(Kadesh Barnea, Nathan Schmidt, 1910 AD)

"Edward Robinson, (Biblical Researches, 2 ed, 1856, ii. 175, 194) on his visit to 'Ain el Webeh, June 2,1888, was so strongly impressed with this most important watering place in the Arabah that he identified it with Kadesh Barnes. His description of it was quite accurate. On the assumption that "Mount Seir" and "the land of Edom" had the 'Arabah for its western border, and that all Biblical statements are equally reliable and must at any price be harmonized, he could scarcely reach a different conclusion." (Kadesh Barnea, Nathan Schmidt, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol 29, no 1, 1910 AD, p68)

F. W. Holland, a very careful observer, went to 'Ain Kades on the 14th of May, 1878. His description is sober and accurate. He evidently was not impressed by the place, and looked for the site of Kadesh Barnes farther east. On March 30th, 1881, H. Clay Trumbull came to 'Ain Kades from the south. There can be no question that the picture he afterwards drew of this "oasis of verdure and beauty" was altogether too richly colored. Even when the greatest allowance is made for the season of the year, the contrast to the desert of El Tih, the keen expectancy and the joy of discovery, the later visitor cannot help asking in amazement what has become of all the marble, the carpet of grass, the fruit-laden trees, the warbling birds, and the "New England look" of the landscape, or what would have happened if the eager explorer had been taken to Ain Karat before the K marvelous sight " of all this loveliness had burst upon him. His learned and valuable treatise on Kadesh Barnea in part makes amends for a manifest want of sobriety in the description of what is supposed to be its modern site. No wonder that the next visitor, J. Lagrange, who came from El Natal to 'Ain Kades on the 11th of March, 1896, confesses that "la deception fut si forte, le disenehantement si profond, que je me precipita sur le sheik Soliman en criant qu'il nous await trompes." (translation: the deception was so strong, the disenchantment so deep, that I prevailed on the sheik Suleiman while shouting that he brought us to the wrong place.) Suleiman swore by the Prophet that it was 'Ain Kades. There was the rock with some wasms on it, the water, the channel, an occasional tuft of grass, and a few wild figs; but no marble, no vegetation, no color, no life, no oasis of verdure and beauty." Lagrange's description shows that only fifteen years after Trumbull's visit, and at the same time of the year, the place presented very much the same appearance that it did to myself in 1905." (Kadesh Barnea, Nathan Schmidt, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol 29, no 1, 1910 AD, p69)

"The sun was setting as we approached our camping place above 'Ain Kades; and the mountains in the west and the south, particularly the majestic cone of Jebel 'Araif, presented a splendid and impressive view. The water that was brought up from the fountain for the evening meal was of an excellent quality. (Kadesh Barnea, Nathan Schmidt, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol 29, no 1, 1910 AD, p69)

Aside from the water, there is nothing very impressive about 'Ain Kades. The accompanying photographs give a fair idea of how the place looks. There are four springs, three together and one farther up the wadi. One is in front of a rock, another is walled up, but the workmanship is of an inferior quality. The water overflows and trickles down the with for about a hundred yards. There was scarcely any vegetation; one small tree was seen and here and there a little grass, but the prevailing impression was that of barrenness. There are no ruins in the immediate vicinity. Some distance to the west I found a number of large cairns, and also the foundations of a building, rectangular though somewhat rounded at one end. From the plateau north of the fountain a panoramic photograph was taken, showing the general character of the landscape, and indicating very clearly the channel through which the water flows down the wadi in the rainy season. (Kadesh Barnea, Nathan Schmidt, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol 29, no 1, 1910 AD, p71)

The name of Kadesh has, no doubt, been preserved in the name 'Ain Kades. But it does not necessarily follow that Kadesh Barnea was located at or near 'Ain Kades. There are numerous instances of old names migrating to new settlements, and of old places receiving new names. In the Negeb, Sbeta is almost certainly an example of this. There is no ground for questioning that the name may be identical with Sephat; but there is good reason for doubting that the old Sephat was situated at Sbeta, a Byzantine city of unknown name, apparently resting on the rock, with not the slightest sign of a tell." It is rather to be looked for at El Meshrifeh. In the Philistine plain it is only sufficient to take a look at Akir to see that Ekron cannot have stood there; but the name is there, as it is also at the Jewish colony of Ekron established some twenty-five years ago. (Kadesh Barnea, Nathan Schmidt, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol 29, no 1, 1910 AD, p73)

It is not as easy as it has seemed to those influenced by Trumbull's descriptions and the modern name to decide whether 'Ain Kades is more likely to have been Kadesh Barnes than 'Ain Kderat. The latter is the fountain par excellence in this region; it is El 'Ain. The sheltered position, the broad stream of water, the comparatively luxuriant vegetation, the impressive "tell," the well-constructed pool, the traces of ancient buildings, clearly indicate the importance of this place. It seems to me altogether probable that this is the site of the city of Paran, the ? of Judith 1:9 and 5:14, the Byzantine Cadis and the Kadesh Barnea of the Crusaders. It is not impossible that the stream flowing down Wadi el 'Ain was once called Me Meribath Kadesh. (Kadesh Barnea, Nathan Schmidt, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol 29, no 1, 1910 AD, p73)

