there.
Saint Jerome
Now let me summarise all of this into a map for you to make it all clear.
Petra is the classical name for the hidden city of the Nabateans. The Syriacs knew this area as Rekem which means ‘holy’. In Aramaic Rekem also means ‘holy’. Kadesh, Rekem and Petra are all names across the centuries for the same place, all of which are linked with the term ‘holy’. The Jewish Targum of Onkelos refers to Kadesh Barnea as Rekem Gaya, which means Rekem of the Ravine. A narrow chasm called Siq leads to Petra. This narrow entrance to Petra was made famous in the Indiana Jones movie The Last Crusade. Josephus’ version of events seems to be in accord with the route in Numbers where the Israelites spent several months wandering southward down the Arabah rift valley to Ezion Geber. On reaching Ezion Geber they turned east to the Trans-Jordan plateau via the King’s Highway. They were prohibited from going through Edom directly, so they worked their way toward the Gulf of Aqaba before going through the Itm Pass up to the Trans-Jordan plateau. This route took them naturally to the place that would be later called Petra.
To approach Petra you climb the Nemela Pass with Mount Seir ahead of you. Petra is on the border of Edom and close to Moab and Ammon. The traditional site for the tomb of Aaron is on top of Gebel Harun or Mount Aaron. This location is close to the hidden city of Petra. The burial place of Miriam is on a mountain top close by, looking back over the Arabah. The Jordanians call the valley lying at the entrance to the Siq, Wadi Musa or Moses Valley. There are multiple toponyms in the area which derive from the Israelite experience. All the pieces fit! Not only in line with the toponyms across the centuries in various languages, but this likely route is the one which fits best in terms of the order of the toponyms and the time taken outlined in the Bible. David Rohl and his party transversed this route in order to trace the journey and see if it was possible to complete it in the days outlined in the biblical text.
Oh yes, it is controversial. I have already told that you the traditionalists don’t like David Rohl at all. He doesn’t agree with their traditional theories. I have told you the story of the criticism he received at the hands of a prestigious US university and the jibe which refer to the time in Rohl’s younger years when he played in a rock band. Other academics have disparaged David Rohl for the fact that he even looks like an Indiana-Jones-adventurer. But that does not detract from David Rohl’s pursuit of the truth. I would heartily recommend that you get hold of the Tim Mahoney series of The Patterns of Evidence videos which explain this and whole lot more in great detail. Tim Mahoney used much of David Rohl’s material to put it together. David Rohl was the Egyptologist and archaeologist who solved the problem of the mismatch between Egyptian Pharaonic dating scheme based on the regnum periods of the Pharaohs and the Biblical dating for the period of the Exodus. (see A Test of Time by David Rohl).
From this point I will attempt to trace the remaining Journey found listed in Numbers 33:41-49 in the Nuggets to come.
Fascinating stuff.
If David Rohl’s theory of Petra as Greater Kadesh was accepted by the Jordanians imagine the significance of Moses’ visit to their economy.