Audio-Visual Reading of Deuteronomy 2

Deuteronomy 2

Deuteronomy 2 details Moses’ recollection of the Israelites’ journey from Kadesh-barnea to Abel-shittim, where they were now waiting to enter the Promised Land of Canaan. See below for additional information about why certain decisions have been made regarding the identification of ancient locations or stretches of the journey to Abel-shittim.

Four separate passages of Scripture recount the Israelites’ journey from Kadesh-barnea to Abel-shittim (Numbers 20:14-21:20; 33:37-49; Deuteronomy 2:1-23; Judges 11:14-27), but the difficulty of determining the exact route can be seen by the wide variety of routes that have been proposed by scholars over the past several decades. In general, the proposed route in this work most closely aligns with information provided by Numbers 20:14-21:20; 33:37-49; and Deuteronomy 2:1-23, but its differences with Judges 11:14-27 are by no means irreconcilable. In addition, Jephthah’s account in Judges 11 appears to be most concerned with making the case that the Israelites did not encroach on Ammonite land as they journeyed to Canaan, so his description appears to give more of a loose summarization of the Exodus route and the journey to Abel-shittim. Thus, Jephthah does not burden his account with specific details such as the apparent change of plans to travel through Edom instead of going around it (compare Numbers 33:42-43 and Deuteronomy 2:2-6 with Judges 11:18).

Following are additional comments regarding why certain decisions have been made regarding the journey to Abel-shittim and the identification of various ancient locations.

After being refused permission from the king of Edom to take (apparently) a more direct route through his territory, the Israelites “turned back” while they were at Kadesh-barnea on the edge of Edom’s territory (Numbers 20:14-21), thus leading them to head toward the Red Sea (Deuteronomy 2:1).

Regarding the location of Seir, see “Edom and the Land of Seir”.

Regarding the location of Mount Hor, see “The Israelites’ Journeys in the Wilderness”. This article also addresses one of the more challenging elements to reconcile with other passages’ accounts of the route: the location of the king of Arad’s attack on the Israelites.

As noted earlier, after the Israelites passed by Mount Seir, it appears that the Lord directed the Israelites to change their plans to circumvent Edom and instead directed them to pass through it (compare Numbers 33:42-43 and Deuteronomy 2:2-6 with Judges 11:18). See “The Israelites’ Journeys in the Wilderness”.

Regarding turning north at Zalmonah, this fits well with Scripture’s account that, after passing by the Edomites in Seir, the Israelites “turned away from the Arabah road that comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber” (Deuteronomy 2:8), and it also fits very well with Numbers 33:42, which records Punon as the next stop after Zalmonah.

Regarding the verses that require a route that avoids Moab (Deuteronomy 2:9; Judges 11:18) while at the same time making sense of the assertion that the Israelites camped “at Iye-abarim in the territory of Moab” (Numbers 33:44), the location of Khirbat `Aiy in the southwest corner of Moab fulfills these requirements well (“The Journey to Abel-shittim”). This location is also appropriately situated among the Abarim Mountains (as the predicate “-abarim” seems to indicate), which ran along the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The Medeba Map clearly identifies a town named Ai (a variant spelling of Iye) at the exact location of Khirbat `Aiy. (The stream depicted just south of Ai on the Medeba Map is likely Wadi en Numeirah [identified as the “waters of Nimrim”], not Wadi al-Hasa.) Though many translations understand Numbers 21:11 (“Iye-abarim, in the wilderness bordering Moab toward the sunrise”) as placing Iye-abarim in the wilderness that is east of Moab, this author is convinced that it is saying instead that Iye-abarim is in the wilderness that faces (Hebrew panim) Moab when looking eastward. Other examples of the use of the word faces to place something in a non-eastern position relative to another object by indicating the point of view of the reader include Joshua 13:24-25 (Gad’s boundary could not have included a town that was east of Rabbah) and Joshua 18:14 (it seems to make the most sense that the hill in view is probably the prominent hill to the north of Beth-horon–that is, before it when looking southward).

Regarding the location of the Zered Brook, Numbers 21:11-12 makes it difficult to identify it with Wadi al-Hasa, as the nearly universal scholarly consensus does. The Israelites had just camped at Iye-abarim, north of Wadi al-Hasa, and now they are said to have camped in in the Zered Brook as they made their way north. Even if one locates Iye-abarim at El Medeiyineh, that location is itself located in the middle of Wadi al-Hasa, so why would the text then say they camped next in the Zered Brook? Instead, it makes better sense to place the Zered Brook at Wadi e-Tarfawiya (see article at https://www.thetorah.com/article/wadi-zered). (Wadi al-Hasa instead makes a better candidate for the Brook of the Willows, mentioned in Isaiah 15:7.)

Regarding the location of Ar, see article at https://www.thetorah.com/article/ar-moab. Additionally, this author suggests Qasr el-‘Al as a good candidate for the site of the fortress of Ar, which likely gave its name to the greater region that lay south of the fortress. Based on Scripture’s multi-faceted portrayal of Ar, this fortress and region appear to have been considered at the same time Moabite yet to some degree distinct from the Moabites.

