timeline of israelites journey from egypt to canaan

The Exodus Route: Travel times, distances, rates of travel, days of the week

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Overview of the Exodus and Conquest:

In 1446 BC, the 700 km trip from Goshen (Tell el-Dab’a) to Mt. Sinai took a total of took 47 days. After travelling day and night 500 km from Goshen, Israel made the 19 km crossing of the Red Sea at the Straits of Tiran on day 25 then took 22 days to travel 200 km from the Red Sea Crossing to Mt. Sinai. Travel was easy for the 2-3 million Hebrews because there was a 20 km wide, flat coastal plain that hugged the eastern shore of the Gulf of Suez from Goshen to the Strait of Tiran, which the author calls, “The Exodus Highway”. On day 9 after leaving Goshen, they arrived at Succoth, adjacent to the turquoise mines of Serabit el-Khadim and waited for the Hebrew mining slaves to join the main group. On day 15 they reach the Straits of Tiran and pass the Egyptian Migdol watchtower stationed above the final Red Sea crossing point and on day 16 they reached the dead-end at Etham. God orders them to backtrack to the final Red Sea crossing camp beside the Migdol where God used Israel to bait Pharaoh to attack. On day 17, as Israel leaves Etham, it would take 4 hours for a passenger pigeon (cf. Eccl 10:20) to fly 400 km from the Egyptian watchtower (Migdol) back to Egypt with the message that Israel was trapped and wandering aimlessly. (If a passenger pigeon was not used, Israel travelled day and night arriving on day 7, leaving plenty of time for a message to get back to Egypt by horseback in 7 days and pharaoh to return in 7 days, maintaining a Red Sea crossing on Day 25.) For 8 days Israel camped at the Red Sea crossing point (days 17-24) while Pharaoh's army pursued them with 600 choice horse-drawn chariots (Exodus 14:6-9). On day 18 Pharaoh's army easily traveled the 400 km from Goshen to the Red Sea crossing in 7 days (days 17-24), at a rate of 57 km/day with horse-drawn chariots and arrived on day 24. The Egyptians were stopped on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Suez by an angel, about 36 km short of Israel’s camp. After crossing the Red Sea at the Straits of Tiran via the natural underwater land bridge on day 25, Israel travelled 3 days (day 25-27) on “The Exodus Highway” through the Wilderness of Shur and the land of Midian, then travelled 3 more days (day 28-30) and arrived at the second Red Sea camp, then one more day to reach the wilderness of Sin. The only difficult portion of the trip was the canyons between the Wilderness of Sin through Dophkah to Alush. Amazingly Scripture notes that only during this portion of the journey, they “travelled in stages” (Ex 17:1) because the terrain was narrow and difficult. Exactly 31 days after leaving Goshen they enter the Wilderness of Sin (Nisan 15 - Iyar 15: Ex 16:1). In the Wilderness of Sin Israel camped 8 days (day 31-38) to learn about the Manna/Sabbath day cycle. Leaving the Wilderness of Sin as a single group of 2-3 million, Israel arrived at Dophkah on day 39. Between Dophkah and Alush Israel travelled in small groups by “stages” through the 23 kilometers of mountain canyons to Alush on days 40-41. On days 41-42 Israel arrived in stages at Rephidim and complained about having no water. God told Moses that when he finally arrived at Mt. Horeb, he is to bring water out of the “split rock” as the main water supply for the 11 months stay camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai. On the night of day 42 the Amalekites attack and the next morning Moses assembles an army, and his hands are held up high on a hilltop on day 43. That night Jethro arrives, and watches Moses judge the people all day long on day 44. Day 45 is the second sabbath and Jethro gives Moses his advice about delegating the judging duties to others. Day 46 Jethro returns home to Midian while Moses departs for Mt. Sinai arriving after dark on day 47 which is Sivan 1 (Ex 19:1). In the morning of day 47 Moses strikes and splits the rock at Mt. Horeb for a massive water supply for 3 million Hebrews. On day 48 Moses ascends Mt. Sinai for the first time and God recites the Ten Commandments orally. Moses descends and tells the people to take an oath to obey the laws of YHWH (Ex 19:3-8). On day 50 (Thursday, Sivan 4), God tells Israel to prepare for three days (Friday – Sunday) at the end of which God will descend upon Mt. Sinai. (Ex 19:10-11). On Pentecost Sunday (Sivan 7), day 53 from leaving Egypt, Mt. Sinai explodes (Heb 12:18) when God gives the law to Moses over a period of 40 days. Israel spent 343 days (11 lunar months and 19 days) camped in the Wilderness of Sinai (Num 10:11) while Moses received the law and Israel built the Tabernacle tent. The journey from Mt. Sinai through Ezion Geber (Numbers 33:35-36) to Kadesh Barnea, was 20 stops over a period of about 11 months. Israel spends 38 years camped at Kadesh Barnea located at modern Petra. Aaron died on the 1st day of the 5th month of the 40th year of the wilderness wandering (summer 1407 BC). Shortly after mourning Aaron for 30 days, the people left Mount Hor which was beside Petra (Kadesh) and moved south to the Red Sea (“Yam Suph”- Deut 1:40 – Gulf of Aqaba) passing a second time through Ezion Geber (Deut 2:8). They journeyed east to avoid the Edomites living in the mountains and began moving north. Before they crossed the Wadi Zered, Israel rebelled again with the result that God sends poisonous snakes to kill the people. In obedience to God, Moses sets up a pole with a snake to heal them. Those who had been bitten could look at the snake and be healed as a type of the crucifixion of Christ (Jn 3:14). They crossed the Wadi Zered at the south end of the Salt Sea and Moses spoke the words of the book of Deuteronomy at Iye-abarim. The conquest began and Israel passed directly through Dibon-gad and commenced the defeat of the Transjordan nations. While camped at Shittim (Tel Hammam) Israel mourned Moses for 30 days. In 1406 BC Israel crossed the Jordan on the 10th day of the 1st month of the 41st year (spring, 1406 BC), four days before the 41st Passover, which was exactly 40 years from when they left Goshen. They started counting sabbatical years and Jubilees after crossing the Jordan. (Num 33:38; 20:28; Deut 34:8; Josh 4:19; 5:10). Israel camped at Gilgal then defeated Jericho and Ai. They traveled to Shechem and built Joshua’s Altar. The Ark of the Covenant was positioned in the valley between Mt Gerizim and Mt. Ebal with half the tribes on each of the two mountain sides. The echo-ritual “curses and blessings ceremony” of Deut 27-28 were spoken across the valley to each of the six tribes on each side. From 1406-1400 BC Israel first defeated the northern Amorite Pentapolis, then second, the southern Amorite Pentapolis. They were unable to defeat the five Philistine Pentapolis cities (Ex 13:17-18; Deut 2:23; Josh 11:22; 13:2-3; Jud 1:18-19; 3:1-3) until the time of David. The Philistines had restricted Israel’s possession of the promised land to the central hill country until 1003 BC. After 6 years of conquest war, on the first Sabbatical year of 1399 BC, Israel moved the tabernacle from Gilgal to Shiloh which served as Israel’s first capital city for 305 years until the Philistines burned the city in 1094 BC. 

Introduction:

1.       Many Christians falsely assume there is little information contained in scripture about the 50 locations of the Exodus, much less the timing. Many preachers never give this subject a look stating that we don't even know for certain any more than 4 of the 50 Exodus stops.

2.       Scripture specifically tells us the total number of days it took to travel from Goshen to Sinai: 47

a.        The day they left Goshen: Nisan 15 (Num 33:3)

b.       The day they entered the Wilderness of Sin: Iyar 15 = Day 31 (Ex 16:1)

a.        The day they arrived at the final Sinai camp in the Wilderness of Sinai : Sivan 1 = day 47 (Ex 19:1)

2.       There is a wealth of information in scripture about many of the 50 Exodus locations. We know four locations for certain and using key clues in scripture, we are able to discern several others.

a.        Goshen

b.       Wilderness of Shur near el Bad in Midian, modern Saudi Arabia

c.        Ezion Geber near Elat on the Gulf of Aqaba

d.       Kadesh Barnea at modern Petra

e.       Dibon

f.         Shittim

g.        Mt. Nebo

h.       The location of the Jordan crossing in 1406 BC

3.       Using careful analysis, we have calculated the distances between each of the stops. We have calculated total distances as well as daily average travel rates.

4.       Miracles of red sea: there is a lot of detail in here about the canopy that protected from sun and rain and provided light to travel at night.

a.        Guidance: Exodus 13:21

b.       Shelter canopy from Sunlight and Rain: Isaiah 4:4-6; Psalm 105:39

c.        Protection from pharaoh's armies: Exodus 14:19, 24.

5.       Two verses say that God gave them supernatural help crossing the depths of the Red Sea:

a.        "Like the horse in the wilderness,  they did not stumble ; As the cattle which go down into the valley (red sea), The Spirit of the Lord gave them rest." Isaiah 63:11-13

• "Then He brought them out with silver and gold, And among His tribes  there was not one who stumbled . " Psalm 105:37

6.       Two verses say they travelled day and night with miraculous light for night travel. Standard daily travel rates in ancient times are therefore irrelevant.

a.        "The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people." Exodus 13:21-22

b.       "“And with a pillar of cloud You led them by day, and with a pillar of fire by night to light for them the way in which they were to go ." (Nehemiah 9:12)

I. Exodus Route Travel Calendar by Steven Rudd: March 2020

A. Bible timing from Ramses to Mt. Sinai is 47 days:

1.               The Bible tells us that it was a 47-day journey from Goshen to Sinai .

a.                    They left Goshen on Passover (15 th day of the first month) and arrived at the Wilderness of Sin on the 15th day of the second month and arrived at the Wilderness of Sinai on the 1st day of the third month. This equals 47 days.

b.                    It took 24 days to travel 500 km to the Red Sea and they spent 8 days camped there waiting for Pharaoh's army to come. It took 22 days to travel 200 km to Sinai after the Red Sea including 8 days camping in the wilderness of Sin and 3 days battling the Amalekites at Rephidim.

2.               Num 33:3 and Exodus 12:51 tells us Israel was driven out of Egypt by Pharaoh the day after Passover night (Nisan 15)

a.                    "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord's Passover." Leviticus 23:5.

b.                    "They journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next day after the Passover the sons of Israel started out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians," (Numbers 33:3)

c.                     "Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, "Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the Lord, as you have said." Exodus 12:31.

d.                    "And on that same day (Nisan 15) the Lord brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts." Exodus 12:51

3.               Exodus 19:1 tells us they ended the trip when they reached the Wilderness of Sinai on the 1st day of the third month (Sivan 1) "In the third month (Sivan 1) after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai." Exodus 19:1

a.                    Since the Law of Moses was given on Pentecost, this means that they arrived on the first day of the third month, not the 15 th day of the third month.

b.                    “ On that very day (19:1b) points emphatically to the day of the new moon, the first day of the new lunar month, and not the whole first month (as NIV has it). This expression also recalls the time designations on this very day (12:17) and that very day (12:51), expressions almost identical to the one here.” (Believers Church Bible Commentary, Waldemar Janzen, Exodus 19:1, 2000 AD)

c.                     “ On the third new moon the closer definition “on that very day” shows that Hebrew ḥodesh, usually “month,” is here used in its original sense of “new moon.”” (Exodus, Jewish Publication Society, Nahum M. Sarna, Ex 19:1, 1991 AD)

d.                    If they arrived on the 15 th day of the third month, they arrived after Pentecost, missing an important messianic synchronism of where both the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ were revealed on Pentecost Sunday (Isa 2:2-5; Acts 2)

e.                    While the Tiran Red Sea crossing has time to spare in arriving at Sinai well in advance of Pentecost on day 47, the Nuweiba crossing forces them to arrive after Pentecost in a full 61-day journey from Goshen.

4.               Exodus 16:1 tells us that when they entered the Wilderness of Sin on the 15th day of the second month (Iyar 15)

a.                    Nisan 15 to Iyar 15 is exactly 31 days after leaving Goshen with a 30-day month.

b.                    "Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month (Iyar 15) after their departure from the land of Egypt." Exodus 16:1

c.                     Since the total trip was 47 days, arriving at the Wilderness of Sin on day 31 means they were only 22 days away from reaching the Mt. Sinai.

5.               Exodus 16:1: In 1446 BC Nisan and Iyar both had 30 days not 29 days .

a.                    A 30-day Hebrew month is confirmed by Josephus in Antiquities 2.316 when he say they had 30 days of food, meaning they ran out on the 31 st day when they entered the Wilderness of Sin.

b.                    “The lunar calendar measured time by lunations; a lunation is the interval of time, expressed in days, between two successive new moons. Each lunar month, beginning when the thin crescent of the new moon first becomes visible at dusk, averages just over 29½ days. The moon actually orbits the earth in about 27⅓ days; because the earth is meanwhile moving around the sun, it takes the moon 2 extra days to come to the same position between the sun and earth and produce a “new moon.”” (Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, Calendars, p 400)

c.                     It is also possible to have up to 4 consecutive 30 day lunar months:

                                                               i.       Nisan, Iyar and Sivan were 30 day lunar months: “the lunar year is divided into twelve months: 1–3, 7–9 have 30 days; 4–6, 10–12 have 29” (AYBD, Calendars, vol 1, p 818)

                                                             ii.       “Now, I want to  assume  that every month thereafter is 30 days long. (That is what we are looking for – can there be 5, consecutive, 30-day months?) So looking at the data, we see everything is fine – as annotated by “OK” in the far-right column till we see that the 5th consecutive 30-day month has added up to 150 days, yet the “real” moon has added up only to 148.753 days (that is, the real months can be no more than 149 days when rounded to whole days for calendar purposes), so our calendar is 1 day ahead if we insist on a 30-day month that last lunation (the red one – 30 days). But what we see is that that last calendar month must instead be 29 days so our calendar total is 149 to match the “real” moon of 148.753 days (rounded to 149) in 5 months. This illustrates that it is possible only to have 4 consecutive 30-day months and the calendar still works. … The conclusion: That no, five, consecutive lunations can exceed 148.88 days. So if  the month you stared with  was itself a 30-day month, then the 5th lunation including that starting 30-day month, will end up no greater than 148.88 days long, thus, you’d find that only 3 months after the 30-day month in which you began, you’d be forced to follow it with a 29 day, 5th month, to keep the calendar in-sync with the real moon .” (On the possibility of 5 consecutive 30-day months, William J.  Welker, 2015 AD)

6.               The Red Sea crossing was on day 25 from Goshen: (Iyar 9)

a.                    The author noticed an important fact that the Bible begins counting days after crossing the Red Sea but not before. For the first time in the route itinerary, Moses indicates Israel travelled 3 days to Marah in the Wilderness of Shur. There are only two stops to reach the hard calendar marker of day 31 at the Wilderness of Sin.

b.                    Israel travelled three days in the Wilderness of Shur (days 26-28) and arrived at Marah. They travelled one day and arrived at Elim on day 29. They travelled another day and arrived at 2 nd Red Sea camp on day 30. Finally, on day six after crossing the Red Sea, the entire 3 million Hebrews arrived at the Wilderness of Sin on day 31 which was Iyar 15 (Ex 16:1). Scripture tells us they travelled “3 days” from the Red Sea to Marah and that Moses arrived on day 31.

c.                     This is a total of six travel days after crossing the Red Sea to reach the Wilderness of Sin on day 31 from Goshen.

d.                    Counting six travel days back from day 31 (Iyar 15) we can be certain the Red Sea crossing was on day 25 (Iyar 9).

e.                    A Red Sea crossing at the Straits of Tiran on day 25 is a perfect fit for the timing and topography. No other candidate Red Sea crossing location is a perfect fit for a day 25 Red Sea crossing.

B. Ancient literary Sources confirm a 47-day journey from Goshen to Sinai:

1.         The 47-day exodus itinerary alone refutes the Nuweiba exodus route of Glen Fritz because even he admits his 555-mile (888 km) route cannot be travelled in less than 53 days. Fritz calculates Israel arrived at Mt. Sinai on day 64-65 and he added 12 “arbitrary” filler days to delay the arrival from day 53 to day 65.

2.         The 47-day journey predated Christianity by 200 years and is not a “late Rabbinic tradition” as Fritz and other commentators commonly suggest:

a.          “The biblical timing of Pentecost 50 days after Passover is not being disputed here. What is disputable is the late rabbinic tradition that Pentecost also commemorated "the giving of the law” . … It must be recalled that the 2nd century AD development of Rabbinic Judaism occurred after the AD 70 destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, which caused the rabbis to face the reality of a Judaism without sacrificial worship. This situation catalyzed an emphasis on the oral traditions of the Torah, which were recorded in the Mishnah ca. AD 200 , and subsequently expanded in the Gemara." (Exodus Mysteries, Glen Fritz, p450, 2019 AD)

b.         For Fritz to call oral traditions that were recorded in the Mishna in AD 200 a “late tradition” is puzzling since the Mishna represents one of the earliest written Jewish traditions extant today. Although the Babylonian Talmud could be considered a later tradition must of its content merely echoes the Mishna (AD 200) and the Tosefta (AD 250) and other traditions that predate Christianity by hundreds of years.

c.          It is well documented that the oral traditions in the Mishna predate Christianity by hundreds of years.

d.         The correct scholarly approach would be to say the earliest known written Jewish sources all unanimously confirm the 47-day journey where the Law was given on Pentecost and none of them provide any evidence for a 61-day journey.

e.         The correct scholarly approach would be to say that the 61-day exodus itinerary is without any confirmation from the earliest literary sources or traditions.

f.           The correct scholarly approach would be to say that the 61-day exodus itinerary is in fact a very late tradition.

3.         170 BC: book of Jubilees : Ex 24:12-18, Moses’ 6 th ascension

a.          “In the first year of the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, in the third month on the sixteenth day of that month (Sivan 16) , the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Come up to me on the mountain, and I shall give you two stone tablets of the Law and the commandment, which I have written, so that you may teach them. ( Ex 24:12-18 )” (Book of Jubilees 1:1, 170 BC)

b.         The book of Jubilees confirms arrival before Pentecost: Day 60 was Moses 6 th Ascension: Ex 24:12-18

c.          The Book of Jubilees is referring to the 6 th ascension of Moses when he physically got the stone tablets. Moses orally heard the Ten Commandments on his third ascension but did not get the two tablets of stone until his 6 th ascension.

d.         Some misread the Book of Jubilees to say that Israel arrived on day 60 (14 th day of 3 rd month, Sivan 14) and then three days later, on day 62 (16 th day of 3 rd month, Sivan 16) God ascended Mt. Sinai with trumpet blasts, fire and thunder and gave the Law to Moses.

e.         The Jubilees specifies that the two tablets of stone were given on Moses’ 6 th Ascension up Mt. Sinai not his 1 st ascension: Ex 24:12-18

                                                               i.       Sivan 1: Israel arrives at Sinai. (Ex 19:1)

                                                             ii.       Sivan 2: On Moses’ 1 st ascension he returned to the camp with an oath for people: Ex 19:3-8.

                                                           iii.       Sivan 4: On Moses’ 2 nd ascension God said to get ready for the third day: Ex 19:8-14.

                                                           iv.       Sivan 7: On Pentecost Moses’ made his 3 rd  ascension and the mountain exploded with trumpet blasts, fire and thunder and gave orally the Law to Moses: Ex 19:18-25, 20:1-26 .

                                                             v.       Sivan 14: It was Moses’ 6 th (sixth) ascension that God gave the two tablets of stone of the Ten Commandments during Moses’ 40 days at the summit: Law to Moses: Ex 24:12-18

f.         The book of Jubilees proves a 47-day journey not 60 days because it says that Moses got the tablets of stone on Sivan 16 which would be day 63. Although we time the events of Ex 24:12-18 to Sunday Sivan 14, it doesn’t make any difference. We could easily shift the 6 th ascension to Sivan 16 (day 62) and it would make no difference because in either case, it would be impossible for Israel to arrive on day 60, have Moses ascend the mountain 5 times in two days before Moses Got the two tables of stone on the 6 th ascension as per  Ex 24:12-18.

4.         AD 70: Josephus : Three months: 90 days or three inclusive months

a.          “And going gradually on, he came to Mount Sinai, in three months’ time after they were removed out of Egypt” (Josephus Antiquities 3.62)

b.         Jewish inclusive counting is well documented in the three days (Friday to Sunday) in both the triumphal entry and the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ (Luke 13:32). Several other examples of three day periods being less than 72 hours are Queen Esther (Esther 4:16 + 5:1), faithless Jews: (Matthew 27:63-64), starving servant: (1 Samuel 30:12-13). Most notably is the fact that 72 literal hours (three days and three nights) was called four days by Cornelius (Acts 10:3+9+23+24+30).

c.          In non-inclusive counting, three months means 90 days, which contradicts both those who say the journey took 60 days. Using this reasoning, if Josephus wanted to say 60 days, he would have said two months. So either Josephus was wrong or he was using inclusive counting.

d.         Josephus used standard inclusive counting because the exodus spanned parts of three months but literally 47 days, the same way Jesus was in the tomb parts of three days but literally 38 hours.

e.         The three months of Josephus are counted as 47 days: Nisan 15-30 (15 days); Iyar 1-30 (30 days); Sivan 1 (1 days).

f.           Josephus therefore actually confirms the earliest written Jewish traditions.

g.          Anybody who objects that Josephus confirms the 47-day exodus itinerary are forced to say Josephus actually recorded a 90-day journey, which contradicts their own 60-day exodus itinerary.

h.         The only two options in interpreting Josephus’ “three months” are to reject the 90 days as an error he made or confirmation of the 47-day itinerary.

i.            Josephus’ statement therefore agrees with all the other earliest literary sources that all confirm a 47-day exodus journey.

5.         AD 160: Seder Olam Rabbah : Ten commandments given day 47 on Pentecost: Sivan 6

a.          “For the next five days   Moses ascended the mountain, descended, told the people the words of the Omnipresent, and returned their answer to the Omnipresent. In the Third month, on the Sixth of the month , the Ten Commandments were given to them on a Sabbath day.” ( Seder Olam Rabbah 5:31 , Rabbi Yose ben Halafta, 160 AD)

b.         In a stunning confirmation of our exodus calendar, Sivan 6 falls on a Sabbath in both our chronology and Sedar Olam Rabbah’s chronology confirming a 47-day journey.

c.          Seder Olam dates Pentecost to Sabbath Sivan 6 (day 52) and we date Pentecost to Sunday Sivan 7 (day 53). This proves they arrived in Sivan 1 not Sivan 15.

d.         Rabbi Yose ben Halafta follows the first century tradition that Pentecost fell on different days as opposed the the Sadducees Moses and the New Testament that teaches Pentecost always fell on a Sunday. Seder Olam therefore is in error by saying Pentecost occurred on a Sabbath rather than a Sunday. This is just another in series of revisions where Jews in AD 160 at Zippori changed Masoretic Text and key chronological events in the Old Testament to disconnect Jesus Christ as the Messiah. In truth, Pentecost always fell on a Sunday and although they could not break the well-known synchronism between the Law of Moses and Christian Pentecost in Acts 2, they wanted to disconnect the day of the week for both event falling on the day Jesus rose from the dead.

