Wilderness Wanderings

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Does the narrative of the journeys of the Israelites in the wilderness have any authentic background? Could the wanderings really have taken place in Sinai? After all, as is frequently noted, there is a complete absence of any archaeological remains that would evidence their wanderings.

Every natural environment, however, has its unique characteristics, its natural possibilities. Human beings generally try to live and work in harmony with their varying natural environments.

This is certainly true of the Sinai Peninsula and the Bedouin who live there, at least until the modern technological revolution reached them at the end of the 20th century. And a comparison of the Bedouin way of life with that attributed to the Israelites in the wilderness after leaving Egypt may uncover a certain authenticity to the Biblical narrative not available otherwise. In short, we may be able to recognize in this comparison the historic and geographic background of the Israelites (or of one or more of the Israelite tribes) 034as a nomadic group living and wandering in the desert.

We may begin with the very basic characteristic of Bedouin life: They live as nomadic shepherds.

Journeys of nomadic Sinai tribes in years of drought to find pasturage for their flocks in Egypt were and are common. An ancient Egyptian document tells of the permission given nomads from Edom (in its general meaning as a large geographical area including southern Jordan, the Negev and the Sinai) to enter the area of the Nile Delta in a drought year, about 1200 B.C.E.:

“The Scribe Inena communicating to his lord… life, prosperity, health… [We] have finished letting the Bedouin tribes of Edom pass the Fortress [of] Mer-­ne-ptah… to keep them alive and to keep their cattle alive.”¹

But the Egyptians did not like the Bedouin: “All shepherds are abhorrent to Egyptians” (Genesis 46:34).

The margins of the Nile Delta, like “the Land of Goshen” (where the Israelites settled), were a place of refuge for the nomads. Nomadic tribes would encamp at the edge of the irrigation channels in order to survive, and they almost certainly enjoyed the protection of the authorities as well as elementary food provisions. In return, the nomads would offer their labor. As the rulers became accustomed to exploiting this cheap manpower, it is no wonder that they would want to 035maintain their hold over them. This is apparently the background for the enslavement of the Israelites.

After Moses killed the Egyptian taskmaster and fled to Midian, he lived as a shepherd (Exodus 2:11–15). He tended his father-in-law’s flock. He “drove the flock into the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb” (Exodus 3:1). When nomads settled along the margins of the Delta, it was natural for them, when flight was necessary, to flee to the desert, as did Moses. This is somewhat reminiscent of an early Egyptian papyrus that describes the pursuit of two escaped slaves who passed through the “Shur of Egypt” and escaped into the desert.²

Intelligence and resourcefulness are characteristics of many Bedouin shepherds that I have known personally. Some of them have developed an excellent sense of observation that, together with their rich experience, aids them in locating sites to dig for water. Some are even able to strike rocks to get water, instead of digging… And so did Moses: “Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Out came copious water, and the people and their beasts drank” (Numbers 20:11).

“Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness,” Moses tells Pharaoh in God’s name (Exodus 5:1). If we understand it as is, the purpose of this request was to deceive Pharaoh and to conceal their intention to travel to their real destination: the Land of Canaan. But Pharaoh and his advisors are not naïve. They are not stupid. They “buy” this request to go into the desert because this “excuse” has a background in reality. It probably reflects the custom of pilgrimages to tombs, sacred places and mountains, a common custom among nomads. The Biblical words translated as “hold a feast to me in the wilderness” should be understood as “make a pilgrimage to me in the wilderness.” Even today this custom, called Zu’ara (“visit, pilgrimage”) is observed among the Sinai Bedouin, who make pilgrimage to their sheikhs’ tombs; some of these are tribal, whereas others are holy to all the tribes.

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In Exodus 12, the Lord (through Moses and Aaron) instructs the Israelites in the observance of the Passover festival, centering on the sacrifice of a lamb and the eating of unleavened bread (matzah). This festival has come to represent the entire story of the Exodus. Many scholars believe it finds its origins in an early shepherd custom before the herds were taken out to spring pastures. The Bedouin refer to this as Rabi’ah, that is, the going out to the far mountains for seasonal pasturage.

Instructions to hold the Passover feast were given to the Israelites while they were still in Egypt, just before the tenth plague—the slaying of the firstborn—that would finally induce Pharaoh to let the people go. As part of the instructions, the Israelites are told to take the blood of the slaughtered lamb and smear it on the doorposts and lintels of their houses (Exodus 12:7). This will be the sign to the Lord to “pass over” the houses of the Israelites (Exodus 12:22–23).

I have actually witnessed a similar Bedouin ritual at ‘Ain Fortaga in Sinai, in which, after sacrificing a goat, they smeared blood on camels’ necks, as well as on the children’s foreheads. This was 038considered a wish for health, abundance and good fortune.

Matzah (unleavened bread) also has its origins in Bedouin life. The Bedouin call it libeh. Libeh is baked two or three times a day. It is made of a quick mixture of flour, water, a pinch of salt and, of course, no leavening. It is then baked on the burning coals of an open fire.

In the wilderness the Israelites lived in booths, rough temporary shelters. It was in commemoration of this that the festival of booths (Sukkoth, or Tabernacles) was established, when for seven days the Israelites are to live in booths—“in order that future generations may know that I made the children of Israel to live in booths (b’sukkoth) when I brought them out of the Land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:43).

The date palm is the principal fruit tree of the Sinai. Booths made from date palms are common throughout the Sinai. Posts are made from the trunks, and walls and roofs are made from the fronds. The parts are fastened with ropes made of date fiber. These are temporary dwellings; the Bedouin live in these booths for a few weeks only, at the end of summer and during early autumn, when they stay in the oases. In this season the herds have finished feeding on the pasturage in the hills and the water sources there have dwindled. So the Bedouin assemble in the desert oases, where the water sources are perennial, grazing their herds in the surrounding area waiting for the first rains. During the autumn nights, the Bedouin “Date Festival” celebrates not only the harvest of dates but also the in-gathering of the tribes, who were scattered until now over the grazing areas, one family here and one family there.

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This comparison of the Biblical text with the life of the Bedouin in Sinai is a strong indication that the Israelites may indeed have wandered as nomads in the wilderness.

I do not mean to suggest that the entire Biblical account is to be regarded as a reliable reflection of historical events. The Biblical account, in its final form, is the product of various traditions transmitted through the tribes and “woven into a complete all-­encompassing tapestry, combining early memories together with folktales and images from later periods.”³

It is nevertheless the case that many of the events described in the Exodus story have a realistic background in the natural conditions of the Sinai and reflect a nomadic way of life that exists to this day. Such a way of life does not leave behind many traces, and this can explain the total absence of archaeological evidence for these stories. But the ethnographic evidence supports the theory that the Israelites (or some of them) did indeed sojourn in the wilderness.

Does the narrative of the journeys of the Israelites in the wilderness have any authentic background? Could the wanderings really have taken place in Sinai? After all, as is frequently noted, there is a complete absence of any archaeological remains that would evidence their wanderings. Every natural environment, however, has its unique characteristics, its natural possibilities. Human beings generally try to live and work in harmony with their varying natural environments. This is certainly true of the Sinai Peninsula and the Bedouin who live there, at least until the modern technological revolution reached them at the end of […]