Israel Visit 20 November 2005

After breakfast Eyal put us in his beloved Toyota Land Cruiser and spent the day showing us various spots in the wilderness around Ezuz.

More about this later, but the Ezuz area is just North of the springs of Kadesh Barnea (now in Egyptian territory and therefore inaccessible to us), and therefore the area where the children of Israel were encamped when Moses sent the 12 men to scout the land North of them.

The area is also crossed by ancient trade routes.

Roadsign to Ezuz.
Ezuz as viewed from the East.
After driving ca 5 km East from Ezuz, we found a site, partially dug archaeologically, of what is probably a "temporary" community during the 19 years the children of Israel camped in this area, during the 40-years exodus from Egypt into the Promised Land. The vertical stones in the middle of this house indicate a short-term construction, as opposed to more permanent type. Note the door on the far side of the house. 30° 45' 01.44" N 34° 37' 15.15" E, 600 m
Tighter view of another house in the community
Third house in the community. Again, note the central support stone for a ceiling. Floor was lower than existing. Note also the terraced hillside in the distance, for catching runoff water and diverting it to nearby fields for irrigation.
Numerous piles of rock abound in this community and elsewhere in the area. Two explananations appear. The classical one is that they are "grape mounds." Supposedly grapes growing in the middle of a mound would trail over the rocks, keeping the fruit from contacting the ground, and the mounds would conserve water and reduce daytime ground temperature. The second, which has been documented with data, is that they were temporary graves of bones transported by the children of Israel from Egypt as commanded. DNA tests of bones from this area and from a similar encampment near Jericho, 75 miles away, indicate similarity of peoples between the two.
In the valley below the community is a cistern. The mouth is located just right of the near clump of vegetation. Beyond is a sedimentation pool, whereby sediment was dropped out of the flowing water, so as not to pollute the cistern, used of course for drinking water.
It is possible to climb down a steel ladder into the cistern, as evidenced here by Mike Clayton.
The cistern has recently been polluted by summer swimming in the cool water.
Driving back through Ezuz, and South toward Kadesh Barnea, we spotted a small herd of gazelles grazing near an Acacia tree.
The Israel-Egyptian border in the Kadesh Barnea plain. The near "path" is drug by the IDF after searching for footprints to indicate invasion by smugglers or terrorists. The farther asphalt road is the Egyptian border road, paralleling the Israeli border road we were on. The springs around which the community resided is ca 5 km beyond, now under Egyptian control. From here Moses sent the 12 scouts as described in Numbers 13.
An unexploded flare. Not used by the 12!
Another view of the Kadesh Barnea plain.
Grade as part of a never-completed railroad, which approximates the ancient trade route. Route depended heavily on wells (for steam locomotives) throughout the region, just as the trade routes and wanderings did.
Bridge, also in the grade as part of the never-completed railroad. This bridge is near Ezuz, which is in background.
Much of the area is underlain by chalk, covered with a thin mantle of earth.
The chalk weathers under wind, rain and man.
Then back North 20 or so km to the dune area North of Nitzana, along Nachal Lavan (white).
Nearby to the dunes, in Nachal Lavan, Eyal described and showed 3 usable plants. 1) Yafruk: A near leafless shrub when crushed lathers up into a soap that is beneficial to the skin. 2) Lehan: A plant that smells sweet, but tastes bitter, as described in Isaiah 5:20. 3) Rotem: The tall shrub whose roots especially make excellent, long-lasting firewood and coals, which hold "forever."
The soil surface is sealed until broken by man or beast, evidenced by foot traffic around this plant. Very high runoff rates result from the sealing.
A crab, which we didn't see, intakes sand to enable faster burrowing, and excretes a casting, 2 mm long, via a separate GI tract.
An abandoned terrace across the wadi near Ezuz. Terraces were built, probably in the first 1 - 3 centuries CE. More about them later.
Ancient water reservoir, probably built by Turks using local labor. Is supplied by terracing hillsides. Estimated 15 m X 25 m X 3 m. May have been swimming hole.