A 3-Days’ Journey to Mt. Sinai
To help us discover the location of Mount Sinai, we must return to our earliest sources and follow the instructions which provide the distance from the eastern border of Egypt, as defined in the days of Moses, to Mount Sinai.
This evidence will begin to answer the question of whether or not the mountain of the eloahim could be as far away as the southern regions of the Sinai Peninsula, let alone somewhere in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, or Jordan.
3-Days’ Journey
According to our earliest sources, Mount Sinai was only a 3 days’ journey from the border of Egypt. For example, when Moses first met Yahweh at Mount Sinai, he was ordered to bring the Israelites “out of Mizraim (Egypt)” and bring them to this very mountain. At this point, Moses quotes Yahweh as having told him:
When you have brought forth the people (of Israel) out of Mizraim, you shall serve eloahim על ההר הזה (al ha-har hazah; upon this mountain). (Exod. 3:12)
This statement is our first indication that Mount Sinai was somewhere beyond the borders of Egypt, for it is only after Moses brings the Israelites “out of Mizraim” that they would “serve eloahim upon this mountain.”
Yahweh then tells Moses:
And you shall enter in, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Mizraim, and you will say to him, Yahweh eloahi of the Hebrews has met with us, and now let us walk, please, דרך שלשת ימים (derek shalshath yomim; a road of 3 days) into the wilderness and let us sacrifice to Yahweh our eloahi. (Exod. 3:18)
Josephus (late 1st century C.E.) writes regarding the above-mentioned conversation:
Howbeit he (Yahweh) charged him (Moses), AFTER he had brought the Hebrews out of Egypt, to come to that spot and there offer sacrifices of thanksgiving.1
Philo (mid-1st century C.E.) adds that Moses was told:
Take with you (out of Egypt) also the elders of the nation (of Israel), and tell him (Pharaoh) that the people have received a command from me (Yahweh) to make a 3 days’ journey beyond the Borders of the country (of Egypt).2
Taken all together, these statements make it clear that Moses was to bring the Israelites “out of Mizriam (Egypt)” and then continue “beyond the borders” of that country for a distance calculated as walking “a road of 3 days,” i.e., “a 3-days’ journey.” At the end of this journey, Moses would arrive at Mount Sinai to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to Yahweh.
Demetrius the Chronographer, while commenting on how the unarmed Israelites were able to obtain weapons to fight the Amuleq at Rephidim as they approached Mount Sinai,3 writes:
Someone might ask how the Israelites had weapons since they marched out ἄνοπλοι (anoploi; unarmed).4 For they said that after they had gone out on a 3-days’ journey and made sacrifices, they would return. It appears, therefore, that those who had not been drowned made use of the other’s arms.5
The “others” are the Egyptians, whose arms came to the Israelites after Pharaoh and his army drowned in the Suph Sea.6
Confronting Pharaoh
Other passages support these details. For example, the book of Exodus informs us that both Moses and his brother Aaron confronted Pharaoh in the land of Mizraim, telling him:
The eloahim of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go, we pray you, a 3-days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Yahweh our eloahi, lest he will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword. (Exod. 5:3)
Josephus writes regarding this same encounter:
So he (Moses) went to the king (of Egypt) and urged him to let the Hebrews go to Mount Sinai to sacrifice there to the deity, for so he had commanded, and in no wise oppose his will, but to esteem his gracious favor above all else and permit them to exit.7
Accordingly, Josephus understood that Pharaoh had to give the Israelites permission to “exit” the country so that they could continue in the wilderness until they reached “Mount Sinai.” In Philo’s version, he states that when Moses and Aaron arrived in Egypt, they first spoke secretly to the Israelite leaders.
In the Wilderness
The story then continues:
After this they were now emboldened to talk to the king, and lay before him their request that he should SEND out of his boundaries the people to sacrifice. They told him that their ancestral sacrifices must be performed in the wilderness, as they did not conform with those of the rest of mankind, but so exceptional were the customs peculiar to the Hebrews that their rule and method of sacrifices ran counter to the common course.8
The book of Yashar, which used records from as far back as the 1st century C.E., similarly records that Moses told Pharaoh:
Now, therefore, send us, so that we can take a 3-days’ journey in the wilderness and there will sacrifice to him (Yahweh).9
This evidence again points out that Mount Sinai was a 3-days’ journey in the wilderness beyond the boundaries of Egypt and, therefore, in a region outside of Pharaoh’s control. Moses indicates that this particular wilderness, across which a 3-days’ journey was to be made, was not part of any wilderness region within the country of Egypt.