6.         AD 400: Augustine : Calculates a 47-day journey and the synchronism of both laws given on Pentecost:

a.          In a stunning confirmation of our exodus Chronology, Augustine specifically states that the journey between Goshen and Sinai was 47 days.

b.         Augustine emphasized the direct messianic connection between both the Law of Moses and the Law Christ were given on Pentecost. This proves the journey was 47 days.

c.          “The Pentecost too we observe, that is, the fiftieth day from the passion and resurrection of the Lord, for on that day he sent to us the Holy Paraclete whom he had promised. This was prefigured in the Jewish Passover, for on the fiftieth day after the slaying of the lamb, Moses on the mount received the law written with the finger of God .” (Augustine, Against Faustus the Manichaean 32.12, 400 AD)

d.         “But, the fifty-day period is also praised in Scripture, not only in the Gospel, because the Holy Spirit came on the fiftieth day, but even in the Old Testament. Therein, fifty days are numbered from the celebration of the pasch by the killing of a lamb, to the day on which the law was given on Mount Sinai to the servant of God, Moses .’ This law was ‘written with the finger of God,’ and this finger of God the New Testament explicitly identifies with the Holy Spirit. For, when one Evangelist has: ‘By the finger of God, I cast out devils,’ another says this same thing thus: ‘By the spirit of God, I cast out devils.’ Who would not have this joy in the divine mysteries, when the redemptive doctrine shines with so clear a light, rather than all the powers of this world though they be infused with unwonted peace and happiness? Do not the Seraphim cry to each other, singing the praises of the Most High: ‘Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts’? Thus the two Testaments agree faithfully in proclaiming the sacred truth. A lamb is slain, the pasch is celebrated, and after fifty days the law, written with the finger of God , is given in fear: Christ is slain, who was led ‘as a sheep to the slaughter,’ as the Prophet Isaias testifies, the true pasch is celebrated, and after fifty days the Holy Spirit, who is the finger of God, is given in love.” (Augustine to Januarius , Book 2, Letter 55, 400 AD)

e.         “ The law was given on the day of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost . But I said I was going to prove that the Jews received the law on the fiftieth day from the Passover, or Pasch, which we both celebrate. You have it that they were commanded to kill the lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month, and to celebrate the Passover. Of that month there are seventeen days left, if you include the fourteenth day itself, on which the Passover begins. We come now to the desert, where the law was given, and this is what scripture says: But in the third month from when the people was brought out of Egypt (Ex 19:1) the Lord spoke to Moses that those who were going to receive the law should purify themselves in readiness for the third day, on which the law was to be given. So at the beginning of the third month a purification is commanded in readiness for the third day. And Passover begins ... —Pay close attention, please, or the numbers may set your heads spinning, and bring a fog down upon your understanding. I am opening the thing up as best I can, with the Lord's approval. If you help me with your attention, you will soon grasp what is being said; but if that's lacking, whatever I say will remain obscure, even if it is said ever so plainly ... — So the Passover is announced for the fourteenth day of the month; and a purification is ordered, so that the law may be given on the mountain, written by the finger of God; and the finger of God is the Holy Spirit. Remember, we proved this from the gospel. So a purification is proclaimed, in readiness for the third day of the third month. So from the first month deduct thirteen, and seventeen are left, as you begin from the fourteenth. Add the whole second month; it makes forty-seven days; from that day of purification to the third day, it makes fifty days . Nothing could be plainer, nothing more obvious, than that the Jews received the law on the day of Pentecost.” (Augustine Sermon 272B, On the Day of Pentecost, 417 AD)

7.         AD 500: Babylonian Talmud : Moses received the Torah on Pentecost proves a 47-day journey :

a.          “Said R. Eleazar, “All concur with respect to Pentecost that we do require ‘for you’ as well. How come? It is the day on which the Torah was given.” (Babylonian Talmud, Pesahim 68A , 500 AD)

8.         AD 810: George Syncellus: Arrived on new moon of third month = Sivan 1, Day 47

a.          “And on the third new moon of the Exodus of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, on this very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.” (Chronography of George Synkellos 151, William Adler, Paul Tuffin, p189, 2002 AD)

9.         AD 1735: Midrash, Tanḥuma : Moses received the Torah on Pentecost proves a 47-day journey:

a.          “And in the same manner, the holiday of Pentecost (Shavuot) for the giving of the Torah” ( Midrash, Tanḥuma C , Derech Hashem, Part Four, On Divine Service and the Calendar, Manuscript C, 1735 AD)

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

D. Calendar of events at Sinai from arrival to departure: Days 47 – 382

Detailed outline on the Eight Ascensions of Moses up Mt. Sinai: click here

E. The Eight Ascensions of Moses up Mt. Sinai:

• 1 st Ascension: Tuesday Sivan 2, Day 48 from Goshen: Ex 1 9:3-8
• Moses Ascends Mt. Sinai and returns with oath for people to obey the Law soon to be revealed.
• Moses returns to the camp and asks the people if they will keep the law soon to be revealed. The people reply yes.
• 2 nd Ascension: Friday Sivan 4, Day 50: Ex 19:7-14
• Moses ascends Mt. Sinai to give God the people's "yes" answer. God says to be ready on the third day (Sunday Sivan 7, day 53 from Goshen) when he will descend on the Mountain in fire: Ex 19:7-14. The people are told to walk to the base of the mountain from their camp and be ready for God's coming. God tells Moses to set up boundaries around the mountain so the people cannot break through, climb the mountain and die.
• The third day = Friday to Sunday: There is a direct triple correspondence between the Sinai, the Triumphal entry and the crucifixion since all were periods of three days between Friday and Sunday: Luke 13:32.
• As the Israelites waited as instructed the third day, for God to descend on Mt. Sinai, they suddenly looked due north 100 km and saw God in the wilderness of Paran. God " dawns from Seir " like a sunrise in its glory, until He is hovering directly over Mt. Sinai. The Israelites watched in wonder and were amazed at the beauty and splendor of God as He came closer and closer to them where they stood. One of the most interesting facts about the Wilderness of Paran, is its connection with God's appearing at Mt. Sinai. When Israel was encamped at the foot of Mt. Sinai (Mt. Al-Lawz), God thundered, in a volcanic level display that terrified the Israelites. But three verses explicitly tell us that God dawned from the north like a sunrise, or like Elijah's small cloud the size of a man's fist in the distance that became a storm (1 Kings 18:44). God dawned from Mt. Seir until he came to Mt. Sinai and made the mountain turn to fire before Israel. They were terrified. The four key verses that describe "dawning from the north" are: Deut 33:2; Isa 63:1-2; Judg 5:4; Hab 3:3-7. 40 years later, when Israel was at Mt. Seir, God gave the "go ahead" to finally start their way to the promised land by the command, "Now turn North". In fact Mount Seir is absolute due south of Jerusalem and absolute due north of Mt. Sinai in modern Saudi Arabia. There are several passages that repeat this pattern of God coming "from the North". Most notably is Ezekiel's vision where God came from a distant storm in the North finally to overshadow him. (Ezekiel 1:4) Job describes God as coming from the North in golden splendor. (Job 37:22-23) Lucifer, the king of Babylon describes God's throne as being in the far north. (Isaiah 14:13-14) Psalm 48:1-2 describes Jerusalem as being located in the "far north". Further detailed study .
• 3 rd Ascension: Pentecost Sunday, Sivan 7, Day 53: Ex 20:18-25; 20:1-26

a.        God descends on Mt. Sinai in fire and He calls Moses to climb the mountain. Ex 19:20

b.       Moses hears the Ten Commandments and other laws including building altars.

c.        God tells Moses to go back down and warn the people again to stay away from the mountain so they will not die, then come up again ( 4th ) with Aaron. Ex 19:21

• 4 th Ascension: Ex 19:24, Sivan 9, Day 55

a.        Moses ascends with Aaron only where Ten Commandments and other laws are repeated for Aaron who hears the Ten Commandments and various other laws found in Exodus chapters 20-23

b.       Moses and Aaron. God tells Moses to descend and return with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 elders of Israel. Moses goes back down and tells the people what God has said. Deut 24:1-3

c.        Moses descends and writes down the words in the Book of the Law, which will eventually be placed on the side of the ark. Ex 24:1-4

d.       Moses builds an alter with 12 pillars at the foot of the mountain for the twelve tribes. He then sprinkles the alter with blood. Ex 24:4-6

e.       Moses read the book of the law to the people and after they agreed, he sprinkled the people with blood of the covenant. Ex 24:7-8

• 5 th Ascension: Ex 24:1; 9-11 Sivan 11, day 57
• Moses now returns to the mountain with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 elders of Israel. After seeing God and eating the group descend to the foot of the mountain. Ex 24:9-11
• 6th Ascension: Sunday Sivan 14, day 60-99: Ex 24:12-18
• Moses begins 40 days on the Mountain and receives two tables of stone:
• Day 60-99 inclusive counting equals 40 days ending on day 99 after leaving Egypt
• God calls Moses up with Joshua to the mountain to receive the two tablets of stone with the ten commandments written by the finger of God. Ex 24:12
• Moses spends 40 days on the mountain ( 6th ) where God reveals the plan for the tabernacle. Exodus chapters 25-31
• After 40 days, Aaron makes the golden calf as Moses was on the mountain for 40 days. In one of the most fascinating interaction between a man and God in the Bible , God tells Moses He will kill all the Hebrews who sinned and make Moses into a great nation. Moses pleads for the people. Then God changes his mind and says he won't kill them. Moses physically throws 10 commandments at the people who had made the golden calf, rebukes Aaron. Moses grinds up the golden calf and makes them drink the gold dust. Then Moses commanded the Levites to kill about 3000 of the idol worshippers. Ex 32:7-29
• 7th Ascension: Day 100 from leaving Goshen: Ex 32:30-33:23
• The next day, Moses climbed Mt. Sinai ( 7th ). God tells Moses is to take them into the promised land with God's angel as protection, but God himself will not go with them. Moses goes down the mountain. God strikes down a number of the Hebrews who sinned. Ex 32:30-35
• When the people hear that God's angel will lead them but God himself will not go with them, the people get sad and they remove all their jewelry. Ex 33:2-6
• Moses continues to plead with God for the people and says, "I pray You, show me Your glory!" God says He will show Moses his Glory on the Mountain. Ex 33:18-23
• 8th Ascension: Days 102 - 141 days from Goshen (40 days inclusive): Ex 34:1-9; 2 Cor 3.
• God tells Moses to cut out two replacement tablets and God calls Moses back up to Mt. Sinai ( 8th ), where God passes by while Moses was in the cleft of the rock.
• Again Moses asks God to join them on the journey to the promised land. God changes his mind finally and tells Moses he will lead them to the promised land.
• Moses spends forty more days on the mountain, then returns.
• God said he would perform new miracles and Moses face is shining in view of the people so he puts a veil over his face. Ex 34:1-9; 2 Cor 3.

F. Calendar of events between Sinai and Kadesh Barnea: about 11 months

1.        Israel departed Sinai on Day 382 after leaving Goshen

a.        "Now in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month, the cloud was lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony;" Numbers 10:11

b.       Israel departs from Sinai for promised land after spending 11 months, 5 days at Sinai.

c.        Since they left on the 14th day of the first month, this means they had been traveling one year, one month and one week, since leaving Egypt.

d.       Using the syntax of “year:month:week” for the amount of time they spent at Sinai we get: 1:1:1 = 1 month:1 week:1 day.

2.        They navigated about 20 stops over a period of between 10.5 and 11 months between Sinai and Kadesh Barnea

a.        "Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh." Numbers 20:1

b.       They arrived at Kadesh Barnea in the first of the month of the third year or exactly 24 months after leaving Egypt.

c.        They celebrated their second Passover at Sinai, then leave almost immediately afterwards for Kadesh. They arrived at Kadesh and immediately celebrated their third Passover.

3.        They spend 38 continuous years at Kadesh Barnea (they do not leave and come back), then depart for the Jordan in the 40th year.

a.          Many commentators mistakenly believe Num 20:1 was the 40th year , but they are wrong.

b.         The verse tells us they arrived at Kadesh in the first month, but does not tell us the year!

c.          It does not say, "the first month in the 40th year".

d.         Since Israel left Sinai in the second month of the second year after leaving Egypt (14 months), this means they arrived at Kadesh in the first month of the third year after leaving Egypt or 24 months.

e.         More details: Israel spent 38 continuous years at Kadesh Barnea

G. Calendar of events between Kadesh Barnea and the Jordan River: about 9 months

1.       Israel Crossed the Jordan exactly 40 years after leaving Goshen to the day:

a.        Aaron died on the 1st day of the 5th month of the 40th year of the wilderness wandering (summer 1407 BC).

b.       Shortly after mourning Aaron for 30 days, the people left Mount Hor, defeated the Transjordan nations, and then mourned for Moses 30 days.

2.       They crossed the Jordan on the 10th day of the 1st month of the 41st year (spring, 1406 BC), four days before the 41st Passover, which was exactly 40 years to the day they left Goshen.

3.       They started counting sabbatical years and Jubilee after crossing the Jordan. (Num 33:38; 20:28; Deut 34:8; Josh 4:19; 5:10)

III. Understanding Jewish dating and times:

A. Jewish days started at sundown not midnight:

• The entire world today uses the Roman method of reckoning days from Midnight to Midnight.
• Jewish days began at sundown. This means that if it is 5 pm on a Friday night and you are just getting off work, two hours later (Roman time 7 PM) would actually be Saturday.
• This is helpful to know because in the Wilderness of Sin they arrived on a Saturday, and after sunset, that evening while they were in the camp, God revealed the Sabbath for the first time using manna as an instructor. So from Roman time, God revealed the Sabbath on Saturday evening 8 PM, but to the Jews, it was a the 1st day of the week (Sunday).
• We are very glad because the Jewish method of time keeping would be awkward to implement today.

B. Jewish inclusive reckoning method of counting days:

• Biblical Jews counted days differently from how we count today. Jews used the inclusive counting system .
• Jesus was crucified on a Friday and rose from the dead on the first day (Sunday) Three days and three nights: Friday crucifixion - Sunday resurrection. For us this would only be two days, but for Jews it was three days.
• On the Friday before "Palm Sunday", exactly one week before Jesus died, Jesus said: Luke 13:32 "Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today [Fri] and tomorrow [Sat] , and the third day [Sun] I reach My goal."
• Even during the Exodus there is an excellent example of Jewish inclusive time keeping. The Bible says: "The Lord also said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow , and let them wash their garments; and let them be ready for the third day , for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people." Exodus 19:10-11
• Notice that even Jesus counted three days as a duration from Friday to Sunday. He started counting today as day one.
• We don't count this way. Today is day 0. For the Jews today is day 1.
• We need to keep this in mind when calculating days the way the Jews did.
• For example, when it says they went three days into the wilderness of Shur after crossing the Red Sea, this would be a Monday to Wednesday duration for the Jews.
• They counted a day even if there was only one hour left in that day.
• For a full discussion about Jewish time keeping see this .

IV. Calculating Exodus dates and times:

A. Calculating the days of the week at the Wilderness of Sin: Day 31 from Goshen

• The primary way we have used to calculate the days of the week for the Exodus journey is based solely on their visit to the Wilderness of Sin. It is there God first revealed the Sabbath.
• We believe with some level of confidence, that we have enough information to actually calculate the days of the week for the journey between the Red Sea and Mt. Sinai.
• In Ex 16:1 God revealed the Sabbath for the very first time in world history. Contrary to the unbiblical ravings of Seventh-day Adventists, Adam and Abraham never kept the weekly seventh day Sabbath (Saturday). In fact the word Sabbath is never even used once in the book of Genesis. The Sabbath was a Jewish holy day that was abolished by God when he nailed the first covenant to the cross. Col 2:14-17 clearly teaches that the Law of Moses, including the 10 commandments , were nailed to the cross. The New Testament passage specifically states that Christians are free to eat "unclean foods" (pork) and that all the system of Jewish holy days, yearly (Passover), monthly (new moon) and weekly (7th day Sabbath) are all nailed to the cross . Christians do not keep the Jewish Sabbath, but worship on the first day of the week: Sunday. Christians assembled every 1st day (Sunday) for the Lord's Supper: Acts 20:7 and are commanded to give every Sunday: 1 Cor 16:2.
• In Ex 16, It was the 7 th day of the week when Moses revealed the sabbath cycle. We know this because the day after was the first day of work, namely Sunday or the 1 st day of the week. In other words, when God said to Moses on the 7 th day these words: "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily." Exodus 16:4-5. These words would have been spoken on the Sabbath they arrived and grumbled about having no food. The very next day had to be a Sunday, or the 1st day of the week.
• What is clear, is that God used Manna to teach them, for the first time, about the weekly Sabbath day. In order to do this, it would mean that they are camped in the Wilderness of Sin for the full week (Sunday - Saturday).
• Since manna fell in the early morning and melted by mid-day, this also proves that God instructed Moses the words of Exodus 16:4-5 on the day before the first morning Manna fell: Saturday.
• From this, we can quite safely determine that they arrived in the Wilderness of Sin on a Saturday and grumbled about being hungry. God gave them Manna for 6 days, then on the Sabbath they rested for the first time in world history. Then they departed early Monday morning to continue the journey in stages, since the terrain ahead was difficult and narrow.
• The Holy Spirit has told us in Exodus 16:1, that they arrived in the Wilderness of Sin on day 31 after leaving Goshen which was the 15 th day of the second month and left the wilderness of Sin on day 39. This leaves 8 days to travel from the Wilderness of Sin till they arrived on day 47 at Mt. Sinai. We know this because we are told they arrived in Sinai on the 1st day of the third month or day 47 after leaving Goshen. They might have even traveled at night. The Bible says that they travel by night by the pillar of fire.
• Now that we have determined the day they arrived and left the Wilderness of Sin, we can use this as a benchmark to determine the days of the week before and afterwards.

B. Calculating the day of the week they crossed the Red Sea: Sunday day 25

• In a most natural calculation backwards from the wilderness of Sin, we discover something incredible, that they crossed the Red Sea on Sunday, Iyar 9. This is a shadow of the fulfillment of the day of First Fruits (Lev 23:10-12) which always fell on a Sunday. Israel was "saved" by coming through the Red Sea. This would fit the New Testament antitype of water baptism very well. Paul tells us in 1 Cor 10:1-4 that passing through the Red Sea with the wall of water on either side and the cloud over head was an antitype of our full immersion into Christ for the remission of our sins. Israel was "baptized into Moses" and Christians are Baptized into Christ. The Hebrews were saved from the slavery of Egyptian bondage, Christians are saved from the slavery to sin. Any Hebrew who refused to cross the Red Sea and be Baptized into Moses would be killed the Egyptian army. Likewise anybody today who is not water baptized will be lost in hell because their sins are not forgiven. See these verses: Mk 16:16; Acts 2:28; 22:16; Rom 6:2-4; 1 Pet 3:21 and take this on line interactive study on water baptism .
• Rom 6:3-4 tells us that our baptism is a symbol of the death burial and resurrection of Christ and that we are raised from the dead to new life when we rise from the waters of Baptism. Since Christ was raised from the dead on a Sunday and since water baptism is a symbol of this resurrection and since the crossing of the Red Sea was an antitype of water baptism, it is most natural to expect that God would orchestrate, through his power and providence, that Israel would be baptized into Moses on a Sunday.
• Israel crossed the Red Sea on a Sunday, Iyar 9, on day 25 after leaving Goshen.

C. Calculating the day of the week of Passover: Wednesday

• Since the Bible tells us the fact that the entire trip was 47 days from Goshen to Sinai, we can now calculate the day of the week that Passover fell upon when they left Goshen.
• This is done by knowing they arrived on a Saturday at the Wilderness of Sin, which the Bible tells us is day 31 after leaving Goshen (Ex 16:1)
• Passover (Nisan 14) was 32 days before they arrived at the Wilderness of Sin.
• Counting back the days of the week makes Nisan 14 a Wednesday.
• They killed the lamb on Wednesday during the day, ate it after sunset on Nisan 15 (Wed night) and departed the following day (Thursday) during daylight hours.

D. Calculating the day of the week of Pentecost: Sunday day 53

• Pentecost means "the 50th day" after Passover. But the counting did not always start immediately after Passover as we will see.
• Recent Jewish tradition states that the Law was given on Pentecost, which is 50 days after the first Sabbath following Passover. Although we cannot trace this Jewish tradition very far back in history, it is very likely correct. On the other hand even the Jews of Jesus' time were notorious at adding to or changing God's Law.
• Pentecost always fell on a Sunday . Pentecost was calculated by counting 50 days, where day #1 is the first Sabbath after Passover. Since Passover could fall on any day of the week, sometimes there was up to a 6 day wait until the first Sabbath came by and you started counting the 50 days. When that Sabbath came, it was day one, then you would count seven additional Sabbath days for a total of 49 days. They next day after the seventh Sabbath was Pentecost.
• This means that if Passover fell on a Sunday, for example, they would not start counting the fifty days until the next Sabbath 6 days later.
• The actual number of days between Passover and Pentecost could vary from exactly 50 days if Passover fell on a Friday to as many as 56 days if Passover fell on a Sunday.
• On day 47 from Goshen, they arrived in the Wilderness of Sinai on a Monday.
• Pentecost fell on the Sunday after the next Sabbath day. This was day 53 after leaving Goshen.
• On Pentecost, Moses ascended ascends Mt. Sinai and returns with law (Ex 19:3-6). Jewish tradition fits very nicely into this time scale.

E. God "Dawned from Seir on Mt. Sinai" on Pentecost Sunday 1446 BC

1.        Day 47 (Sivan 1) On Monday Israel arrives at Sinai and Moses gave them water out of the Rock at Mt. Sinai that was promised several days earlier at Rephidim (Meribah) .

1.       Day 48: (Sivan 2) 1 st ascension of Moses: Ex 19:3-8. Moses ascends Mt. Sinai and returns with oath for people to obey the Law soon to be revealed (Ex 19:3-6)

2.        On Friday Sivan 4, (day 50) Moses ascends Mt. Sinai 2 nd time. God says be ready on the third day which was Pentecost Sunday (Ex 19:8-14). Moses told them that God would descend on Mt. Sinai three days later and to prepare themselves during these three days. Friday was the only day they had to wash their clothes because the next day was the Sabbath. This may be where the first century tradition that “preparation day” was their word for “Friday” because on Friday they prepared for God on Pentecost.

a.          The Bible says: "The Lord also said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow , and let them wash their garments; and let them be ready for the third day , for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people." Exodus 19:10-11

b.         This means the duration would be a Friday - Sunday. This method of counting is typical of the inclusive counting system of the Jews. This further illustrates how Jesus was in the tomb three days, yet it was a duration of Friday 3 PM to Sunday 6 AM.

c.          This matches the three day sequence of the Triumphal entry: "And He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today [Friday] and tomorrow [Saturday], and the third day [Sunday] I reach My goal.’" (Luke 13:32)

d.         This matches the three day sequence of Friday crucifixion being raised the third day on Sunday.

3.        Counting the day after the 7 th sabbath makes Pentecost day 53 after leaving Goshen on Thursday Nisan 15.

4.        God dawned from Seir and descend upon Mt. Sinai on Pentecost Sunday (day 53, Sivan 7) as described in Hebrews 12.

IV. Calculating distances between stops: Red Sea to Sinai

V. Calculating rates of travel from Goshen to Sinai: 700 km in 47 days

A. Examples of historic rates of travel:

1.        Israel miraculously travelled day AND NIGHT and therefore walked far greater daily distances than under normal human conditions. This means that traditional rates of travel are no applicable to the Exodus itinerary: Exodus 13:21; Num 9:21; 14:14; Deut 1:33; Neh 9:12; Ps 78:14

a.        "The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light,  that they might travel by day and by night ." (Exodus 13:21)

b.       "If sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, when the cloud was lifted in the morning, they would move out; or  in the daytime and at night, whenever the cloud was lifted, they would set out ." (Numbers 9:21)

c.        “You  go before them  in a pillar of cloud by day and  in a pillar of fire by night ” Num 14:14.

d.       "who goes before you on your way,  to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go ." (Deuteronomy 1:33)

e.       “To light for them the way  in which they were to go ” Neh 9:12.

f.         “He  led them  with the cloud by day and  all the night with a light of fire ” Ps 78:14.

2.        Scripture gives us a daily travel rate of 22 km per day:

a.        "It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea." (Deut 1:2)

b.       A direct route from Mt. Maqla/Lawz to Kadesh Barnea at Petra via Ezion Geber is 250 km which calculates a daily travel rate of 22 km per day. This is likely the time caravans would take to make the journey on camels. Camels and humans walk at the same rate of 5 km per hour. This allows for only 5 hours of travel a day. The Hebrews likely travelled most of the day and even during the night.

3.        800 km in 21 days from Riblah to Babylon = 53 km per day

a.        "For twenty-one years Nabopolassar had been king of Babylon, when on 8 Abu [15 August 605 BC] he went to his destiny; in the month of Ululu Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon and on 1 Ululu [7 September 605 BC] he sat on the royal throne in Babylon." (Nebuchadnezzar Babylonian Chronicles cuneiform tablet lines 9-11)

b.       From the time news of Nabopolassar’s death in Babylon reached Nebuchadnezzar in Judea and then for Nebuchadnezzar to travel to Babylon to claim the throne was only 3 weeks (21 days).

c.        Nebuchadnezzar set up his military headquarters at Riblah: "Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah ." (2 Kings 25:20)

d.       Within a three-week window, news of Nabopolassar’s death had to travel from Babylon to Riblah AND Nebuchadnezzar then had to travel from Riblah to Babylon. The use of passenger pigeons would be impossible to get a message from Babylon to Riblah, given it was a temporary outpost and Pigeons needed to be raised at Riblah and transported to Babylon to be useful as messengers back to Riblah.

e.       If we assume that Nebuchadnezzar took a direct easterly route through Palmyra/Tadmor (2 Chron 8:4) to the Euphrates, then south to Babylon, this journey was 800 km one way. This is the most likely route.

f.         A message that Nabopolassar had died could easily arrive from Babylon in about 7 days on horseback at a rate of 110 km per day if the horse was in top shape.

4.        In AD 1814, Sam Dale (1772-1841), traveled on horseback 670 miles (1072 km) in eight days from Georgia to New Orleans in winter to deliver instructions from Washington D.C. to General Jackson during the War of 1812. This computes to a daily travel rate of 134 km per day on horseback.

5.        In AD 1893, John Berry won the 1,000-mile (1600 km) race from Chaldron, Nebraska to the Chicago World’s Fair in a time of 13 days and 16 hours. Berry and his horse “Poison” covered the final 130 miles in 24 hours. Veterinarians examined Poison after the race and pronounced that the horse was in good condition. This computes to a horseback travel rate on of 114 km per day for 14 days to make the 1600 km trip.

7.        These seemingly impossible travel rates very much echo the fact that during the Exodus, news Israel was “trapped in the wilderness at Etham” 430 km to Egypt and then Pharaoh had to return 430 km to the Straits of Tiran where Israel was camped at the Red Sea. Passenger Pigeons flew back to Egypt in 5 hours that were sent from the Migdol overlooking the Hebrew camp at the Red Sea. This gave Pharaoh 7 days to easily travel the 430 km. A horseback rider could travel 430 km from the Straits of Tiran back to Egypt in only 4 days.

B. Daily travel rates from Goshen to Sinai: 700 km in 47 days

1.       You must also keep in mind the supernatural help that God gave the Hebrews during the Exodus.

a.        Nehemiah 9:12 and Exodus 13:21 says they traveled day and night by the light of the pillar of fire.

b.       Isaiah 63:11-13 and Psalm 105:37 say God miraculously prevented any of the 3.5 million from tripping during the Red Sea crossing. Young, old or crippled did not stumble once.

2.       There are only a 3-stops mentioned in the Bible between Goshen and the Red Sea: Succoth, Etham and the final the Red Sea camp before crossing. This has led many to wrongly assume it took only three day from Goshen to the Red Sea.

3.       Some people falsely assume the trip took only seven days. This assumption is based upon an inference about the 7 days of unleavened bread which was a memorial of when Israel left Egypt so quickly, that they did not have time for their bread to rise.

a.        But nowhere does the Bible say they ate unleavened bread for 7 days, only that there would be a seven-day period to remember that first day they left with unleavened bread. Day two, they ate leavened bread again.

b.       The Bible does not say, "Because you ate unleavened bread for 7 days after leaving Egypt, you will east unleavened bread for 7 days each year as a memorial."

c.        Instead the Bible says, (paraphrased) "You will not eat leaven for 7 days in remembrance of that one day you ate unleavened bread, when you first left Egypt.

