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fans with which they appear to be fanning air over the flame and brazier. If the Ramses relief is indeed portraying a covered brazier and one in full flame, then it might be an Egyptian portrayal of the pillar of smoke and fire described in Exodus. There is one more tantalizing clue as to the device’s Egyptian origins. When Pharaoh’s chariots approached the Israelite camp near the Reed Sea, they saw the pillar of smoke change into a pillar of fire and shift position. But these ‘miraculous’ events produced no reaction at all on the part of the Egyptian commanders and soldiers, and the Egyptians calmly went into their night encampment and waited for dawn. This suggests that the Egyptians were observing something which they had often seen before, an enemy commander’s

Figure 1. Portion (lower left panel) of the Reliefs of the Luxor Temple Depiction of Ramses’ II Military Camp at the Battle of Kadesh.102

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night water crossing. Exodus 14:24 tells us that the Egyptian pursuit began ‘at the morning watch’, or shortly after daybreak. With the Israelites watching safely from the other side of the marsh, the Egyptians appear to have attempted to follow them across the dry bed of the marsh, but the wheels of their chariots became ‘locked’ so ‘that they moved forward with difficulty’.113 This seems to be nothing more mysterious than chariot wheels caught in the mud. While struggling to free their machines, ‘the waters turned back and covered the chariots and the horsemen’. Perhaps the tide came in and some of the Egyptian troops and horses drowned. The Bible says that every Egyptian died in the Sea of Reeds. Exodus 12:28 tells that ‘not one man remained alive’. The death of an entire Egyptian division of 6,000 men at the hands of a band of Israelite foreigners would hardly have gone unrecorded by the Egyptians or someone else outside the Bible, and cannot be taken as true. But if we recall Manetho’s version of the Israelite saga as the expulsion of the Israelites, the story makes somewhat more sense. The Egyptian

Figure 2. Night Crossing of the Reed Sea

To Goshen

MigdolTo Beersheba

To Sinai

Israelite Camp

Reed Sea

Pharaoh’s Camp

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Map 1. Route of the Exodus

Route of the Exodus According to Numbers 33,

Verses 1-49

N

S

0 25 50

Miles

Succoth

Etham

Migdol

Marah

Elim

SEA OF R

EEDS

Dophkah

SIN

Alush

Hazeroth

Rephidim

SINAI

Rimmon-perez Ezion-geberAbronah

Jotbathah

Hor-haggidgad

Rinoh

Libhah

MakhelothKehelathah

SHEPHER

Kadesh

Hashmonah

Bene-jaakanMoseroth

Hor

HormahBeer-sheba

Dibon-gad

ABAR

IM

Shittim

Iye-abarim

ObothPunon

Zalmonah

Rithmah

Kibroth-hattaavah

SE

A O

F R

EE

DS

N E G E B

E D

O

M

SHUR DESERT

PARAN

DESERT

MOAB

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military recruitment as well as Moses’ division of the people for judicial purposes into units of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens point to a major conclusion: the basis for Israelite political/military organization was not lineage, but territorial organization. Lineage was of lesser importance, since the social organization of early Israel was based on territorial divisions, as was the military draft.130 The revised census figures permit an estimate as to the size of the overall Israelite community at Sinai. Israelite men became eligible for military service at age 20, the same age for military service in Egypt.131 We do not know until what age soldiers remained in

Figure 3. Recalulated Size of Israelite Units (elef) by Tribe and Estimate of Size of Israelite Army (Numbers: 1 and 26)

Numbers 1 Numbers 26 I Chron 12

TribeReubenSimeonGadJudahIssachar

ZebulunEphraimManasseh (Half-tribe)BenjaminDanAsherNaphtali

Units4659457454

574032

35624153

Men500300650600400

400500200

400700500400

Units4322407664

603252

45645345

Men750200500500300

500500700

600400400400

Units(40)

7(40)

6

502018

(40)3

284037

Menxxx100xxx800

200 rd’fim and their men

xxx800xxx xxxxxx600xxx

1000 śārīmn

TOTALS 598 5550 596 5750 329 2300

Source: George E. Mendenhall, “The Census Lists of Numbers 1 an 26” Journal of Biblical Literature 77 (1958): 52-66.