"On the other hand, the association of the Siq at Petra and its wonderful stream of limpid water with Moses, and the sacred mountain with Aaron, does not seem to have originated either with Christians or Muhammadans. When Eusebius declares that "even at the present time there is shown the rock struck by Moses " near the city of Petra (Onom. ed. Klostermann, p. 176, 1. 8), he may have heard this from Christians. But they, no doubt, drew upon Jewish traditions, for Josephus knew of Moses' presence in Petra (Anti. iv. 4. 7), and clearly identified Mt. Hor with Jebel Haran. All the references to this mountain as the place of Aaron's death belong to post-exilic additions to the Pentateuch, and there is no reason whatever to doubt that the mountain near Petra is everywhere meant. It is conceivable that the occupation of the Negeb by the Edomites made the Judeans reluctant to admit that some such shrines as the tomb of Aaron and the place where Moses gave his oracles were within the new territory of Edom, and preferred to think of them as in Mt. Seir, now wrested from the hostile brother nation by the Nabateeans. Was there an early tradition that warranted this feeling ? While the Judean kingdom held control over the cities of the Negeb, there can be no doubt that the death of Aaron was connected with Moserah (the "smooth " mountain, Jebel Madharah), and the piercing of the rock with Kadesh Barnea (El 'Ain or 'Ain Kdes). But the possession of Mt. Seir itself by David, Solomon for a short time at least, and Amaziah may have given vogue to a rival theory inspired by the more majestic scenery of Petra. It seems to me even more probable that Petra was the original scene of these stories. Here the great Deliverer (Cp. my article "The Jerahmeel Theory and the Historic Importance of the Negeb," Hibbert Journal, vi. 2 January, 1908, pp 339ff.) performed the miracle of piercing the rock and sending the wonderful stream through the Sik, and here his older brother Aaron died on the peak of Mt. Hor. In earlier times the gulf of 'Akabah reached farther north than it does to-day, and a passage from the eastern side over to El Tih may not have been as easy as it is at present. Nomadic tribes pushing northwest from the land of Midian no doubt found their way down into the Negeb through the defiles of Mt. Seir (Jebel Sharra). The Idumaean clans that camped around Moserah and Zin probably brought with them the traditions of their heroes. Their way from Sinai-Horeb to Kadesh Barnea and Mt. Halak is likely to have led them through the Valley of Moses and put the reputed resting-place of Aaron in Petra." (Kadesh Barnea, Nathan Schmidt, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol 29, no 1, 1910 AD, p75-76)

Kadesh Barnea

NATHANIEL SCHMIDT

C ORNELL UNIVERSITY'

THE name Kadesh Barnea (11r; IZIrD is not found in any document that can be assigned to a higher age than the reign of Josiah. It occurs in Deut. 1 2. 19 2 14 9 23, Josh. 10 41 14 6 (D), Num. 34 4, Josh. 15 3 (P), and Num. 32 8 (R). The last of these passages has sometimes been attributed to J ; but Kuenen1 convincingly proved that 32 6-15 is the work of a late editor. In Judith 5 14 Kadesh Barnea seems to be mentioned. The text, however, is uncertain. While most of the Mss. have Kans. Bapvn, and this is supported by Eth. keida barne, a smaller group has only Ka/is, and this reading is followed by Syr. Bapvn is not added in 1 9. It is not safe, therefore, to assume that the author, who apparently used the names in vogue at his own time (cf. Beravn), referred to a place actually called Kadesh Barnea. No Christian name list, or other document from the Byzantine period, mentions it. The part of the Madeba map where it would be naturally looked for is missing. According to William of Tyree and the fiesta _Dd. per Irancos,3 Amalric I went "even to Kadesh Barnea which is in the desert," ca. 1167 A.D. Where in the desert the place was located, and whether it really bore this name, we do not know. It may have been the then still remaining ruin of the Christian Pharan, or Cadis, identified by the Crusaders with the Biblical Kadesh Barnea.

1 Theologisch Tijdschrift, xi. 1877, pp. 550 ff.

2 Lib. six. c. 13 (Beceuil des historiens des Croisades, tome i. of Historiens occidentauz), p. 904 ; cp. R6hricbt, Geschichte des Itbnigreichs Jerusalem, 1898, p. 322.

8 Ed. Bongars, 1611, p.963 : " usque ad Ca.des barne, quae est in solitudine."

PROFESSOR SCHMIDT'S ROUTE

FROM

Bi R-EL-SEBA

TI)

'AIN-1<DES

AN))

RETURN.

Cartography by J. E. WRENCH.

