The journey through the Sinai, down the Red Sea east coast is a route taken for thousands of years by Egyptian slaves and laborers. They went down here to mine the rich deposits of copper and tourquoise since at least 3000 BC. Moses, aware of this path from his training in the Egyptian Court took his people this way. Ironically God used a route for Egyptian slaves as a means of freedom for His people to escape their bondage.
       The Book of Exodus tells us that the Hebrew marched for three straight days without  being able to stop for food or water supplies. This is collaborated in real life, for as you march down this path, it is 45 miles from Migdol by the Sea and the next water source......called by today's Bedouins "Ain Hawarah". It has been calculated that the group of Hebrews could probable march on average 12 miles per day so in three days, they would cover the 45 miles of this leg of the journey.
       The Book of Exodus goes on to tell us even more informantion. Once they reached this water source,  they could barely drink the water because it was bitter. Therefore they moved another day's march further and found a healthy and vibrant oasis. This oasis is said by Exodus to have, "twelve wells and seventy palm trees." Modern Bedouins are very reluctant to stop at Ain Hawarah because the spring is salty and sulphurous.....or "bitter" as the Bible calls it. However, 15 miles further is a fine oasis called "Wadi Gharandel".  It is filled with palm trees and numerous wells. The 15 mile journey would take right at a day at the pace of the Hebrew march, just as it says in Exodus.
       The next miracle in the Exodus story is the gift of quail and mana. The Bible tells us that quails came and landed in the area of the camp of the Hebrews, who promptly captured and ate. Also the Bible tells us about the "mana from Heaven". It describes it as appearing like early morning dew which then hardened and was collected and ate. The mana also suppossedily tasted much like honey. Both of these occurances are  common even today in the area of the Sinai.  Birds  migrate from Africa every Spring to avoid the squelching heat of the African desert, for the more temparate climate of Europe. They take two paths, one is across the Strait of Gilbralter in Spain and the other is across the Red Sea into the Middle East. As they make the long restless flight across the Red Sea, they land immediately on the east coastline to rest before continuing on the flight north. As they rest, they can be easilly caught by anyone who happens to be there.
       The mana is well known in the Sinai region and is even listed as an export of the Sinai peninsula. Further, its supplier is listed in every botanical index of the Middle East as the Tamarix Mannifera, Ehr. For centuries it has been collected as a delicacy by monks in the area and Arabs. It is described as occuring very early in the morning, landing on everything as a dew.  It then can be collected and turned into a paste fir cooking or eating and it is said to have the taste of honey. Scientist have discovered that it is a secretion from the tamarisk trees that live in the area. The Bible also mentions the need to collect the mana early or else it disappears quickly, just like the modern version. It falls early but as temperatures rise, the insects come out and gather the mana as  well and by about 8:30 AM, it is all gone. Finally, it is said that the Hebrew ate the mana for the whole 40 years in the desert , which is true since this "mana of Heaven" occurs in the whole area from  the Red Sea to the Dead Sea.
         Finally for this page we have the search for the place that the Hebrew camped known as "Dophkah". It was lost to time until just after the turn of this century when a search party went into the Sinai to find it. The only clue we have is the name, which in Hebrew means, "smelting operations". Smelting operations take place where mining is done to work the metal ore.
         In the midst of the plateau of this part of the Sinai, there is a jagged mountain range, the Sinai massif. Closer inspection shows the rocks to be a colorful rainbow of mineral and ores inbedded into the rocks and then ending in a lost wadi. The carvan went to these mountain and found a lost Egyptian mining base hidden within the mountains. Inside the temple there, the name of Ramesses II was found chiseled into the walls. The name of this place to the Egyptians was ,"Serabit el-Khadem". The evidence of the mining that took place here was found in chisel marks and half-choked galleries in the search for copper and tourquise. In the two year study of the site,  stone fragments of tablets as well as a small statue of a crouching figure was found buried in the sand. On these were found a form of writing never seen before in this area and the meaning of the words were lost. Including all the other evidence from the site, the scientist concluded that about 1500 BC, Canannite slaves lived here and made those artifacts. It was a shock to the world because this was evidence of Canaanite's being able to write centuries before believed. The script is a blend of Egyptian hieroglyphics and cuneiform, and was a direct ancestor of our alphabet.  So it seems that the residents here combined the Egyptian picture writing with their homeland cuneiform to form a whole new language.
       Would this not be the result of a Hebrew people living a few hundred years in Egypt and then leaving? A blend of both cultures? Is it  coincidence that this occured in exactly the right spot for the Exodus, at the write time, and under the right circumstances?

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