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Figure 4. The Israelite Army at Sinai

Israelite Order of Battle MarchLeaving Sinai

(Numbers 10: 11-28)

Scouts

Scouts

EliteHeavy Infantry

Heavy Infantry

Heavy Infantry

Light Infantry

Slingers Slingers Slingers

Archers Archers

ArchersArchers

Light Infantry

Heavy Infantry

Heavy Infantry

Levite Clans of Gershon and Merari With

Tabernacle

Levite Clan of KohathWith Tabernacle

Heavy Infantry

Elite

ScoutsISSACHAR

ZEBULON

GADITES

REUBEN DIVISION

SIMEON (?)

BENJAMITES

MANASSEH

ASHER (?)

NAPHTALI

EPHRAIM DIVISION

DAN DIVISION REAR GUARD

JUDAH DIVISION

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greeting was expressed in the saying ‘waking in life in the tent of Pharaoh’.165 All Egyptian monumental architecture is oriented toward the east, and it is probable that the Jewish religious ritual of praying while facing east at the start of a new day or the ancient Christian practice of burying a corpse with its head to the east to greet the sun on resurrection day may have Egyptian origins as well. The entrance to both Ramses’ compound and the Tabernacle is in the middle of the eastern wall with a path leading to the ‘reception tent’ located in the middle of the walled-off compound. Pharaoh’s tent is twice as long as it is wide, preserving the same ratio as the compound’s outer walls. The ‘reception tent’ of the Tabernacle is also twice as long as its width, preserving the same ratio. In both cases the reception tent leads to a holy of holies that is square, not rectangular like the reception tent.166 The sides of each square are equal to the width of the reception tent in both cases. Figure 4 portrays the layout and relative dimensions of each

Figure 5. Abu Simbel Relief Portraying Ramses II’s War Tent at the Battle of Kadesh

Falcon Gods–Horus

Outer Compound Wall

Eastern Outer Shield Wall

Royal Cartouche

Square Throne Tent

Reception Tent

Path To Tent Compound Oriented To

The East

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Map

2. I

ndo-

Euro

pean

Mig

rati

ons

IND

O-E

UR

OP

EA

N M

IGR

ATIO

NS

FR

OM

1,7

00B

C

Ear

liest

Mig

ratio

ns

Late

r M

igra

tions

Bal

tsG

erm

ans S

lavs

Cel

ts

Italic

sIll

yria

ns Thra

cian

s

Bla

ck S

ea

Indo

-Ary

ans

Caspian SeaE

arly

Indo

-Eur

opea

ns

Atla

ntic

Oce

an

EUR

OPE

AS

IA

NE

AR

EA

STA

FRIC

A

Gre

eks

Med

iterr

anea

n S

ea

KM

0

20

00

Indo

-Eur

opea

ns

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Map 3. Aryan Invasions and Settlement Routes

CHINA

INDIA

AFGHANISTAN

PAKISTAN

BAY OFBENGAL

ARABIAN SEA

ARYAN INVASION OF INDIA 1,500-250BC

Thar Deseart

*Harappa

Ganges

Deccan Plateau

HINDU KUSH

HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS

Indus

KM 0 500

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Map 4. The Mahajanapadas, 600 BC

