The Mustard Tree is the latest video from SourceFlix.
This post has some inspiration for those interested in mapping historical events using Google Earth.
The example he uses here is the parting of the Red Sea, though I think he’s way off on the location.
A swarm of one million locusts moved from Egypt into Israel before spraying halted the invasion. Some Israelis gathered up sackfuls of the locusts to eat.
Ten years after its looting, the National Museum of Iraq is still not open to the public.
Art of the Ancient Near East: A Resource for Educators is available as a free download.
19 thoughts on “Wednesday Roundup”
I'm not a botanist, but that plant and those seeds resemble the tobacco tree (Nicotiana glauca) more than the mustard plant.
Thanks for linking my Parting of the Red Sea article. Since you think that my location is off, where do you think it is? The location I used is the site of station #4 Pi-hahiroth as identified by Wikipedia's List of Stations of the Exodus which places it on the western shore of the Red sea right along some mountains at a location big enough to handle the volume of people. It also is a logical location based on the fact that it is only 27 feet below sea level and is mostly flat, this enables it to be crossed by cattle and wagons.
Oh, I forgot, I should have included a link to my article on the Contradictions on the Exodus from Egypt that I found online when I created my Google Map of the Exodus.
http://myreadingmapped.blogspot.com/2013/02/contradictions-on-exodus-from-egypt.html
In it, I use images of the ocean floor in Google Earth to prove some of the popular sites are impossible to travel through with cattle and wagons.
Pragmatic Statistics,
Have a look at James Hoffmeier, Ancient Israel in Sinai: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Tradition (Oxford, 2005). Also see maps 33 and 34 in Barry Beitzel, The (New) Moody Atlas of the Bible (Moody, 2009).
A.D.
A.D. Riddle,
For those of us who don't happen to have those books, how about simply naming a location we can search for in Google Map? I'm pretty good at finding ambiguous locations since I made over 100 maps of historic events on MyReadingMapped.
Prag Stats,
The argument centers on excavations at Tell Hebua, the ancient Way of Horus, and delineation of an ancient lagoon and the shoreline of the Balah Lakes.
If you are part of Academia.edu, here is an article by Hoffmeier.
A.D.
So you believe that this Tell Hebua,which I found at 30° 55.516’ N, 32° 24.621’ E, as ijdicated by Hoffmeier's Jstor preview,http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/20297189?uid=3739600&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101931212567
Which is 35 miles northeast of station one. At the location described in this web article: http://www.weatherwise.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/2011/January-February%202011/red-sea-full.html
So, the logic is that what was supposed to be a sea was in fact a mid-sized lake that is no longer there, that could have been easily walked around had pharaoh not been on the scene, and that the only proof of it is vegetation that continues to grow around its former edge?
Interesting. I'll include it in my Google Map of the Exodus as one of the alternative routes.
The biggest problem with a crossing at Nuweiba is that it requires the Egyptians to chase the Israelites hundreds of miles across the Sinai Peninsula in a very short amount of time. (Total time from Passover to Mt. Sinai = 2 months, with a significant passage of time after the Red Sea and before arriving at Mt. Sinai.) But there are other problems with a location of Sinai in Saudi Arabia and I would recommend this article:
http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2008/06/Is-Mount-Sinai-in-Saudi-Arabia.aspx
As for where the crossing actually occurred, I don't know. It's easier to eliminate places because they don't fit the evidence than to identify the spot. But I agree with A.D. that the best scholarly work on the subject is to be found in Hoffmeier's book. Beitzel's book also has a short summary of the three major views on the location of Mount Sinai that is an excellent starting point.
Prag Stats,
There is another concern besides whether the lakes were big enough to walk around or not–namely the string of military forts built by the Egyptians. See Exod 3:17. Hoffmeier's book includes the evidence for forts, one of which may well be Migdol in Exod 14:2, as well as the coring which demonstrated the existence of a paleo-lagoon. The lake is not known solely from vegetation around the edge–the coring is what proved it, and pharaoh did not just show up on the scene–they had a military presence established in this area.
A.D.
Great input Todd, I'll add it to my map as well.
Here are some Goggle Earth coordinates. You can see remains or outlines of remains at these sites.
Tell Hebua I 30.935871°, 32.366800°
Tell Hebua II 30.931425°, 32.379184°
Tell el-Borg 30.923569°, 32.413733°
Tell er-Herr 30.967312°, 32.492796°
Tell Kedua 30.983351°, 32.475527°
One more…
Tell Abu Sefah 30.860882°, 32.353610°
Oh, BTW, as you probably can tell, I am not from academia or theology. I am just a retired marketing communications professional who decided to make a web site with Google Maps of Historic Events linked to eBooks and other sources of reliable online information I researched. And, along the way I discovered inconsistencies and contradictions about the historical events that I later write articles about the contradictions. Events, some of which like this one, appear to be as much theory as fact. So I am gathering all your input and including what I can.
Pragmatic Statistics,
I am trying to find available online sources for you. Here is a video where Hoffmeier presents his archaeological and geological research on the route of the exodus. Skip to time 27:09.
A.D.
I watched the video Hoffmeier you sent me. Based on it I changed my location of Succoth about 10 miles to the northeast to match Hoffmeier's location at Tell el-Maskhuta. At a location that another web site indicated. I also added Pi-Ramesses and Tanis. However, as far as anything else goes, all his video proves is where the Egyptian forts were. There is nothing that I saw that conclusively proves Moses traveled north and east from Succoth. Until he locates where a large Egyptian chariot army died of drowning in a narrow strip, it is all theory.
Pragmatic Statistics,
What do you think about the possible identification of Migdol? In Ex 14:2 and Num 33:7-8 Migdol is mentioned in proximity to the "sea."
A.D.
I went back and reviewed the video again in regard to Midol, and as someone who has researched over 40 explorer expeditions for Google Maps of Historic Events, many of them with unproven theory, like DeSoto map,the best opinion I can give at this point is a MythBuster-type Plausable But Not Proven. He is building a logical case but has not gotten to the point were he can conclusively prove it without a doubt. He depends way to much on out willingness to accept it based on sketchy evidence.
Don't get me wrong, because as my map indicates at Station #4, I questioned by Moses simply didn't walk across the desert? So, I would like to see Hoffmeier prove it. Bu, he is not there yet and I think he would agree.
BTW, thanks for the coordinates. You got one for Midol?
I added the coordinates A.D. provided and even drew in the lake they surround.
My guess is that it will be hard to dispute that Migdol was one of the forts along the Way of Horus. As for its precise location, I am not sure. One guy suggested that Tel el-Borg is Migdol (30.923569°, 32.413733°), but because of the order of the names in Seti I's list, I think Hoffmeier prefers to identify Tell el-Borg as "The Dwelling of the Lion" and thus Migdol would be one of the forts east of Tell el-Borg, perhaps the site named T-78 or T-121. I believe T-78 is at 30.911986°, 32.440787°. T-121 is harder to find because I think it is under a citrus grove, somewhere near 30.915755°, 32.454209°. I cannot tell for sure. If I come up with something better (no promises), I will pass it along.