4.       The Bible does tell us that the entire 700 km trip from Egypt to Mt. Sinai took 47 days.

a.        It was day 25 when they crossed the Red Sea and day 47 when they reached Sinai.

b.       It took 17 days to travel 500 km to the Red Sea and they spent 8 days camped there waiting for Pharaoh's army to come. We included the 16 km Red Sea crossing in the 500 km.

c.        It took 22 days to travel 200 km to Sinai after the Red Sea including 7 days camping in the wilderness of Sin and 2 days battling the Amalekites at Rephidim 3 days for the visit of Jethro at Rephidim including a second Sabbath day before reaching Sinai.

5.       Distance traveled from Egypt to Jebel Al-Lawz based upon actual route is 700 Km. It is 400 km line of sight as the bird flies.

a.        From Goshen to the crossing point of the Red Sea is 500 KM. Israel passed the Red Sea camp under the Migdol at 436 km from Goshen, then travelled 24 km to Etham at 460 km, then 24 km back to the Red Sea camp at 484 km and crossed the Red Sea (16 km) for a total of 500 km.

b.       These distances include the Etham and back the way they came, to the camp at the Red Sea before they crossed.

c.        Etham was 24 km past the point where they crossed, so the round trip was 48 km extra.

d.       The distance Pharaoh's army traveled from Goshen to where the pillar of cloud stopped them is 400 km. The angel stopped the Egyptian army on the coast of the Gulf of Suez 36 km short of reaching the Hebrew Red Sea camp which was 436 km from Egypt.

e.       It was 16 km (10miles) across the Straits of Tiran. The straight-line diagonal track ran north of the Enterprise Passage, not through it, to the shores of Arabia in the Wilderness of Shur.

f.         After they crossed into the wilderness of Shur, the distance to the camp in the wilderness of Sinai was 200 km.

6.       Average rates of travel must be based upon the total distance and the actual days they were moving. The total distance is 700 km and the total number of actual travel days is 29.

7.       Between Goshen and Sinai there were 18 rest days:

a.        7 rest days at the Red Sea before crossing waiting for pharaoh to arrive.

b.       7 rest days in wilderness of Sin.

c.        3 stationary days battling the Amalekites in Rephidim.

d.       1 rest day for the second sabbath.

8.       700 km between Goshen and Sinai their daily rate of travel was 24 km (14 miles) per day.

a.        Total distance Goshen to Sinai is 700 km.

b.       47 total days between Goshen and Sinai.

c.        18 rest days between Goshen to Sinai.

d.       29 travel days between Goshen and Sinai.

e.       700 km / 29 travel days = 24 km per day (14 miles per day).

9.       500 km between Goshen and the Red Sea crossing their daily rate of travel was 29 km (17 miles) per day.

a.        Total distance is 500 km in 24 total days but only 17 travel days = 29 km (17 miles) per travel day.

b.       There were 7 rest days while camped as bait at the Red Sea waiting for Pharaoh to arrive.

c.       Israel travelled 17 days and arrived at the Red Sea on day 17, which includes a night camp (day 9) at Succoth to collect the Hebrew slaves at the local turquoise mines at Serabit el-Khadim and Wadi Nasb. Messengers could be sent ahead of the main group to the miners in order to bring the Hebrew miner to the shoreline camp at Succoth.

d.        As Israel began to backtrack from Etham on day 17 it took only 4 hours for a passenger pigeon to travel the 400 km back to Egypt at 100 km per hour from the Migdol military watchtower which directly overlooked the Hebrew camp. (5 hours at 80 km per hour). Pharaoh would understand the topography of the area that he could arrive before Israel came back up the coast towards Egypt just past Succoth before they would have an eastern escape route. Pharaoh was triggered by the dead end and backtrack at Etham even before Israel reached the final Red Sea camp on day 17.

e.       Pharaoh easily travelled the 400 km in 7 days with 600 horse drawn chariots at a rate of 57 km per day (34 miles per day) and arrived on day 24 or sooner if he drove faster or longer each day. Navel support of supplies down the coast of the Gulf of Suez by ship would have made the trip even faster.

f.        Israel crossed the Red Sea on day 25.

10.   200 km between the Red Sea crossing and Sinai there were 11 rest days:

a.        22 total days between Red Sea and Sinai.

11.   200 km between the Red Sea and Sinai their daily rate of travel was 18 km per day.

a.       22 total days between the Red Sea crossing and Sinai.

b.        11 rest days between the Red Sea crossing and Sinai.

c.       11 travel days between the Red Sea crossing and Sinai

d.       The average daily rate from the red sea to Sinai was 200 km / 11 actual travel days = 18 km (11 miles) per day.

12.   We would predict that their rate of travel would be lower after crossing the Red Sea, given the urgency of fleeing Egypt was gone. The rates of travel figures are realistic easily possible for a large crowd. Keep in mind that God gave them miraculous help and they traveled day and night and Israel could have arrived at the Red sea in 7 days.

a.        Daily travel rate before crossing is 29 km per day.

b.       Daily travel rate after crossing is 18 km per day.

13.   Herodotus said that the same basic area was traveled at a rate of 38 km per day.

a.        Herodotus (450 BC) said that the 150 km trip from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea (north tip of the Gulf of Suez) was a four days journey.

b.       This means they traveled 38 km (23 miles) per day.

c.        "Psammetichus left a son called Necos, who succeeded him upon the throne. This prince was the first to attempt the construction of the canal to the Red Sea - a work completed afterwards by Darius the Persian - the length of which is four days' journey , and the width such as to admit of two triremes being rowed along it abreast. (Herodotus 2.158)

d.       Considering they miraculously travelled day and night, the 3.5 million Hebrews travelled much slower Herodotus indicates was possible.

VI. Chronological markers of the Exodus

2.       In 1446 BC Israel left Egypt exactly 430 years after Jacob entered Egypt “to the day”:

a.        "And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt." (Exodus 12:41)

3.       In 1406 BC Israel crossed the Jordan River 40 years “to the day”:

a.        "While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho. On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain." (Joshua 5:10-11)

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

Go To Start: WWW.BIBLE.CA

( biblechronology.net/The_Exodus.html )

Extensive info about the Hebrew calendar added in the charts in May, 2022. See History .

  TOC \o "1-3" \n \h \z 1.       Introduction

2.       Month-by-month Summary View of the Exodus

3.       Detailed Chronology of the Exodus

4.       The Hebrew Calendar

1.     Introduction

            In this chronology I only include events from 1447 or 1446 B.C. through 1406 B.C., since this period contains month-by-month or even day-by-day detail in many cases, actually an amazing amount of detail perhaps not matched anywhere else in the Bible. This covers part of Exodus, all of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and part of Joshua. Earlier events in Exodus and later events in Joshua are already clearly shown on the Bible chronology main page .

            The dates provided are my own, based on information gleaned from the text itself. The Narrated Bible generally does not provide these detailed dates for this time period, which is a bit surprising, given the amount of detail the text provides. If anyone thinks I have interpreted the text incorrectly in a particular case, please let me know. Note that events in the Bible text are not necessarily sequential, and in a few cases it is not entirely clear which events occur first, as in the case of Leviticus 10 and following chapters versus Numbers 7:54 and following. I have just tried to place them as logically as possible.

            The English month names given in quotes in the charts below actually refer to the Hebrew months. To see a comparison of the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars, see   REF _Ref29382491 \w \h   \* MERGEFORMAT ‎4 08D0C9EA79F9BACE118C8200AA004BA90B02000000080000000D0000005F00520065006600320039003300380032003400390031000000 .   REF _Ref29382497 \h   \* MERGEFORMAT The Hebrew Calendar 08D0C9EA79F9BACE118C8200AA004BA90B02000000080000000D0000005F00520065006600320039003300380032003400390037000000 .

2.     Month-by-month Summary View of the Exodus

3.     detailed chronology of the exodus.

            In Moses’ Deuteronomy addresses he retells some of the events in the Exodus story. I have added a few of these references in the Deuteronomy column beside those events (and in a few other places), but in blue and in parentheses and with a grey background [1] (unless there is already another colored background) to show that these are Moses’ later recollections of them. (I will not provide page numbers in The Narrated Bible in these cases.) I have not included all of Moses’ retellings, since Moses’ style is a bit rambling, and it became too complicated to do so.

            An almost complete list of the Israelite encampments is listed in Numbers 33, and I have given this list its own column. Most of these places are unknown.

            In The Narrated Bible the Laws in the Pentateuch are often rearranged by topic, so the page numbers are not as helpful as for the narrative sections. In these cases I usually do not provide page numbers, but usually simply have ~ , or occasionally ~ with a page number. It is not always clear when sections composed exclusively of laws and regulations were given. I will mark these in green to show that they do not really form part of the chronological narrative. For other colors used, see Format .

            As with all of my chronology material, I wrote this so that I would understand what happened, and hopefully it will help others as well.

* Indicates a date about which I vary slightly from F. LaGard Smith’s The Narrated Bible (I have the 1984 edition).

4.     The Hebrew Calendar

            The English month names given in quotes in the charts above actually refer to Hebrew months . The correspondence is as follows:

            The English month equivalence is only approximate, and varies from year to year, since the calendar is actually lunar. This means that every month begins on the new moon, and that the months are always either 29 or 30 days long, since a lunar cycle averages 29.53 days, though this can vary significantly . This means that the 12 months don’t actually reach to the end of the year, but only to about 354 days. A “leap month” is added when needed to keep the months from moving into the wrong season. (This would need to occur about every three years.) This is called a lunisolar calendar , and existed in the ancient Middle East well before this time, as the Babylonian/Sumerian calendar, which is found as early as the third millennium B.C., hundreds of years before the Exodus. [10] It seems likely that the Egyptian calendar used at the time of the Exodus was also lunisolar; however, later it changed to a form more similar to our modern calendar. Originally the start of a new month was set by observing when the new moon occurred in the sky each month, so it was impossible to know in advance whether a given month would have 29 or 30 days, though in most cases it alternated from one month to the next, since the lunar cycle is quite close to 29.5 days. (Nowadays the calendar is mathematically predetermined, and most months always have the same number of days , but this was not the case throughout Old Testament times.)

            The names of the months are very seldom used in the Bible; instead, normally only the month numbers are used. (For each month name used , a link to a list of its occurrences is provided in the chart above.) Those used before the Babylonian exile are completely different from those used afterwards, as the Jews adopted the Babylonian names during that time. Only four of the older names occur in the Bible; the others are simply unknown.

            The Bible never says that leap months were added, but they almost certainly were , since even the name of the first month אָבִיב /ʾāˈḇîḇ/ means “ fresh, young ear(s) of barley ”, and this makes it clear that this month occurred when the barley was ripe, and without leap months this correspondence could not be maintained. As the first link in this paragraph indicates, Jewish tradition used the ripening of the barley as an indicator of whether to add the leap month. This was always added right before אָבִיב /ʾāˈḇîḇ/ . Interestingly, in Exodus 9:31 we are told that the barley was ripe before the 7 th plague, the plague of hail, and that because of this the Egyptians’ barley crop was destroyed, and in fact this very word אָבִיב /ʾāˈḇîḇ/ is used in this verse to say that the barley was “in the ear”! (See endnote   NOTEREF _Ref467227289 \h 2 08D0C9EA79F9BACE118C8200AA004BA90B02000000080000000E0000005F005200650066003400360037003200320037003200380039000000 for more on this.)

            Because of this lunar calendar, the אָבִיב /ʾāˈḇîḇ/ of 1445 would not have started 365 days after the אָבִיב /ʾāˈḇîḇ/ of 1446, but only 354 days or so, and this would be the same for 1407 and 1406. This doesn’t seem to affect any of the chronology in the charts above, since we are always told when a new אָבִיב /ʾāˈḇîḇ/ occurs, and don’t need to add up any numbers from the end of the previous year. Also, it is impossible to know if there was a leap month in either of these cases, but there is no evidence that there was one. [11]

            Throughout this chronology it turns out not to be necessary to know whether any given month had 29 days or 30 days, since almost all dates are given by month and day. The one place where this is not true is from “June” through “September” of 1446, where two periods of 40 days are specified, plus various additional days, but no days of the month are specified. I have assumed that “June” and “August” had 30 days and “July” 29, following the current Jewish conventions, since there is no way to actually know. I’m not sweating this, since my goal is just to get a picture of the actual time flow.

[1] Originally I had simply marked these references with the color blue , and explained briefly what they were, but this was apparently not at all clear, as contributor Dick Wallace pointed out, so on 23-Mar.-2020 I decided to put them in parentheses with a gray background to avoid any confusion. Thanks, Dick!

[2] This according to various commentators on this page: biblehub.com/commentaries/exodus/9-32.htm , based on Exodus 9:31-32. Though their estimates vary somewhat, they all agree that the wheat and the spelt ripen at least a month later than the flax and the barley. The consensus seems to be that the latter would be harvested around March, and the former at least a month later.

[3] Different translations have interpreted the meaning of Exodus 19:1 in various ways, making it hard to determine which day they actually arrived at Sinai. If we look at various parallel translations, we see the problem. The translations I have listed, some of the most popular, imply three different dates:

New American Standard Bible : In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. (“June” 15)

King James Bible : In the third month , when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. (“June” 15)

Holman Christian Standard Bible : In the third month , on the same day of the month that the Israelites had left the land of Egypt, they entered the Wilderness of Sinai. (“June” 15)

New Living Translation : Exactly two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they arrived in the wilderness of Sinai. (“June” 15)

New International Version : On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt-- on that very day --they came to the Desert of Sinai. (“June” 1)

Good News Translation : … on the first day of the third month after they had left Egypt they came to the desert of Sinai. (“June” 1)

English Standard Version : On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. (“July” 1)

               (Surprisingly, some of the translations in Spanish, such as the Nueva Versión Internacional or the Dios Habla Hoy , seem to suggest a fourth alternative, “three months after”, which would be “July 15”!)

               The problem is that the Hebrew phrase הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֔י בַּחֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ /baˈḥōḏeš haššəlîˈšî/ can be interpreted these three different ways, “in the third month”, “on the new moon (at the beginning) of the third month”, or “on the third new moon”, since חֹ֫דֶשׁ /ˈḥōḏeš/ can mean either “month” or “new moon”.

               It might seem that the obvious interpretation is “June 15”, implied by four of the six versions above. However, Jewish tradition adheres to the “June 1” interpretation (suggested by two of the versions above), and in fact claims that the Torah, or at least the Ten Commandments, were given exactly 50 days after the Exodus (though I only get 47 days to “June” 3, since either “April” had 30 days and “May” 29 or vice versa, so this would mean that Moses got the Ten Commandments on his third day on the mountain, or else I have calculated differently than Jewish tradition), which would correspond to the Feast of Weeks ( Shavuot ) or Pentecost, though the Old Testament never explicitly makes this connection. Therefore I have tentatively followed this interpretation.

               All of the subsequent dates through “September” 4 depend on this date, being calculated by adding together day counts provided in the text, as seen in the “Verses that support the date” column of the large chart above.

[4] Deuteronomy 10:6-9 is a parenthetical section that has been confusing to many commentators, such as these: biblehub.com/commentaries/deuteronomy/10-6.htm . The four place names listed in verses 6 and 7 seem to match four sequential place names given in the encampment list in Numbers 33, with slight variation in all or nearly all the names:

               Though there are variations, the four names are too similar to just be a chance listing of similar but unrelated names, but must actually be the same names. However, there are several problems with this:

               1. The order of the first two names is swapped in Deuteronomy from that in Numbers, indicating that the route of travel was reversed.

               2. In Deuteronomy 10:6 it indicates that Moserah is where Aaron died and was buried, but Numbers 33:38-39 and Numbers 20:23-29 indicate that Aaron died on Mount Hor.

               3. The Israelites passed through these four places in Numbers 33:30-34 in the latter part of the year 1445, but Aaron died in August of 1407, which seems to be the temporal context of Deuteronomy 10:6-7, 38 years later!

               So, how do we reconcile these? Some who do not believe in the inerrancy of Scripture simply declare it to be an error, but this is entirely unnecessary, as the commentators mentioned above make clear. The location of Mount Hor is unclear, so what makes the most sense is to assume that Mount Hor is near Kadesh, that these four places are all very close to Mount Hor, Moserah being the closest, and that the Israelites passed through them twice, 38 years apart, but in Numbers 33 it was not thought necessary to repeat them on the list. The fact that they would have passed through four places so close together two different times is not a problem if we remember that God was the one leading them, and his priorities might not have been the shortest distance!

[5] There is no mention of the people celebrating the Passover this year, perhaps because they were still in their 38-year wandering stage, though they celebrated it in 1446, 1445, and 1406, as can be seen in the charts, with the word Passover marked in red.

[6] Oops! This was an error: the 11 th month clearly corresponds most closely to February (see   REF _Ref29382491 \w \h   \* MERGEFORMAT ‎4 08D0C9EA79F9BACE118C8200AA004BA90B02000000080000000D0000005F00520065006600320039003300380032003400390031000000 .   REF _Ref29382497 \h   \* MERGEFORMAT The Hebrew Calendar 08D0C9EA79F9BACE118C8200AA004BA90B02000000080000000D0000005F00520065006600320039003300380032003400390037000000 ), but I had put March here! This error had been there since this page was first posted in November, 2016, and for many years before that I had made this same error in a note I made in my copy of The Narrated Bible . I only noticed the error and corrected it in January, 2020! This error affected my entire analysis of the last few months of my chronology on this page, since I had said, “…in 1406… we find that all of the events fit exactly in the time frame, with no slack time at all, assuming that the preceding month had 30 days.” This was completely incorrect, since there was another month of slack time that I had not included! I had necessarily assumed that Moses’ Deuteronomy addresses and the rest of the events in Deuteronomy up to Moses’ death had only taken one day, which is unlikely. (Also, I had failed to notice the 3 days mentioned in Joshua 1:11, which tends to make the chronology a bit less clear. See endnote   NOTEREF _Ref29468901 \h   \* MERGEFORMAT 7 08D0C9EA79F9BACE118C8200AA004BA90B02000000080000000D0000005F00520065006600320039003400360038003900300031000000 .) I’m surprised none of my contributors noticed this error, since they have caught many other mistakes on this website.

[7] It is fairly certain that the three days in Joshua 1:11 are the same as those in Joshua 3:2. However, there are differences of opinion among commentators as to whether these are the same as the three days in Joshua 2:22, or whether they follow them (see this page ). In either case some reordering is necessary: it is impossible for all of the text in Joshua 1-3 to be in chronological order. This tendency to not always follow the chronological sequence is quite common in the Bible, as seen in many other places on this website. This is so often true that Matthew Poole (at the link above) says: “interpreters have formed this general rule, that there is no certain order, no former nor latter, in the histories of the Scripture”. For the specific days I have mostly followed Barnes (at the link above), though the Pulpit Commentary (at the link above) thinks more days should be included. I have included the alternative scenario in parentheses.

[8] Up until May, 2022 I had had “April” 15 here, and “April” 16 for the day the manna ceased, since this seemed to be the obvious meaning, but numerous commentators, including those on this page , have made it clear that it would have actually been the next day. Keil and Delitzsch say, «“The morrow after the Passover” is used in Numbers 33:3 for the 15th Nisan; but here it must be understood as signifying the 16th, as the produce of the land, of which they ate not only on that day, but, according to Joshua 5:12, throughout that year, cannot mean the corn [grain in general] of the previous year, but the produce of this same year, i.e., the new corn, and they were not allowed to eat any of that till it had been sanctified to the Lord by the presentation of the wave sheaf on the second day of the Passover (Leviticus 23:11). According to Leviticus 23:11, the presentation was to take place on the day after the Sabbath, i.e., the first day of the feast of Mazzoth , which was kept as a Sabbath, or the 16th of Nisan, as the seven days’ feast of Mazzoth commenced on the 15th (Leviticus 23:6; Numbers 28:17).»

[9] What is clear is that later events, starting in chapter 13, did not occur during 1406, but from 1400 on.

[10] But this calendar may be much older, and may predate writing. Lunisolar calendars appear to have been the original calendars of peoples all around the world . Noah also used a calendar of numbered months in Genesis 7 and 8, but the odd thing is that it does not appear to be lunisolar, since every month seems to have 30 days, based on the figures provided in the text. (However, there may be another explanation for this which would allow it to have been lunisolar: see my article Flood.html where it says, “ This article suggests a possible solution to this dilemma”.)

               Exodus 12:2 might seem to suggest that God invented this calendar from scratch for the Israelites in Exodus 12, or at least told them when the New Year was supposed to start. But I don’t think the passage requires us to assume that, and given its striking similarity to the Babylonian/Sumerian calendar I consider it unlikely. Also, the word “month” is used twice during the time of the patriarchs, in Genesis 29:14 and in Genesis 38:24, which suggests that they were already using some kind of calendar.

[11] I have looked for web sites of other Bible believers who have calculated these month-by-month sequences as I have, but those I have found seem to be too elaborate and to have particular agendas and claims that I don’t think are biblical. If anyone knows of one that doesn’t have these issues, please let me know. 1260-1290-days-bible-prophecy.org/Jubilee-exodus-chart-bible-prophecy.htm , bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-exodus-route-travel-times-distances-days.htm , biblenumbers.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/chronology-wilderness-wanderings1.pdf .

2. Israel’s Exodus from Egypt and Entry into Canaan

Possible route of the Exodus

Jordan River

Salt Sea (Dead Sea)

Great Sea (Mediterranean Sea)

Philistines

River of Egypt

Wilderness of Zin

Rameses (Tanis)

Wilderness of Shur

Kadesh-barnea

Wilderness of Paran

Arabah (Rift Valley)

Eastern Wilderness

On (Heliopolis)

Pi-hahiroth?

Wilderness of Etham

Sinai Peninsula

Ezion-geber

Noph (Memphis)

Gulf of Suez

Wilderness of Sin

Sinai Wilderness

Wilderness Camps

Gulf of Aqaba

Mt. Sinai? (Horeb)

0 40 80 120

Rameses Israel was thrust out of Egypt ( Ex. 12 ; Num. 33:5 ).

Succoth After the Hebrews left this first campsite, the Lord attended them in a cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night ( Ex. 13:20–22 ).

Pi-hahiroth Israel passed through the Red Sea ( Ex. 14 ; Num. 33:8 ).

Marah The Lord healed the waters of Marah ( Ex. 15:23–26 ).

Elim Israel camped by 12 springs ( Ex. 15:27 ).

Wilderness of Sin The Lord sent manna and quail to feed Israel ( Ex. 16 ).

Rephidim Israel fought with Amalek ( Ex. 17:8–16 ).

Mount Sinai (Mount Horeb or Jebel Musa) The Lord revealed the Ten Commandments ( Ex. 19–20 ).

Sinai Wilderness Israel constructed the tabernacle ( Ex. 25–30 ).

Wilderness Camps Seventy elders were called to help Moses govern the people ( Num. 11:16–17 ).

Ezion-geber Israel passed through the lands of Esau and Ammon in peace ( Deut. 2 ).

Kadesh-barnea Moses sent spies into the promised land; Israel rebelled and failed to enter the land; Kadesh served as the main camp of Israel for many years ( Num. 13:1–3, 17–33 ; 14 ; 32:8 ; Deut. 2:14 ).

Eastern Wilderness Israel avoided conflict with Edom and Moab ( Num. 20:14–21 ; 22–24 ).

Arnon River Israel destroyed the Amorites who fought against them ( Deut. 2:24–37 ).

Mount Nebo Moses viewed the promised land ( Deut. 34:1–4 ). Moses delivered his last three sermons ( Deut. 1–32 ).

Plains of Moab The Lord told Israel to divide the land and dispossess the inhabitants ( Num. 33:50–56 ).

Jordan River Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground. Near Gilgal, stones from the bottom of the Jordan River were placed as a monument of Jordan’s waters being divided ( Josh. 3:1–5:1 ).

Jericho The children of Israel captured and destroyed the city ( Josh. 6 ).

OT Overview

Nt overview, pentateuch studies, history books studies, studies in the prophets, studies in the gospels, acts and letters studies, revelation studies, inductive study, types of literature, early church, historical documents, life questions, how to preach, julian's books, contact julian,  chronology of the 40 years in the wilderness between the exodus from egypt and the promised land, julian spriggs m.a..

This page gives chronological details of the forty years the Israelites spent in the wilderness between the Exodus from Egypt and the entry to the Promised Land. At several places in the account in the Books of Exodus and Numbers an exact date is given, counting from the departure from Egypt. From these, it is possible to work out an approximate chronology for many of the events.

Table 1: Exodus to Promised Land (40 years)

This covers the whole forty years from the Exodus from Egypt to the entry into the promised land under Joshua. There is a 38 year gap after the rebellion at Kadesh Barnea, during which the generation of adults who left Egypt were replaced by the younger generation who grew up in the wilderness.

The two periods at the beginning and end of the forty years are expanded in more detail. The period between the Exodus and Kadesh Barnea is covered in more detail in Table 2 , and the period between Kadesh Barnea and the entry to the Promised land is covered in more detail in Table 3 .

Years after leaving Egypt:

Table 2: exodus to rebellion at kadesh barnea (2 years).

This covers the two years following the Exodus from Egypt, including the journey to Sinai, the year spent on Mt Sinai, during which the law was given and the tabernacle was constructed, followed by the journey from Sinai to Kadesh Barnea on the border of the Promised Land.

Years and months after leaving Egypt:

After the rebellion, God condemned the older generation to die in the wilderness (Num 14:20-24).

