WAS MT. SINAI A VOLCANO? DISCOVERIES AFFECTING THE INTERPRETATION OF EXODUS |
Introduction | Early
Exploration | Geology | Parting Remarks |
There are volcanoes in Northern Arabia and south to
the
region of Sana'a. Some of these were active in historic
times. The
story of Exodus and Moses may contain a description of a volcanic
eruption on
Mt. Sinai. This region is arid and harsh. Some of the areas
where
the volcanoes exist are far from towns. Small bands of nomads have
existed there for millennia.
The area of NW Arabia between Tebuk and Al Oula is a
large and
terrible wilderness. Some scholars indicated this part of Arabia
may have
been the Biblical Midian. In years before the invention of the
steam
locomotive, caravans passed between Damascus in the north to Mecca in
the
south. These Haj travelers set forth in caravans numbering
hundreds to visit Mecca on camel and
or walking on foot next to those who rode. One entire caravan
perished in a place called the Wadi of Hell
along the eastern edge of the harra(t) (lava field) between the well of
Tebuk and the well at Median Salih north of Al Oula. They failed
to locate water in the
shallow holes they dug into the canyon floor. The price of water
reached a
thousand dinars (per cup?). Everyone died in the hot dry
winds. Someone scratched the story onto a
rock. (Charles Doughty, TRAVELS IN DESERTA ARABIA). On the
north-western coastal side of the long mountain range of the Arabian
Hijaz were a few seasonal
pastures and palm oasis. Wallin reported scattered almond
trees on the mountains in his 1848 expedition report. There were
acacia
trees similar to the mesquite trees of the American SW. Wild goats
(ibex),
gazelles, oryx, and small mammals populated the area and were predated
by the
leopard, jackal, and wolf. The sand partridge (qata) traveled in
small coveys or alone; these flew thirty miles or more in a straight
line to open
water. Desert people followed trails to find water. There
was some
pasture for the animals of nomads in the desert. Long journeys
have been
recorded with nomads traveling 10 miles a day driving their
flocks. Over
the course of months or years, they might travel more than a 1000 miles
if they
liked.
The reported 600,000 soldiers listed in the book of Numbers as
taking part in the Exodus was a probable fiction. Given
a family size of five the story would indicate more than 1.5 million
camped in the desert and from these were 600,000 fighting men. The
size of
the largest cities in the desert and hill country of Israel in the 12th
century
BC were measured in acres not square miles. Facts such as people
digging a
well in a canyon bottom in Jordan from the book of
Numbers and people migrating in stages as their livestock consumed the
grass,
annuals, and perennial bush leaves as they went were similar to real
life desert experiences
spanning millennia. Numerous archaeologists and historians
have
indicated that the campaigns of Joshua could not have occurred as they
were
described in the Bible as they contradict the archaeological
record. Some
scholars might not believe a description of a God who would kill
all the firstborn sons of all Egyptians with extreme prejudice such as
was described in the story of the Passover.
Some of the laws of Moses, or by the scribe Moses, against murder, adultery, theft, and false testimony are similar to laws and ethics found in Egyptian and Mesopotamian writings from hundreds of years earlier.
The book of Joshua has been challenged by the archaeological work of Kathleen Kenyon, James B. Pritchard, and others. As early as 1972 William Dever gave a lecture where he state archaeology could not confirm the Book of Joshua. In 1990 he published a table showing the archaeological account contradicted the Book of Joshua. The destruction of cities credited to Joshua were not all destroyed in the same generation. In 2018 there were academic discussions about Israel not attaining the territorial domain attributed to King David until the Hasmonean dynasty of the second and first centuries BC. The Bible describes God as having ordered the extermination of living being in Jericho. Jericho was in ruins since the end of the Middle Bronze Age and not built on the scale of a city until at least the Iron Age, and then it was not walled. Many have tried to twist the historical record to make it conform to the first six books of the Bible from Adam and Eve to the sacking of Hazor by Joshua. Yigael Yadin showed Hazor had been sacked about c. 1230-1200 BC about the time scholars expected an Israeli conquest, but the walled city of Jericho had been sacked about 1550 BC.
See: OLD JERICHO
While there were useful laws in the first five books of the Bible and accurate historical descriptions in the books of Kings, Chronicles, the Gospels, and Acts, etc.; not all of the Bible is factual.