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The Great Ash Heap in the Wilderness! 59

EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT THE ASHES WERE DEPOSITED HERE ALL AT ONCE --
WITHIN A VERY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.

Dating the Ash Heap

The fact that the later ad di tions to the tem ple cov ered the ashes, as well as the fact that these
ad di tions are clearly dat able, show that the ashes were laid down PRIOR to the reign of Tahutmes
III of the 18th Dy nasty. In ex am in ing the ash heap, Petrie fur ther nar rowed down the time-frame:

The age of these ashes is CERTAINLY
BEFORE THE XVIIIth DYNASTY. And on
care fully search ing a part of this stra tum for
pot tery em bed ded in it, I found pieces of thin,
hemi spher i cal cups, of thick, large, drop-
shaped jars, and of rough white tube-pots,
ALL OF WHICH BELONG TO THE XIIth
DYNASTY. We have just seen that the XIIth
dy nasty was the most flour ish ing time in the
early his tory of the place, AND THIS
AGREES WITH THE DATE OF THE
REMAINS. -- Re searches in Si nai, p.99.
Early scripts from the Serabit area
This fits per fectly with the dat ing of the Ex o -
dus! The shards found by Petrie in the ash heap were from the reign of Amenemhat IV -- the last
male pha raoh of the 12th Dy nasty of the so-called Mid dle King dom. It was at the end of this king’s
reign that the Is ra el ites left Egypt un der the lead er ship of Mo ses.

The in ev i ta ble un der stand ing that Sir Charles Marston came to, af ter ex am in ing all the ex -
ca va tion re sults, is sim ply this: “....the Rit ual prac tised at the tem ple of Serabit, in the cen tre of Si -
nai, to which ref er ence has just been made, and which GOES BACK TO 1500 B.C., BEARS
DEFINITE RESEMBLANCE TO THE RITUAL WHICH WAS INSTITUTED THROUGH
MOSES.” (The Bi ble Comes Alive, p.61).

Clearly, the ashes were de pos ited at the time of the Ex o dus, when Mo ses and the Is ra el ites
stopped at Serabit (Succoth) to of fer up sac ri fices to YEHOVAH God on the last day of Un leav ened
Bread!

This was the destination meant by the “three days’ journey into the wilderness.”

The Berean Voice