Table 3: Kadesh to Crossing of Jordan (1 year)

This covers a year and a month starting from the departure from Kadesh Barnea on the first day of the first month of the fortieth year after the Exodus, as far as entry into the Promised Land under Joshua.

Pages which look at issues relevant to the whole Bible, such as the Canon of Scripture, as well as doctrinal and theological issues. There are also pages about the Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha and 'lost books' of the Old Testament.

Also included are lists of the quotations of the OT in the NT, and passages of the OT quoted in the NT.

Old Testament Overview

This is a series of six pages which give a historical overview through the Old Testament and the inter-testamental period, showing where each OT book fits into the history of Israel.

New Testament Overview

This is a series of five pages which give a historical overview through the New Testament, focusing on the Ministry of Jesus, Paul's missionary journeys, and the later first century. Again, it shows where each book of the NT fits into the history of the first century.

Introductions to Old Testament Books

This is an almost complete collection of introductions to each of the books in the Old Testament. Each contains information about the authorship, date, historical setting and main themes of the book.

Introductions to New Testament Books

This is a collection of introductions to each of the 27 books in the New Testament. Each contains information about the authorship, date, historical setting and main themes of the book.

Old Testament History

Information about the different nations surrounding Israel, and other articles concerning Old Testament history and the inter-testamental period.

New Testament History

Articles which give additional information about the history and culture of the first century, giving helpful background knowledge for the Gospels and Paul's travels.

Old Testament Studies

A series of articles covering more general topics for OT studies. These include a list of the people named in the OT and confirmed by archaeology. There are also pages to convert the different units of measure in the OT, such as the talent, cubit and ephah into modern units.

More theological topics include warfare in the ancient world, the Holy Spirit in the OT, and types of Jesus in the OT.

Studies in the Pentateuch (Gen - Deut)

A series of articles covering studies in the five books of Moses. Studies in the Book of Genesis look at the historical nature of the early chapters of Genesis, the Tower of Babel and the Table of the Nations.

There are also pages about covenants, the sacrifices and offerings, the Jewish festivals and the tabernacle, as well as the issue of tithing.

Studies in the Old Testament History Books (Josh - Esther)

Articles containing studies and helpful information for the history books. These include a list of the dates of the kings of Israel and Judah, a summary of the kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and studies of Solomon, Jeroboam and Josiah.

There are also pages describing some of the historical events of the period, including the Syro-Ephraimite War, and the Assyrian invasion of Judah in 701 BC.

Studies in the Old Testament Prophets (Is - Mal)

Articles containing studies and helpful information for the OT prophets. These include a page looking at the way the prophets look ahead into their future, a page looking at the question of whether Satan is a fallen angel, and a page studying the seventy weeks of Daniel.

There are also a series of pages giving a commentary through the text of two of the books: Isaiah (13 pages) and Daniel (10 pages).

New Testament Studies

A series of articles covering more general topics for NT studies. These include a list of the people in the NT confirmed by archaeology.

More theological topics include the Kingdom of God and the Coming of Christ.

Studies in the Four Gospels (Matt - John)

A series of articles covering various studies in the four gospels. These include a list of the unique passages in each of the Synoptic Gospels and helpful information about the parables and how to interpret them.

Some articles look at the life and ministry of Jesus, including his genealogy, birth narratives, transfiguration, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and the seating arrangements at the Last Supper.

More theological topics include the teaching about the Holy Spirit as the Paraclete and whether John the Baptist fulfilled the predictions of the coming of Elijah.

Studies in the Book of Acts and the New Testament Letters

A series of articles covering various studies in the Book of Acts and the Letters, including Paul's letters. These include a page studying the messages given by the apostles in the Book of Acts, and the information about the financial collection that Paul made during his third missionary journey. More theological topics include Paul's teaching on Jesus as the last Adam, and descriptions of the church such as the body of Christ and the temple, as well as a look at redemption and the issue of fallen angels.

There are a series of pages giving a commentary through the text of five of the books: Romans (7 pages), 1 Corinthians (7 pages), Galatians (3 pages), Philemon (1 page) and Hebrews (7 pages)

Studies in the Book of Revelation

Articles containing studies and helpful information for the study of the Book of Revelation and topics concerning Eschatology (the study of end-times).

These include a description of the structure of the book, a comparison and contrast between the good and evil characters in the book and a list of the many allusions to the OT. For the seven churches, there is a page which gives links to their location on Google maps.

There is a page studying the important theme of Jesus as the Lamb, which forms the central theological truth of the book. There are pages looking at the major views of the Millennium, as well as the rapture and tribulation, as well as a list of dates of the second coming that have been mistakenly predicted through history.

There is also a series of ten pages giving a detailed commentry through the text of the Book of Revelation.

How to do Inductive Bible Study

These are a series of pages giving practical help showing how to study the Bible inductively, by asking a series of simple questions. There are lists of observation and interpretation questions, as well as information about the structure and historical background of biblical books, as well as a list of the different types of figures of speech used in the Bible. There is also a page giving helpful tips on how to apply the Scriptures personally.

Types of Literature in the Bible

These are a series of pages giving practical help showing how to study each of the different types of book in the Bible by appreciating the type of literature being used. These include historical narrative, law, wisdom, prophets, Gospels, Acts, letters and Revelation.

It is most important that when reading the Bible we are taking note of the type of literature we are reading. Each type needs to be considered and interpreted differently as they have different purposes.

Geography and Archaeology

These are a series of pages giving geographical and archaeological information relevant to the study of the Bible. There is a page where you can search for a particular geographical location and locate it on Google maps, as well as viewing photographs on other sites.

There are also pages with photographs from Ephesus and Corinth.

Early Church Fathers

These are a series of pages giving biographical information about some of the more significant early church fathers, such as Irenaeus, Origen and Tertullian, as well as some important groups and events in the first centuries of the church.

Biblical archaeology in museums around the world

A page with a facility to search for artifacts held in museums around the world which have a connection with the Bible. These give information about each artifact, as well as links to the museum's collection website where available showing high resolution photographs of the artifact.

There is also pages of photographs of important artifacts from the British Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Historical documents relevant to Biblical Studies

These are a series of pages containing historical documents which give helpful information for Biblical studies. These include Hittite suzerainty treaties with a similar structure to the Book of Deuteronomy, different lists of the New Testament books and quotations from Josephus and other ancient writers.

Difficult Theological and Ethical Questions

These are a series of pages looking at some of the more difficult questions of Christian theology, including war, suffering, disappointment and what happens to those who have never heard the Gospel.

These are a series of pages giving a practical step-by-step explanation of the process of preparing a message for preaching, and how to lead a small group Bible study.

Julian's Teaching Ministry

Information for sbs staff members.

Two pages particularly relevant for people serving as staff on the School of Biblical Studies (SBS) in YWAM. One gives helpful instruction about how to prepare to teach on a book in the SBS. The other gives a list of recommended topics which can be taught about for each book of the Bible.

Bible Timeline

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the Bible Prophecy Timeline?
• How did you determine dates—particularly the time of creation?
• What are you primary sources for the timeline?
• Are you predicting when Christ will return?
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• What browsers support this timeline?

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When you create an account on biblehistory.com, you’ll be able to tag your favorite person and event entries and go straight to them whenever you like from wherever you like. This is a great tool for Bible students and for Bible studies with friends and family.

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The Birth of Christ

With more than 850 interconnected entries, the Bible Prophecy Timeline is a comprehensive study tool that allows you to explore every character and major event of the Bible, from the creation of the world to last-day prophecies. Each entry in the Timeline contains a brief but insightful article with interesting facts about the person or event, plus artwork and full Scripture references and passages to help you find it in the Bible.

Where possible, entries also include links to related characters and events and a video presentation to help deepen your understanding of their place in Bible history.

The Timeline is divided into three major sections:

The timeline begins with Adam in Eden, then on to Noah and the Flood and the birth of Israel through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Covers the history of the Jewish nation, from Moses and the Exodus to King David and the prophets Daniel and Isaiah.

Covers the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus; the apostles; the Reformation; and the final events of earth’s history.

Each of these sections are further divided into more specific time periods for ease of study.

We believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, thus our primary source for dating events and people in the Bible Prophecy Timeline are the Bible’s genealogies and event-to-event comparisons found in other traditionally accepted non-biblical sources, such as ancient historical records by Josephus and modern-day scholarship by professional theologians and educators. For this chronology, we relied on the Masoretic text, on which English Bibles are based.

While we believe the Bible Prophecy Timeline provides the most accurate dating available, many dates are still subject to interpretation and some educated guesswork due to a few vague areas in Bible history. As with anyone’s family tree, the farther back you go the fuzzier things can become.

The following is a brief summary of our calculated date of creation, beginning with the chronology found in Genesis chapter five:

Timespans in the Bible are typically recorded in terms of people’s ages, events, and king’s reigns. Presuming that Adam was created in year 0, we’ll assume that his son Seth was born in the year 130 After Creation—or 130 AC.

(This presumption makes it reckless to be dogmatic as to the exact year of creation. Additionally, because we are not told the month and day of each birth in the Bible, there is the potential for an error of up to 364 days in these calculations every time a new birth is mentioned.)

Genesis chapter 5 ends with the statement that “after Noah was 500 years old he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” Genesis 9:24 tells us that Ham was Noah’s youngest son. Genesis 11:10 tells us that Shem was 100 years old two years after the Flood, which means he must have been born when Noah was 502. We conclude that Japheth was the son born when Noah was 500 years old, Shem two years later, and Ham an unspecified period after that.

The next point of interest is the date of Shem’s death. With the exception of Eber, none of Shem’s descendants outlived him. Now let us consider the Hebrew patriarchs …

With Jacob, the tidy progression of fathers and sons ends. We are not told how old he was when he fled to Haran nor given his age when any of his children are born. It is possible, however, to work out when Joseph was born.

We are told Joseph was 30 when he was appointed over the land of Egypt (Genesis 41:46). There followed seven years of plenty and, in the second year of the famine, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers (Genesis 45:6), which would make him about 39. Jacob came down to Egypt when he was 130 years old (Genesis 47:9), which means that Joseph was born when Jacob was 91—that is, in 2199 AC.

As most of Jacob’s family seems to have been born during the 20 years that he was in Haran, it appears that the twins Jacob and Esau were about 70 when the deception over the birthright occurred. We assume then that Jacob was 71 when he fled to Haran. He served Laban for seven years before marrying, and Levi was the third son to be born to Leah. If we assume that Leah was pregnant once a year, then Jacob was 81 when Levi was born. If Joseph was born about 2199 AC, his older brother Levi must have been born about 2189 AC.

Next, God told Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved for 400 years or four generations (Genesis 15:13). This seems to be confirmed by the statement in Exodus 12:40, 41 that the children of Israel were in Egypt for 430 years. If Jacob went to Egypt in the year 2238 AC, that would place the Exodus in the year 2668 AC.

There is, however, a problem. As given in Exodus chapter 6, Levi, who lived 137 years, had a son called Kohath, who lived 133 years, and a daughter, Jochebed. Amram, son of Kohath, married his aunt Jochebed, and lived for 137 years. Their son was Moses. This comes to a total of 407 years, and when we add in Moses’ age of 80 at the time of the Exodus, we seem to have plenty of time to fit in the 430 year of the oppression.

The trouble is that the years don’t just add up like that. The average age of the preceding four generations when their first son was born was 75. If Levi, Kohath, and Amram were also 75 when their sons were born—and Moses was 80 at the time of the Exodus—that makes a span of 305 years for the Jewish oppression, minus Levi’s age when he went down into Egypt, which was 49. The oppression can only have lasted 256 years.

The usual solution adopted by most commentators is to conclude that the 430 years refer not to the oppression but to the time that Abraham and his descendants would have to wait until the land of Canaan belonged to them. The 430 years is the time from Abraham’s visit to Egypt until the Exodus. This works out as approximately 215 years of wandering in Canaan and 215 years of oppression in Egypt.

There is evidence that this is how the Jews understood this passage. Josephus, the 1st century AD Jewish historian, wrote, “They left Egypt in the month Xanthicus, on the fifteenth day of the lunar month; four hundred and thirty years after our forefather Abraham came into Canaan, but two hundred and fifteen years only after Jacob removed into Egypt” (Antiquities of the Jews II:xv:2). A scroll fragment from the Dead Sea (4Q559) confirms this short chronology.

Jacob went down into Egypt in the year 2238 AC and, for our purposes, we will place the Exodus 215 years later in the year 2453 AC. Again, an approximation.

Next, in 1 Kings 6:1, we are told that the fourth year of Solomon’s reign was the 480th year after the Exodus. That means a date of 2933 AC for the commencement of work on the temple.

Dr. Edwin R. Thiele, in The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, establishes the year 931 BC as the date when Rehoboam began to reign. Assuming he’s correct, 1 Kings 11:42 tells us that Solomon reigned for 40 years, so his reign began in the year 971 BC, which means that his fourth year must have been the year 967 BC.

Therefore, if Solomon’s fourth year, the year 967 BC, came 2933 years after creation, then we can say that this world was created in the year 3900 BC. As it should be obvious that this can only be an approximate date, it should be equally obvious that there are limits to the amount one can stretch the chronology. If we make the Jewish oppression 430 years, include maximum time between generations, and so on, the most we can add in is another thousand years or so. Certainly there is no room in the biblical figures for pushing creation back to 10,000 BC.

The following is a list of sources used, among others, to create the timeline:

• Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1826.
• Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. New York: Abingdon Press, 1950.
• Bokenkotter, Thomas. A Concise History of the Catholic Church. New York: Double Day, 2005.
• Cannon, William R. History of Christianity in the Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Fall of Constantinople. New York: Abingdon Press, 1960.
• Courvoisier, Jaques. Zwingli: A Reformed Theologian . Richmond: John Knox Press, 1963.
• Easton’s Bible Dictionary, 1897.
• González, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. New York: HarperOne, 2010.
• González, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Vol. 2: The Reformation to the Present Day. New York: HarperOne, 2010.
• Heinze, Rudolph, W. Reform and Conflict: From the Medieval World to the Wars of Religion, A.D. 1350-1648 , consulting editors John D. Woodbridge and David F. Wright, series editor Tim Dowley. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005.
• House, H. Wayne, Chronological and Background Charts of the New Testament, Zondervan 2009.
• Kelly, J.N.D. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. New York: Oxford University Press , 1986.
• Keith Stokes Bible Timeline Database , www.brainsanctuary.com
• Lane, Tony. A Concise History of Christian Thought: Completely Revised and Expanded Edition . Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006.
• Lindsay, Thomas M. A History of the Reformation, Vol. 2: In Lands Beyond Germany. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1959.
• Logan, Donald F. A History of the Church in the Middle Ages. Oxford: Routledge, 2002.
• Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible, 1706.
• Price, Ira Maurice. The Ancestry of Our English Bible. New York: Harper & Row, 1956.
• Schwiebert, E. G. Luther and His Times: The Reformation from a New Perspective, Saint Louis: Concordia, 1950.
• SDA Bible Commentary Reference Series. Review and Herald Publishing Association: Hagerstown, Maryland, 1979.
• Tenney, Merril C., New Testament Times , Hendrickson Publishers 2001.
• Andrews University Study Bible, Andrews University Press: Berrien Springs, Michigan, 2007.
• Walton, John H. Chronological and Background Charts of the Old Testament, Zondervan, 1994.

No. The Bible says that as to the day and hour of Christ’s return, no one knows. See Matthew 24:50. Moreover, the return of Christ will only come after other prophetic fulfillments occur—and we don’t know when those will happen either. The timeline’s purpose is not to predict when exactly future events will occur, but rather to show the Bible’s reliability as an historical record, its trustworthiness in matters of prophecy, and as an in-depth tool for Bible study.

Android and iPad apps are currently in early development. Please check back for details on release dates.

The timeline supports Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer 9+.

• Creation– c.2500 BC
• c.2500– c.2166BC
• c.2166– c.1660BC
• c.1660– c.1445BC
• c.1445– c.1050BC
• c.1050– c.930BC
• c.930– c.586BC
• c.585– c.457BC
• c.4BC– c.34AD
• c.34– c.330AD
• c.450– c.1517AD
• c.1517– c.1840AD
• Creation– Present

Age of Patriarchs

Age of israel.

The history of the Jewish nation, from Moses and the Exodus to King David and the prophets Daniel and Isaiah.

Age of Christ

The life and death of Jesus, the apostles, the Reformation, and the final events of earth’s history.

First Generation

From the creation of Adam and Eve, to the murder of Abel by Cain, and human history before the flood.

Noah & The Flood

From the ministry of Noah and the global deluge, to Cush, Nimrod, and the tower of Babel.

The Patriarchs

From the call of abraham, to sodom and gomorrah, and the rise of 12 jewish tribes through isaac and jacob., egypt to canaan.

From Joseph being sold into slavery, his rise to power in Egypt, and to Moses and the Exodus.

From Moses and the Ten Commandments to Joshua’s entrance and Jewish expansion into the Promised Land.

United kingdom.

From King Saul to the prophet Samuel and young King David and his royal dynasty through Solomon.

Divided Kingdom

From the internal strife that divided the nation of Israel to the prophets who warned of the coming exile.

From Israel’s fall to exile in Babylon and the major prophets declaring the coming Messiah.

Life of christ.

From the birth of the promised Messiah, Jesus the Christ, to His ministry and death and resurrection.

Early Church

From the martyrdom of Stephen to the persecution and rise of the church through Paul and the apostles.

Middle Ages

From the legalization of christianity under constantine to the persecution of the dark ages., the reformation.

From the great reformers, such as Luther and Wycliffe, to the expansion of the Protestant movement.

Revelation Prophecies

From the rise of the antichrist, the mark of the beast, to the return of Christ and paradise restored.

From the creation of the world to the last-day events of Revelation, the timeline is a comprehensive guide to major Bible events, characters, and prophecies. Just click on one of the three “Ages” above to get started.

According to Genesis 5:3, Adam was 130 years old when his son Seth was born. He lived 800 years after that and was alive to witness the birth of his great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson, Lamech, the father of Noah, the one who would be saved through the flood.

The ark was an immense structure measuring up to 512 feet in length. It also represented advanced knowledge of shipbuilding, as it is the optimum design for stability in rough seas. The ark had a volume of at least 1.5 million cubic feet, or the equivalent of about 560 railroad boxcars.

The Ebla tablets, discovered in 1975 and dated to about 2300 BC, verify the worship of pagan gods such as Baal, Dagan, and Asherah, known previously only from the Bible. They mention the names Abraham and Ur of Chaldees, his birthplace—as well as other Bible names, such as Esau and Sodom and Gomorrah.

Some Bible scholars estimate that more than 3.5 millions Jews took part in the Exodus from Egypt. The fleeing column of former slaves, in lines of 50 across, would have stretched for 40 miles across the wilderness and would have taken about 15 hours to pass the same point.

Belshazzar, a king of Babylon named in the book of Daniel, was considered a Bible legend, but the Nabonidus Cylinder, discovered circa 1881, listed the king as the son of Nabonidus, verifying the biblical record contained in Daniel.

The Tel Dan stela, discovered in 1993, reveals historical evidence of King David. The Aramean ruler who erected the stone inscription around 80 B.C. claimed to have defeated the “king of the House of David.”

Jesus was the fulfillment of prophecies written long before His birth. The prophet Micah said the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Other prophets predicted that Jesus would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) and that there would be a murder attempt on His young life (Jeremiah 31:15).

Jesus prophesied that the Jewish temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed such that not one stone would be left standing on top of another. Some temple stones weighed more than 100 tons. Fulfilled in A.D. 70. Josephus, a trusted historian, reports that Roman invaders dug up the very foundations of the temple.

The Pontus Pilate inscription, discovered at Caesarea Maritima in 1962, provides historical evidence of a key player in the crucifixion of Jesus. The Latin inscription contained the phrase, “Pontius Pilatus, Prefect of Judea has dedicated to the people of Caesarea a temple in honor of Tiberius.”

Age of Patriarchs  »  The Patriarchs

1951–1775 BC

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FIRST GENERATION

Creation–c.2500 bc, noah and the flood, c.2500–c.2166 bc, the patriarchs, c.2166–c.1660 bc.

From the call of Abraham, to Sodom and Gomorrah, and the rise of the 12 Jewish tribes through Isaac and Jacob.

EGYPT TO CANAAN

C.1660–c.1445 bc, c.1445–c.1050 bc.

From Moses and the Ten Commandments to Joshua's entrance and Jewish expansion into the Promised Land.

UNITED KINGDOM

C.1050–c.930 bc, divided kingdom, c.930–c.586 bc, c.585–c.457 bc.

From Israel's fall to exile in Babylon and the major prophets declaring the coming Messiah.

LIFE OF CHRIST

C.4 bc –c.34 ad, early church, c.34–c.330 ad, middle ages, c.450–c.1517 ad.

From the legalization of Christianity under Constantine to the persecution of the Dark Ages..

REFORMATION

C.1517–c.1840 ad, revelation prophecies, creation–present, currently viewing, age of christ » united kingdom.

© 2013 BibleHistory.com

The Geography of the Exodus: A Journey from Egypt to Canaan

The Exodus is one of the most significant events in the history of the Israelites. It is the story of their escape from slavery in Egypt and their journey to the land of Canaan, which God had promised to them. The geography of the Exodus played a crucial role in shaping the experiences and beliefs of the Israelites. Here's a closer look at the journey from Egypt to Canaan.

• Egypt: The Exodus began in Egypt, where the Israelites had been living in slavery for over 400 years. According to the Bible, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, which God miraculously parted to allow them to pass.
• Sinai Peninsula: After crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites traveled through the Sinai Peninsula, a barren and desolate region that was difficult to navigate. It was at Mount Sinai that Moses received the Ten Commandments and established the covenant between God and the Israelites.
• Wilderness: The Israelites spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness, a harsh and unforgiving landscape that was marked by sand dunes, rocky terrain, and extreme temperatures. They relied on God's provision of manna and water to sustain them during their journey.
• Jordan River: The Israelites eventually arrived at the Jordan River, which they crossed into the land of Canaan, the promised land. The crossing of the Jordan River is seen as a symbol of the Israelites' transition from slavery to freedom.
• Canaan: The land of Canaan was a region that was rich in resources and had fertile soil, making it an ideal location for settlement. The Israelites faced many challenges as they established themselves in the land, including conflicts with other tribes and struggles to maintain their religious beliefs.

The geography of the Exodus provides us with a greater understanding of the challenges and triumphs of the Israelites as they journeyed from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land. The landscape of the region played a significant role in shaping their experiences and beliefs, and continues to be an important part of their cultural and religious heritage.

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The Israelites’ Wandering: A Map of Their 40-Year Journey in the Wilderness

The story of the Israelites' wandering in the wilderness is one of the most well-known and powerful stories in the Bible. According to the Book of Exodus, after being led out of Egypt by Moses, the Israelites spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness before finally reaching the Promised Land. But have you ever wondered exactly where they traveled during this time? By using maps, we can trace their journey through the wilderness and gain a deeper understanding of this powerful story.

The journey of the Israelites began at the Red Sea, where they crossed on dry ground after God parted the waters. From there, they traveled south to the area of Marah, where they found bitter water that was made sweet by a miracle from God. They then continued eastward to the desert of Sin, where they were provided with manna from heaven and quail to eat.

The Israelites then traveled to Mount Sinai, where they received the Ten Commandments and other laws from God. After spending several months at Sinai, they continued their journey northward towards the Promised Land, but their progress was slowed by their disobedience and lack of faith in God.

The Israelites continued to wander in the wilderness for another 38 years, traveling back and forth across the desert and encountering many challenges and trials along the way. They fought battles against other nations, complained about their lack of food and water, and even rebelled against Moses and God on several occasions.

Finally, after 40 years of wandering, the Israelites reached the Promised Land, which was located on the eastern shores of the Jordan River. By using maps, we can see the locations of the places where they camped, the routes they took, and the challenges they faced during their journey.

In conclusion, a map of the Israelites' 40-year journey in the wilderness can help us to better understand this powerful story and the faith and perseverance of the Israelites. By tracing their journey, we can see the locations of the places where they camped and the routes they took, and gain a deeper appreciation for their struggles and ultimate triumph. So why not take a journey through the wilderness with the Israelites and discover the power of their story?

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The Nile Delta was a triangular area of marshland about 150 miles from north to south, from Memphis to the Mediterranean, and about 150 - 200 miles wide.

Upper Egypt was a bit further south from Lower Egypt, starting at Memphis (bottom of the Nile Delta Triangle) and extended for about 600 miles down the Nile River Valley to Elephantine (Aswan).

Genesis 47:6 - The land of Egypt [is] before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest [any] men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.   

Hosea 9:6 - For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant [places] for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns [shall be] in their tabernacles.

Exodus 14:1-2 - And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.