62 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

As to the meaning of the name, the addition of the article in the Greek once (Num. 34 4 KaSns TOY Bapini) suggests that Barnea was understood as a man's name. The later Greek translations have apparently not been preserved in any passage. The Vetus Latina, as afterwards Jerome, simply transliterated (Cades Barne), and so also Eth. But the Peshita rendered U.. 5z-ci. This is likewise the explanation of the Targums (Oniselos 7114M Jerugalmi 1;71,

Jonathan r17,' Cr) and the Talmuds (7114'i t:171). Saadia

renders 17:1= IMIV1 (ft.:174 r,e0)). Josephus4 calls the city of Petra Rekemes (Peicems), and says that it was named

after Rekemos (Nice/hos), a Midianitish king. More proba- ,_

bly Mr1 means, as vi,i5 in Arabic, the " piercing," the " excavation," and refers to the city as characterized by rock-hewn dwellings and tombs, or possibly more particularly to the Sils through which the waters flow from `Ayiln Musa'. The addition, r714":1, probably comes from N1, " valley," the later Vallis Moysis from which the neighboring (t5.41) Al-ji, already mentioned in the Onomasticon as " Gaia urbs juxta civitatem Petram," has its name.5 The new name was occasioned by the identification of Kadesh Barnea with Petra.

Jerome explained Barnea as " filius mutationis." 6 He naturally thought of the Aramaic `1=, "son." But it is not likely that at the end of the seventh century B.C. the Aramaic had penetrated so far south. J. Simon7 explained Barnea as desertum vagationis (11= desertum in Chald., Syr. and Arab. and v) vagatio). This would then correspond to El Tih (5„,x11), which would consequently be the Arabic translation of 72. In itself " Kadesh of the desert wandering " would not be an altogether improbable name. Campus vagationis in the sense of " a fixed camp in the period of wandering" would also be possible. In either case it would be an explanatory gloss in Hebrew, and the literary remains do

4 Antt. iv. 7 i (161).

5 Cp. Tuch in ZDMG, 1847, i. p. 179 ; Des Onomastikon, ed. Klostermann, p. 62, 1. 18.

6 De nominibus Hebraicis, ed. Migne, ii. 798.

7 Onomasticum V. T. 1741, p. 461.

SCFIMIDT : KADESH BARNEA 63

not allow us to affirm that 'I= was used in Hebrew at the time of Josiah, and with what significance.

There is another possible explanation. Barnea shows a certain similarity to such names as Bark' and Birshd. Barld (*.-z) seems to have been the original form of the name of the king of Sodom in Gen. 14 2. BapXa is given in Holmes-Parsons 14, 16, 25, 38, 73, 77, 78, 79, 128, 131 and Georg. for BaXXa. Birsha` (I7r1=) was the name of the king of Gomorrha (ibid.). Attention should be called to such names in the Amarna tablets as Mini . . . 131, Buribita 80 14, Biridiya 192-195, 197 19, Biridagia 142 7. 15. 33, Biriawaza 10, Burselem 13. If the original vocalization was Kedesh (t7), as in 17'INZ VI?, Josh. 20 7, 21 32 (P); 17."71p, 47171t3, Jud. 4 6; Josh. 19 37 (P) et al.; in Issachar, 1 Chron. 6 57, and by Massoretic inadvertence, in Josh. 15 23, Kadesh Barnea may have meant " the Sanctuary of Bir of the Hunt." Bir is apparently another name for RammAn = Adad ; Bur and Bar are only different pronunciations. The root ncriewd in Ethiopic means "to hunt." Another

possibility is that refers to the "wavy" flame of BirRammAn in the lightning. If Kadesh (tV) was the original vowelling, Barnea would be a man's name like Barld and Birshd. While the memory of this original significance lasted, it would be natural for J and E to leave out the old addition and use only the term Kadesh ; when it was once forgotten, antiquarian interest may have recovered it and found it as harmless as the Chronicler did the original form of names compounded with Baal when the struggle with the Baal cult was over.

Even after Kadesh Barnea had been identified with Petra, the name of another Rekem, called Rekem de Hagera' (rrlarr7 m7`1), seems to have preserved the memory of an earlier location. In several lists of border towns this city is referred to.8 As 73 in Arabic, and probably also in Aramaic, had the meaning of "stone," the significance would

8 Sifre (Elreb, end) ; Yalkut (Eleb, 674), and probably Tosephta, Shebiith, ch. 3; Pal. Talmud, Shebiith, vi. 1, printed by Neubauer, La Ggographie du Talmud, 18G8, p. 11.

64 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

be "the piercing of the stone." The "pierced stone" of Kadesh was, of course, the rock cleft by Moses to give the people water. Rashi 9 stated, probably on the authority of these lists given in Midrashic and Talmudic passages, that there were two cities, one called Kadesh and another Kadesh Barnea.

This view was modified by Reland," who maintained that Kadesh Barnea was a wilderness, while Kadesh was a city. In this he followed Eusebius and Jerome, who regarded both as indicating the wilderness between Egypt and Petra. The location of Kadesh Barnea (written yrm ttr p) on a map in a Passover Haggadah, published at Amsterdam, 1695,11 midway between the Philistine coast and the southern end of the Dead Sea, shows that the spell of the two Rekems and of the identification with Petra was early broken in Jewish circles. It is largely the merit of John Lightfoot" to have shown the identity of Kadesh Barnea with the southern Kadesh.

