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54 The Great Ash Heap in the Wilderness!

The Great Ash Heap in the

Wilderness!

When Brit ish ar chae ol o gist Sir Flinders Petrie ex am ined the tem ple
ru ins at Serabit El-Khadem in the Si nai pen in sula, he dis cov ered an
im mense heap of ashes un der ly ing tem ple ad di tions of the 18th Dy -
nasty. What was the SOURCE of this huge de posit? Was it a slag
heap mark ing the min ing ef forts of the Egyp tians, or the re mains of a
large num ber of burnt sac ri fices of fered up by the min ers of Serabit?
Read about the star tling con clu sions thought ful ar chae ol o gists came
up with, and how the Bi ble helps clear up the mys tery of the ash heap
in the wil der ness!

John D. Keyser

W hen Mo ses was con fronted by the burn ing bush at the moun tain of YEHOVAH God in the
land of Midian, the voice of the Eter nal com manded him:

Then they [the el ders of Is rael] will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the el ders
of Is rael, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The Lord God of the He brews has
met with us; and now, please, let us go THREE DAYS’ JOURNEY INTO THE
WILDERNESS, that we may sac ri fice to the Lord our God.’ -- Ex o dus 3:18 NKJV.

Fol low ing the fourth plague, Mo ses and Aaron were called into the pres ence of the Pha raoh,
who said:

“Go, sac ri fice to your God in the land [of Egypt].” And Mo ses said, “It is not right to do so,
for we would be sac ri fic ing the abom i na tion of the Egyp tians to the Lord our God. If we sac -
ri fice the abom i na tion of the Egyp tians be fore their eyes, then will they not stone us?

We will go THREE DAYS’ JOURNEY INTO THE WILDERNESS and sac ri fice to the
Lord our God as He will com mand us." And Pha raoh said, “I will let you go, that you may
sac ri fice to the Lord your God in the wil der ness; only you shall not go very far away [from
or be yond this point]. In ter cede for me.” -- Ex o dus 8:25-28, NKJV.

Three Days’ Journey

What did the phrase “three days’ jour ney into the wil der ness” mean; and ex actly what des ti -
na tion did YEHOVAH God have in mind for the Is ra el ites? Let Flinders Petrie ex plain:

The Berean Voice