Exodus 14:21-22 - And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

Egypt in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE Egypt 1. The Basis of the Land: Though Egypt is one of the earliest countries in recorded history, and as regards its continuous civilization, yet it is a late country in its geological history and in its occupation by a settled population. The whole land up to Silsileh is a thick mass of Eocene limestone, with later marls over that in the lower districts. It has been elevated on the East, up to the mountains of igneous rocks many thousand feet high toward the Red Sea. It has been depressed on the West, down to the Fayum and the oases below sea-level. This strain resulted in a deep fault from North to South for some hundreds of miles up from the Mediterranean. This fault left its eastern side about 200 ft. above its western, and into it the drainage of the plateau poured, widening it out so as to form the Nile valley, as the permanent drain of Northeast Africa. The access of water to the rift seems to have caused the basalt outflows, which are seen as black columnar basalt South of the Fayum, and brown massive basalt at Khankah, North of Cairo. 2. The Nile Valley: The gouging out of the Nile valley by rainfall must have continued when the land was 300 ft. higher than at present, as is shown by the immense fails of strata into collapsed caverns which were far below the present Nile level. Then, after the excavations of the valley, it has been submerged to 500 ft. lower than at present, as is shown by the rolled gravel beds and deposits on the tops of the water-worn cliffs, and the filling up of the tributary valleys--as at Thebes--by deep deposits, through which the subsequent stream beds have been scoured out. The land still had the Nile source 30 ft. higher than it is now within the human period, as seen by the worked flints in high gravel beds above the Nile plain. The distribution of land and water was very different from that at present when the land was only 100 ft. lower than now. Such a change would make the valley an estuary up to South of the Fayum, would submerge much of the western desert, and would unite the Gulf of Suez and the Mediterranean. Such differences would entirely alter the conditions of animal life by sea and land. And as the human period began when the water was considerably higher, the conditions of climate and of life must have greatly changed in the earlier ages of man's occupation.  Full Article

Egypt in Smith's Bible Dictionary

Egypt (land of the Copts), a country occupying the northeast angle of Africa. Its limits appear always to have been very nearly the same. It is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the east by Palestine, Arabia and the Red Sea, on the south by Nubia, and on the west by the Great Desert. It is divided into upper Egypt --the valley of the Nile --and lower Egypt, the plain of the Delta, from the Greek letter; it is formed by the branching mouths of the Nile, and the Mediterranean Sea. The portions made fertile by the Nile comprise about 9582 square geographical miles, of which only about 5600 is under cultivation. --Encyc. Brit. The Delta extends about 200 miles along the Mediterranean, and Egypt is 520 miles long from north to south from the sea to the First Cataract. NAMES. --The common name of Egypt in the Bible is "Mizraim." It is in the dual number, which indicates the two natural divisions of the country into an upper and a lower region. The Arabic name of Egypt --Mizr-- signifies "red mud." Egypt is also called in the Bible "the land of Ham," Ps 105:23,27 comp. Psal 78:51 --a name most probably referring to Ham the son of Noah --and "Rahab," the proud or insolent: these appear to be poetical appellations. The common ancient Egyptian name of the country is written in hieroglyphics Kem, which was perhaps pronounced Chem. This name signifies, in the ancient language and in Coptic, "black," on account of the blackness of its alluvial soil. We may reasonably conjecture that Kem is the Egyptian equivalent of Ham. GENERAL APPEARANCE, CLIMATE, ETC. --The general appearance of the country cannot have greatly changed since the days of Moses. The whole country is remarkable for its extreme fertility, which especially strikes the beholder when the rich green of the fields is contrasted with the utterly bare, yellow mountains or the sand-strewn rocky desert on either side. The climate is equable and healthy. Rain is not very unfrequent on the northern coast, but inland is very rare. Cultivation nowhere depends upon it. The inundation of the Nile fertilizes and sustains the country, and makes the river its chief blessing. The Nile was on this account anciently worshipped. The rise begins in Egypt about the summer solstice, and the inundation commences about two months later. The greatest height is attained about or somewhat after the autumnal equinox. The inundation lasts about three months. The atmosphere, except on the seacoast, is remarkably dry and clear, which accounts for the so perfect preservation of the monuments, with their pictures and inscriptions. The heat is extreme during a large part of the year. The winters are mild, --from 50  Full Article

The Exodus in Smith's Bible Dictionary

Exodus, The         of the Israelites from Egypt. the common chronology places the date of this event at B.C. 1491, deriving it in this way: --In 1Ki 6:1 it is stated that the building of the temple, in the forth year of Solomon, was in the 480th year after the exodus. The fourth year of Solomon was bout B.C. 1012. Add the 480 years (leaving off one years because neither the fourth nor the 480th was a full year), and we have B.C. 1491 as the date of the exodus. This is probably very nearly correct; but many Egyptologists place it at 215 years later, --about B.C. 1300. Which date is right depends chiefly on the interpretation of the Scripture period of 430 years, as denoting the duration of the bondage of the Israelites. The period of bondage given in Ge 15:13,14; Ex 12:40,41 and Gala 3:17         as 430 years has been interpreted to cover different periods. The common chronology makes it extend from the call of Abraham to the exodus, one-half of it, or 215 years, being spend in Egypt. Others make it to cover only the period of bondage spend in Egypt. St. Paul says in Ga 3:17 that from the covenant with (or call of) Abraham the giving of the law (less than a year after the exodus) was 430 years. But in Ge 15:13,14 it is said that they should be strangers in a strange land,a nd be afflicted 400 years, and nearly the same is said in Ex 12:40 But, in very truth, the children of Israel were strangers in a strange land from the time that Abraham left his home for the promised land, and during that whole period of 430 years to the exodus they were nowhere rulers in the land. So in Ex 12:40 it is said that the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was 430 years. But it does not say that the sojourning was all in Egypt, but this people who lived in Egypt had been sojourners for 430 years. (a) This is the simplest way of making the various statements harmonize. (b) The chief difficulty is the great increase of the children of Israel from 70 to 2,000,000 in so short a period as 215 years, while it is very easy in 430 years. But under the circumstances it is perfectly possible in the shorter period. See on ver. 7         (c) If we make the 430 years to include only the bondage in Egypt, we must place the whole chronology of Abraham and the immigration of Jacob into Egypt some 200 years earlier, or else the exodus 200 years later, or B.C. 1300. in either case special difficulty is brought into the reckoning. (d) Therefore, on the whole, it is well to retain the common chronology, though the later dates may yet prove to be correct. The history of the exodus itself commences with the close of that of the ten plagues. [PLAGUES, THE TEN] In the night in which, at midnight, the firstborn were slain,         Ex 12:29 Pharaoh urged the departure of the Israelites. vs. Ex 12:31,32 They at once set forth from Rameses, vs. Ex 12:37,39 apparently during the night v. Ex 12:42 but towards morning on the 15th day of the first month. Nu 33:3 They made three journeys, and encamped by the Red Sea. Here Pharaoh overtook them, and the great miracle occurred by which they were saved, while the pursuer and his army were destroyed. [RED SEA, PASSAGE OF]  Full Article

The Red Sea in Smith's Bible Dictionary

The Passage of the Red Sea It is necessary to endeavor to ascertain the route of the Israelites before we can attempt to discover where they crossed the sea. The point from which they started was Rameses, a place certain in the land of Goshen, which we identified with the Wadi-t-Tumeylat. They encamped at Succoth. At the end of the second day's journey the camping place was at Etham, "in the edge of the wilderness." Ex 13:20; Nu 33:6 Here the Wadi-t-Tumeylat was probably left, as it is cultivable and terminates in the desert. At the end of the third day's march for each camping place seems to mark the close of a day's journey the Israelites encamped by the sea, place of this last encampment and that of the passage would be not very far from the Persepolitan monument at Pihahiroth. It appears that Migdol was behind Pi-hahiroth and on the other hand Baalzephon and the sea. From Pi-hahiroth the Israelites crossed the sea. This was not far from halfway between the Bitter Lakes and the Gulf of Suez, where now it is dry land. The Muslims suppose Memphis to have been the city at which the Pharaoh of the exodus resided before that event occurred. From opposite Memphis a broad valley leads to the Red Sea. It is in part called the Wadi-t-Teeh, or "Valley of the Wandering." From it the traveller reaches the sea beneath the lofty Gebel-et-Takah, which rises in the north and shuts off all escape in that direction excepting by a narrow way along the seashore, which Pharaoh might have occupied. The sea here is broad and deep, as the narrative is generally held to imply. All the local features seem suited for a great event. The only points bearing on geography in the account of this event are that the sea was divided by an east wind. Whence we may reasonably infer that it was crossed from west to east, and that the whole Egyptian army perished, which shows that it must have been some miles broad.   Full Article

The Bible Mentions "Egypt" Many Times

The Journey to Canaan

After many years of wandering in the wilderness as a consequence of their sin, the Israelites set out from Kadesh-barnea toward the Promised Land. It is difficult to know for certain the exact route they took from Kadesh-barnea to the plains of Moab, but it is possible that they followed a course that went around the lands of Edom and Moab along a desert route, after being refused passage through those lands—or they may have taken another route, through the heart of Edom and Moab along the King’s Highway.

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• How long it took the Israelites to journey to the promised land from Egypt.

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Find out how to calculate the time it took Moses and the people of Israel to travel to the Promised Land from Egypt, based on biblical evidence.

How do we know how long it took Moses and the people of Israel to travel to the Promised Land from Egypt? What is the indicator that allows us to calculate the elapsed time?

Short answer

We usually answer quickly that the journey to the Promised Land took the Israelites forty years. This time is calculated based on the internal evidence provided by the Bible.

Often, when we answer that the people of Israel spent forty years in the wilderness, we imagine that this was the time it took to travel directly from Egypt to the land of Canaan. In reality, both lands were not that far away, but three important circumstances occurred:

• Before the people of Israel entered the promised land they had to prepare themselves spiritually. To that end the journey began in the opposite direction, southward, to reach Mount Sinai, where they would receive the Law of Moses (and the Ten Commandments) and at the foot of which the tabernacle would be built. The Israelites invested little more than a year in all these efforts.
• The people sinned against God when they worshipped the golden calf and showed in other similar ways their lack of spiritual maturity, so God prevented the first generation from entering the Promised Land, providing room for the next generation to grow.
• The people camped and wandered in the wilderness of Zin for most of the forty years mentioned. When the second generation was ready, they had to go around to the east (where Jericho was located) and cross the Jordan before reaching Canaan.

How to count the time of the journey to the promised land

In order for you to clearly identify the main events that comprised this long journey of forty years, I provide you with the following table. Consult for yourself the references in your own scriptures to locate the dates for each event of the journey to the Promised Land. Make notes in the margin of your printed scriptures or using the Gospel Library notes tool.

Although we do not have a record of every event that occurred in the forty years it took the Israelites to journey to the Promised Land, it is easy to observe that they are not uniformly described to us. The scriptures provide much detail about the first two years, which constituted the preparation of the first generation, until their failure to obey God’s commandments in faith. They are silent about the preparatory years of the second generation, and we know of them rather from the summary provided by Moses in Deuteronomy. The Israelites were wandering in the wilderness for most of forty years, some thirty-seven or thirty-eight years, while the next generation was ready. This may constitute a valuable lesson for us on the importance of obeying, from the first time, the advice provided by God through their leaders.