To demonstrate, at one point during the plagues suffered in Egypt due to the fact that Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go, Pharaoh repented and gave partial permission.
The book of Exodus reports:
And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said: Go, sacrifice to your eloahi in the land (i.e., of Mizraim). And Moses replied: It is not agreeable to do so; for that which is seen as loathsome to the Mizraim (people) we offer to Yahweh our eloahi. See, (if) we offer that which is loathsome to the Mizraim before their eyes, will they not stone us? A road of 3 days (3-days’ journey) נלך (nalak; we will walk) into the wilderness and sacrifice to Yahweh our eloahi as he TOLD us. And Pharaoh said, I will send you away and you will sacrifice to Yahweh your eloahi in the wilderness; only do not go very far off. Pray for me (Exod. 8:25-28)10
Beyond the Borders of Egypt
This passage is fully supported by Philo, as cited above, who notes that the Israelites were to “make a 3-days’ journey beyond the borders of the country (of Egypt).” Nevertheless, Pharaoh did not want to let them go beyond his control, so he, at first, ordered them to sacrifice within the land of Egypt.
Nevertheless, Moses insisted the Israelites had to follow Yahweh’s instructions. Pharoah’s response was to agree but warned them “only do not go very far off,” i.e., do not go far beyond his border and his control. Therefore, the 3-days’ journey that Yahweh requested by the hand of Moses did not begin until one had actually left the borders of Egypt (Mizraim) and the power of Pharaoh.
Philo adds one more important dimension to the equation. As already pointed out, while the Israelites were at Rephidim, Philo reports that the Israelites “came within sight of the confines of the land οἰκουμένης (oikoumenes; inhabited with houses) and the outlying districts of the country in which they proposed to settle.
This country was occupied by the Phoenicians (i.e., Kanaani).”11 Kanaan in the days of Moses only extended as far south as that part of the Negeb lying opposite Petra. Furthermore, Mount Sinai was only “short stages” from Rephidim.12
Philo then adds another important comment:
So, having received the authority which they (the Israelites) willingly gave him, with the sanction and assent of the deity, he proposed to lead them to settle in Phoenicia and Coelesyria and Palestine, then called the land of the Kanaani, THE BOUNDARIES OF WHICH WERE A 3-days’ JOURNEY FROM EGYPT.13
According to this statement, Mount Sinai was either on or very near to that part of the land of Kanaan “inhabited with houses,” for both the land of Kanaan and Mount Sinai were a 3-days’ journey from Egypt and one could see that part of Kanaan “inhabited with houses” from Rephidim.
From Where on the Border?
Most would assume that the 3-days’ journey began at the point on the eastern side of the Suph Sea where the Israelites exited from their crossing.
A closer look at Scriptures indicates otherwise. Yahweh first spoke to Moses regarding his mission to bring the Israelites out from the land of Egypt during the burning bush incident.
And you shall enter in, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Mizraim, and you will say to him, Yahweh eloahi of the Hebrews has met with us, and now let us walk, please, דרך שלשת ימים (derek shalshath yomim; a road of 3 days) into the wilderness and let us sacrifice to Yahweh our eloahi. (Exod. 3:18)
Of course, Yahweh knew that Pharaoh’s heart would be hardened and that the departure route would be out of the ordinary.
And I (Yahweh) am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. (Exodus 3:19-20)
On Abib 15, the day after Phasekh (Passover), Moses led the Israelites to Succoth, located about 11 miles north of Ramses on the east side of the Nile. On Abib 17, the pillars of cloud and fire arrived and began to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
And they took their journey from Succoth, AND ENCAMPED IN ETHAM, IN THE EDGE OF THE WILDERNESS. (Exodus 13:20)
And they departed from Succoth, AND PITCHED IN ETHAM, WHICH IS IN THE EDGE OF THE WILDERNESS. AND THEY REMOVED FROM ETHAM, AND TURNED BACK TO PIHAHIROTH, which is before Baalzephon: and they pitched before Migdol. (Numbers 32:6-7)
Moses knew the roads out of Egypt very well and recognized this route as the most logical and shortest exit. Therefore, it was expected that Yahweh would take the leading company of the Israelites across the area north of the Suph Sea to the eastern side, the area of Etham, which was in the wilderness.