This Kadesh (tV) is mentioned in Gen. 16 14 (J), 20 1 (E), Num. 20 14. 16 (E), Jud. 11 is. 17 (dependent on E), Deut. 146 (D), Num. 13 26 20 1. 22 33 36. 37 (P). In Gen. 14 7 the fountain called 'En Mishpat (M t= IV) is the same as Kadesh (trip tom). It is probable that the text in Num. 33 ss originally read trip trm tttiVt ryt nrr1 `mitt 17n,

as G 19, 108, 118, has ern rgvvrrlyrlvTrlc xplo-ecov. The tOtTt IV is certainly to be preferred both to the /In 1= of G BAF and to M. But neither one nor the other of these passages inspires sufficient confidence to make it certain that 'En Mishpat really was an old name for Kadesh. It is not improbable, however, that, in a Hebrew tradition older than P, the fountain at Kadesh was known as tztet

It is generally assumed that the trip 11="it 't, mentioned in Num. 27 14 (P), Deut. 32 Ezek. 48 28, and probably also Ezek. 4719, refer to this "fountain of judgment,"

9 To Num. 32 s.

10 Palcestina ez monumentis veteribus illustrata, 1714, pp. 113 ff.

11 Printed in Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. ix. 483.

is Horce Hebraic et Talmudicce, 1658-1674 ; ed. Carpzov, 1684, pp. 18 ff.

FIG. 3. - 'A IN - CAMP

SCHMIDT : KADESH BARNEA 65

where every dispute (= "It) was settled. The analogy of Mt V, pit) 'it al. suggests a stream in the neighborhood of Kadesh rather than a fountain. The expression riVnt "t alone would mean " waters of strife," and might be explained as occasioned by the continual strife for possession of these precious waters by different tribes. But the true reading in Deut. 33 2 shows that the name was Meribath Kadesh trip nr-In. If that is the case, Kadesh is most likely to have been correctly printed, and to mean " devotee." " The Struggle of the Devotee " probably referred to some mythological occurrence. A later time, using the article less sparingly, would have said Irrprr =it. The places dedicated to this or that kadesh were no doubt as numerous in ancient Palestine as those consecrated to-day to this or that shell or nebi. The great kadesh of the region may have had the name Barnea " Ramman waves," or " Ramman shakes." It is not necessary to suppose that Meribath Kadesh was identical with Kadesh Barnea, but it unquestionably was in the same region.

Both Kadesh and Meribath Kadesh are said to be in the " wilderness of Zin " (12 nr1t), Num. 20 1 27 14 33 3s 34 4 (P), Deut. 32 Josh. 15 3 (P). Where is this " wilderness of Zin " ? In Num. 34 4 and Josh. 15 3 rn2 "towards Zin " is translated by G 'Evvax (G, some Mss. and versions, 'Evax). 'Evax is the rendering of pp in Num. 13 22. 28, Josh. 11 21 14 12 ff., Jud. 1 20, and the most natural inference is that G substituted, as so often elsewhere, the name common in his own time. Lagarde,13 following a suggestion of G. Hoff-

mann 14 that = 1211 was sometimes abbreviated into

banna or and accepting the less supported reading 'Evva, declared that G had before him an Aramaic book and that the author of this Aramaic book found in his Hebrew text, not rt2, but ?WI, as did also the Trg., who explained TY by -rin 161`13," mountain of iron." He added das konnten die Akademiker seit Jahren wissen." With Lagarde's learning and philological subtlety, they would, no doubt, have fallen upon this conjecture, and many another of equal value. But the

Hittheitungen, ii. 361-363. 14 ZDMG, xxxii. 1878, p. 753.

66 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

evidence is yet lacking that G did not translate from H, but from " an Aramaic book." There is no apparent reason why an original 1211 should have been changed into MY. And the T2 in the Trg. clearly shows that the translator had before him rint, and not 1211, while te,110 110 is only an explanatory gloss. Aruk, to Baba bathra, 69 b, explains that /,:,2 are " small palms " and 1'2111 other " small trees." The glossator seems to have confused rrig with prr, as well as /gm with M7, and combined the latter with what he had heard of a " mountain of iron " in these parts. Josephus 15 speaks of a mountain called Sin (Mew) where Miriam was buried. It is probable that this was the mountain after which the " wilderness of Zin" was named. I believe that it is Jebel 'Araif el Nakah ( The modern

name does not antedate the Islamic conquest. It means " the little neck of the camel." But the mountain ridge of which this peak forms such an imposing part is called Jebel

'Enelsa' (41,tz L),÷). This appears to go back to pv,

G Other giants, besides 'Anak, in this region, are Yelek, Halals, and Halal (cf. map). The earlier name of Jebel 'Araif was probably Zin. G simply substituted the name of the mountain range better known in his time. There may be a connection between /4, ig, the thorn bush (Prov. 22 s), and rw, the thorn bush. The " Desert of Kadesh" referred to in Ps. 29 8 is probably identical with the " wilderness of Zin." The mountain Zin and the wilderness surrounding it lie in the wider district known as the wilderness of Pa'ran " (/7140 nr1t), mentioned in Num.