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• 1 Jan. John 2:1-11
• 2 Jan. Luke 4:14-30
• 3 Jan. Luke 4:31-37
• 4 Jan. John 3:1-7
• 5 Jan. John 3:9-19
• 6 Jan. John 4:1-9
• 7 Jan. John 4:7-13
• 8 Jan. John 4:15-26
• 9 Jan. Mark 1:14-15
• 10 Jan. John 4:43-53
• 11 Jan. Luke 7:11-17
• 12 Jan. Mark 1:16-20
• 13 Jan. Mark 1:21-27
• 14 Jan. Mark 1:29-34
• 15 Jan. Mark 1:35-42
• 16 Jan. Matthew 4:25 - 5:10
• 17 Jan. Matthew 5:13
• 18 Jan. Matthew 5:14-16
• 19 Jan. Matthew 5:38-48
• 20 Jan. Matthew 6:5-13
• 21 Jan. Matthew 6:19-24
• 22 Jan. Matthew 7:1-5
• 23 Jan. Matthew 7:7-12
• 24 Jan. Matthew 7:13-14
• 25 Jan. Matthew 7:24-29
• 26 Jan. Mark 2:1-6
• 27 Jan. Mark 2:13-17
• 28 Jan. Mark 2:21-22
• 29 Jan. Mark 2:23-27
• 30 Jan. Mark 3:7-12
• 31 Jan. Mark 3:13-19
• 1 Feb. Mark 3:20-30
• 2 Feb. Mark 4:1-8
• 3 Feb. Mark 4:30-34
• 4 Feb. Mark 4:35-41
• 5 Feb. Mark 5:1-15
• 6 Feb. Mark 5:21-43
• 7 Feb. Mark 6:1-6
• 8 Feb. Mark 6:6-13
• 9 Feb. Mark 6:14-16
• 10 Feb. John 5:1-18
• 11 Feb. Luke 11:1-4
• 12 Feb. Luke 11:5-13
• 13 Feb. Luke 12:13-21
• 14 Feb. Mark 6:31-44
• 15 Feb. Mark 6:45-52
• 16 Feb. Mark 7:1-13
• 17 Feb. Mark 7:24-30
• 18 Feb. Mark 7:31-36
• 19 Feb. Mark 8:11-21
• 20 Feb. Mark 8:22-29
• 21 Feb. Mark 8:31-33
• 22 Feb. Mark 8:34-9:1
• 23 Feb. Mark 9:2-9
• 24 Feb. Mark 9:11-13
• 25 Feb. Mark 9:14-27
• 26 Feb. Mark 9:33-37
• 27 Feb. Matthew 17:24-27
• 28 Feb. Luke 17:11-19
• 1 Mar. John 7:14-24
• 2 Mar. John 7:37-44
• 3 Mar. John 7:44-52
• 4 Mar. John 8:12-20
• 5 Mar. John 8:21-59
• 6 Mar. John 9:1-34
• 7 Mar. Mark 9:42-43
• 8 Mar. Luke 10:25-37
• 9 Mar. Luke 15:11-24
• 10 Mar. Luke 15:25-32
• 11 Mar. Luke 17:20-21
• 12 Mar. John 10:1-10
• 13 Mar. John 10:11-18
• 14 Mar. John 10:22-33
• 15 Mar. John 10:40-11:11
• 16 Mar. John 11:17-44
• 17 Mar. John 11:45-54
• 18 Mar. Luke 19:1-10
• 19 Mar. Mark 11:1-7
• 20 Mar. Luke 19:28,35-40
• 21 Mar. Luke 19:41-44
• 22 Mar. John 12:12-19
• 23 Mar. Mark 11:12-14,20-24
• 24 Mar. Mark 11:15-19
• 25 Mar. Mark 11:27-33
• 26 Mar. Matthew 23:1-28
• 27 Mar. Matthew 25:31-46
• 28 Mar. Mark 12:1-12
• 29 Mar. Mark 12:13-17
• 30 Mar. Mark 12:18-27
• 31 Mar. Mark 12:28-34
• 1 Apr. Mark 12:41-44
• 2 Apr. Mark 14:1-9
• 3 Apr. Mark 14:12-16
• 4 Apr. John 13:1-15
• 5 Apr. John 13:21-30
• 6 Apr. John 14:1-11
• 7 Apr. John 14:15-26
• 8 Apr. John 15:1-11
• 9 Apr. Mark 14:22-25
• 10 Apr. Mark 14:26-31
• 11 Apr. Mark 14:32-42
• 12 Apr. Mark 14:43-52
• 13 Apr. John 18:12-14,19-24
• 14 Apr. Mark 14:53-59
• 15 Apr. Mark 14:60-65
• 16 Apr. Mark 14:66-72
• 17 Apr. Luke 23:1-11
• 18 Apr. John 18:28-40
• 19 Apr. Matthew 27:27-40
• 20 Apr. Matthew 27:62-66
• 21 Apr. Matthew 28:1-10
• 22 Apr. Luke 24:35-43
• 23 Apr. John 20:24-29
• 24 Apr. John 21:1-13
• 25 Apr. Matthew 28:16-20
• 26 Apr. Luke 24:45-53
• 27 Apr. 1 Corinthians 15:1-9
• 28 Apr. John 21:20-25
• 29 Apr. Acts 1:1-5
• 30 Apr. Acts 1:15-26
• 1 May. Acts 2:1-4
• 2 May. Acts 2:5-13
• 3 May. Acts 2:14-42
• 4 May. Acts 2:43-47
• 5 May. Acts 3:1-10
• 6 May. Acts 3:11-26
• 7 May. Acts 4:1-31
• 8 May. Acts 4:32-5:11
• 9 May. Acts 5:12-16
• 10 May. Acts 5:17-42
• 11 May. Acts 6:1-7
• 12 May. Acts 6:8-15
• 13 May. Acts 7:1-60
• 14 May. Acts 8:1,11:19-21
• 15 May. Acts 8:5-8
• 16 May. Acts 8:9-13
• 17 May. Acts 8:14-25
• 18 May. Acts 8:26-40
• 19 May. Acts 2:1-2,3:1-2,5:1-3,8:14-17
• 20 May. Acts 9:32-43
• 21 May. Acts 10:1-23
• 22 May. Acts 10:23-48
• 23 May. Acts 11:1-18
• 24 May. Acts 12:1-19
• 25 May. Acts 7:58-8:3,9:1-9
• 26 May. Acts 9:10-19
• 27 May. Galatians 1:11-2:2
• 28 May. Acts 11:19-26
• 29 May. Acts 11:27-13:3
• 30 May. Acts 13:1-5
• 31 May. Acts 13:4-12
• 1 June Acts 13:13
• 2 June. Acts 13:14-52
• 3 June. Acts 14:1-7
• 4 June. Acts 14:8-20
• 5 June. Acts 14:21-28
• 6 June. Acts 15:1-20
• 7 June. Acts 15:22-35
• 8 June. Acts 15:36-16:5
• 9 June. Acts 16:6-8
• 10 June. Acts 16:9-10
• 11 June. Acts 16:13-15
• 12 June. Acts 16:16-24
• 13 June. Acts 16:25-34
• 14 June. Acts 16:35-40
• 15 June. Acts 17:1
• 16 June. Acts 17:1-9
• 17 June. Acts 17:10-15
• 18 June. Acts 17:16-33
• 19 June. Acts 18:1-11
• 20 June. Acts 18:12-17
• 21 June. Acts 18:18-23
• 22 June. Acts 18:24-28
• 23 June. Acts 19:1-7
• 24 June. Acts 19:8-10
• 25 June. Acts 19:11-20
• 26 June. Acts 19:23-20:1
• 27 June. Acts 20:1-3
• 28 June. Acts 20:3-6
• 29 June. Acts 20:7-12
• 30 June. Acts 20:13-38
• 1 July Acts 21:1-7
• 2 July Acts 21:7-15
• 3 July Acts 21:17-26
• 4 July Acts 21:27-40
• 5 July Acts 22:1-29
• 6 July Acts 22:30-23:11
• 7 July Acts 23:12-32
• 8 July Acts 24:1-26
• 9 July Acts 24:27-25:12
• 10 July Acts 25:13-27
• 11 July Acts 26:1-32
• 12 July Acts 27:1-6
• 13 July Acts 27:7-20
• 14 July Acts 27:21-44
• 15 July Acts 28:1-10
• 16 July Acts 28:11-31
• 17 July Colossians 4:2-17
• 18 July 2 Peter 1:1-2,3:1-16
• 19 July Galatians 1:1-24
• 20 July Galatians 2:1-10
• 21 July Galatians 3:1-14
• 22 July Galatians 3:19-29
• 23 July Galatians 4:1-31
• 24 July Galatians 5:16-25,6:1-18
• 25 July 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
• 26 July 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16
• 27 July 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13
• 28 July 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
• 29 July 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11
• 30 July 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
• 31 July 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12
• 1 Aug. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-15
• 2 Aug. 2 Thessalonians 3:1-18
• 3 Aug. 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
• 4 Aug. 1 Corinthians 1:10-17
• 5 Aug. 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
• 6 Aug. 1 Corinthians 2:1-16
• 7 Aug. 1 Corinthians 3:1-23
• 8 Aug. 1 Corinthians 4:1-17
• 9 Aug. 1 Corinthians 6:1-11
• 10 Aug. 1 Corinthians 7:1-16
• 11 Aug. 1 Corinthians 9:1-27
• 12 Aug. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17,11:20-34
• 13 Aug. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
• 14 Aug. 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
• 15 Aug. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
• 16 Aug. 1 Corinthians 14:1-25
• 17 Aug. 1 Corinthians 14:26-40
• 18 Aug. 1 Corinthians 15:1-26
• 19 Aug. 1 Corinthians 15:35-55
• 20 Aug. 1 Corinthians 16:1-24
• 21 Aug. 2 Corinthians 1:1-11
• 22 Aug. 2 Corinthians 2:12-17
• 23 Aug. 2 Corinthians 3:5-18
• 24 Aug. 2 Corinthians 4:1-6
• 25 Aug. 2 Corinthians 4:7-18
• 26 Aug. 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
• 27 Aug. 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
• 28 Aug. 2 Corinthians 6:1-18,7:1
• 29 Aug. 2 Corinthians 8:1-12
• 30 Aug. 2 Corinthians 11:16-33
• 31 Aug. 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
• 1 Sept. 2 Corinthians 13:5-14
• 2 Sept. Romans 1:1-7
• 3 Sept. Romans 1:18-32
• 4 Sept. Romans 2:1-11
• 5 Sept. Romans 3:19-31
• 6 Sept. Romans 4:1-16
• 7 Sept. Romans 5:1-11
• 8 Sept. Romans 6:1-14
• 9 Sept. Romans 7:1-6
• 10 Sept. Romans 8:5-17
• 11 Sept. Romans 8:18-30
• 12 Sept. Romans 8:31-39
• 13 Sept. Romans 10:1-13
• 14 Sept. Romans 12:1-21
• 15 Sept. Romans 13:1-10
• 16 Sept. Romans 14:1-12
• 17 Sept. Romans 15:1-33
• 18 Sept. Romans 16:1-27
• 19 Sept. Ephesians 1:1-10
• 20 Sept. Ephesians 1:11-22
• 21 Sept. Ephesians 2:1-10
• 22 Sept. Ephesians 2:11-22
• 23 Sept. Ephesians 3:1-13
• 24 Sept. Ephesians 3:14-21
• 25 Sept. Ephesians 4:1-16
• 26 Sept. Ephesians 4:17-32
• 27 Sept. Ephesians 5:1-20
• 28 Sept. Ephesians 5:21-33
• 29 Sept. Ephesians 6:1-9
• 30 Sept. Ephesians 6:10-18
• 1 Oct. Ephesians 6:18-24
• 2 Oct. Colossians 1:1-14
• 3 Oct. Colossians 1:15-23
• 4 Oct. Colossians 2:1-15
• 5 Oct. Colossians 2:16-23
• 6 Oct. Colossians 3:1-17
• 7 Oct. Colossians 3:18-4:6
• 8 Oct. Colossians 4:7-18
• 9 Oct. Philemon 1:1-7
• 10 Oct. Philemon 1:7-25
• 11 Oct. Philippians 1:1-11
• 12 Oct. Philippians 1:12-26
• 13 Oct. Philippians 2:1-18
• 14 Oct. Philippians 3:1-21
• 15 Oct. Philippians 4:1-23
• 16 Oct. 1 Timothy 1:1-7
• 17 Oct. 1 Timothy 1:12-20
• 18 Oct. 1 Timothy 2:1-15
• 19 Oct. 1 Timothy 3:1-13
• 20 Oct. 1 Timothy 4:1-16
• 21 Oct. 1 Timothy 5:1-22
• 22 Oct. 1 Timothy 6:3-21
• 23 Oct. Titus 1:1-14
• 24 Oct. Titus 2:1-15
• 25 Oct. Titus 3:1-15
• 26 Oct. 2 Timothy 1:1-18
• 27 Oct. 2 Timothy 2:1-26
• 28 Oct. 2 Timothy 3:1-17
• 29 Oct. 2 Timothy 4:6-22
• 30 Oct. James 1:1-21
• 31 Oct. James 2:14-19,4:11-12
• 1 Nov. Jude 1:1-24
• 2 Nov. 1 Peter 1:1-11
• 3 Nov. 1 Peter 2:1-10
• 4 Nov. 2 Peter 1:1-19
• 5 Nov. 2 Peter 3:1-16
• 6 Nov. 1 John 1:5-9
• 7 Nov. 1 John 1:1-4
• 8 Nov. 1 John 2:7-17
• 9 Nov. 1 John 2:18-19
• 10 Nov. 1 John 2:20-29
• 11 Nov. 1 John 3:11-24
• 12 Nov. 1 John 4:7-20
• 13 Nov. 2 John 1:1-13
• 14 Nov. 3 John 1:1-15
• 15 Nov. Revelation 1:1-11
• 16 Nov. Revelation 2:1-7
• 17 Nov. Revelation 2:8-11
• 18 Nov. Revelation 2:12-17
• 19 Nov. Revelation 2:18-27
• 20 Nov. Revelation 3:1-6
• 21 Nov. Revelation 3:7-13
• 22 Nov. Revelation 3:14-22
• 23 Nov. Revelation 4:1-11
• 24 Nov. Revelation 5:1-14
• 25 Nov. Revelation 6:1-17
• 26 Nov. Revelation 7:1-17
• 27 Nov. Revelation 12:1-9
• 28 Nov. Revelation 17:1-18:19
• 29 Nov. Revelation 20:1-15
• 30 Nov. Revelation 21:1-27
• 1 Dec. Luke 1:5-20
• 2 Dec. Luke 1:26,39-56
• 3 Dec. Luke 1:57-80
• 4 Dec. Luke 3:1-16
• 5 Dec. Luke 3:15-20
• 6 Dec. Mark 1:1-8
• 7 Dec. Matt 3:13-17, John 1:28-34
• 8 Dec. Mark 6:14-29
• 9 Dec. Matthew 11:2-15
• 10 Dec. Luke 1:26-38
• 11 Dec. Luke 2:1-5
• 12 Dec. Luke 2:6-7
• 13 Dec. Matthew 1:1-17,22-23
• 14 Dec. Luke 2:8-14
• 15 Dec. Luke 2:15-20
• 16 Dec. Luke 2:21-24
• 17 Dec. Luke 2:25-35
• 18 Dec. Matthew 2:1-6
• 19 Dec. Matthew 2:7-9
• 20 Dec. Matthew 2:10-12
• 21 Dec. Matthew 2:13-14
• 22 Dec. Matthew 2:14-15
• 23 Dec. Matthew 2:16-18
• 24 Dec. Matthew 2:19-23
• 25 Dec. John 1:1-14
• 26 Dec. Luke 2:40-43
• 27 Dec. Luke 2:43-52
• 28 Dec. Hebrews 1:1-4
• 29 Dec. Hebrews 3:1-4:1
• 30 Dec. Hebrews 4:14-5:6
• 31 Dec. Hebrews 9:1-5,11-15
• 1 Jan. Genesis 1:1 - 2:3
• 2 Jan. Genesis 2:4-24
• 3 Jan. Genesis 2:8-17
• 4 Jan. Genesis 3:1-23
• 5 Jan. Genesis 4:1-16
• 6 Jan. Genesis 4:17-26
• 7 Jan. Genesis 6:5-22
• 8 Jan. Genesis 7:11-24
• 9 Jan. Genesis 8:1-17
• 10 Jan. Genesis 9:1-16
• 11 Jan. Genesis 10:11-12,32
• 12 Jan. Genesis 11:1-9
• 13 Jan. Genesis 11:27&37,12:1-7
• 14 Jan. Genesis 12:6,8-20
• 15 Jan. Genesis 13:1-18
• 16 Jan. Genesis 14:8-20
• 17 Jan. Genesis 15:1-11,17-21
• 18 Jan. Genesis 16:1-16
• 19 Jan. Genesis 17:1-16
• 20 Jan. Genesis 18:1-16
• 21 Jan. Genesis 19:1-26
• 22 Jan. Genesis 21:1-21
• 23 Jan. Genesis 22:1-18
• 24 Jan. Genesis 23:1-19
• 25 Jan. Genesis 24:1-61
• 26 Jan. Genesis 24:61-67
• 27 Jan. Genesis 25:1-11
• 28 Jan. Genesis 25:19-21,24-34
• 29 Jan. Genesis 26:1-9,12-15,23-25
• 30 Jan. Genesis 27:1-23,30-33,42-45
• 31 Jan. Genesis 28:10-22
• 1 Feb. Genesis 29:1-30
• 2 Feb. Genesis 29:31-35,30:1-12,17-24
• 3 Feb. Genesis 30:25-43
• 4 Feb. Genesis 31:1-21
• 5 Feb. Genesis 31:25-55
• 6 Feb. Genesis 32:1-8,13,22-30
• 7 Feb. Genesis 33:1-11
• 8 Feb. Genesis 33:12-20
• 9 Feb. Genesis 35:1-7
• 10 Feb. Genesis 35:9-15
• 11 Feb. Genesis 35:16-21,27-29
• 12 Feb. Genesis 37:1-11
• 13 Feb. Genesis 37:12-24
• 14 Feb. Genesis 37:25-34
• 15 Feb. Genesis 39:1-6
• 16 Feb. Genesis 39:6-22
• 17 Feb. Genesis 40:1-23
• 18 Feb. Genesis 41:1-14
• 19 Feb. Genesis 41:15-37
• 20 Feb. Genesis 41:39-57
• 21 Feb. Genesis 42:1-38
• 22 Feb. Genesis 43:1-33
• 23 Feb. Genesis 45:1-28
• 24 Feb. Genesis 46:1-7,28-30
• 25 Feb. Genesis 47:1-7,11-12,27-31
• 26 Feb. Genesis 50:1-26
• 27 Feb. Exodus 1:1-14
• 28 Feb. Exodus 1:15-22
• 1 Mar. Exodus 2:1-10
• 2 Mar. Exodus 2:11-15
• 3 Mar. Exodus 2:16-22
• 4 Mar. Exodus 3:1-10
• 5 Mar. Exodus 3:11-20
• 6 Mar. Exodus 4:1-17
• 7 Mar. Exodus 4:18-31
• 8 Mar. Exodus 5:1-21
• 9 Mar. Exodus 5:22-6:9
• 10 Mar. Exodus 7:14-21
• 11 Mar. Exodus 11:1-10
• 12 Mar. Exodus 12:1-17
• 13 Mar. Exodus 12:21-30
• 14 Mar. Exodus 12:29-40
• 15 Mar. Exodus 13:17-14:4
• 16 Mar. Exodus 14:5-31
• 17 Mar. Exodus 15:1-27
• 18 Mar. Exodus 16:1-18,31
• 19 Mar. Exodus 17:1-7
• 20 Mar. Exodus 17:8-16
• 21 Mar. Exodus 18:1-27
• 22 Mar. Exodus 19:1-11,14-19
• 23 Mar. Exodus 20:1-20
• 24 Mar. Exodus 21:1-23:17
• 25 Mar. Exodus 24:12-18
• 26 Mar. Exodus 25:1-26,33
• 27 Mar. Exodus 32:1-20
• 28 Mar. Exodus 32:21-35
• 29 Mar. Exodus 34:1-22,27-29
• 30 Mar. Exodus 40:1-21,33-36
• 31 Mar. Leviticus 1;1-14:4
• 1 Apr. Numbers 1:1-2:34
• 2 Apr. Numbers 10:11-11:35
• 3 Apr. Numbers 12:1-16
• 4 Apr. Numbers 13:1-33
• 5 Apr. Numbers 14:1-38
• 6 Apr. Numbers 14:41-45
• 7 Apr. Numbers 16:1-40
• 8 Apr. Numbers 16:41-17:11
• 9 Apr. Numbers 20:1-13
• 10 Apr. Numbers 20:14-21:4
• 11 Apr. Numbers 21:4-9
• 12 Apr. Numbers 21:10-20
• 13 Apr. Numbers 21:21-35
• 14 Apr. Numbers 22:1-24:25
• 15 Apr. Numbers 25:1-18
• 16 Apr. Numbers 26:1-65
• 17 Apr. Numbers 27:12-23
• 18 Apr. Numbers 31:1-16,25-31
• 19 Apr. Numbers 32:1-38
• 20 Apr. Numbers 34:1-18,35:1-12
• 21 Apr. Deuteronomy 8:1-11
• 22 Apr. Deuteronomy 34:1-12
• 23 Apr. Joshua 1:1-18
• 24 Apr. Joshua 2:1-24
• 25 Apr. Joshua 3:1-17
• 26 Apr. Joshua 4:1-24,5:1
• 27 Apr. Joshua 6:1-27
• 28 Apr. Joshua 7:1-26
• 29 Apr. Joshua 8:1-29
• 30 Apr. Joshua 8:30-35
• 1 May. Joshua 9:1-27
• 2 May. Joshua 10:1-28
• 3 May. Joshua 10:29-43
• 4 May. Joshua 11:1-14
• 5 May. Joshua 13:1-8,14:1-4,18:1
• 6 May. Joshua 20:1-9
• 7 May. Joshua 22:1-16,21,28,30-34
• 8 May. Joshua 23:1-16,24:14-16,22-27
• 9 May. Joshua 24:29-33
• 10 May. Judges 1:1-11,17-19
• 11 May. Judges 2:1-5,10-15
• 12 May. Judges 2:16-23
• 13 May. Judges 3:5-11
• 14 May. Judges 3:12-30
• 15 May. Judges 4:1-24,5:31
• 16 May. Judges 6:1-27
• 17 May. Judges 6:33-40
• 18 May. Judges 7:1-25
• 19 May. Judges 8:4-28
• 20 May. Judges 8:29-9:21
• 21 May. Judges 9:22-49
• 22 May. Judges 9:50-57
• 23 May. Judges 10:1-16
• 24 May. Judges 10:17-11:33
• 25 May. Judges 11:30-31,34-40
• 26 May. Judges 12:1-6
• 27 May. Judges 12:7-15,13:1
• 28 May. Judges 13:2-25
• 29 May. Judges 14:1-11
• 30 May. Judges 14:12-20
• 31 May. Judges 15:1-8
• 1 June Judges 15:9-20
• 2 June Judges 16:1-3
• 3 June Judges 16:4-15
• 4 June Judges 16:16-31
• 5 June Judges 17:1-13
• 6 June Judges 18:1-31
• 7 June Judges 19:1-30
• 8 June Judges 20:1-48
• 9 June Judges 21:1-23
• 10 June Job 1:1-22
• 11 June Job 2:1-13
• 12 June Job 3:11-13:8
• 13 June Job 38:1-42:17
• 14 June Ruth 1:1-22
• 15 June Ruth 2:1-23
• 16 June Ruth 3:1-18
• 17 June Ruth 4:1-17
• 18 June 1 Samuel 1:1-20
• 19 June 1 Samuel 1:21-2:2
• 20 June 1 Samuel 2:11-12,18-26
• 21 June 1 Samuel 3:1-21
• 22 June 1 Samuel 4:1-18
• 23 June 1 Samuel 5:1-12
• 24 June 1 Samuel 6:1-21,7:1
• 25 June 1 Samuel 7:2-17
• 26 June 1 Samuel 8:1-22
• 27 June 1 Samuel 9:1-27,10:1
• 28 June 1 Samuel 10:1-11
• 29 June 1 Samuel 10:13-25
• 30 June 1 Samuel 11:1-15
• 1 July 1 Samuel 12:1-25
• 2 July 1 Samuel 13:2-7
• 3 July 1 Samuel 13:8-15
• 4 July 1 Samuel 14:1-23
• 5 July 1 Samuel 14:24-46
• 6 July 1 Samuel 14:47-15:9
• 7 July 1 Samuel 15:10-31
• 8 July 1 Samuel 16:1-13
• 9 July 1 Samuel 16:14-23
• 10 July 1 Samuel 17:1-52
• 11 July 1 Samuel 17:57-58,18:1-16
• 12 July 1 Samuel 18:17-29
• 13 July 1 Samuel 19:1-18
• 14 July 1 Samuel 20:1-47
• 15 July 1 Samuel 21:1-9
• 16 July 1 Samuel 21:10-11,22:1-5
• 17 July 1 Samuel 22:6-19
• 18 July 1 Samuel 23:1-13
• 19 July 1 Samuel 24:1-22
• 20 July 1 Samuel 25:1-44
• 21 July 1 Samuel 26:1-25
• 22 July 1 Samuel 27:1-12
• 23 July 1 Samuel 28:1-20
• 24 July 1 Samuel 29:1-11
• 25 July 1 Samuel 30:1-31
• 26 July 1 Samuel 31:1-13
• 27 July 2 Samuel 1:1-16
• 28 July 2 Samuel 2:1-7
• 29 July 2 Samuel 2:8-17
• 30 July 2 Samuel 3:1,6-21
• 31 July 2 Samuel 3:22-32
• 1 Aug. 2 Samuel 4:1-12
• 2 Aug. 2 Samuel 5:1-12
• 3 Aug. 2 Samuel 5:17-25
• 4 Aug. 2 Samuel 6:1-23
• 5 Aug. 2 Samuel 7:1-17
• 6 Aug. 2 Samuel 8:1-14
• 7 Aug. 2 Samuel 9:1-13
• 8 Aug. 2 Samuel 10:1-14
• 9 Aug. 2 Samuel 11:1-17,26-27
• 10 Aug. 2 Samuel 12:1-18
• 11 Aug. 2 Samuel 12:24-31
• 12 Aug. 2 Samuel 13:1-39
• 13 Aug. 2 Samuel 14:21-33
• 14 Aug. 2 Samuel 15:1-12
• 15 Aug. 2 Samuel 15:13-37
• 16 Aug. 2 Samuel 16:1-22
• 17 Aug. 2 Samuel 17:1-29
• 18 Aug. 2 Samuel 18:1-33
• 19 Aug. 2 Samuel 19:1-18
• 20 Aug. 1 Kings 1:5-27
• 21 Aug. 1 Kings 1:28-53
• 22 Aug. 1 Kings 2:1-12
• 23 Aug. 1 Kings 2:13-46
• 24 Aug. 1 Kings 3:1-15
• 25 Aug. 1 Kings 3:16-28
• 26 Aug. 1 Kings 4:7,20-34
• 27 Aug. 1 Kings 5:1-18
• 28 Aug. 1 Kings 6:1-22,38
• 29 Aug. 1 Kings 7:1-12
• 30 Aug. 1 Kings 7:13-30,37-38,45-46
• 31 Aug. 1 Kings 8:1-11
• 1 Sept. 1 Kings 8:22-34,54-57,62-63
• 2 Sept. 1 Kings 9:1-9
• 3 Sept. 1 Kings 10:1-10,13
• 4 Sept. 1 Kings 11:1-13
• 5 Sept. 1 Kings 11:14-40
• 6 Sept. 1 Kings 11:42-12:20
• 7 Sept. 1 Kings 12:25-33
• 8 Sept. 1 Kings 14:1-20
• 9 Sept. 1 Kings 14:21-31
• 10 Sept. 1 Kings 15:1-16
• 11 Sept. 1 Kings 15:25-29,17-24
• 12 Sept. 1 Kings 16:1-22
• 13 Sept. 1 Kings 16:23-28
• 14 Sept. 1 Kings 16:29-33
• 15 Sept. 1 Kings 17:1-16
• 16 Sept. 1 Kings 17:17-24
• 17 Sept. 1 Kings 18:1-9,15-21
• 18 Sept. 1 Kings 18:22-40
• 19 Sept. 1 Kings 18:41-46
• 20 Sept. 1 Kings 19:1-18
• 21 Sept. 1 Kings 19:19-21
• 22 Sept. 1 Kings 20:1-22
• 23 Sept. 1 Kings 21:1-16
• 24 Sept. 1 Kings 21:17-29
• 25 Sept. 1 Kings 22:1-40
• 26 Sept. 2 Kings 1:1-18
• 27 Sept. 2 Kings 2:1-15
• 28 Sept. 2 Kings 3:1-27
• 29 Sept. 2 Kings 2:19-22,4:1-7
• 30 Sept. 2 Kings 4:8-37
• 1 Oct. 2 Kings 4:38-44
• 2 Oct. 2 Kings 5:1-15
• 3 Oct. 2 Kings 6:8-23
• 4 Oct. 2 Kings 8:7-15
• 5 Oct. 2 Kings 9:1-25
• 6 Oct. 2 Kings 9:30-37
• 7 Oct. 2 Kings 12:1-12
• 8 Oct. 2 Kings 13:1-9
• 9 Oct. 2 Kings 13:14-21
• 10 Oct. 2 Kings 14:23-29
• 11 Oct. 2 Kings 15:19-20,16:15-18
• 12 Oct. 2 Kings 17:1-18
• 13 Oct. 2 Kings 17:24-34
• 14 Oct. 2 Kings 18:1-8
• 15 Oct. 2 Kings 18:13-21,28-31,36
• 16 Oct. 2 Kings 19:1-10,19-20,32-36
• 17 Oct. 2 Kings 20:1-11
• 18 Oct. 2 Kings 20:12-21
• 19 Oct. 2 Kings 22:1-13
• 20 Oct. 2 Kings 23:1-4,8-11,21-25
• 21 Oct. 2 Kings 23:29-37
• 22 Oct. 2 Kings 24:1-7
• 23 Oct. 2 Kings 24:8-18
• 24 Oct. 2 Kings 25:1-21
• 25 Oct. Daniel 1:1-17
• 26 Oct. Daniel 3:9-15,19-20,24-30
• 27 Oct. Daniel 5:1-13,16-18,20-31
• 28 Oct. Daniel 6:1-11,16-17,19-23
• 29 Oct. Daniel 7:1-9,11-14,16-18
• 30 Oct. Daniel 11:1-9
• 31 Oct. Daniel 12:1-13
• 1 Nov. Ezra 1:1-11
• 2 Nov. Ezra 2:1-70
• 3 Nov. Ezra 3:1-13
• 4 Nov. Ezra 4:1-13,19-21
• 5 Nov. Ezra 5:1-9,6:1-4.13-22
• 6 Nov. Ezra 7:1-6,11-23,8:31-36
• 7 Nov. Nehemiah 1:1-4,2:1-10
• 8 Nov. Nehemiah 2:11-20
• 9 Nov. Nehemiah 4:1-23
• 10 Nov. Nehemiah 5:1-16,6:1-3,15-16
• 11 Nov. Nehemiah 8:1-12
• 12 Nov. Nehemiah 12:27-43
• 13 Nov. Esther 2:1-18
• 14 Nov. Esther 2:19-23
• 15 Nov. Esther 3:1-13
• 16 Nov. Esther 4:1-16
• 17 Nov. Esther 5:1-14
• 18 Nov. Esther 6:1-14
• 19 Nov. Esther 7:1-10
• 20 Nov. Esther 8:1-14
• 21 Nov. Esther 9:1-17,24-28
• 22 Nov. Amos 1:1-15,2:1-2
• 23 Nov. Amos 5:1-7,10-15
• 24 Nov. Hosea 1:1-11
• 25 Nov. Hosea 9:1-9
• 26 Nov. Micah 1:1-9
• 27 Nov. Micah 4:1-5,5:1-5
• 28 Nov. Isaiah 1:1-7,11-20
• 29 Nov. Isaiah 7:1-17,8:3-4
• 30 Nov. Isaiah 9:1-7
• 1 Dec. Isaiah 10:28-34,11:1-10
• 2 Dec. Isaiah 40:1-11
• 3 Dec. Isaiah 44:1-11
• 4 Dec. Isaiah 45:1-7,13-17
• 5 Dec. Isaiah 52:13-15,53:1-12
• 6 Dec. Isaiah 60:1-14
• 7 Dec. Nahum 2:1-13
• 8 Dec. Jeremiah 6:1-8,13-23
• 9 Dec. Jeremiah 7:1-11
• 10 Dec. Jeremiah 18:1-12
• 11 Dec. Jeremiah 19:1-13
• 12 Dec. Jeremiah 23:1-8
• 13 Dec. Jeremiah 26:1-15
• 14 Dec. Jeremiah 29:1-12
• 15 Dec. Zephaniah 1:1-13
• 16 Dec. Habakkuk 1:1-13
• 17 Dec. Ezekiel 1:1-17,22-28
• 18 Dec. Ezekiel 10:1-19,11:22-24
• 19 Dec. Ezekiel 17:1-10
• 20 Dec. Ezekiel 33:21-26,34:1-24
• 21 Dec. Ezekiel 37:1-14
• 22 Dec. Ezekiel 40:1-31
• 23 Dec. Ezekiel 43:1-12
• 24 Dec. Obadiah 1:1-11
• 25 Dec. Haggai 1:1-15
• 26 Dec. Zechariah 1:1-6
• 27 Dec. Zechariah 9:9-17
• 28 Dec. Zechariah 14:1-11
• 29 Dec. Malachi 3:1-5,4:1-6
• 30 Dec. Joel 2:1-11
• 31 Dec. Joel 2:25-32
• Bible Journey 2
• 22. The World of the Old Testament Journeys
• 23.The Journeys of Adam, Enoch, Noah & Abraham
• 24. The Journeys of Isaac, Jacob & Joseph
• 25. The Israelites journey from Egypt to Mt Sinai
• 26. The Journey continues from Sinai to Moab
• 27. The Israelites move into Canaan
• 28. The Israelites face continuing opposition
• 29. The Journeys of Ruth and Samuel
• 30. Israel becomes a kingdom under Saul and David
• 31. The Golden Age of Israel under King Solomon
• 32. The Divided Kingdom & Journey into Exile
• 33. Judah after the fall of Israel
• 34. Judah in exile in Babylonia
• 35. The Exiles return to Judah
• 36. Songs, Prayers & Memorable Sayings
• 37. The Philosopher, the Lover & the Mourner
• 38. Amos, Hosea & Micah criticize Israel
• 39. Isaiah predicts the fall of Israel & Judah
• 40. Isaiah offers comfort to those in exile
• 41. Jonah goes to Nineveh & Nahum condemns it
• 42. Jeremiah warns of the destruction of Jerusalem
• 43. Zephaniah & Habakkuk foretell Judah's fall
• 44. Ezekiel warns of the conquest of Jerusalem
• 45. Obadiah foretells the punishment of Edom
• 46. Haggai & Zechariah encourage re-building
• 47. Malachi & Joel await the Day of the LORD
• 48. The Jewish World of the Old Testament
• 49. Judaism and Christianity compared

Ex 12:37-51    The Israelites set out from Avaris (Raamses) on the 14 th day of the Jewish month of Nisan in c.1447BC. As it was halfway through the lunar month, the night sky was lit by a full moon.

The Israelites set out towards Succoth (the ancient Egyptian town of Tjeku in the Wadi Tumilat ). Succoth (the Hebrew word indicating a ‘shelter’) was located to the south of Avaris (Raamses) near Pithom (on the site of Tell al-Maskutah ) . The Israelites possibly came this way to meet up with other fellow Hebrews escaping from Pithom (see 1 on Map 44 ). 

Map 44    The Journey from Egypt to Sinai

The Israelites had lived in Egypt and Canaan for 430 years – half of this time in Egypt (see Exodus 12:40 where footnotes usually indicate the inclusion of the words “and Canaan ” in the earliest versions of the Bible). The Jewish historian Josephus explains that the Israelites left Egypt 430 years after Abraham travelled to Canaan , and 215 years after Joseph invited Jacob and his family to settle in Egypt .

The Israelites take their cattle and sheep – and their unleavened bread - with them.

Ex 13:1-16    The firstborn of every Israelite family, herd and flock are consecrated to God as a commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt .

Ex 13:17-18    God leads the Israelites – but not by the direct road that goes up the coast to Philistia ( The Way of the Sea ). Instead, they follow the desert road "towards the Red Sea ” (Exodus 13:18) (that is, when translated correctly, towards the Sea of Reeds – Hebrew , ‘Yam-suf’) (see  2 on Map 44 ).

Ex 13:19    In accordance with his request before he died (see Genesis 50:25), Joseph’s bones are removed from the small pyramid-shaped mausoleum in the garden of his palace at Avaris and are taken out of Egypt by the Israelites.

The Eastern Desert of Egypt near Etham

Ex 13:20    The Israelites move further south and camp at Etham on the edge of the Eastern Desert (see  3 on Map 44 ).

Ex 13:21-22    The LORD goes ahead of the Israelites as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

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The Exodus From the Land of Egypt

Exodus 15:1-2 - I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.

Map of The Exodus (Old Testament)

Quick Summary The Israelites Passed Through the Red Sea. After the 10 plagues that were brought upon the Egyptians, Pharaoh gave the order to let the Israelites go free. It was through God's mighty miracles that the Hebrews were delivered from Egyptian bondage, and the man Moses was the tool that God chose to work his miracles. Moses brought the Israelites to the Red Sea, Moses raised his staff and the walls of the sea stood up on both sides and the Israelites passed through it on dry ground. The Bible reveals that they passed through the Red Sea at a place called Baal-Zephon. This place has not been identified with certainty.

They Began their Journey. The Israelites began their journey through the wilderness to the promised land, to take possession of the land of Canaan that was promised to their father Abraham. After they crossed the Red Sea they camped at a place called Marah, where the waters were bitter, and after they complained God sweetened the water by a miracle. After that they camped at Elim where there were 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees to encourage God's people, and strengthen their faith. Then they came to Rephidim, and continued through the wilderness of sin. They passed by Dophkah and Alush, and it was here in the wilderness that God provided them Manna for food, turning the dew into wafer-like bread. The manna continued until they reached the land of Canaan. Later Moses provided water for the Israelites by smiting a rock in Horeb. After this Moses was visited by his father-in-law Jethro, a priest from Midian, who brought Moses' wife and children to him. When the Israelites came to Mount Sinai they were terrified of God, who revealed himself on the mountain. During this time God delivered the 10 Commandments to Moses, and spoke them to the Israelites from the mountain. After these powerful events the Israelites came to Taberah, Kibroth, and Hattavah. Soon after this Aaron and Miriam rebelled against Moses. After this they journeyed through the wilderness of Paran to Kadesh-barnea.

Spying Out the Land of Canaan. From Kadesh-barnea the Israelites sent 12 spies, one from each of the 12 tribes, to look over and spy out the land of Canaan. After seeing the land, 10 of them right back a very bad report because they were afraid of the walled cities and the giants in the land. Only two of them, Joshua and Caleb, brought back a good report and had courage to enter the land. The Israelites after hearing the bad news were afraid, and wanted to return to it Egypt. God was so displeased with their lack of faith that he "decreed that all who were 20 years old and upwards, except Joshua and Caleb, should die in the wilderness."

Egypt and the Nile River. The land of Egypt was blessed with the Nile River, and everything near this river was fruitful. Egypt was truly called "the gift of the Nile", and without this magnificent river everything around would be a desert. In Egypt the desert is everywhere, but along both sides of the Nile River is black mud which created lush farmland. The great mountains of Africa carry rich soil into Egypt via the Nile River. Nearly every year the Nile River would overflow its banks, when the snow on the mountains had melted. This would cause the soil near the banks of the Nile to be very rich and fertile, and this is the reason why Egypt was called "the gift of the Nile".

Geographical Facts. The Nile River is the longest river in the entire world, flowing over 4000 miles from its origin down in Central Africa and dumping into the Mediterranean Sea. In fact the river flows from south to north which is very unusual for a river. The Nile River is between 2 miles and 30 miles wide depending on where you are along the river. If one were to park along the bank of the river and walk on shore, there would be lush dark soil or "black mud" for a period of time, and suddenly it would become dry sandy desert colored red. In the ancient world when people noticed this dark line running down the landscape, they describe it as looking like a thread, and the Egyptians referred to it as "Redland Blackland." The Egyptians built their homes in the desert a short distance away from the rich dark black thread of soil. According to Genesis 10 the father of Egypt was Noah's grandson Mizraim whose name comes from two words that means "red soil" and "two Matzor or Egypts" which no doubt alludes to the red color of the desert sand, and a prophecy of the dual nature of Upper and Lower Egypt. The modern Arabic name for Egypt is Muzr.