But then Yahweh did something unexpected. He instructed Moses to turn back to the western side and travel south to where the Israelites would be trapped at Pihahiroth, a pocket between the mountains and the Suph Sea. This was all done to demonstrate the mighty wonders to be enacted by Yahweh before Pharaoh and his army
In fact, Yahweh also showed Moses and Pharaoh that it was the road to Etham where the exit out of Egypt and into the wilderness would normally be expected.
Therefore, the starting point for the 3-days’ journey would not be where the Israelites exited the Suph Sea, but it was at Etham, several miles north of the head of the Suph Sea. We will address the specific area in a forthcoming article.
Yelleq Mountain Range
So far, the evidence places Mount Sinai quite a distance from places like Yemen, the southern Sinai, and Saudi Arabia. Instead, it points to the northern Sinai in an area bordering on that part of the Negeb, representing the southern part of the land of Kanaan. The highest mountain range in that district is named Yelleq, which has its highest peak called Ra’s Abu Qurun (3,547 feet).14
Even though this study has determined that Ra’s Abu Qurun is not the exact location of Mount Sinai, it is evident that we will discover the true Mount Sinai within the very mountain range of Yelleq.
40 Days
One of the techniques used to confront the evidence of only a 3-days’ journey is the fact that, after crossing the Suph Sea (LXX “Red Sea”),15 Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness for 40 days before they reached the sacred mountain.16
By using the 40-day figure and even allowing for the fact that they did not travel every day, especially on the Sabbath days, it can be argued that it gave the Israelites enough time to go all the way to the southern end of the Sinai, or to the Negeb, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, or even to Yemen. However, this interpretation is a misapplication of the evidence, as it does not align with the historical context.
The Scriptures clearly state that Yahweh led the Israelites through the barren wilderness during this period, not because he was going directly to Mount Sinai, but rather, by a long way around because he was testing (proving) them, seeing if by experiencing the affliction of the desert they would continue to obey his voice and keep his commandments, statutes, and laws.
Indeed, periods of 40—whether days or years—were a common theme in Scriptures as a time of testing.17 The Israelites were to be a nation of priests.18 They represented Yahweh’s Assembly in the wilderness.19 Accordingly, as the apostle Saul (Paul) instructed Timothy, even the deacons in the Assembly must “first be tested, then let them serve, being unimpeachable.”20
Josephus sums up this 40-day period before reaching Mount Sinai when he reports that Yahweh brought them into this part of the wilderness in order:
. . . to test their manhood, to see what fortitude they possessed, what memory of past services, and whether their thoughts would not revert to those services because of the troubles now in their path, so that he (Yahweh) was exercising them with these trials of the moment.21
Philo, likewise, reports that one of the reasons Moses led the Israelites on the road that he did was because Yahweh “wished, by leading them through a long stretch of wilderness country, TO TEST the extent of their loyalty when supplies were not abundant but gradually grew scarcer and scarcer.”22
The Recognitions of Clement, as still another example, states:
After this, Moses, by the command of the deity, whose providence is over all, led out the people of the Hebrews into the wilderness; and, leaving the shortest road which leads from Egypt to Judaea, he led the people through long windings of the wilderness, so that, by the discipline of forty years, the novelty of a changed manner of life might root out the evils which had clung to them by a long-continued familiarity with the customs of the Egyptians. . . . On this account, leaving the short road which leads from Egypt to Judaea, Moses conducted them by an immense circuit of the desert, if haply he might be able, as we mentioned before, to shake off the evils of old habit by the change of a new education.23
To demonstrate this principle of education, during the initial 40 days after leaving Egypt, Yahweh is said to have tested the Israelites at Marah to see if they would obey him,24 then again in the “wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai,” where he also gave them manna to eat.25 Then, once more, he tested them at Meribah, which is at Rephidim, where he gave them water from a rock to quench their thirst.26
Regarding the above issue of the manna, Moses later told the Israelites, it was Yahweh:
. . . who in the wilderness fed you manna, which (food) your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and for the purpose of testing you to do you good at your latter end and (in case of) your saying in your innermost self, My power and the might of my hand have made this wealth for me. And you shall remember Yahweh your eloahi because it is he who gives to you the power to make wealth in order to establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as is this day. (Deut. 8:16-18)
Finally, after reaching Mount Sinai and seeing Yahweh come down upon the mountain in a terrifying manner, Moses told the people, “Do not be afraid because the eloahim has come in order to test you, so that his fear will be upon your faces so that you will not sin.”27 The 40-day period of testing, as a result, has no bearing on the distance marked out as a “3-days’ journey.”