10 1. 2 12 16 13 3. 26 (P). There may have been a city in it by the same name in preexilic times (Deut. 1 1, 1 Kings

11 18). It is mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome 16 as a town in the south over against Arabia three days from Aila. In the list of episcopal sees, according to the ecclesiastical organization made by Justinian in 534, it occurs as " Pharan or Cadis, a town four stages distant from Malaathw and twenty from Hebron." 17 The alternative name may indicate

16 Antt. iv. 4. 6 (78). 16 Onomasticon, 298 64 122 28.

17 E. H. Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, New York ed., 1872, p. 452.

x

:44

SCHMIDT : KADESH BARNEA 67

that in the Byzantine period the old town of Kadesh had ceased to exist, and the name was sometimes applied to the episcopal city of Pharan in the immediate vicinity, or that the same place had had both names at different periods.

In regard to the location of Kadesh Barnea, opinions were until the nineteenth century based solely on a study of the literary sources. Actual search for the place began with Seetzen. On the 29th of March, 1807, he came down from Abdeh to a stopping place one hour from which he was told there was a Wadi el 'Ain, having its name from a fountain with thirty palm trees around it. He did not go there. On the following day he came to a small, flat, dry wadi, called Wadi el Kdes. Apparently this name was then applied to

Wadi Jaifeh (x.4.? '501,). As he was going in a south-

westerly direction, he cannot have visited 'Ain Kdes, nor did he hear of it.18

Karl von Raumer, in 1836, identified Kadesh with 'Ain Hasb.19 Jules de Berton 20 declared that on his visit to Jebel Madhara on April 21st, 1838, he was told by the Arabs that this mountain was called Kadessa. Unfortunately, his statements cannot always be credited. He may have asked for such a place and received an answer which he misunderstood, or been deceived by his guides.

I climbed Jebel oMadharah on the 20th of June, 1905. (Compare the accompanying photograph.) Neither guides familiar with the country nor natives of that region knew apparently of any Kdes in that neighborhood. I can see no insurmountable linguistic difficulty in identifying the mountain with the Moserah of Deut. 10 6 (r1 11:11t), nor any improbability in the view that tradition at one time placed the death of Aaron on its summit, while an earlier tradition located it on Jebel Haron. It seems to me quite certain that Jebel Madharah is the 7t717^1 'VI of Josh. 11:17. It was called the " smooth" or " slippery " mountain because of the shaly stone that breaks under one's feet, and renders the ascent difficult and the descent only too easy.

19 Reisen, iii. 47 f. 19 Palastina, 1831, pp. 480 ff.

20 Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, 1839, p. 285.

68 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

G. A. V. Schubert,21 without claiming to have heard the name, arrived at the same conclusion as Bertou.

Edward Robinson,22 on his visit to 'Ain el Webeh (zu..4511 L.)4A), June 2, las, was so strongly impressed with this most important watering place in the 'Arabah that he identified it with Kadesh Barnea. His description of it was quite accurate. On the assumption that " Mount Seir " and "the land of Edom " had the 'Arabah for its western border, and that all Biblical statements are equally reliable and must at any price be harmonized, he could scarcely reach a different conclusion. When I visited the place in June, 1905, I was particularly impressed with the large number of palm trees and the excellence of the water in one of the springs. The references to Thamara in Ptolemy, the Peutinger Tables, the Notitia, the Onomasticon, the Madeba mosaic, and the recently discovered Beersheba rescript have convinced me that this place is to be looked for at 'Ain el Webeh.

John Rowlands 23 was the first Western traveler to visit

'Ain Kdes (,...,4,1.3 0.1,:a). He arrived there at the end of

1842. His description, while enthusiastic, is faithful, and contains no exaggeration. He correctly estimates the distance to 'Ain Mwelih ( . v.,...c), which he calls Moi-

lahhi, at twelve miles. t should be remembered that his visit occurred in the rainy season. Robinson and Palmer were wrong in supposing that he had found 'Ain Kclerat (81+4,63 olts).

E. H. Palmer 24 stopped at 'Ain Ksemeh (144,,e413 0.6.a) on the 8th of February, 1871, and proceeded north the next day. His map and his itinerary show that he never saw 'Ain Kdes. When he speaks of his " discovery of 'Ain Gadis," he can only mean by it that he heard where it was. His description of it as " three springs, or rather shallow pools, which the Arabs call themail," is incorrect, and his

21 Reiss in das Morgenland, 1838-1839, ii. 443 f. " Biblical Researches, 2 ed., 1856, ii. 175, 194.

28 In G. Williams, The Holy City, 1845, pp. 490 If. 24 The Desert of the Exodus, 1872, pp. 282 f.

SCHMIDT : KADESH BARNEA 69

statement that "it is situated in lat. 31° 34' N. and long. 40° 31' E.," which has been extensively copied because of its air of accuracy, would locate it in Arabia Deserta, halfway over to the Persian Gulf. Its real situation is in lat. 30° 37' 30" N. and long. 34° 31' 55" E.

Samuel C. Bartlett 25 visited 'Ain Mweliti on the 11th of March, 1878. He was told by Suleiman that he had declined to show Palmer 'Ain Kdes, but that he would take him to this place. Bartlett was conducted to 'Ain KOmeh and solemnly informed that this was the only 'Ain 1(cles known to the Arabs. He very naturally inferred that there was no other, and that no such spring as 'Ain Kdés existed.