The Nile Delta. At the northernmost portion of the Nile River, also known as the mouth, there is the great Nile Delta. In fact this is the meaning of the word Delta, when a river flows for a very long time the mouth begins to form many channels. The word Delta is actually the fourth letter in the Greek alphabet and looks like a triangle, with a point on one end and a fan on the opposite end, and this fan provides the imagery of the mouth of a river. The Delta never stops widening because of the new soil deposits.

Etymology of the word "Nile". The Greek word Nilus is not an Egyptian word or meaning, nor is the Semitic word Nahar which means river. The ancient Egyptians revealed the meaning in the hieroglyphic names of the river, in reference to various gods and goddesses, for example Isis, and the natural attributes of the Nile River attributed to her. Hapi means that "overspreads" alluding to abundance, Nu means that is "lifted up". Uka speaks of what "gushes forth". Akba Ura speaks of "great weeping", when the Nile overflows its banks. The ancient Egyptians also spoke of the river as a divine serpent.

Genesis 12:9-10 - "And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land."

Also see: Smith's (Nile) , and the Table of Nations in Gen 10

Map of the Journeys of Abraham and Map of Egypt in Biblical Times - Bible History Online

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The Story of the Bible

Summary of the old testament books, read the old testament stories, bibliography resources on the old testament, table of contents, abraham the first hebrew, adam and eve, ancient mesopotamia, bibliography and credits, cain and abel, chronology of the prophets in the old testament, deuteronomy, ecclesiastes, jacob and the 12 tribes, joseph and egypt, joshua and the promised land, king solomon, lamentations, moses and the exodus, noah's ark, old testament lands, old testament peoples, quick summary, saul, israel's first king, the 7 days of creation, the assyrian captivity, the babylonian captivity, the book of the song of solomon, the divided kingdom, the fall of man, the giving of the law, the kingdom of egypt, the land of israel's natural features, the messiah, the nile river, the northern kingdom of israel, the prophets, the return from babylon, the southern kingdom of judah, the tabernacle, the tower of babel, the wilderness wanderings.

The Israelites’ Journey From Egypt To Canaan

Introduction to the Israelites Journey

Background of the israelites in egypt.

Before embarking on the monumental trek from Egypt to Canaan , the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt for hundreds of years. This bondage was marked by harsh labor and oppression, meted out by Pharaoh and his officials. Despite their living conditions, they were able to sustain their distinct identity, cultural traditions, and religious beliefs, all of which centered around the worship of Yahweh, their God.

Their existence was fundamentally rooted in the promises made to their ancestors – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – that they would proliferate as a great nation, albeit in a land not their own initially. This set the backdrop for their incredible exodus journey.

The call to freedom – Leaving Egypt

In the annals of Israelite history, a pivotal point is marked by their monumental exit from Egypt, signifying the birth of a prolonged quest for a promised land, Canaan . The biblical recount vividly portrays the divine intervention through Moses, who was chosen by God to lead his people to freedom.

This progression began with the dramatic confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh, which culminated in the release of the Israelites, marking the start of their Exodus. Their departure from the land of pyramids, a realm of subjugation, was more than just a journey – it was a bold march towards liberation and, ultimately, their prophesied homeland.

The Leadership of Moses

The role of moses in the deliverance of israelites.

Moses, a Hebrew by birth but raised in the Egyptian royal court, emerged as the formidable figure that would change the destiny of the Israelites. His pivotal role was validated when he was chosen by God at the Burning Bush. It was here, he received the divine mission to free the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. Through Moses, God performed miraculous feats – the ten plagues led to their emancipation and the parting of the Red Sea facilitated their escape.

Never faltering in his faith, Moses became the mediator of the Old Covenant at Mount Sinai, receiving the Ten Commandments. His ability to safeguard and motivate the Israelites during their forty-year sojourn through wilderness and his humble submission to God’s will underscores his unrivaled leadership and staunch devotion towards his people’s liberation.

Moses’ relationship with God

Throughout the journey from Egypt to Canaan, a significant hallmark of Moses’ leadership was his unique relationship with God, which shaped the entire sojourn. Regarded as the chosen servant of God, Moses enjoyed an exceptional closeness with the Divine, crystalising in the miraculous signs, wonders, and prophetic events that marked the Israelites’ exodus.

God’s guidance was revealed to Moses in remarkable ways such as through a burning bush or in the form of the Ten Commandments, essential in informing Moses’ decisions as a leader. This extraordinary relationship demonstrated a robust trust and dependence on God, showcasing Moses as a faithful, obedient servant and tenacious leader. Their relationship was characterized by heart-to-heart conversations, highlighting Moses’ role as an intimate intermediary between God and his people.

Related: When Was Israel In Egypt’s Land?

Crossing the Red Sea

Miraculous escape from pharaoh.

In a divine display of might and mercy, the Israelites were salvaged from Pharaoah’s tyranny at the Red Sea. Moses, directed by God, stretched his staff over the water, causing it to part and reveal a dry pathway. The escapees crossed unscathed while the Egyptian pursuers were swallowed by the returning tide. It wasn’t a test of Israelites’ faith but an extraordinary assurance of divine protection that marked the beginning of their 40-year-long journey towards the promised land.

Demonstrating God’s power

In an awe-inspiring display of divine might, the escape from Egyptian bondage reached a dramatic climax when the Israelites encountered the Red Sea. With the Pharaoh’s army in pursuit, God miraculously parted the waters, providing a dry passage for His people. As they crossed, towering walls of water formed an imposing corridor, symbolizing God’s unyielding protection. When their persecutors attempted to follow, the sea closed upon them, extinguishing their threat. This miraculous event solidified the Israelites’ faith in God’s overwhelming power.

The Sinai experience and the Ten Commandments

Encounter at mount sinai.

On reaching Mount Sinai, a significant event unfolds in the narrative of the Israelites’ exodus. Here, they experienced a divine encounter with God, a transformative moment that anchored their collective identity. God descended upon the mountain in fire, enveloping it in smoke, and gave Moses the Ten Commandments. These laws, inscribed on stone tablets, served as the moral and spiritual foundation for the Israelites.

This episode at Sinai, beyond signaling a physical stop in their journey, marked a pivotal moment in their spiritual journey towards becoming a covenanted people. It was here that their covenantal relationship with God was reinforced and their religious and cultural distinctiveness was etched out.

Receiving the Ten Commandments

At the crux of the Sinai Experience lies the momentous occasion of receiving the Ten Commandments. After escaping Egypt, the Israelites positioned themselves at Mount Sinai, where Moses was said to have had an encounter with God. It was here the Israelites were bestowed with the Ten Commandments, a set of moral and religious imperatives.

These commandments covered various aspects of life, including integrity, neighborly love, familial respect, and divinity. They formed the basis of their legal and ethical standards, framing their societal conduct. This monumental event solidified not just their belief but also their collective identity as they journeyed toward Canaan.

The Wandering in the Wilderness

Tests and trials in the desert.

The Israelites, under Moses’ leadership, faced numerous challenges during their 40 years in the wilderness following their exodus from Egypt. This spiritual and physical sojourn was marked by various instances where the faith of the Israelites was sternly tested. These trials included the scarcity of food and water, which were miraculously answered by Divine Providence, like in the instances of manna from heaven and water from a rock.

Another considerable trial was the continued temptation to revert to idolatry, notably demonstrated in the idol worship incident around the golden calf. The harsh environmental conditions of the desert, coupled with military confrontations with other tribes also added to their plight. Despite these adversities, the Israelites’ journey was primarily to mold them into a people of God, instilling in them not just obedience, but also a steadfast faith, preparing them for a future life in Canaan.

God’s sustenance during the journey

In their arduous voyage, the Israelites’ faith often wavered, but divine intervention constantly supplied their needs, showcasing the infallible providence that accompanied them. When their sustenance diminished, raining down from heaven was Manna, an unknown but nutritious substance, and Quail to provide them with food. Miraculously, for the thirsty, water gushed out from rocks when Moses, under God’s command, struck it with his staff to quench their thirst.

This constant supply was not merely physical provision; it was an illustration of God’s ceaseless care for His people, despite their recurrent grumblings and doubts. It also served as a continual reminder that even in times of desolation and seeming abandonment, divine provision would not cease. Thus, through these divine interventions, God catered to their needs and fortified their faith, leading them through the daunting wilderness towards Canaan, the Promised Land.

The Entrance into Canaan

Spies sent to canaan.

In a significant event as recorded in the Book of Numbers, Moses commissioned 12 spies – one from each of the tribes of Israel , to scout the land of Canaan. They were to gather valuable information about the native inhabitants, topographical details, and the fertility of the land. On their return, the majority of the spies produced an alarming report about the formidable Canaanites, causing fear and dissent among the Israelites.

However, two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua, expressed faith in God’s promise to grant them the land, demonstrating a minority report imbued with courage and optimism. This momentous espionage mission deeply impacted the Israelites’ perception of their journey and marked a pivotal point in their entry into Canaan.

Conquering the Promised Land

Upon successfully traversing the wilderness, the Israelites were led by Joshua, Moses’ successor, into Canaan – the land promised to them by God. The conquest, however, was far from straightforward; it involved a series of battles, starting with the significant fall of Jericho. Here, the Israelites undertook a divine tactic; marching around the city walls for seven days until they collapsed.

Over the subsequent years, they engaged in numerous conflicts with the existing Canaanite tribes, gradually claiming territory. They faced occasional setbacks, but a combination of divine aid and strategic warfare saw them prevail. Despite this, their control over the region remained inconsistent till the time of King David who established a venerable rule over the entirety of Canaan. The Israelites’ journey thus marked a transition from a nomadic lifestyle to the establishment of a biblical nation.

Lessons from the Journey

The importance of obedience and trust.

Amidst the Bible’s chronicle of the mass exodus lays an essential truth about trusting and obeying God’s instructions. The Israelites’ 40-year trek saw numerous instances where their obedience was tested, often resulting in hardships but also blessings on compliance. Unwavering faith in God’s plan, despite their arduous circumstances, ultimately led them to the Promised Land. This journey underscores the significant role obedience and trust play in overcoming life’s challenges and achieving our ultimate goals.

The role of faith in overcoming obstacles

Journeying from Egypt to Canaan, the Israelites were faced with towering difficulties including hostile terrain, lack of sustenance, and threats from surrounding nations. Their unwavering faith in God’s promise of deliverance, however, served as their anchor. With every challenge, the Israelites’ resolve deepened, turning trials into pillars of growth and transformation. Their belief that God would fulfill His promises, no matter how dire the circumstances, exemplifies how faith can be a powerful catalyst to mitigate adversities.

In conclusion, it’s important to encapsulate the key themes and lessons from this epic narrative. This journey, often called the Exodus, is not just a physical trek across deserts and seas, but also a spiritual and cultural metamorphosis.

Firstly, the Exodus epitomizes the themes of liberation and faith. The Israelites’ escape from slavery in Egypt, under the leadership of Moses, symbolizes the triumph of freedom over oppression. Their journey was marked by miraculous events, like the parting of the Red Sea and the receiving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, which underscored the intervention of the divine in human affairs.

Secondly, this journey represents a period of testing and transformation. The Israelites’ wanderings in the desert, with challenges ranging from scarcity of food and water to internal dissent, were not just physical trials but also spiritual and moral tests. These experiences shaped their identity as a people and solidified their covenant with God.

Thirdly, the journey to Canaan highlights the theme of promise and fulfillment. Canaan, the “Promised Land”, was more than a geographical destination; it represented a divine promise of a homeland where the Israelites could establish themselves as a nation. Their arrival in Canaan was not just the end of a physical journey, but the beginning of a new chapter in their history.

In summary, the Israelites’ journey from Egypt to Canaan is a powerful narrative filled with lessons about faith, identity, and perseverance. It reminds us that journeys, whether physical or spiritual, are often as significant as the destination itself. This story continues to resonate with people across generations, offering insights into the human experience and the enduring power of faith and hope.

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The Route Through Sinai: Why the Israelites Fleeing Egypt Went South

028 The Route Through Sinai: Why the Israelites Fleeing Egypt Went South -->

By Itzhaq Beit-Arieh

Can modern ecology and ethnology help to establish the route of the Exodus? I believe they can.

The Bible clearly identifies by name the stops along the Exodus route ( Numbers 33:5–37 ). The area settled by the Israelites in Egypt is consistently identified as Goshen ( Genesis 45:10 , 47:1 , 4 ), which surely lay in the eastern Nile Delta. The Israelite rallying point for the Exodus was the Raamses, one of the store cities in the eastern Nile Delta that the Israelites had built for Pharaoh ( Exodus 12:37 ; Numbers 33:3 , 5 ); that is where the Exodus began.

Later the Israelites arrived at 031 Kadesh-Barnea ( Numbers 33:36 ; Deuteronomy 1:19 ). There they spent “many days” ( Deuteronomy 1:46 ). From Kadesh-Barnea the Israelites attempted to, and finally did, enter Canaan.

With almost no dissent, scholars are agreed that Kadesh-Barnea is to be identified with the modern site of Ein el-Qudeirat. a Located at the confluence of two, important, ancient desert routes in northeastern Sinai and adjacent to the most abundant spring in northern Sinai, Ein el-Qudeirat also fits the geographical markers for Kadesh-Barnea in the Bible. Indeed, Ein el-Qudeirat has no real competition as the site of Kadesh-Barnea. There is also a tell at Ein el-Qudeirat (formerly Tell el-Qudeirat and now called Tel b Kadesh-Barnea), but thus far it has yielded no remains earlier than the tenth century B.C., hundreds of years after the Exodus. And this, of course, remains a problem.

Having located the beginning point and the end point of the Israelites’ wilderness trek, it remains only to determine how the wanderers got from point A to point B. That, however, is easier said than done.

The Bible mentions several sites where the Israelites arrived shortly after leaving Raamses. From Raamses, they went to Succoth ( Exodus 12:37 ; Numbers 33:5 ). From there, they went to Etham “on the edge of the wilderness” ( Numbers 33:6 ). From Etham, they turned back and camped at Migdol ( Numbers 33:7 ). These and a few other sites mentioned in this passage are no doubt also in the eastern Nile Delta, and scholars have suggested a number of candidates for these sites.

The problems for scholars really begin, however, after the Israelites entered the desert. The Israelites started with a three-day journey into the wilderness of Etham, arriving at Marah. From there, they went to Elim and from there to the Reed Sea by the wilderness of Sin. Next came Dophkah, then Alush and on and on, one site after another ( Numbers 33 ).

And we have no idea where these sites are. They simply cannot be located on the ground with any confidence. That is why we have so many proposed routes for the Israelites’ wilderness wandering.

To have validity at all, any suggested route must follow what I call the tracks of Sinai. Except along the Mediterranean coast, the roads or trackways of Sinai run—and have run from time immemorial—along the dry streambeds called “wadis.” Most ancient settlements were built beside these wadis, 1 not only for the obvious reason of ease of communication with other settlements, but also because the available water resources were located mostly in the wadi beds, rather than on the high mountain uplands.

Four principal routes for the Exodus have been suggested by scholars.

The first and shortest is the northern route, along the Mediterranean Sea—the “way of the sea,” first mentioned by that name in Isaiah 9:1 (8:23 in Hebrew). Since the Roman period, this route has been known in Latin as the Via Maris. The ancient Egyptians, at least in the reign of Seti I (1313–1301 B.C.), used it for military campaigns against the northern countries and called it “the way of Horus.” The Bible refers to it also as the “way of the Philistines,” but goes on to state explicitly that this was not the route taken by the Israelites after they left Egypt:

“Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, ‘The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.’ So God led the people roundabout, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds” ( Exodus 13:17–18 ).

Proceeding from north to south, the next candidate for the Exodus route through Sinai is the Way of Shur. This appears to have been the route taken by the patriarchs on their way to the land of Goshen ( Genesis 16:7 , 25:18). This route probably led from the area of Kadesh-Barnea via Jebel Halal, Bir Haseneh and Bir Gafgafa to the area of the modern town of Ismailia. The route passed between lakes where the Egyptians had constructed a fortification line called “Shur Mitzrayim,” the Wall of Egypt, to protect the Delta and to control the movement of nomads coming from the other side.

Another possibility is the Way of Seir ( Deuteronomy 1:2 ). This route probably led from the Gulf of Suez, via Eilat, to the mountain of Seir in the land of Edom, in southern Jordan. c Today, this route is known as the 032 “Darb el Haj,” or Way of the Celebrants, because caravans of Moslem pilgrims travel along it on their way to Mecca for the observance of the haj (pilgrimage). In Biblical times it was named after its destination, the Mountain of Seir, or Edom.

The final and most southerly possibility is “the way to the hill country of the Amorites” ( Deuteronomy 1:19 ). This route led from Mount Horeb in the south (wherever that is) to Kadesh-Barnea.

If we accept a southern location for Mt. Sinai, then this way is related to the second half of the Exodus journey—“From Horeb we went through all that great and terrible wilderness” ( Deuteronomy 1:19 ). d This route would proceed (along the Gulf of Eilat) to Ezion-Geber ( Numbers 33:16–35 ) and, via “the way to the hill country of the Amorites,” to Kadesh (-Barnea) ( Numbers 33:36 ). This segment is referred to in the Bible as “the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea” ( Exodus 13:18 ).

At least theoretically, each of these routes is a possibility. How do we decide among them?

Mt. Sinai was of course a critical stop along the route; if we could locate the mountain where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, that could well be determinative of the route through the Sinai.

But, as we all know, the location of Mt. Sinai is in dispute and is a matter of speculation at best. Some scholars locate it deep in southern Sinai. Others go in the other direction and place it in the Negev Highlands. Still others place it in central Sinai; and others in north central Sinai. One scholar (Emmanuel Anati) argues that it is a site in the central Negev; another (Frank Moore Cross) that it is in Arabia. For those who wish to pursue the matter further, I have listed in the sidebar “Proposed Locations of Mt. Sinai” the various mountains that have been proposed, their locations and the scholars who support each location (with citations to their work).

It is interesting that of all the sites proposed for Mt. Sinai, only two have remains of human presence in ancient times.

One, proposed by the Italian scholar Emmanuel Anati, is the site known as Har Karkom, located in the central Negev Highlands, about 70 miles southwest of 033 Beer-Sheva and 50 miles northwest of Eilat. Anati recently published a sumptuously illustrated book titled The Mountain of God , concerning his recent investigation of this massif, and even earlier reported to BAR readers on his findings. e I do not wish to comment at length on Professor Anati’s interpretation of certain structures discovered on this massif, except to note that his interpretation seems to me to strain the limits of my strictly archaeological approach. However, the most important point in connection with the problem we are exploring in this article is that most of the remains at Har Karkom date to the third millennium B.C., far too early for anyone’s (except Anati’s) reckoning of the Exodus. Moreover, those architectural elements at Har Karkom that Anati interprets as “cultic” are found in parallel forms at other mountain sites both in Eastern Sinai and in the Negev itself. At one mountain site in the Negev—Hasham el-Tarif—located some 40 miles southwest of Eilat, the remains of a number of sanctuaries, most of them open-air sanctuaries, were found. 2 These have been dated generally (due to a lack of specific finds) to the fifth or fourth millennium B.C. They are contemporary with the sanctuary recently excavated in Bika’at Uvda (on the fringes of the Arava, about 30 miles north of Eilat), also dated to the fifth millennium B.C. The remains discovered on the Har Karkom massif are also from this period, extending to as late as the third millennium B.C. So Har Karkom can hardly be Mt. Sinai and thus affords no assistance in locating the route of the Exodus.

The other site proposed for Mt. Sinai where human remains have been found is Serabit el-Khadem. f At Serabit el-Khadem, turquoise deposits were exploited by the ancient Egyptians during the Middle and New Kingdom periods (c. 1991–1190 B.C.). 3 At the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, a sanctuary dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Hathor was built here and was continually expanded over the centuries.

A number of very early alphabetic inscriptions (dated to about 1500 B.C.) have been found at Serabit el-Khadem in the mine area, rather than in the sanctuary area. Known as Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions, this pictographic-alphabetic script seems to have been used for a Semitic-Canaanite language. 4 Other examples of this script from an even earlier time (c. 1600 B.C.) have also been found in Canaan!

In addition, several pictures of what appear to be Semites were engraved on stelae in the Serabit el-Khadem sanctuary, and some of the names written on it in hieroglyphics are also Semitic.

Clearly, Semites were present at this Egyptian mining operation.

Some scholars have suggested that an Egyptian religious tradition sanctified Serabit el-Khadem, and that this religious tradition was somehow passed on to the Israelites. In that way, Serbit el-Khadem provided the model for Mt. Sinai.

Few scholars and fewer laymen are likely to be convinced by this speculation, however. Moreover, at the time of the Exodus, whether in the 13th century B.C. or in the 15th century B.C., Egyptian turquoise mining in the Sinai was at its most intensive. As we are told in the Egyptian dedication stelae of the Serabit el-Khadem sanctuary, Egyptian army escorts guarded the mines and the mining personnel. It is therefore highly unlikely that at this time the Israelites would have experienced a theophany here. Serabit el-Khadem is not Mt. Sinai.

We must admit that we can get no help in locating 035 the Exodus route by trying to locate Mt. Sinai.

Let us therefore look at the ecological and ethnological picture of Sinai to see what guidance we can find.

The entire Sinai peninsula covers over 23,000 square miles. I would like to concentrate, however, on the nearly 2,900 square-mile area of south central Sinai.

Geologically, south central Sinai is part of the Arabian-Nubian massif. The highest peaks reach 8,200 feet above sea level. The mountain landscape is broken and cut by ravines and gullies. Some of these wadis are only a few yards wide; others are 500 feet wide and more.

As noted earlier, these wadis, or at least the wider ones, provide convenient natural passages along which traffic moves; they form the principal routes and arteries of the region and are also the main areas in which human activity was, and still is, concentrated.

South central Sinai has a semi-desert climate. The median low temperature in winter is 23° Fahrenheit; the median high temperature in summer is 105° Fahrenheit. Rainfall is rare and irregular. The average annual rainfall is less than 2.5 inches. However, a small amount of melt water from the snows that cover the mountain peaks in winter adds to the water supply.

Water resources also include rock aquifers (natural, subterranean reservoirs), which are sufficiently close to the surface to be rather easily tapped. Natural open pools along wadis also collect runoff rainwater. The water accumulated in these pools can be drawn on for many months of the year. In a few places, springs fed by high ground-water levels flow into the wadis. It is at these places where oases, such as the Feiran oasis in the west and Ein-Kid oasis in the east, have developed. A fairly dense growth of typically stunted, desert trees and bushes covers the streambeds and the nearby plain areas. This growth is exploited by the local Bedouin for grazing, as well as for fuel.

Today, the area has a population of approximately 10,000 Bedouin, who live in both temporary and permanent settlements. Their dwellings consist mostly of tents, wooden huts and, at the more permanent sites, a few stone structures.

In the 15 years between 1967 and 1982, when Israeli archaeologists had access to Sinai, it was clearly shown that the largest concentration of ancient settlements was in this mountainous region of south central Sinai. Except for the coastal strip, all other areas of Sinai have few economic resources and little water, as a result of which there is almost no regular or settled population. Central Sinai is called in Arabic “Badyat el-Tih,” the Desert of the Wanderers. It is a flat area of limestone and sand, unsuitable for farming of any kind. Even the wild flora struggle to survive because of the lack of water.

Based on this evidence, I believe that the southern 036 route is the one most likely taken by the Israelites on their trek from Raamses to Kadesh-Barnea. As compared with other regions of Sinai, here in south central Sinai they would have found a reasonably adequate water supply and a relatively comfortable climate that makes it possible to maintain a daily lifestyle suitably adapted to the conditions of the desert. Moreover, the high mountains of south central Sinai are geomorphologically adapted to providing plenty of rock shelters; the high cliffs shield settlements established in their lee against the blasts of the cold winter winds.

Compared to other parts of Sinai, this region is ecologically better adapted to the sustenance of life, because it is covered by assorted vegetation consisting of acacia and palm trees and a fairly dense growth of perennial bushes, along with a seasonal cover of grasses and weeds suitable for pasturing sheep and goats.

In a pastoral economy (where ordinary argiculture is not possible) a flock of goats is essential. The Bedouin flocks even today are mostly black goats of a special dwarf breed physiologically adapted to arid conditions. As experiments have shown, this breed of goat can go for as long as 14 days without water. At the end of the two-week period, the goats will have lost 40 percent of their body weight. Although deprived of water for this entire period, however, the goats show no ill effects and continue to carry out their bodily functions normally. Then, when given water, they gulp up enough in two minutes to equal 40 percent of their body weight.

This animal’s ability to endure for weeks without water allows Sinai pastoralists to wander long distances with their flocks. The economic existence of the ancient population of south central Sinai was probably dependent on the domestication of the desert goat, which provided the populace not only with meat and milk, but also with hides and perhaps with wool as well.

In our excavations, g we found numerous animal bones of black, dwarf-breed goats from as early as the third millennium B.C. With flocks of such goats, the pastoralists could range across south central Sinai without having to worry about a nearby water source, such as a pool, a cistern or a well.

The concentration of Bedouin in this area today confirms our analysis of the situation in ancient times. In this respect, things haven’t changed very much.

But there is another reason why I believe that this is the area most likely traversed by the Israelites on their way through Sinai. That relates to the area’s geographic isolation vis-à-vis the regions that surround it. This isolation results from the region’s geomorphological structure, which cuts it off from the mountain ranges to the north and from the Red Sea gulfs on the east and west.

Whether for this or for other, additional reasons, ancient Egyptian hegemony never extended into south central Sinai. As we have seen, the Egyptians did reach the western strip of southern Sinai, where they worked the turquoise mines of Serabit el-Khadem and similar mines at nearby Wadi Maghara. But despite the fact that south central Sinai contains copper deposits that were highly prized in ancient times, there is no evidence to indicate that the Egyptians were active in the exploitation of these copper deposits.

