Image Details

Yigael Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands

Hittite chariots break into the Egyptian camp in this color reconstruction of a detail from the reliefs at Abu Simbel (compare with drawing of Ramesses’ camp). Surrounded by round-topped leather shields, the rectangular camp is oriented eastward, as were the Tabernacle and its courtyard. The pharaoh’s tent, which stands in the heart of the compound (just right of center in the reconstruction), is, like the Tabernacle, a two-chambered, rectangular structure. Moreover, the inner chamber, or throne room, of the pharaoh’s tent strongly resembles the plan of the Tabernacle’s holy of holies. Especially noteworthy are the images of the winged god Horus that flank the pharaoh’s cartouche, much as the winged cherubim covered Yahweh’s Tabernacle throne (Exodus 25:18–22).