The Exodus Route: Dophkah (Stage 1 of 2)

Dophkah (stage 1)

Exodus Route home page

Overview map (Click on photo for high resolution)	Satellite map (Click on photo for high resolution)
	Exodus locations: Wilderness of Shur Marah Elim Red Sea Camp Wilderness of Sin Dophkah Alush Rephidim (Meribah) Wilderness of Sinai Mt. Sinai

 

Introduction: 

1.       Dophkah and Alush are both staging locations between the wilderness of Sin and Rephidim.

a.         Little is known about them except that they are located in difficult terrain between the wilderness of Sin and Rephidim.

b.        From Goshen to Mt. Sinai the topography was flat, wide and easy except between Dophkah and Alush, which infers it was canyon travel through the mountains.

2.       Bible texts:

a.         "They journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah. They journeyed from Dophkah and camped at Alush." Numbers 33:12-13

b.        "Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink." Exodus 17:1

3.       Early Christians created metaphoric messianic meanings for Dophkah:

a.         “And they set out from the desert of Sin and came to Raphaca [Dophkah].” Raphaca translates as “health.” You see the order of the progressions, how when the soul is once made spiritual and begins to see heavenly visions, it arrives at health, so that it deservedly says: “Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me, [bless] his holy name!” Which Lord? The one, it says, “who heals all your infirmities, who redeems your life from destruction.” For there are many infirmities of the soul: avarice is an infirmity of it, indeed the worst one; pride, anger, boasting, fear, inconstancy, timidity and the like. When, Lord Jesus, will you cure me of all these infirmities? When will you heal me so that I may say: “Bless the Lord, my soul, who heals all your infirmities,” so that I may be able to make a stage at Raphaca, which is healing? It would take too long if we wanted to go through each of the stages and explain one by one what is suggested by contemplating their names. Nevertheless, let us run through them in a brief and summary fashion, not to offer you a full exposition, since time certainly does not allow that, but to offer you opportunities for understanding.” (Origen, Homilies on Numbers 27.12.1–2, 400 AD)

 

A. Journeying in Stages: 

1. Journeyed in stage groups:
1. The only difficult and narrow terrain the entire 47-day journey was the two stages (Dophkah and Alush) between the Wilderness of sin to Rephidim.
2. They were unable to travel as a single unified group so they travelled in smaller groups or “stages” through the narrow and difficult portion of the route until they reached Rephidim: Num 33:12-13; Ex 17:1.
3. Another synchronism is that the Amalekites attacked when the first group completed the stages, exited the mountainous area, and started on their way to Rephidim: Exodus 17:7-8.
4. It was a brilliant military move that the Amalekites attacked the first group, who was also short of water before the entire population arrived at Rephidim.
2. Tiran route canyon travel between Dophkah and Alush:
   

1. The distance between the Wilderness of sin and Dophkah is 22 km. The canyon travel distance between Dophkah and Alush is 23 km. The distance between Alush and Rephidim is 30 km.
2. The canyon travel through the mountain passes was only 23 km and is the only portion of the entire 700 km route from Goshen to Sinai with canyon travel.
3. The main section of the canyon is 500-800 meters wide but narrows to about 200-300 meters the last 3 kilometers until reaching Alush.
4. The canyon travel is uphill. At Dophkah the elevation is 450 meters above sea level, which rises to 500 meters in the initial broad canyon trail. The elevation rises to about 850 meters near the end of the broad canyon tail. The last 3 km to the plateau gently rises 450 meters in a 10-degree incline over 3 kilometers from 850 m to 1200 meters.
2. Israel travelled by stages when they left Mt. Sinai:

1. The same word for stages [nāsa’ – Strongs 4550] in Ex 17:1 is also used in Num 10:12-16 when Israel clearly departed Sinai in stages of smaller groups rather than as one large group.
2. “nāsaʿ is also used in the sense of to “journey by stages.” Headed for Sinai, the Israelites “moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages” (pl. of massaʿ, Ex 17:1).
3. Later they “set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai” (Num 10:12).” (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 1380 נָסַע, p584, Marvin R. Wilson, 1999 AD).
4. This proves the word “stages” means smaller travel groups of the larger population in Ex 17:1.
3. Traditional Exodus route to Mt. Musa or Mt. Sin Bisher or the Nuweiba Red Sea crossing fails:

Expected difficulty of Terrain of Exodus Route They Journeyed by stages between the Wilderness of Sin and Rephidim: Ex 17:1
Route	Terrain expected from Bible narrative	Terrain encountered Steven Rudd1	Terrain encountered Gordon Frantz2	Terrain encountered Glen Fritz3
Goshen to Red Sea camp	Easy	Easy	Easy	Difficult and narrow before Nuweiba
Red Sea camp to Wilderness of Sin	Easy	Easy	Easy	Difficult and narrow
Wilderness of Sin to Dophkah	Easy	Easy	Easy	Easy
Dophkah to Alush	Difficult and narrow	Difficult and narrow	Easy	Difficult and narrow
Alush to Sinai	Easy	Easy	Easy	Easy
Sinai to Kadesh	Easy	Easy	Difficult via Ezion Geber	Easy
Assessment	Bible	100% Perfect fit	40% failure	40% failure
1: Rudd: Red sea crossing is at Tiran, Mt. Sinai is Lawz, Kadesh is at Petra. 2: Frantz: Red sea crossing is at Ballah, Mt. Sinai is Sin Bisher, Kadesh is at Qudeirat. 3: Fritz: Red sea crossing is at Nuweiba, Mt. Sinai is Lawz, Kadesh located inside Judah 32 km due west of Ein Hatzeva and 12 km SE of Sde Boker.

1. Only the Red Sea crossing at the Straits of Tiran to Sinai is a perfect geographic match for journeying in stages between the Wilderness of Sin and Rephidim. The 700 km Tiran crossing exodus route to Mt. Sinai has only one section of difficult or narrow canyon travel 18 km which represents only 3% of the entire journey. All the rest of the route is easy, flat and wide.
2. The traditional exodus Route to Mt. Musa between the Wilderness of Sin and Rephidim (Meribah) is easy with no need to "journey by stages". The route becomes difficult again between Rephidim (Meribah) and the wilderness of Sinai. This is a complete fail.
3. For Gordon Franz’s Mt. Sinai at Mt. Sin Bisher, there is zero difficult terrain from Goshen to Sinai. A complete fail!
4. The Glen Fritz route: The 888 km Nuweiba crossing exodus route to Mt. Sinai has four sections of difficult or narrow canyon travel that add up to a whopping 289 km and represents 33% of the route. One third of the entire Nuweiba route needed to be travelled in small group stages rather than all together as one large unit. First, before the Red Sea crossing in the Wadi Watir (78 km). Second, after crossing the Red Sea at Nuweiba to the Al Bad (93 km). Third, the “backtrack” from Al Bad to the Gulf of Aqaba and back to Al Bad (64 km). Forth, the route through Dophkah and Alush (54 km). This contradicts scripture that says they only needed to journey in stages between Dophkah and Alush. The 700 km Tiran route has only 23 km of canyon travel and the rest is very easy. The 888 km Nuweiba has only 383 km of very easy travel and 505 km of medium and difficult travel. This means enormous increase in canyon travel greatly slows down the daily cumulative daily rate of travel. The Nuweiba route is 25% longer than the Tiran route of which 60% is medium and difficult terrain to travel through. Therefore, the Tiran route is not only faster per km travelled but shorter as well. The Tiran route can easily arrive at Mt. Sinai on day 47 but the Nuweiba route arrives on day 63 according to Glen Fritz. However, if you corrected his 63-day route to harmonize with the parameters of the Tiran route and add the travel or rest-days he missed, Fritz has Israel arriving on day 82! See: Glen Fritz Exodus Route debunked

 

B. Timing and distances: 

Travel times, distances, days of the week

1.      Israel left the Wilderness of Sin on day 14 (from Red Sea crossing) as a single unit, but once they arrived at Dophkah, they shuttled through the mountain canyons in stages through Alush over 2-3 days to reach Rephidim.

2.      Sunday, day 39 from Goshen, day 14 from the Red Sea: All 3 million Hebrews leave the Wilderness of Sin and arrive at Dophkah to camp the night.

3.      Monday, day 40 from Goshen, day 15 from the Red Sea: Stages of small groups of Hebrews depart Dophkah and begin the 23 km canyon travel and camp at Alush that night. The remaining Hebrews camp a second night at Dophkah.

4.      Tuesday, day 41 from Goshen, day 16 from the Red Sea: The last of the Hebrews leave Dophkah and camp at Alush while the lead group journeyed ahead 30 km to reach Rephidim.

5.      Wednesday, day 42 from Goshen, day 17 from the Red Sea: Amalekites attack as more Hebrews arrive from Alush.

6.      Thursday, day 43 from Goshen, day 18 from the Red Sea: Israel defeats the Amalekites as his hands are held up on the top of a hill. Moses builds an altar (Ex 17:15). Jethro arrives and eats a meal with Moses at Rephidim (Ex 18:12).

7.      Friday, day 44 from Goshen, day 19 from the Red Sea: Moses Judges Israel all day at Rephidim (Ex 18:13).

8.      Second Sabbath, day 45 from Goshen, day 20 from the Red Sea: Jethro offers his advice as Israel celebrates their second sabbath at Rephidim.

9.      Sunday, day 46 from Goshen, day 21 from the Red Sea: Moses implements Jethro’s advice and leaves Rephidim for Mt. Sinai: Ex 18:27. Israel arrives in the Wilderness of Sinai after sunset day 47 from Goshen.

10.  Ex 19:1 Sivan 1, Monday, day 47 from Goshen, day 22 from the Red Sea, day 1 at Mt. Sinai: Moses strikes the rock at Mt. Horeb creating the massive water supply for 3 million Hebrews who will camp in front of Mt. Sinai for 11 months and 5 days.

11.  Tuesday, day 48 from Goshen, day 23 from the Red Sea, Day 2 at Mt. Sinai: Moses makes his 1^st ascension up Mt. Sinai and comes back with an oath for the people (Ex 19:3-8).

 

 

C. Calendar of events from Goshen to Sinai: Days 1-47

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
-	-	-	Goshen Nisan 14: Passover lambs killed before sunset and eaten on Nisan 15 Wed evening.	Day 1 Goshen Nisan 15: Departed in Daylight Num 33:3	2	3 Start counting 7 Sabbaths for Pentecost
4	5	6	7	8	9 Succoth Overnight camp	10 day 8 of Pentecost Nisan 24
11	12	13	14	15 Migdol	16 Etham: Nisan 30	17 Iyar 1 camped at Red Sea
18 camped at Red Sea	19 Iyar 3 at Red Sea	20 camped at Red Sea	21 camped at Red Sea	22 camped at Red Sea	23 camped at Red Sea	24 camped at Red Sea
25 crossed the Red Sea Iyar 9, saved and Shadow of First Fruits Lev 23:10-12	26 Wilderness of Shur Day 1 after crossing	27 Wilderness of Shur	28 Marah In Wilderness of Shur Day 3 after crossing	29 Elim	30 Iyar 14 Red Sea Camp Day 5 from Red Sea Crossing	31 Iyar 15  Wilderness of Sin.  Ex 16:1. Day 6 from Red Sea Crossing
32 camped at Sin, 1st Manna	33 camped at Sin	34 camped at Sin	35 camped at Sin	36 camped at Sin	37 camped at Sin. Day 12 from Crossing	38 camped at Sin. 1st Sabbath
39 Iyar23 Day 14 Leave wilderness of sin for Dophkah	40 Dophkah, Alush (small stage groups) Day 15 from Red Sea Crossing	41  Alush, Rephidim (small stage groups) Day 16 from Red Sea Crossing	42 Rephidim (Meribah) Israel grumbles for water: Ex 17:6 Amalek attacks	43  Rephidim (Meribah) Moses hands held up to win war. Moses’ altar: Ex 17:15. Jethro arrives, eats meal Ex 18:12	44  Rephidim (Meribah) Moses Judges the people all day: Ex 18:13	45 Iyar 29 Rephidim 2nd Sabbath. Jethro’s Advice: Ex 18:17
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat

 

D. Photos and maps: 

Aerial view between Marah and Alush
Dophkah: Stage 1 of canyon travel to Alush.
Arial of Dophkah to Alush through mountain canyons.
Journeyed by stages because the terrain was narrow and uphill.
Slow narrow canyon travel.
A view looking back from Alush After Alush. they went on in relative easy terrain to Rephidim.
View up final canyon to Alush

 

By Steve Rudd: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections.

 

Go To Start: WWW.BIBLE.CA