F. W. Holland,26 a very careful observer, went to 'Ain xdés on the 14th of May, 1878. His description is sober and accurate. He evidently was not impressed by the place, and looked for the site of Kadesh Barnea farther east.

On March 30th, 1881, H. Clay Trumbull a7 came to 'Ain xcles from the south. There can be no question that the picture he afterwards drew of this " oasis of verdure and beauty " was altogether too richly colored. Even when the greatest allowance is made for the season of the year, the contrast to the desert of El Tih, the keen expectancy and the joy of discovery, the later visitor cannot help asking in amazement what has become of all the marble, the carpet of grass, the fruit-laden trees, the warbling birds, and the " New England look " of the landscape, or what would have happened if the eager explorer had been taken to Ain Kdérat before the "marvelous sight " of all this loveliness had burst upon him. His learned and valuable treatise on Kadesh Barnea in part makes amends for a manifest want of sobriety in the description of what is supposed to be its modern site.

No wonder that the next visitor, J. Lagrange,28 who came from El Nahl to 'Ain Kdés on the 11th of March, 1896, confesses that " la deception fut si forte, le disenchantement si

26 From Egypt to Palestine, 1879, pp. 858 ff.

26 Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1879, p. 69 ; 1884, p. 9.

27 Kadesh Barnea, 3d ed., 1895, pp. 272 ff.

" Revue bibligue internationale, 1896, p. 448.

70 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

profond, que je me precipita sur le sheik Soliman en criant qu'il nous avait trompes." Suleiman swore by the Prophet that it was 'Ain Ka's. There was the rock with some wasms on it, the water, the channel, an occasional tuft of grass, and a few wild figs ; but no marble, no vegetation, no color, no life, no oasis of verdure and beauty. Lagrange's description shows that only fifteen years after Trumbull's visit, and at the same time of the year, the place presented very much the same appearance that it did to myself in 1905.

With my students, A. T. Olmstead, J. E. Wrench, and B. B. Charles, and John Whiting of the American Colony, I arrived at 'Ain K des on May 26th, 1905, at 6.15 P.M. We approached the place from the northwest, having left Wadi Hafir at 12.15 P.M. One hour before reaching the end of the Malsra plateau above Kdés, Charles and myself stopped to examine some ruins. One was of a house, 70 feet by 35 feet, with six rectangular rooms and a semicircle projecting from one corner. There were four courses of roughly hewn stone left, quite large and apparently joined without cement. Another was of a large building with two rectangular rooms, one triangular, and an adjoining circle. Near it was a large ring of stones set on end. Digging in the corner of one of these ruins, I found some pieces of ribbed Roman pottery of the type so familiar in the Byzantine city ruins. The sun was setting as we approached our camping place above 'Ain Kdes ; and the mountains in the west and the south, particularly the majestic cone of Jebel 'Araif, presented a splendid and impressive view. The water that was brought up from the fountain for the evening meal was of an excellent quality.

In the morning of the 27th we heard that twenty men, armed with rifles, were at the fountain determined to refuse us the use of its water. The situation was somewhat serious, as only thirty days before two soldiers had been killed at the sacred fountain because they came to collect taxes, and the sight of our soldier had evidently stirred up some suspicions. We found, however, that they only wanted us to dismiss our 'Azazimeh guide and take a guide from among

FIG. 9. - 'AIN MIVIcLIFI

SCHMIDT : KADESH BARNEA 71

their number. 'Audeh, of Wadi Hafir, was paid off, but remained as our guest. Ferij (03), of the Barakat

family of the Tiyahah, became our guide. Aside from the water, there is nothing very impressive about 'Ain Ides. The accompanying photographs give a fair idea of how the place looks. There are four springs, three together and one farther up the wadi. One is in front of a rock, another is walled up, but the workmanship is of an inferior quality. The water overflows and trickles down the wadi for about a hundred yards. There was scarcely any vegetation ; one small tree was seen and here and there a little grass, but the prevailing impression was that of barrenness. There are no ruins in the immediate vicinity. Some distance to the west I found a number of large cairns, and also the foundations of a building, rectangular though somewhat rounded at one end. From the plateau north of the fountain a panoramic photograph was taken, showing the general character of the landscape, and indicating very clearly the channel through which the water flows down the wadi in the rainy season. The names of the more important features were given by Ferij. In the evening Ferij, who had an excellent voice, was persuaded to sing and speak into the phonograph. It occurred to me to ask him to give me for permanent use a list of place names. The record contains the following : 'Ain Gedes Vic), Wadi Zibliyeh (a40 .6)5), El

Hajerah (3741), El 'Enega' Meraifig (jja.27,2),

El Burga (1;0), graif Jehem(m)

(HrIm(m) (ry.a.), El 'Araif Yeliig(g)

Gibr el Halag (314.1 p3), Umm Bele7m ( 1),

•• • r

Hagim Wadi el 'Ain (0..90 66), Ge§aimeh

(a...*.to.i), Abu Mutamir (toliado 541), 'Ain Mwelih

El Tbayad (4)„,,,s,M) and Barag (L3)..?). It is of great interest to find El Hajerah in the neighborhood of 'Ain des.