Three Days Away
The Hebrew expression חרך שלשת ימים (derek shalshath yomim; “a road of 3 days,” i.e., “a 3-days’ journey”) does not mean that the millions of Israelites would only spend three days walking in the wilderness.28 Rather, it was a reference to a distance of march, either by the military or a caravan, much as the Assyrian term beru or the Persian parasang were used.29 In Jonah, for example, the distance around the city of Nineveh and all its suburbs is defined as “a 3-days’ journey.”30
A normal day’s travel for a military unit or caravan was roughly 20 to 25 miles.31 However, in some circumstances, depending upon the terrain, time of year, and climatic conditions, it could be as much as 30 miles.
J. D. Douglas writes:
In the East distances were commonly considered in terms of hours and days. Thus a day’s journey might be reckoned as 7–8 hours (perhaps 20–30 miles), but it was a somewhat indefinite expression appropriate to a country where roads and other factors vary greatly.32
To demonstrate, during the late 5th century B.C.E., as reported by Xenophon, a Greek army that was retreating from the Persians took their march through Assyria northward along the Tigris River. Xenophon states that they marched 4 stages for 20 parasangs (about 70 miles), 6 stages for 30 parasangs (about 105 miles), and then 4 stages for another 20 parasangs (about 70 miles).33
The total in this line of march, therefore, was 14 stages (or 14 days of marching) at 70 parasangs (about 245 miles). The average marching time in their retreat (which, of course, was committed with all due haste) was 17.5 miles per day. Yet the terrain, with its rivers and mountains, posed significant challenges, slowing their progress to some degree.
Herodotus (5th century B.C.E.), meanwhile, reckons an average day’s journey along the route from Sardis in Asia Minor to Susia in Persia, which crosses mountains, streams, and plains, to be 150 stadia, i.e., approximately 17.25 miles per day.34 On the other hand, when one travels through the more open country of Scythia, this same author calculates 200 stadia per day, i.e., approximately 23 miles per day.35
Itineraria Romana
For our purposes, a better picture is obtained from information dealing with the roads in the Sinai Peninsula. We begin by citing the ancient Itineraria Romana, which provides a list of stations along the coastal road of the Sinai and gives the distances between each in Roman miles. A Roman mile denotes a distance of 1,000 paces or 5,000 Roman feet. It is estimated to correspond to about 4,851 English feet,36 some 429 feet shorter than an English mile (5,280 feet).
For the stations along the Palestim highway from Sile (Tzur), located close to modern El-Qantara in Egypt,37 to Gaza in Palestine, we read:38
| Stations |
Roman Miles |
| Sile (Tzur) to Magdolo |
12 |
| Magdolo to Pelusio (Pelusium) |
12 |
| Pelusio to Pentascino |
20 |
| Pentascino to Cassio |
20 |
| Cassio to Ostracena |
26 |
| Ostracena to Rinocorura (Rhinocolura) |
24 |
| Rinocorura to Rafia (Raphia) |
22 |
| Rafia to Gaza |
22 |
| Total |
158 Roman miles (145.16 English miles) |
In the time of Thutmose III of Dynasty XVIII, we are told that Pharaoh set out with his army on his expedition against Syria beginning from Sile (Tzur). He reached the city of Gaza, a trip of about 160 English miles, in 10 days.39 His travel time results in an average daily march of 16 miles per day.
Yet Pharoah’s records do not reflect any reason for a forced march, thereby indicating a more cautious or slower pace for his rather large invasion force. Neither do we know how many days he rested at each station. Nevertheless, the evidence does show that his army travelled at a minimum of 16 miles per day.
Beginning in the latter part of the 4th century B.C.E., we have much better examples. It took Alexander the Great 7 days to march from Gaza, which was located in Palestine, to Pelusium in Egypt, a distance of about 134 Roman miles (123.11 English miles).40 This renders us an average of about 17.58 miles per day.
