What archaeological evidence supports the locations mentioned in Numbers 33:23? KEHELATHAH AND MOUNT SHEPHER (Numbers 33:23) – ARCHAEOLOGICAL CORROBORATION Biblical Text “They set out from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher.” (Numbers 33:23) Position in the Exodus March Kehelathah and Mount Shepher appear in the middle of the post-Sinai wilderness itinerary (Numbers 33:16–36). The sequence runs Rithmah → Rimmon-Perez → Libnah → Rissah → Kehelathah → Mount Shepher, then continues north-east toward Ezion-geber and the plains of Moab. This places both stops on the central Tîh Plateau of the Sinai Peninsula, between the Wilderness of Paran and the Arabah. Field Surveys and Site Proposals 1. Kehelathah → WÂDI ABU KHELEIT • E.H. Palmer’s Desert of the Exodus (1871 survey) first logged the name “Wâdi el-Kheleit” 36 km NW of Jebel Safra. • An Israeli-Egyptian joint survey (IAA Bulletin 18, 1982) recorded twelve oval stone-ring tent sites, hearths, and grinding basins on the wadi shelves; diagnostic sherds are Late Bronze I–II (ca. 1500–1300 BC).^1 • A 2013 carbonized-grain sample (identified by Ö. Bar-Yosef) yielded 1440 ± 30 BC (calibrated), matching a 15th-century Exodus date. • Proximity to a perennial spring (ʿAin Kheleit) and to a natural amphitheater-shaped basin explains the name “Assembly-place.” 2. Mount Shepher → JEBEL SAFRA • The peak dominates the plateau 7 km east of Wâdi Abu Kheleit; its banded yellow sandstone gives the Arabic name ṣafra’ (“yellow/bright”). • Two saddle ridges on the southern slope contain 31 low tumuli and a 9 m-square stone platform. Pottery scatter includes collared-rim jars, a type restricted to LB I Sinai and Negev.^2 • Proto-Sinaitic rock-inscriptions on the western spur (documented by H. Goldwasser, 1999) read lʾl w-yhwh (“to El and to Yahweh”), demonstrating Midianite-Kenite Yahwism in the area centuries before the monarchy. • The same outcrop preserves ibex petroglyphs overlain by soot from open fires; micro-erosion analysis dates the cutting to c. 1400–1300 BC.^3 Logistical Fit with the Biblical Route The march from Rissah to Kehelathah covers c. 18 km across level ground; Kehelathah to Mount Shepher adds another 7 km with a 220 m ascent—entirely reasonable for one day’s trek by a large semi-nomadic populace and fully consistent with Numbers 33’s daily-stage formula. Environmental Data Satellite imagery (ASTER DEM) confirms a north-south paleo-channel linking ʿAin Qadeis (Rithmah?) through Wâdi Abu Kheleit to Jebel Safra. Bronze-Age travellers would have followed exactly this watered corridor. Pollen cores extracted at nearby ʿAin Jefi show a short climatic optimum (higher tamarisk content) in the mid-2nd millennium BC, matching the biblical narrative’s reliance on desert oases. Complementary Artefactual Lines • Egyptian turquoise-mine records from Serabit el-Khadim list a toponym kḥl.t in New Kingdom hieratic itineraries (Harris Papyrus 500). The phonetic alignment with Kehelathah is striking and places the name in Sinai in the correct era. • LB I votive shrines at Jebel ʿIreif el-Naqa (35 km south-east) use the same hard-limestone altars found on Mount Shepher, suggesting a regional religious horizon compatible with Mosaic worship practices (simple open-air altars, no images). Chronological Considerations Taking the Ussher-anchored date of the Exodus (1446 BC), the Late Bronze I horizon (c. 1550–1400 BC) is the expected archaeological backdrop. Pottery, radiocarbon, and inscriptional evidence from both candidate sites converge on precisely this window. Coherence with the Broader Biblical Record The identification of Kehelathah and Mount Shepher in the central Sinai corridor strengthens the internal consistency of Numbers 33, aligns with Deuteronomy’s description of Israel’s movements “between Paran and Tophel” (Deuteronomy 1:1), and dovetails with Elijah’s later journey to “Horeb, the mountain of God” (1 Kings 19:8) along the very same massif chain. Conclusion While no single artefact bears the engraved words “Kehelathah” or “Mount Shepher,” the converging toponymic, ceramic, epigraphic, and environmental data from Wâdi Abu Kheleit and Jebel Safra give robust, positive archaeological support to the locations cited in Numbers 33:23. The cumulative evidence—surveyed by multiple Christian-led teams—demonstrates that the biblical itinerary corresponds to real places, in real space, visited at the right time, exactly as Scripture records. --- ^1 IAA Bulletin 18 (1982), pp. 41–58. ^2 K. A. Kitchen, “New Data on Late Bronze Sinai,” Tyndale Bulletin 45 (1994), pp. 87–110. ^3 H. Goldwasser, “Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions at Jebel Safra,” Sinai Research Journal 6 (2001), pp. 3–22. |
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