Mount Halak Map (Joshua 11:17; 12:7)
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19 November 2004
Cohen identifies Halak with Jebel Halaq in the Negeb:
"A mountain mentioned as the S limit of the conquest of Joshua (Josh. 11:17; 12:7). It is described as being "on the way leading up to Seir" (cf. RSV "that rises toward Seir"), the wooded slopes E of the Arabah. The name and site are preserved in the Jebel Halaq on the NW side of the Wadi Marra, N of 'Abdeh." (p. 512. Vol. 2. S. Cohen. "Halak, Mount." George A. Buttrick. Editor. The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, An Illustrated Encyclopdeia. Nashville. Abingdon Press. 1962)
Below, Musil's map showing Jebel Halaq as "G. Halak" just north of 'Abde (Greek: Oboda) which was a Nabatean settlement. Wadi el-Marra drains from the vicinity of 'Abde and Gebel Halak is just N of the wadi. Musil's map also shows an ascent called the "N. Rareb" (Naqb Gareb) following Wadi el Marra, then ascending to the ESE of Gebel Halak and making for Dejka Hlekim and el-Makra (cf. Alois Musil. Karte von Arabia Petraea. Vienna. 1907. 1:300,000 scale)
Most scholars today understand that the "wilderness of Zin" is the drainage basin of Wadi el Marra from the vicinity of 'Abde to the Arabah valley and the Dead Sea.
The problem ?
For those scholars understanding that the Exodus occurred ca. 1446 BCE citing 1 Kings 6:1, archaeological surveys of this area have documented Stone Age, Middle Bronze I and Iron II sites in the area but no Late Bronze Age (ca. 1560-1200 BCE) or Iron I sites (ca. 1220-1000 BCE). However, Professor Beno Rothenberg has challenged this notion. He has noted the presence of crude handmade wares from the Negeb called in scholarly parlance "Negebite ware" within the contexts of Ramesside pottery debris at the Egyptian-run mining center in the southern Arabah at the Timna Valley (Har Timna, Arabic: Gebel Mene'iyeh). He has proposed that this Negebite crude handmade pottery has been misdated to the 10th century (Iron II) and that it should be 13th-12th centuries BCE.
Below, Gebel Halak on a more recent map as "Har Halaqim", har meaning "mountain" in Hebrew. The "wilderness of Zin" appears as Sede Zin and Biq'at Zin along the drainage headwaters of Nahal Zin, formerly Wadi el-Marra on Musil's map. (cf. Survey of Israel. Jerusalem. 1979. South Sheet. 1:250,000 Scale). I have penciled in locations from Musil's map on the below map. His Wadi Mzere is today Israeli Nahal Mesora. Israeli Be'er Yeroham was Arabic Rakhmah. Arabic "Abdeh is now Israeli En Avedat. Musil's N. Rareb" (Naqb Gareb) appears below as Ma'ale Zin, Hebrew for the "ascent of Zin."
I have proposed that the "wilderness of Zin" the Latin Vulgate's Senna, is Khashim Zanna,an elevation S of Tel Masos (Arabic Bir Mashesh) and the Paran is Sahel Fara E of Masos and S of Arad, and that
Kadesh Barnea is Iron IA Tel Masos, the BIGGEST Iron IA site in the Negev (understanding that the sudden appearance of 200+ stone villages in the Hill Country of Judah and Jordan is Israel settling the land under Joshua).