Ptolemy, meanwhile, later made the march from Pelusium to a place located about 50 stades south from Raphia, the first city of Coele-Syria and Palestine, arriving on the 5th day.41 The distance was about 112 Roman miles (102.9 English miles) divided by 5 days, giving us a total of about 20.58 miles per day.
Finally, we have our best example from the 1st century C.E. During this period, Titus of Rome made a march from Pelusium to Rhinocorura (El-Arish), a distance of about 90 Roman miles (82.68 English miles) in 3 days.42 Therefore, he made the expedition, averaging about 27.56 English miles per day.
What is so important about this 3-days’ journey of Titus is that Pelusium laid on the ancient northeast border of Egypt and Rhinocorura set on the south side of the border of the land of Palestia proper. Palestia was counted as part of the ancient land of Kanaan and with this district one finds fertile land and settled regions, not bedouin travelers. It represents those parts of Kanaan “inhabited with houses,” as mentioned by Philo.
Philo Confirmed
Therefore, the words of Philo, who stated that this part of the land of Kanaan was a 3-days’ journey from the border of Egypt, is thus confirmed. Assuming good weather and 8 hours of travel time per day—intermixed with periods of rest, eating, and time to make and break camp—the Roman army of Titus marched at a rate of about 3.445 miles per hour.
This figure fits rather well with the conclusions of David Hughes. While discussing various routes that the Magi could have possibly taken to reach Jerusalem during the 1st century C.E., he remarks, “A fit man can walk easily at about three and a half miles an hour.”43
These various examples reveal two things: First, it is clear that the miles-per-day ratio of the military gives us a minimum of 14.5 miles per day in the reign of Thutmose III to as much as 27.56 miles per day by Titus in the 1st century C.E. If we accept both the lowest and highest figures, a 3 days’ military march consisted of a journey of somewhere between approximately 43.5 (14.5 X 3) to 82.68 (27.56 X 3) English miles, the latter figure best representing the views of Philo and Josephus.
Conclusion
It is manifest that the 3-days’ journey by walking from the border of Egypt until one came to Mount Sinai is a measurement of an actual distance based upon normal travel time through that district.
On the other hand, the 40-day period, during which time Yahweh, in his divine guidance, led the Israelites circuitously through a harsh wilderness, was a planned extension of the trip designed to test the Israelites before they came to Mount Sinai to enter into a covenant agreement to serve Yahweh.
Meanwhile, military expeditions demonstrate that a typical journey through north Sinai would proceed at the rate of 20 to 28 miles a day, depending on the army’s size, weather, and other road conditions.
Therefore, the evidence reveals that the calculation for the 3-days’ journey began on the other side of the eastern border of Egypt, at Etham, an area north of the Suph Sea crossing located in the wilderness.
This means that Mount Sinai is located within a distance of about 90 miles from the area of Etham, west of the border of Egypt.
The mountain range that fits this criteria is none other than the one named Yelleq in the northwestern Sinai Peninsula. It is also evident that the true Mount Sinai is located within this mountain range. We will pinpoint the exact location of Mount Sinai in a forthcoming article.
Note: Adapted from a chapter of a forthcoming publication by R. Clover to be published by Qadesh La Yahweh Press.