Among the songs which Ferij sang was one in which

72 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

Selim Abu'l Antar is scornfully referred to as a coward, while his father Abu sulyah is at least said to have been a man, since be slew a great consul, tlawaja Abdullah, though he ought not to have done so for the sake of the gold (meseri) when he had pledged him his troth. Professor Palmer's murder is thus referred to without any attempt at concealment. But it should be remembered that Abu Sufyah belonged to the Hawetat.

On May 28 at 5.30 A.M. we left 'Ain ICdes, going through Wadi Umm Ble`an, where our men warned us to be on our guard lest we be swallowed up, and Wadi Haim to Wadi el 'Ain. At 8.30 we reached the fiskiyeh, or pool, on the way up to 'Ain Kderat. It is a large structure, 60 feet square, with five courses of stone visible on the outside and five more below on the inside. The stones are squared, and the construction has the same character as the walls so often seen in the wadies in the Negeb. There were traces of other buildings in the neighborhood. In Wadi el 'Ain the vegetation is very rich. There is at least one large tree, an acacia (seyal), and a great profusion of shrubs and small trees. A long and broad stream flows down from the spring. There is a " tell " of considerable size south of the fountain. The name Kderat is not old. The spring is now called after a family of the Tiyahah, as Ferij informed us.29 Robinson was told that the water was sweet, and it probably is so now. But the Arabs of to-day do not like to drink it, as some cases of illness have rightly or wrongly been attributed to its use. We left Wadi el 'Ain at 10 A.M., and arrived at 'Ain Ktiémeh at noon. There were no ruins in the neighborhood. On the following morning we started for 'Ain Mwelih at 6.15, and reached the themail at 7.15. The distance between 'Ain Kdes and 'Ain Mwelib had been covered in six hours ; my pedometer registered 141 miles, but this included the trip up Wadi el 'Ain. 'Ain Mwelib is situated in lat. 30° 42' N. and long. 34° 24' 30" E.

29 Cp. the description given by A. Janssen, who visited the place March 9,

1906, in Revue biblique, 1906, pp. 450 f. He was told that it was also called 'Ain Mufjer Crskiado

NY ,41f1 Niv:1 laYM. 7,1 • 91

SCHMIDT : KADESH BARNEA. 73

The name of Kadesh has, no doubt, been preserved in the name 'Ain Kdes. But it does not necessarily follow that Kadesh Barnea was located at or near 'Ain Kdes. There are numerous instances of old names migrating to new settlements, and of old places receiving new names. In the Negeb, Sbeta is almost certainly an example of this. There is no ground for questioning that the name may be identical with Sephat (t t2); but there is good reason for doubting that the old Sephat was situated at Sbeta, a Byzantine city of unknown name, apparently resting on the rock, with not the slightest sign of a " tell." It is rather to be looked for at El Meshrifeh. In the Philistine plain it is only sufficient to take a look at `Akir to see that Ekron cannot have stood there ; but the name is there, as it is also at the Jewish colony of Ekron established some twenty-five years ago.

It is not as easy as it has seemed to those influenced by Trumbull's descriptions and the modern name to decide whether 'Ain Kdes is more likely to have been Kadesh Barnea than 'Ain Kderat. The latter is the fountain par excellence in this region ; it is El 'Ain. The sheltered position, the broad stream of water, the comparatively luxuriant vegetation, the impressive " tell," the well-constructed pool, the traces of ancient buildings, clearly indicate the importance of this place. It seems to me altogether probable that this is the site of the city of Paran, the KAN of Judith 1

and 5 14, the Byzantine Cadis, and the Kadesh Barnea of the Crusaders. It is not impossible that the stream flowing down Wadi el 'Ain was once called Me Meribath Kadesh.

Rowlands 3° suggested that Kderat represents the old Adar, and Wilton 31 accepted this view. But the original reading in Num. 34 4 was probably Arad (172) and not Adar (1714), as G has els gravXtv 'ApaS. And this is likely to be the true text also in Josh. 15 3, since the best Mss. of G read els 2cipa8a, in which is clearly a dittograph and s'ApaSa the name intended. Arada is not an Aramaized form of the name ; yet familiarity with such an ending in

3° i.e. 81 The Negeb, 1863, p. 161.

74 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

the vernacular rendered it easier to forget the locative. But the Madeba map probably gives us the Aramaic form in Orda (00a), representing an earlier Arad (TIN). There is no connection between the enclosed village of Arad

`1211) and the modern name Kclerat.

If the stream in Wadi el 'Ain was called The Waters of Meribath Kadesh, the town near the fountain may have been called either Kadesh, or with the name of the devotee added, Kadesh Barnea. But this town itself may not have been older than the Greek period. Before that time it is possible that 'En Mishpat was an important camping-place for the nomads living in tents, and that this "fountain of judgment " was the present 'Ain Kdes. It may also have been associated with the celebrated kadesh of the district. But one cannot quite suppress the suspicion that inquiries and suggestions of travelers may have helped to transfer the term Kdés from one 'Ain to another, leaving the first without any additional designation. And the statement (Num. 34 4, Josh. 15 3) that the boundary line ran south of Kadesh Barnea (9r1= vni* =n) seems to indicate that even in earlier times Kadesh Barnea was situated north of the wadi.

