The Exodus route - Shur was Jeddah & the bitter water of Marah was the Zamzam well near Marwah in Mecca

 

Watch the whole Youtube video “Exodus route 1 Locating the Red sea crossing, Pi Hahiroth, Migdol, Baal Zephon, Shur, Marah,  & Elim”.



Exodus 15: 22-25 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.


The next station stop of the Exodus was the Desert of Shur which is closely associated with the bitter water of Marah. Hagar, the Egyptian wife of Abraham was also associated with a spring of water in the Desert of Shur:


Genesis 16: 7-10 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

 

In Islamic tradition, the civilization of Mecca started after  Abraham left his son Ishmael and wife Hagar in the valley. When their provisions were exhausted, Hagar eventually ran out of food and water and could no longer breastfeed Ishmael. She thus ran back and forth seven times between two small hills named Safa and Marwah hoping to find water. Angel Gabriel came to their aid and a spring of water appeared from the ground. The well was named Zamzam and the journey back and forth between Safa and Marwah was made a ritual during Hajj. I believe the Islamic Marwah is one and the same as the Biblical Marah where a formerly bitter water (now known as Zamzam) flowed. Both Marwah and the well of Zamzam are located in Mecca near the Kaaba. I also believe the well of Zamzam is one and the same as the well of Beersheba mentioned in Genesis 21: 22-33 where Abraham planted a tree called ay'-shel in Hebrew. The piece of wood of this dead tree was what Moses threw in Marah to remove its bitterness.  


Note that the Hebrew Biblical script (which omits vowels) for Marah is written Mem Resh He, and while it is currently pronounced Marah, it could have been pronounced as Maruh instead during the time of Moses. The Arabic Quranic script for Marwah (which also omits vowels) is written Mim Rah Waw Ha. However Waw can be pronounced as the vowel U if a vowel marking called damma appears above the preceding consonant. But just like Hebrew, vowels and vowel markings were not written in the Quran, so that while Marwah is the common pronunciation nowadays, it could have been pronounced as Maruh instead during the time of Muhammad just like its Hebrew counterpart.


Jeddah is the principal gateway coming from the Red Sea to Mecca, the hoIiest city in Islam, just 65 kilometers to the southeast. Now two locations of inter-mountain dune fields east and southeast of Jeddah were identified. This means  the southeast road from Jeddah (The Biblical Shur) towards Marwah in Mecca (the Biblical Marah) is covered by sand dunes or desert. And according to Exodus 15: 22-25, it took the Israelites three days' journey to traverse the 65 kilometers Desert of Shur (or Jeddah), which I think is a reasonable pace.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Exodus route 2 - Locating Mount Sinai, the Desert of Sin, Rephidim & the Desert of Paran

Image
  This is the transcript to my Youtube video with the same title. In my previous video titled “ Exodus route 1 Locating the Red sea crossing, Pi Hahiroth, Migdol, Baal Zephon, Shur, Marah, & Elim' ', I identified Pi Hahiroth which is translated by the Strong’s concordance as both “mouth of the gorges'' or "place where sedge grows'' as the Rawayah Lagoon in the middle of Dungunab Bay . I identified Migdol, which the Strong’s concordance translates as “tower” or a fortified city on the Egyptian border, as Semna , a fortified city founded during the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt in the area of Lower Nubia .  I identified Baal Zephon, translated by Strong’s concordance as "lord of the north", as the idol of the storm and rain god Hubal inside the Kaaba in Mecca. I identified the desert of Shur as the southeast desert road from Jeddah towards Marwa in Mecca. I identified the Biblical Marah as Marwah near where the well named Zamzam in Mecca...
Read more

The census of Quirinius and the unidentified Governor of Syria from 3 BC to 1 AD

Image
In my previous videos titled “Faulty Olympiad calendar caused 1 year error in redating Herod's death from 1 BC to 4 BC” and “Co-regency between Augustus and Tiberius  caused 2 years error in redating Herod's death from 1 BC to 4 BC” , I came to the following conclusions: 1. The start of the first Olympiad dated 776 BC, was one year too early, and should have been 775 BC instead. And since the Varronian Chronology used the Olympiad calendar as its calendar epoch, this  chronology became a victim of this one year error as well. The Varronian Chronology was the common reference used by historians to specify the years Roman Consuls served and was also the recognized basis for dating most events in Roman History. 2. Because of confusion over the co-regency between Augustus and Tiberius that happened two years before Augustus died, historians wrongly started Tiberius’ solo reign on the start of this co-regency rather than on Augustus’ death. The result wa...
Read more

Exodus Route - The Desert of Sin, where God first rained down Manna, is the desert east of Medina

Image
  Watch the whole Youtube video “Exodus route 2 - Locating Mount Sinai, the Desert of Sin, Rephidim & the Desert of Paran”.   In my previous video titled “Exodus route 1 Locating the Red sea crossing, Pi Hahiroth, Migdol, Baal Zephon, Shur, Marah, & Elim'', I identified Pi Hahiroth which is translated by the Strong’s concordance as both “mouth of the gorges'' or "place where sedge grows'' as the Rawayah Lagoon in the middle of Dungunab Bay . I identified Migdol, which the Strong’s concordance translates as “tower” or a fortified city on the Egyptian border, as Semna , a fortified city founded during the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt in the area of Lower Nubia .  I identified Baal Zephon, translated by Strong’s concordance as "lord of the north", as the idol of the storm and rain god Hubal inside the Kaaba in Mecca. I identified the desert of Shur as the southeast desert road from Jeddah towards Marwa in Mecca. I identified the Biblic...
Read more