Zechariah Prophesies of Judah’s Restoration

Zechariah 14

In the last chapter of his book, the prophet Zechariah describes an apocalypic vision of Judah’s coming restoration. It is not clear whether Zechariah’s vision refers to actual, specific events to come in the future, or whether it expresses a more general hope that one day God will ultimately intervene in history to judge the nations, protect his people, and establish his rule over the world. The vision begins by describing a time of great suffering when all the nations will be gathered for battle against Jerusalem. The city will fall, and half the city will go into exile. Since Zechariah lived after the fall of Jerusalem and the exile of many Judeans to Babylon, this portion of the vision may actually refer to these past events. The vision continues on, describing how the Lord will rise up for those that remain, and he will fight the nations, and the very land itself will be transformed for the Lord’s people. The Lord will stand on the Mount of Olives, just east of Jerusalem, and the mountain will be split in half from east to west, allowing the people of Jerusalem to flee through the new valley to Azal, an uncertain location somewhere east of the city. Living waters will flow out of Jerusalem as well, with half the waters flowing to the Dead Sea (literally, “eastern sea”) and the other half flowing to the Mediterranean Sea (literally, “western sea”). The Lord will become king over all the earth, and the land will become a plain from Geba to Rimmon, essentially the entire land of Judah. It is interesting to note that this restored Judah will once again include the region that was under the rule of the Idumeans (Edomites) at the time of Zechariah. The Edomites had apparently moved northward from Seir into this region while Judah was under attack from Nebuchadnezzar just before the fall of Jerusalem (see Ezekiah 25:12-14; Obadiah 1:1-21; see “Nebuchadnezzar’s Final Campaign against Judah” map). Jerusalem, however, will continue to remain elevated over the surrounding area. The city, which lay in ruins at the time of Zechariah, is described as spanning east to west from the Gate of Benjamin (on the eastern edge of the Temple Mount) to the Old Gate (on the western edge of the Temple Mount) to the Corner Gate (on the far western edge of the city). The city also spanned north to south from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses, likely near the king’s garden at the southern edge of the city.

⤓ download hi-res file         ⧗ see in TimeGlider

Abimelech Seizes Power

Judges 9

Virtually every account in the book of Judges paints this formative period in Israel’s history as a very dark, brutal time when everyone did what was right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25). The story of Abimelech’s rise to power is no exception. Judges 6-8 recounts the heroic deeds of Gideon, a Manassite from the clan of Abiezer who rescued the Israelites from the Midianites. After Gideon’s victory, he returned to his hometown of Ophrah, and Israel enjoyed peace for the rest of his lifetime. But Gideon also left a legacy of idolatry by him, by his family, and by many Israelites. Gideon had many wives and seventy sons, as well as a concubine in Shechem who gave birth to another son named Abimelech (Judges 8:29-32). It appears that when Abimelech grew up, he settled in Arumah, (Judges 9:31), just outside Manassite territory in the tribal allotment of Ephraim (Joshua 16-17; see “Poster Map of the Tribe of Manasseh (West) and Its Surroundings, circa 1200 B.C.” map). Perhaps this move to non-Manassite territory reflected Abimelech’s lack of a legitimate heritage from his Manassite father. Later, Abimelech visited his relatives in Shechem and convinced them to persuade the leaders of Shechem to make him ruler over the city. To ensure that none of his seventy brothers, who were legitimate heirs to Gideon, challenged his authority, Abimelech went to Ophrah and killed all but one of them. The only brother to escape was Jotham, the youngest, and he went to the top of Mount Gerizim and warned them against betraying Gideon by making Abimelech king. Then he fled to the town of Beer, perhaps the same as Beeroth near the town of Gibeon. After three years, however, the leaders of Shechem began to grow dissatisfied with Abimelech as their king, and a man named Gaal offered to rule in place of him. Abimelech’s ally Zebul, who was one of the leaders of Shechem, went to Arumah and told Abimelech what Gaal was planning to do. So Gideon and his men split up into four groups and secretly surrounded the city at night. Then they attacked Gaal’s men, and Gaal’s men retreated into Shechem. Zebul drove them back out into the fields, and Abimelech’s men defeated them and captured the city. Some of the leaders of Shechem fled into the temple of El-berith (or Baal-berith), but Abimelech and his men cut down branches from Mount Zalmon (likely Mount Ebal just north of Shechem) and set fire to the temple, killing about 1000 people inside. Then Abimelech and his men went to Thebez and attacked the city. Many of the citizens took refuge inside a strong tower in the town, and Abimelech prepared to set fire to the entrance. But a woman on the roof dropped a millstone on his head, crushing his skull, so Abimelech commanded his armor bearer to kill him.

⤓ download hi-res file

⤓ download hi-res file

⧗ see in TimeGlider

Jeremiah Prophesies of a Restored Jerusalem

Jeremiah 31:38-40

Jeremiah 30-31, often referred to as the Book of Consolation, is ultimately a message of hope after a time of judgment and exile. Though Israel and Judah have suffered devastation for abandoning the Lord, one day the Lord himself would restore them. It is not clear whether these chapters were written after the devastation (including the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.) had already occurred, or they were speaking of it in the future. In any case, they clearly foretold of a day of restoration that lay ahead for God’s people. Jeremiah 31:38-40 specifically notes that Jerusalem would one day be rebuilt as part of this restoration, but not merely as it was before. The restored city would be expanded to include even the two valleys that had previously marked the boundary of three quarters of the city. The prophecy visualized plans being made for these new boundaries (presumably to be bounded by walls) by detailing the path of a measuring line that would go out from the northwest corner of the Temple Mount, encircle the city, and return to the southeast corner of the Temple Mount (see also the “Jerusalem during the Time of Nehemiah, circa 445 B.C.” map). The “whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes” that would be included likely refers to the Hinnom Valley. By the time of Jeremiah, this valley had become known as the location of Topheth, a pagan altar where children were burned as a sacrifice to the Canaanite god Molech (see 2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31-32; 19:6-13). But Jeremiah foretold of a time when the Lord would bring such destruction upon Jerusalem that the valley would be filled with dead bodies (Jeremiah 19:6-9). Yet in the day of Israel and Judah’s restoration, the whole valley, along with the fields (or terraced gardens) running the whole length of the Kidron Valley, would be sacred to the Lord, and the new city would never again be uprooted or overthrown.

⤓ download hi-res file