The identification of 'Ain K§emeh with 'Ek4em (M2Y) or Amon (r1t2D) by Rowlands and Wilton is scarcely convincing. It is too far from Wadi el 'Arish (D'-at Asmon should be northwest of Arad. The Acrepcova of the Madeba map (cp. Onom. ed. Klostermann, p. 14, 1. 4) corresponds exactly with the rendering in the best Mss. of G in Num. 34 4. 5 and Josh. 15 4. It seems to be northeast of Arad, but that may be a mistake as the statement of the Onomasticon, Stopt4Ovcra Arywrrov xcii TO els OdXacraav

Sov, is repeated on the map. Nor can it be either proved or disproved at present that Hagar's well, Beer labai roi, is on the site of 'Ain

The historic significance of Kadesh Barnea has won increasing recognition at the hands of modern students. Possibly the suggestive discussion of the subject by Eduard Meyer 82 labors too hard to locate in Kadesh Barnea myths

82 Die Israeliten and ihre Naehbarstiimme, 1906, p. 62.

The 'EnOlra chain with its peaks Mraifik, El Burka, Sraif, Jhim, Hrim and El

FIG. 14. — PANORAMIC VIEW TAKEN FROM THE TOP OF ABU MUTÃ To the left a group of hills northeast of Abu

S, EXTENDING FROM SOUTHEAST ON THE LEFT IN A WESTERLY DIRECTION

'Araif on the left, Yluk, Kibr el Halak, Abu Mutamir, and Barak on the right.

MIR, EXTENDING FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST BEYOND 'A/N 15.-DBS

Mutamir, to the right 'Ain Kdes and El Makra.

SCHMIDT : KADESH BARNEA 75

and legends which may have originated elsewhere as well. There is not sufficient ground for asserting that the region is volcanic, and the explanation of the burning bush as due to fire bursting forth from the earth would be more plausible if there were any sign of such earth fires in this neighborhood. But the eminent historian may be right in making Kadesh Barnea a home of the Levites who traced their ancestry to Moses. It is peculiar, however, that there should be such an absence of allusions to Moses, the Levites, or anything belonging to the Mosaic period, in the place names and traditions of this region. There is no evidence that those on the Sinaitic peninsula are pre-Christian, and those mentioned by Charles Beke 33 and John Milne 34 (the Mosque of Moses, the Cave of Jethro, the name Jebel el Nur for Jebel Bughir) as found east of the Akabah in the land of Midian may or may not be earlier than Islam.

On the other hand, the association of the Sik at Petra and its wonderful stream of limpid water with Moses, and the sacred mountain with Aaron, does not seem to have originated either with Christians or Muhammadans. When Eusebius declares that " even at the present time there is shown the rock struck by Moses " near the city of Petra (Onom. ed. Klostermann, p. 176, 1. 8), he may have heard this from Christians. But they, no doubt, drew upon Jewish traditions, for Josephus knew of Moses' presence in Petra (Antt. iv. 4. 7), and clearly identified Mt. Hor with Jebel Harlin. All the references to this mountain as the place of Aaron's death belong to post-exilic additions to the Pentateuch, and there is no reason whatever to doubt that the mountain near Petra is everywhere meant. It is conceivable that the occupation of the Negeb by the Edomites made the Juclwans reluctant to admit that some such shrines as the tomb of Aaron and the place where Moses gave his oracles were within the new territory of Edom, and preferred to think of them as in Mt. Seir, now wrested from the hostile brother nation by the Nabatmans. Was there an early tra-

88 Sinai in Arabia, 1878, pp. 392 ff.

84 In appendix to Beke's Sinai in Arabia, pp. 532 EL

76 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE

dition that warranted this feeling ? While the Judwan kingdom held control over the cities of the Negeb, there can be no doubt that the death of Aaron was connected with Moserah (the " smooth " mountain, Jebel Madharah), and the piercing of the rock with Kadesh Barnea (El 'Ain or `Ain Kdés). But the possession of Mt. Seir itself by David, Solomon for a short time at least, and Amaziah may have given vogue to a rival theory inspired by the more majestic scenery of Petra. It seems to me even more probable that Petra was the original scene of these stories. Here the great Deliverer (TreM) 35 performed the miracle of piercing the rock and sending the wonderful stream through the Sik, and here his older brother Aaron died on the peak of Mt. Hor.

In earlier times the gulf of 'Alsabah reached farther north than it does to-day, and a passage from the eastern side over to El Tih may not have been as easy as it is at present. Nomadic tribes pushing northwest from the land of Midian no doubt found their way down into the Negeb through the defiles of Mt. Seir (Jebel Sharra). The Iduuman clans that camped around Moserah and Zin probably brought with them the traditions of their heroes. Their way from Sinai-Horeb to Kadesh Barnea and Mt. Halak is likely to have led them through the Valley of Moses and past the reputed resting-place of Aaron in Petra.

86 Cp. my article " The Jerahmeel Theory and the Historic Importance of the Negeb," Bibbert Journal, vi. 2, January, 1908, pp. 339 ff.

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

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