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Footnotes:
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1 – Jos., Antiq., 2:12:1.↩
2 – Philo, Moses, 1:14.↩
3 – Exod. 14:23-30; Wis.Sol. 10:20; Jos., Antiq., 2:16:6.↩
4 – For the Greek term , see GEL, 1996, p. 147, “generally, unarmed”; GEL, p. 74. Exod. 13:18, does not say that the Israelites went out of Egypt “armed,” as found in the Vulgate and popularly translated. The term חמשים (khamishshim; fifty[-wide]) means that they went out by “fifties,” i.e., in rows of 50 across (SEC, Heb. #2572; HEL, p. 89; CHAL, p. 109). The LXX of Exod. 13:18 also misunderstood the expression and gives “in the fifth generation.” The earlier writers, on the other hand, realized that the Israelites were unarmed.↩
5 – Demetrius, Chron., frag. 5. For the arms retrieved from the drowned Egyptians, cf., Exod. 14:23-30; Wis.Sol. 10:20; Jos., Antiq., 2:16:6.↩
6 – On the arms obtained by the Israelites from the drowned Egyptians, also see Exod. 14:23-30; Wis.Sol. 10:16-20; Jos., Antiq., 2:16:6 §349.↩
7 – Jos., Antiq., 2:13:4.↩
8 – Philo, Moses, 1:15:87. Colson, Philo, vi, loc. cit., renders the important part of his verse, “he should send the people out of his boundaries to sacrifice”; while Yonge, Philo, loc. cit., has “sending forth their people from his territories that they might sacrifice.”↩
9 – Yashar, 79:48.↩
10 – The animals that would be seen as loathsome to sacrifice by the Egyptians were cattle, and the Israelites were intent on sacrificing cattle as a freewill offering. The Egyptians held cows as sacred. As E. P. Evans writes, “The Egyptians worshipped two bulls, both sacred to Osiris, namely Mneuis at Heliopolis, and Apis at Memphis; the sign of the former was the sun, and that of the latter the moon” (ASEA, p. 14). Strabo, 17:1:22, states, “The Momemphitae (of Egypt) honor Aphrodite; and a sacred cow is kept there, as is Apis (a sacred bull) in Memphis and Mneuis (a sacred ox) in Heliopolis. Now these animals are regarded as gods, but those in the other places—for in many places, indeed, both in the Delta and outside of it, either a bull or cow is kept—those others, I say, are not regarded as gods, though they are held sacred.” For the Israelites to have sacrificed a bull, ox, or cow in front of the Egyptians would have caused a great outcry, especially as an offering to an eloahim considered alien by the Egyptians.↩
11 – Philo, Moses, 1:39:214.↩
12 – Jos., Antiq., 3:2:5.↩
13 – Philo, Moses, 1:29:163.↩
14 – Latitude/Longitude at 30.350472 N 33.523618 E (For 3,547 feet, see https://peakvisor.com/peak/ras-abu-qurun.html.)↩
15 – Cf., MT and LXX at Exod. 10:19, 13:18, 15:4, 22, 23:31; Num. 14:25, 21:4, 14, 33:10-11; Deut. 1:1, 40, 2:1, 11:4; Josh. 2:10, 4:23, 24:6; Judge 11:16; 1 Kings 9:26; Neh. 9:9; Ps. 106:7, 9, 22, 136:13, 15; Jer. 49:21; cf., Acts 7:36; Heb. 11:29.↩
16 – The Israelites crossed the Suph Sea on the 20th day of Abib, the 1st moon of the year and the last day of Phasekh (e.g., Seder Olam, 5; Yashar, 81:11-13; Philo, Moses, 1:30, who defines this festival meal as a αριστοποιεῖσθαι (aristopoieisthai; most virtuous meal); and cf., FSDY, 1, p. 148. They arrived at Mount Sinai on the 1st day of the 3rd moon (Exod. 19:1).↩
17 – E.g., for 40 years of testing in the wilderness, see Deut. 8:2, cf., Exod. 16:35; Num. 14:33, 32:13; Deut. 2:7, 8:4, 29:5; Josh. 5:6; Neh. 9:21; Ps. 95:10; Amos 2:10, 5:25; Acts 7:42, 13:18; Heb. 3:9, 17; for three periods of 40 days and 40 nights of Moses on Mount Sinai, see Exod. 24:18, 34:28; Deut. 9:9, 11, 18, 25, 10:10; for the 40 days to spy out the land of Kanaan (being directly correlated with the 40 years of sojourning in the wilderness), see Num. 13:25, 14:34; for the 40 years of desolation for Egypt, see Ezek. 29:11-13; for the 40 days to test Nineveh before it would be overthrown, see Jonah 3:4; for the 40 days of testing of the messiah before he began his ministry, see Matt. 4:2; Mark 1:3; Luke 4:2; for the messiah being seen by the assembly and providing proofs for 40 days after his resurrection, see Acts 1:3.↩
18 – Exod. 19:3-6.↩
19 – Acts 7:38; cf., Exod. 16:1, 10, 17:1; Num. 13:26, 14:2, 35, 20:4, 27:14.↩
20 – 1 Tim. 3:10.↩
21 – Jos., Antiq., 3:1:4, said in reference to the Israelites being at Elim, cf., Exod. 15:27.↩
22 – Philo, Moses, 1:29.↩
23 – Recog. Clem., 1:35.↩
24 – Exod. 15:23-26, esp. v. 25.↩
25 – Exod. 16:1-36, esp. v. 4.↩