Perhaps they refrained from penetrating into the south central mountain region, because they feared a conflict with the local population, which enjoyed a clear strategic advantage over any foreign invader. This is suggested by an Egyptian rock relief discovered in the Wadi Maghara. This relief, dating to about 2600 B.C., depicts the pharaoh Sekhemkhet, the third king of the third dynasty, smiting an enemy. Whether the depicted act was an actual historical event is irrelevant; the fact remains, the Egyptians perceived the need to invoke magical powers against their enemies in this region.

In any event, for whatever reason, we find no evidence of an Egyptian presence in south central Sinai at any time in the entire history of ancient Egypt.

So south central Sinai was suitable as the wandering ground of the Israelite tribes not only from an economic-ecological viewpoint, but also from the geopolitical viewpoint. It was a region free of any Egyptian presence. Here, in short, the Israelites were safe.

Yet there is a problem. Nowhere have we found any material remains of human occupation at the time (Late Bronze Age—1550–1200 B.C.) when the Exodus is supposed to have occurrred . h Perhaps it will be argued, by those who subscribe to the traditional account in the Bible, that the Israelite material culture was only of the flimsiest kind that left no trace. Presumably the Israelite dwellings and artifacts consisted only of perishable materials.

But it must be pointed out that we did find substantial evidence of human occupation from even earlier periods. We discovered scores of settlements, especially from the so-called pre-pottery Neolithic period (sixth-fifth millennia B.C.) and from the Early Bronze Age II period (first half of the third millennium B.C.). In the EB II period, a Canaanite population established a series of small settlements in south central Sinai. The principal economic activity of these settlements was the production of copper from locally mined ores, which was then transported by caravan to the large population centers in Canaan.

What are we to conclude then from all this evidence? It is clear that no single, consistent picture of the Exodus emerges. But what we can say is that if a large-scale Exodus as described in the Bible, or even a small-scale Exodus, did in fact occur, it probably followed the southern route through the Sinai.

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See Rudolph Cohen, “Did I Excavate Kadesh-Barnea?” BAR 07:03.

A tel or tell is an artificial mound formed by accumulated remains. “Tel” is the spelling used in Hebrew site names; “tell” is the spelling used in Arabic site names.

Another view (held by Zvi Ilan and supported by some other scholars) is that the mountain of Seir is not located in Jordan, but in east central Sinai close to the Negev Highlands. According to this view, this route starts in the Temed area and goes north via the Wadi Watir, the Wadi Shaireh and Jebel Shaireh (notice the similarity between the Arabic name Shaireh and the Hebrew name Sinai) to Kadesh-Barnea ( -->see dashed line on map -->). In this view, Horeb/Sinai should be located in the area of Temed because “there are 11 days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir unto Kadesh-Barnea” ( Deuteronomy 1:2 ).

The mountain of God is called both “Horeb” and “Sinai” at different places in the Bible (see, for example, Exodus 3:1 and Deuteronomy 1:6 for “Horeb”; and Exodus 19:20 , 34:29 for “Sinai”).

See Emmanuel Anati, “Has Mt. Sinai Been Found?” BAR 11:04.

From 1971 to 1982 I headed an archaeological expedition, on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University, that investigated the archaeology of southern and eastern Sinai.

See my article, “Fifteen Years in Sinai,” BAR 10:04.

For the earlier date, see John J. Bimson and David Livingston, “Redating the Exodus,” BAR 13:05; for the later date, see Baruch Halpern, “Radical Exodus Redating Fatally Flawed,” BAR 13:06).

Itzhaq Beit-Arieh, “A Pattern of Settlement in Southern Sinai and Southern Canaan in the Third Millennium B.C.,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 243 (1981), pp. 31–54.

U. Armer, “Ancient Cult Sites in the Negev and Sinai Deserts,” Tel Aviv 11 (1984), pp. 115–131.

William M. Flinders Petrie, Researches in Sinai (New York: Dutton 1906); see also Beit-Arieh, “Fifteen Years in Sinai,” BAR 10:04; and Beit-Arieh, “Serabit el-Khadim: New Metallurgical and Chronological Aspects,” Levant 17 (1985), pp. 89–116.

William F. Albright, The Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions and Their Decipherment (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1969); Frank Moore Cross, “The Evolution of the Alphabet,” Eretz-Israel 8 (1967) p. 12; and Joseph Naveh, Early History of the Alphabet (Jerusalem. Magnes Press, Hebrew Univ., 1982).

Biblical Historical Context

A Christian layman’s perspective on the intersection between archaeology, historical criticism, text, and faith.

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Israelite Origins: Egyptian domination of Canaan

13 minute read

Nu 13:28–29 “…the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large; and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the land of the Negeb; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

Such was the report of the 12 tribal representatives sent by Moses to spy out the promised land. Based on this passage we may imagine that Canaan was a land of strong, well defended city states.

40 years after the spies’ report, on the plain of Moab just before his death, Moses reiterated the same sentiments:

Dt 9:1–2 Hear, O Israel! You are about to cross the Jordan today, to go in and dispossess nations larger and mightier than you, great cities, fortified to the heavens, a strong and tall people, the offspring of the Anakim, whom you know.

This second passage helps to fill out the picture – the Israelites faced a number of Canaanite tribes, namely, the Amalekites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites; and we know where they lived, namely, the Negev desert in the south, the hill country, the Mediterranean coast, and in the Jordan valley. That’s pretty comprehensive – the land from north to south, from east to west, was filled with Canaanites in great cities with massive walls.

From the point of view of scripture alone , that’s the situation we’d expect to be the case in Canaan around 40 years before the Israelites began the conquest of Canaan. However, the archaeological and epigraphical data would disagree…

On becoming the sole ruler of Egypt in around 1458 BCE 1 after 21 years co-regency with his aunt Hatshepsut, Thutmose 2 III lost little time making a name for himself that would echo down the halls of time.

Thutmose III began the first and most decisive of the great conqueror’s campaigns 3 in the region of Canaan and Syria establishing Egyptian dominance over the region. The first of these campaigns was recorded in detailed relief in Thutmose’s annals on the walls in the temple at Karnak, now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Usefully for us today the annals are an example of Egyptian royal records at their most realistic and least rhetorical 4 so their historicity needn’t be dismissed out of hand.

Reading through them we find that Thutmose III travelled through Gaza, Yehem, and on to Megiddo where he fought against a coalition of Canaanites and other peoples from the Levant that were stationed in that city.

The Annal’s description of the way it took place makes for fun reading:

His majesty set out on a chariot of fine gold, decked in his shining armor like strong-armed Horus, lord of action, like Mont of Thebes, his father Amun strengthening his arm… Then his majesty overwhelmed them at the head of his army. When they saw his majesty overwhelming them, they fled headlong [ to ] Megiddo with faces of fear, abandoning their horses, their chariots of gold and silver, so as to be hoisted up into the town by pulling at their garments. 5

So far all was going to plan. The problem for Thutmose III was that instead of finishing the job, his army got distracted by loot:

Now if his majesty’s troops had not set their hearts to plundering the possessions of the enemies, they would have [ captured ] Megiddo at this moment… 6

Instead, they had to put the city under siege and wait for those holed up to come “ on their bellies to kiss the ground to the might of his majesty, and to beg breath for their nostrils… “ 7 as the Annals record.

After seven months 8 the siege broke. Thutmose III received a whole load of booty from the city, and, most importantly, “replaced the defeated local chiefs” 9 , appointing petty kings in a divide-and-rule strategy.

So began Egypt’s domination of Canaan. For the next 250 or so years Egypt ruled Canaan with an iron fist:

Egypt now ruled over a hegemonic empire in western Asia. City-states from Canaan to southern Syria acknowledged the pharaoh as their suzerain, paid tribute, and sent their children to Egypt when requested to do so—the girls as member of the royal harim, the boys as hostages who would be returned to their homes properly trained in loyalty to their overlord when their turn to rule came. 10

The Pharaohs that succeeded Thutmose III from both the rest of the 18thand 19th dynasty all kept an interest in Canaan with only infrequent rebellions to squash.

The Egyptian presence in Canaan was significant. For example it was at Beth-Shean that the largest concentration of Egyptian monuments outside of Egypt was uncovered . 11 They set up administrative centres in Aphek, Gaza, and Jaffa. 12

But, what stands out most in the archaeological record from the time period of Egyptian domination isn’t so much what was there as wasn’t – from the time of Thutmose III until the end of Egyptian rule, almost all towns in Canaan had no city wall . 13 Excluding Hazor, Megiddo, and (possibly) Gezer – the very largest Canaanite cities – the only towns with walls constructed in the Late Bronze age are Ashdod, Tel Abu Hawam, and Tel Beit Misrim. 14 The rest stood vulnerable and unprotected – just how Pharaoh wanted them.

This was a highly unusual state of affairs in the ancient Near East and is a demonstration of just how tight Egyptian control was:

How can we explain the lack of fortifications at cities which in the preceding period were heavily defended? The most plausible assumption is that Egyptian policy in Canaan outlawed the building of fortifications by Canaanite rulers. 15

In fact, Egyptian rule was so tight that with Egypt firmly in charge of security for the entire province, there was no need of massive defensive walls . 16

The subservience of the Canaanite petty kings shown as a result of theirvulnerable position is shown in letters they wrote to Pharaoh, many of which have been discovered at Amarna. Here’s a selection of some of the ways they opened their letters:

EA 286 (from the ruler of Jerusalem): Say [t]o the king, my lord: Message of ʿAbdi-Ḫeba, your servant. I fall at the feet of my lord, the king, 7 times and 7 times. 17

EA 254 (from the ruler of Shechem): To the king, my lord and my Sun: Thus Lab’ayu, your servant and the dirt on which you tread. I fall at the feet of the king, my lord and my Sun, 7 times and 7 times. I have obeyed the orders that the king wrote to me. Who am I that the king should lose his land on account of me? The fact is that I am a loyal servant of the king! 18

EA 228 (from the ruler of Hazor): Say [t]o the king, my lord: Message of ʿAbdi-Tirši, the ruler of Ḫaṣuru, your servant. I fall at the feet of the king, my lord, 7 times and 7 times «at the feet of the king, my lord». 19

A ‘ruler’ who feels he has to open a letter to Pharaoh in such a grovelling manner is quite clearly not in charge. Far from it. Here’s one particularly embarrassing example:

EA 277 (from the ruler of Qiltu): [To the king, my lord, my god, my Sun: Message of …], yo[ur ser]vant, [the dirt at] your [fee]t. [I fa]ll [a]t the fe[et of the king, my lord], my god, [my Sun], 7 times and 7 t[imes]. The order that the king, my lord, my god, my Sun, sent to me, I am indeed carrying out for the king, my lord. 20

Yes, that is the whole letter.

The petty Canaanite kings report squabbles between themselves to Pharaoh, asking him to step in like little children do their parents:

EA 246 (from the ruler of Megiddo): The two sons of Lab’ayu have indeed gi[v]en their money to the ʿApiru and to the Su[teans in ord]er to w[age war again]st me.[May] the king [take cognizance] of [his servant]. 21

It really is pitiable stuff.

Another aspect of the Egyptian domination of Canaan that ought to be pointed out is the policy of depopulation placed on the natives. Here’s Redford’s summary:

Thutmose III carried off in excess of 7,300, while his son Amenophis III uprooted by his own account 89,600. Thutmose IV implies that he carried off the inhabitants of Canaanite Gezer to Thebes, while his son Amenophis III speaks of his Theban mortuary temple as “filled with male and female slaves, children of the chiefs of all the foreign lands of the captivity of His majesty – their number is unknown – surrounded by the settlements of Syria.” 22

We’re going to come back to the topic of Late Bronze age deportation in a future post and get into the detail there, but for now we just need to understand that depopulation happened, and it left Canaan all the more weakened and all the more in the shadow of Egypt.

In summary then, Canaan became essentially a province of a newly formed Egyptian empire, ruled over by Pharaoh who through various policies kept the petty kings he’d installed in a vulnerable position. Under Egyptian rule the grand and wealthy city states of Canaan became impoverished and defenceless.

So, what does the Egyptian domination of Canaan have to do with Israelite origins? Well, a fair bit.

Firstly, if the Exodus and conquest of Canaan occurred as read in 1446 and 1406 BCE as the Early Date Exodus timeframe demands (i.e. you take the Masoretic Text of 1 Kings 6:1 at face value ignoring everything else the Bible tells us about the date of the Exodus), it’s curious that the book of Joshua doesn’t mention an Egyptian presence in Canaan. It describes all the battles the Israelites fought as being against Canaanite coalitions – here they are:

Jos 10:3–4 “So King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem sent a message to King Hoham of Hebron, to King Piram of Jarmuth, to King Japhia of Lachish, and to King Debir of Eglon, saying, “Come up and help me, and let us attack Gibeon; for it has made peace with Joshua and with the Israelites.”

Jos 11:1–4 “When King Jabin of Hazor heard of this, he sent to King Jobab of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph, and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in Naphoth-dor on the west, to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah. They came out, with all their troops, a great army, in number like the sand on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots.”

There’s no mention of Egyptian domination, Egyptian outposts, or Egyptian armies. There are just independent Canaanite city states defended by massive Canaanite armies – just as a flat, face value reading of the spies’ report recorded in Numbers would have us believe. And that’s rather odd given that almost all towns in Canaan were unwalled, underpopulated, and in thrall to the Egyptians. If the book of Joshua was situated in the Late Bronze age, as the Early Date Exodus and conquest demand, we’d read of battles against Egyptians , not Canaanites .

Quite simply, the book of Joshua doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground in Canaan in the early 14th century BCE. If you want to persist with holding to the Early Date Exodus and conquest you need to come up with an explanation as to why the Egyptian domination of Canaan gets not a single mention in the book of Joshua. 23 24

If the Early date is out, what about the Late Date Exodus and conquest? Does the book of Joshua describe what was going on in Canaan at the end of the 13th century as that timeframe demands? As Finkelstein explains, in the thirteenth century BCE, the grip of Egypt on Canaan was stronger than ever . 25 So, for all the same reasons as it doesn’t work for the Early Date, the Late Date conquest theory doesn’t fit with the archaeological and epigraphical evidence either.

In conclusion: the biblical record, and particularly the book of Joshua, is found, at least on a flat and context-free reading, to describe a situation that doesn’t match the basic facts. It describes powerful coalitions of powerful Canaanite city states, yet in reality most towns were weak, and defenceless. It describes massive armies, and yet the Egyptians had put in place a policy of depopulation. Finally, nowhere in the biblical record is it mentioned that Canaan was under absolute Egyptian domination.

Yet, in around 1208 BCE, the epigraphical evidence of the Merneptah Stele shows us that there was a people group, almost certainly locatedin the hill country, that the Egyptians called “Israel”.

In the next post we’ll get into our last bit of background before we finally start talking about Israelite Origins: the topic of the Late Bronze Age Collapse.

Further reading

• Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman, “A Different Kind of Canaan”, in The Bible Unearthed (Free Press, 2001), 76–79.
• Amihai Mazar, “In the Shadow of Egyptian Domination: The Late Bronze Age,” in Archaeology of the Land of the Bible 10,000-586 B.C.E. (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1990), 232–290.
• William J. Murnane and Edmund S. Meltzer, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt (vol. 5; Writings from the ancient world; Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1995)
• Donald B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (Princeton University Press, 1992), 156-213.
• Ian Shaw, “Thutmose III in the Levant,” in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (Oxford University Press, 2000), 237-241.

Featured image

The House of the Egyptian Governor, Beth Shean. In the background you can see over the Jordan valley to northern Gilead.

Dates and time periods relating to Egyptian chronology are from Ian Shaw, The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (Oxford University Press, 2000), 480-490.  ↩

AKA “Tuthmosis”, AKA “Thutmosis”, AKA various other similar spellings.  ↩

Donald B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (Princeton University Press, 1992), 156.  ↩

Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature: Volume II: The New Kingdom (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973–), 29.  ↩

Ibid., 32.  ↩

Ibid.  ↩

Ibid., 33.  ↩

As explained on the Gebel Barkal Stele: “When they entered into Megiddo, my majesty shut them up for a period up to seven months, before they came out into the open, pleading to my majesty and saying: ‘Give us thy breath, our lord!’” James Bennett Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (3rd ed. with Supplement.; Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), 238.  ↩

Shaw, op. cit., 208.  ↩

William J. Murnane and Edmund S. Meltzer, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt (vol. 5; Writings from the ancient world; Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1995), 2.  ↩

Amihai Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible 10,000-586 B.C.E. (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1990), 282.  ↩

Ibid., 236 & 247.  ↩

Ibid., 243.  ↩

Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman, The Bible Unearthed (Free Press, 2001), 77.  ↩

Moran, op. cit., 326.  ↩

Ibid., 307.  ↩

Ibid., 289.  ↩

Ibid., 320.  ↩

Ibid., 300.  ↩

Redford, op. cit., 208-209.  ↩

You’re also going to have to come up with an explanation for the fact that the book of Joshua mentions the Philistine pentapolis (Jos 13:3); something that wasn’t in place until the late 11th century BCE. We’ll get into this interesting quirk in a future post.  ↩

Oh, and I’m afraid that chronological revisionism doesn’t count – we’re interested in reality, not wishing it away.  ↩

Finkelstein & Silberman, op. cit., 78.  ↩

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TV: Egypt denies agreeing with Israel to reopen Rafah border crossing

Egypt has denied it has agreed with Israel to reopen the vital Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, an Egyptian TV channel reported on Friday.

Earlier this month, Israel took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, in an operation that halted aid deliveries via the facility into the heavily populated coastal strip.

Citing a high-level source, Egypt's state-affiliated al-Qahera News TV said on Friday that "there is no truth" in media reports about an Egyptian-Israeli agreement to reopen the crossing.

"Egypt insists on a full Israeli withdrawal from the crossing as a condition to resume its work," the source said.

Since the closure of the crossing, Egypt has indicated it will not coordinate aid transports through Rafah until the Israeli forces withdraw.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. But, the ongoing military campaign in Gaza has inflamed anti-Israeli sentiment in the Arab world's most populous nation, and apparently strained their decades-old ties.

Cairo is also concerned that an expansion of the Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, crowded by refugees fleeing the fighting, could trigger a mass exodus into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Israel deems Rafah the last stronghold of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which killed hundreds of civilians in Israel in October last year.

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The US-built pier in Gaza broke apart. Here’s how we got here and what might be next

The U.S.-built temporary pier that has been taking humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians for less than two weeks will be removed from the coast of Gaza to be repaired after getting damaged in rough seas and weather, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

These images released by Maxar Technologies show the newly completed pier in the Gaza Strip on May 18, 2024, top, and the remaining section of the temporary pier on May 29, 2024. A string of security, logistical and weather problems have battered the plan to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza through a U.S. military-built pier. Broken apart by strong winds and heavy seas just over a week after it became operational, the project faces criticism that it hasn’t lived up to its initial billing or its $320 million price tag. (Satellite images ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)

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FILE - This image provided by the U.S. Army shows trucks loaded with humanitarian aid from the United Arab Emirates and the United States Agency for International Development cross the Trident Pier before arriving on the beach on the Gaza Strip, May 17, 2024. A string of security, logistical and weather problems have battered the plan to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza through a U.S. military-built pier. Broken apart by strong winds and heavy seas just over a week after it became operational, critics complain that the project hasn’t lived up to its initial billing or its $320 million price tag. (Staff Sgt. Malcolm Cohens-Ashley/U.S. Army via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A string of security, logistical and weather problems has battered the plan to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza through a U.S. military-built pier .

Broken apart by strong winds and heavy seas just over a week after it became operational, the project faces criticism that it hasn’t lived up to its initial billing or its $320 million price tag.

U.S. officials say, however, that the steel causeway connected to the beach in Gaza and the floating pier are being repaired and reassembled at a port in southern Israel, then will be reinstalled and working again next week.

While early Pentagon estimates suggested the pier could deliver up to 150 truckloads of aid a day when in full operation, that has yet to happen . Bad weather has hampered progress getting aid into Gaza from the pier, while the Israeli offensive in the southern city of Rafah has made it difficult, if not impossible at times, to get aid into the region by land routes.

Aid groups have had mixed reactions — both welcoming any amount of aid for starving Palestinians besieged by the nearly eight-month-old Israel-Hamas war and decrying the pier as a distraction that took pressure off Israel to open more border crossings, which are far more productive.

It’s “a side-show,” said Bob Kitchen, a top official of the International Rescue Committee.

The Biden administration has said from the start that the pier wasn’t meant to be a total solution and that any amount of aid helps.

“Nobody said at the outset that it was going to be a panacea for all the humanitarian assistance problems that still exist in Gaza,” national security spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday. “I think sometimes there’s an expectation of the U.S. military — because they’re so good — that everything that they touch is just going to turn to gold in an instant.”

“We knew going in that this was going to be tough stuff,” he added. “And it has proven to be tough stuff.”

Before the war, Gaza was getting about 500 truckloads of aid on average every day. The United States Agency for International Development says it needs a steady flow of 600 trucks a day to ease the struggle for food and bring people back from the brink of famine .

These images released by Maxar Technologies shows the newly completed pier on the Gaza Strip on May 18, 2024, top, and ther emaining section of the temporary pier on May 29, 2024. A string of security, logistical and weather problems have battered the plan to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza through a U.S. military-built pier. Broken apart by strong winds and heavy seas just over a week after it became operational, critics complain that the project hasn’t lived up to its initial billing or its $320 million price tag.(Satellite images ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)

The aid brought through the pier was enough to feed thousands for a month, but U.N. data shows it barely made a dent in the overall need of Gaza’s 2.3 million people.

Here’s a look at the timeline of the pier, the problems it faced and what may come next:

MARCH: ANNOUNCEMENT AND PREP

MARCH 7: President Joe Biden announces his plan for the U.S. military to build a pier during his State of the Union address.

“Tonight, I’m directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza that can receive large shipments carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters,” he said.

But even in those first few moments, he noted the pier would increase the amount of humanitarian aid getting into Gaza but that Israel “must do its part” and let more aid in.

MARCH 8: Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon spokesman, tells reporters it will take “up to 60 days” to deploy the forces and build the project.

MARCH 12: Four U.S. Army boats loaded with tons of equipment and steel pier segments leave Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia and head to the Atlantic Ocean for what is expected to be a monthlong voyage to Gaza.

The brigade’s commander, Army Col. Sam Miller, warns that the transit and construction will be heavily dependent on the weather and any high seas they encounter.

LATE MARCH: U.S. Army vessels hit high seas and rough weather as they cross the Atlantic, slowing their pace.

APRIL: CONSTRUCTION AND HOPE

APRIL 1: Seven World Central Kitchen aid workers are killed in an Israeli airstrike as they travel in clearly marked vehicles on a delivery mission authorized by Israel.

The strike fuels ongoing worries about security for relief workers and prompts aid agencies to pause delivery of humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

APRIL 19: U.S. officials confirm that the U.N. World Food Program has agreed to help deliver aid brought to Gaza via the maritime route once construction is done.

APRIL 25: Major construction of the port facility on the shore near Gaza City begins to take shape. The onshore site is where aid from the causeway will be delivered and given to aid agencies.

APRIL 30: Satellite photos show the U.S. Navy ship USNS Roy P. Benavidez and Army vessels working on assembling the pier and causeway about 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from the port on shore.

MAY: THE PIER OPENS … THEN CLOSES

MAY 9: The U.S. vessel Sagamore is the first ship loaded with aid to leave Cyprus and head toward Gaza and ultimately the pier. An elaborate security and inspection station has been built in Cyprus to screen the aid coming from a number of countries.

MAY 16: Well past the 60-day target time, the construction and assembly of the pier off the Gaza coast and the causeway attached to the shoreline are finished after more than a week of weather and other delays.

MAY 17: The first trucks carrying aid for the Gaza Strip roll down the newly built pier and into the secure area on shore, where they will be unloaded and the cargo distributed to aid agencies for delivery by truck into Gaza.

May 18: Crowds of desperate Palestinians overrun a convoy of aid trucks coming from the pier, stripping the cargo from 11 of the 16 vehicles before they reach a U.N. warehouse for distribution.

May 19-20: The first food from the pier — a limited number of high-nutrition biscuits — reaches people in need in central Gaza, according to the World Food Program.

Aid organizations suspend deliveries from the pier for two days while the U.S. works with Israel to open alternate land routes from the pier and improve security.

MAY 24: So far, a bit more than 1,000 metric tons of aid has been delivered to Gaza via the U.S.-built pier, and USAID later says all of it has been distributed within Gaza.

MAY 25: High winds and heavy seas damage the pier and cause four U.S. Army vessels operating there to become beached, injuring three service members, including one who is in critical condition.

Two vessels went aground in Gaza near the base of the pier and two went aground near Ashkelon in Israel.

MAY 28: Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh says large portions of the causeway are being pulled from the beach and moved to an Israeli port for repairs. The base of the causeway remains at the Gaza shore.

She also says that aid in Cyprus is being loaded onto vessels and will be ready to unload onto the pier once it is back in place.

MAY 29: Two of the Army vessels that ran aground in the bad weather are now back at sea and the other two near the pier are being freed, with the aid of the Israeli navy.

WHAT’S NEXT?

In the coming days, the sections of the causeway will be put back together, and by the middle of next week will be moved back to the Gaza shore, where the causeway will once again be attached to the beach, the Pentagon says.

“When we are able to re-anchor the pier back in, you’ll be able to see that aid flow off in a pretty steady stream,” Singh said Tuesday. “We’re going to continue to operate this temporary pier for as long as we can.”

AP writer Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed.