The Exodus Route: Wilderness of Sinai (camp for 11 months, 5 days)
Note: for more specific details on the final camp at Sinai, see: Mt. Sinai
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Wilderness of Sinai The final camp of the Israelites at Mt. Sinai for 11 months 5 days.
See also: Mt. Sinai |
Note: for more specific details on
the final camp at Sinai, see: Mt. Sinai
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Exodus locations:
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Note: for more specific details on the final camp at Sinai, see: Mt. Sinai
Discussion:
1. The Wilderness
of Sinai was the last stop of the Exodus where Israel camped for 11 months and
5 days:
a. Israel arrived at the final camp in front of Mt. Sinai in the Wilderness of Sinai on day 47 from Goshen: Ex 19:1
b. Scripture never says Israel camped in the Wilderness of Sinai then journeyed to the foot of Mt. Sinai.
c. Instead scripture equates the wilderness of Sinai as being equal to the final camp in front of Mt. Sinai.
d. "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. When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain." (Exodus 19:1–2)
e. In the Numbers 33 itinerary, the Wilderness of Sinai was the final camp spot for 11 months at Mt. Sinai: "They journeyed from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai. [11 months, 5 days pass] They journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah." (Numbers 33:15–16)
f. Moses saw the burning bush in the wilderness of Sinai. The burning bush probably marked the spot where Israel would camp several month later after Moses returns with the Hebrews. “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush." (Acts 7:30)
h. The 11-month camp at Mt. Sinai was identical to the camp in the Wilderness of Sin.
2. Israel's Arrival in the Wilderness of Sinai ends the most important stage of the journey. They have escaped the slavery of Egypt, have come to God and are about to receive the Law of Moses on Pentecost in a spectacular display of divine power (Heb 12).
a. "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. You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, 'Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death." Exodus 19:11-12
b. Moses went into the wilderness of Sinai and the people journeyed to the foot of Mt. Sinai: "And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain." Exodus 19:17
c. Even at the foot of the mountain they were still some distance from the edge of the mountain: "So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was." Exodus 20:21
d. All this leads us believe that the Hebrew camp in the wilderness of Sinai was likely 10 km due east from the foot of the mountain.
4. Bible texts:
a. "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. When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain." Exodus 19:1-2
b. "They journeyed from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai. They journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah." Numbers 33:15-16
c. "which the Lord commanded Moses at Mount Sinai in the day that He commanded the sons of Israel to present their offerings to the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai." Leviticus 7:38
d. "Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying," Numbers 1:1
e. "just as the Lord had commanded Moses. So he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai." Numbers 1:19
f. "But Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered strange fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of their father Aaron." Numbers 3:4
g. "Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying," Numbers 3:14
h. " Thus the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying," Numbers 9:1
i. "They observed the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did." Numbers 9:5
j. "and the sons of Israel set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai. Then the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran." Numbers 10:12
k. "But among these there was not a man of those who were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai." Numbers 26:64
Note: for more specific details on the final camp at Sinai, see: Mt. Sinai
By Steve Rudd: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections.