26 – Ps. 81:7, cf., Exod. 17:1-7.↩
27 – Exod. 20:20.↩
28 – We can only understand by the phrase “3 days’ journey” that a consistent and normal march of three days was intended.↩
29 – For the Assyrian beru, as an example, see JAOS, 45 (25), p. 229, “The beru is here not an exact surveyor’s measure of length, but naturally the distance covered in an average march of two hours (beru = double-hour), that is, between four and five miles in a straight line, depending upon the nature of the country traversed.” For the Persian parasang, see Rawlinson, Herodotus, 3, pp. 212-213, n. 7, “The truth is, that the ancient parasang, like the modern farsakh, was originally a measure of time (an hour), not a measure of distance. In passing from the one meaning to the other, it came to make a different length in different places, according to the nature of the country traversed.” A day’s journey, like these other ancient measures, represents distance traveled in a certain period of time more than a definite distance.↩
30 – Jonah 3:3; cf., Gen. 30:36; Num. 10:33.↩
31 – EBD, p. 267, believes it was “between 32 and 40 km.,” i.e., 20-25 miles.↩
32 – NBD, p. 297.↩
33 – Xenophon, Anab., 2:4:25.↩
34 – Herodotus, 5:53. A stadia (about 607 feet) X 150 = 91,050 feet divided by 5, 280 feet (a mile) = 17.244318 miles. A stadia was approximately 606 feet and 9 inches (NBD, p. 1324; DB, p. 741).↩
35 – Herodotus, 4:101. A stadia (about 607 feet) X 200 = 121,400 feet divided by 5,280 feet (a mile) = 22.992424 miles.↩
36 – DGRA, p. 171. ↩
37 – Tz-r-u, also called Zar-u, Thar-u, Djar-u, Tjar-u, Tjel, Silu, Zile, and so forth.↩
38 – Itineraria Romana, #171 together with #151–152.↩
39 – Breasted, Egypt, p. 409; ARE, 2:409.↩
40 – Arrian, 3:1; Curtius, 4:7.↩
41 – Polybius, 5:80.↩
42 – Jos., Wars, 4:11:5. Titus made a day’s march through the wilderness from Pelusium and the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile to a place near the temple of the Casian Zeus (i.e., the temple of Zeus-Ammon near the summit of Ras el-Kasrun (Mons Casius), a sandstone range adjoining Lake Sirbonis (Thackeray, Jos., iii, p. 197, n. j). The second day he marched to Ostracine, along the coast, and on the third day he came to Rhinocorura.↩
43 – TSBM, pp. 60-61. Hughes adds that even a clumsy inexperienced camel rider could make 30 miles a day. Yet we must keep in mind that the Egyptian day’s journey was not measured by everyone riding horseback or on a camel but, rather, a walking distance. A military or caravan moved at walking speed, walking along with their animals, not riding speed.↩
Bibliography and Abbreviations
ARE = Breasted, James Henry. Ancient Records of Egypt. 5 vols. New York, Russell & Russell, 1906, reissued 1962.
ASEA = E. P. Evans, Animal Symbolism in Ecclesiastical Architecture, London: W. Heinemann, 1896
CHAL = A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. William L. Holladay. Based upon the Lexical Work of Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1971.
DB = Smith, William, ed. A Dictionary of the Bible. Zondervan Publishing House, Michigan, 1948.
DGRA = William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: John Murray (1875).
EBD = Easton’s Bible Dictionary, M. G. Easton, 3rd ed., published by Thomas Nelson, 1897
GEL = An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon. Founded upon the seventh ed. of Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon. At the Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1961.
HEL = Hebrew-English Lexicon. Zondervan Edition, 1970. Catalog #6264. Samuel Bagster & Sons, LTD., London. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
JAOS = Journal of the American Oriental Society
Jos. = Flavius Josephus (37–ca. 100 C.E.)
— Antiq. Jewish Antiquities
— Wars History of the Jewish Wars Against the Romans
LXX = The Greek Septuagint.
NBD = The New Bible Dictionary. Ed. by J. D. Douglas. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1971.
SEC = Strong, James. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, together with Dictionaries of the Hebrew and Greek Words. Riverside Book and Bible House, Iowa.
– Heb. = A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Hebrew Bible.
– Gk. = A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament.
TSBM = The Star of Bethlehem Mystery. By David Hughes, 1979
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