Top ten list of reasons why the exodus route was not restored until now:
Why not visit one of our local churches? Click here to locate a congregation in your home town.
|
|
|
|
The Exodus Route |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top ten list of reasons that hindered the discovery of the true exodus route:
- The attitude, "what does it matter". You will never discover that which you felt was not important to search for. On the other hand, when the infallible Pope proclaims that Mt. Musa in the central Sinai Peninsula is Mt. Sinai, good Catholics just blindly accept this and never look elsewhere. In fact it does matter. All the wildernesses (Shur, Paran, Zin, Sinai) are completely wrong in the maps in the back of our Bibles. Teaching a false version of geography is just as bad as teaching a false version of history. Truth is why it matters! We are to be seekers of truth. We need to put an end to blind dogma and willful ignorance.
- Quoting Deut 29:29 "The secret things belong to God" and saying, "if God wanted us to know where Mt. Sinai and Kadesh Barnea is, he would have told us." This is said by the same people who think "it does not matter" and have never spent any time searching scripture for what God has revealed. In fact God told us a lot more about the precise exodus route then you might think. We can prove from scripture a crossing of the Red Sea on the Gulf of Aqaba, the Wilderness of Shur near Al Bad Saudi Arabia, Mt. Sinai in Saudi Arabia and Kadesh Barnea located Transjordan, east of the Arabah valley in modern Jordan. We may not be able to pick out precise places, but we know the general route.
- People settle for choices of Mt. Sinai and Kadesh Barnea that are inside the promised land and therefore contradict the Bible. Qudeirat (Kadesh) and Mt. Karkom (Sinai) are two examples of bad choices because they are inside the formal boundaries of Israel as stated in the Bible. Read more.
- Believing that the Sinai Peninsula was a no mans land that nobody owned or controlled. In fact the Sinai Peninsula has always been Egyptian territory which they control. Once you learn this simple fact, you will quickly see why the traditional location of Mt. Sinai cannot be correct.
- An ignorance of what the real geography of the Middle East looked like. Since nobody knew the Gulf of Aqaba existed until the 1800 AD, this forced a crossing of the Red Sea at the north end of the Gulf of Suez and a Mt. Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula. If they had the satellite imagery we have today, it is quite certain that many would have opted for a Red Sea crossing on the Gulf of Aqaba and a Mt. Sinai in Saudi Arabia.
- Failing to make sure that Israel passed through Ezion Geber (modern Aqaba on the Gulf of Aqaba) after Mt. Sinai and before Kadesh Barnea. Many exodus routes are chosen that totally ignore the sequence of Sinai, Ezion Geber, Kadesh. Any exodus route map that does not have Israel pass through Ezion Geber as they traveled from Sinai to Kadesh is wrong. The Hebrews passed through Ezion Geber twice: once between Sinai and Kadesh, and once when the left Kadesh to enter the promised land at the end of the 40 years in the wilderness.
- Completely misreading the way the Bible says to draw the southern border of Judah south of the Dead Sea past Kadesh, then over to the wadi al-Arish, then to the Mediterranean Sea. When you draw the southern border as the Bible instructs, it forces Kadesh Barnea to be Transjordan.
- Failing to recognize that the wilderness of Shur and the wilderness of Paran was in the land of the Midianites and Ishmaelites, who lived in Transjordan and in Saudi Arabia. The Bible is quite explicit about this: Gen 16:12; 21:21; 25:18. This forces the wilderness of Shur to be in Saudi Arabia, somewhere on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Aqaba. Notice that Gen 16:12 says that Ishmael will live EAST of the promised land. This categorically rules out the Sinai Peninsula, since this would be west! Since Kadesh Barnea borders on the wilderness of Paran, this forces Kadesh Barnea to be Transjordan. This is the third line of argumentation from Bible texts.
- Failing to realize the circular reasoning involved in drawing the exodus route and map making. For example, someone will read this outline and look at the map in the back of their Bible and see the wilderness of Shur just south east of Goshen in the northern Sinai. They think, "if this is where Shur was located, obviously they must have crossed the red sea somewhere between Shur and Goshen. That forces a Red Sea crossing at either the Bitter Lakes or the Gulf of Suez. What they don't realize is that the mappers had no idea where the wilderness of Shur is located, but since they believe the crossing point of the Red Sea was at the Bitter Lakes or the Gulf of Suez, they just plunk the wilderness of Shur beside it. In an amazing display of contradiction, some will show a crossing point of the Red Sea on the Gulf of Aqaba and keep the wilderness of Shur beside Goshen. Do keep in mind that Shur is where the Midianites and Ishmaelites lived and that rules out the wilderness of Shur being located anywhere in the Sinai Peninsula.
- Re-writing the Bible and history to support an exodus route that doesn't work: Advocates of the traditional exodus route, re-writing history by saying the Sinai Peninsula was not Egyptian territory. In order to give a bit of credibility to their choice of Kadesh at Qudeirat, they just wake up one day and suddenly start saying that the Edomites lived west of the Arabah valley before 586 BC in spite of the fact that there is no archeological or Biblical evidence of this. When they realize the problem of suggesting Moses, while tending sheep that did not belong to him, traveled 350 miles one way from Jethro's home town in Midian, Saudi Arabia, to see the burning bush at the foot of Mt. Musa in the Sinai, they just spontaneously start teaching that the Ishmaelites and Midianites lived near Mt. Musa, in spite of the fact it contradicts the Bible.
- Willful Ignorance.
Why not visit one of our local churches? Click here to locate a congregation in your home town.
By Steve Rudd: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections.