KAMBOJA

GANDHARA

KURU

PAN

CH

AL

KOSALA

MALLA

VRIJJI

MAGADHA

BAY OF BENGAL

ARABIAN SEA

ASMAKA

CH

ED

I

MATSYASU

RASEN

A

AVANTI

VATSA

ANGA

KASHI

R. GODAVARI

R. TAPTI

R. NARMADA

R. LUNI

R. INDUS

R. SARASVATI

R. SUTLEJR. R

AVIR. JHELUM

Taxila R. CHENAB

R. GANGA

R. YAMUNA

R. BEAS

R. CHAMBAL

R. MAHANADI

MILES0 100 200 300

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Rigveda endowed the animal with divinity. The chariot declined as a true implement of war probably circa 650 BC, although some Indian state armies seemed to have retained it, if only in small numbers, until the third century BC. The Chinese pilgrim, Hiuen Tsan, wrote of his travels in India in which he described the Indian army as having chariots. He noted that ‘the army is composed of foot, horse, chariot, and elephant soldiers...The chariot in which an officer sits is drawn by four horses, whilst infantry guard it on both sides.20 This description is not of a war chariot but a field command vehicle in which the officer sits while guarded by infantry. During a later visit the same Chinese author wrote again of the Indian army,

Figure 6. Ravana in Full Battle Array. (1) Dagger axe, (2) club, (3) mace, (4) lasso, (5) metal trident spear, (6) crescent axe, (7) cane arrow, (8) incendiary arrow, (9) unknown, (10) brownze leaf-point javelin, (11) iron-tipped spear, (12) sickle-sword, (13) sword, (14) battle-axe, (15) trident dagger, (16) club, (17) stimulum (?), (18) composite bow.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1011

12

13

1415

16

17

18

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Map 5. Indian States, 500 BC

PAROPANISADAIARACHOSIA

YAVANAS

GEDROSIA

GANDHARA

ARABIAN SEA

BAY OF

BENGALSATYA

PUTRAS

KERALA PUTRAS

CHOLAS

PANDYAS

PULINDAS

ANDHRAS

KALINGA

MAGADHA

NIGLIVARAMPURVA

RUMMINDEISOHGAURA

Prayaga

SARNATHSAHASRAM

RUPNATHCALCUTTA

Tamralipti

DHAULI

MADRAS

R. KAVERI

Shravana-Belgola

JATINGA-RAMESHWAR

RAJULA-MANDAGIRIYERRAGUDI

R. KRISHNAMASKI

SIDDAPURABRAHMAGIRI

JAUGADA

KAUSHAMBI

GUJARRA

MEERUTDELHI

Mathura

R. SUTLEJ

R. INDUS

BAIRAT

Ujjayini

R. GODAVARI

R. MAHANADI

R. NARMADASANCHI

GIRNAR

SOPARA BOMBAY

TOPRAKALSI

MANSEHRA

Taxila

KANDAHAR

LAMPAKA

SHAHBAZGARHI

LAURIYA NANDANGARHLAURIYA ARARAJ

Pataliputra

Shravasti

R. GANGES

BARABARMAHASTHAN

Ancient TownsMODERN TOWNS

KILOMETRES

MILES

0 200 400

0 100 200 300 400

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Map 6. Raids and Battles in Muhammad’s Arabia

Raids and Battles in Muhammad’s Arabia

Scale0 400 Miles

BYZANTINE EMPIRE(Modern Turkey)

Baghdad

Persia(Modern Iran)

Tabuk

Medina

MeccaEGYPT

ABYSSINIA

Red Sea

Aden

Suhar

Damascus

Jerusalem

HADHRAMAUT

A R A B I A

OMAN

YEMEN

Persian Gulf

BAHRAIN

Expansionunder MuhammadBattle Raids

N

ArabianSea

Dhat al Riqa, 626

Duma al Jandal

Muta, 629

Tabuk, 630

Dhuy Amr, 624Kheibar, 628

Uhud, 625 Bir Maoona, 625Bahran, 624Yathrib, 627

Badr, 624/626Beni Dharma, 623Rabigh, 623 Hunayn, 630

Nakhla, 623Mecca, 630Ta’if, 630

Beni Lihyan, 628

SYRIA

PALESTINE

Med

iterr

anea

n Se

a

Mesopotamia

(Modern Iraq)

Euphrates R.

Tigris R.