“Eleven days from Chorev, by way of Mt. Seyir, until Kadesh Barneya” (D’varim 1:2). Although maps of the area vary greatly, the general consensus is that Kadesh Barneya, one of the markers for the southern border of the Promised Land (Bamidbar 34:4), is somewhere in the middle between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea (south of both of them). Since Mt. Seyir is (on the very same maps) southeast of the Dead Sea and northeast of the northern tip of the eastern leg of the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aqaba), and Chorev (Mt. Sinai) is on the Sinai Peninsula (west of the Gulf of Aqaba) see http://tinyurl.com/ml3nmwl), why would the Children of Israel travel to Kadesh Barneya via the road to Mt. Seyir? Wouldn’t this take them too far east? Why travel so far out of the way rather than just going north to Kadesh Barneya? [Although some say that Kadesh Barneya was the same as “Kadesh,” which is near the southeastern border of the Promised Land and the northwestern border of Seyir/Edom, since the southeastern border of the Promised Land is the edge of the Dead Sea (34:3) and two other southern markers are given before Kadesh Barneya is mentioned, it would be difficult to say it’s on the Promised Land’s eastern border.]

When it comes to trying to figure out where places mentioned in the Torah are located, there are almost always a wide variety of opinions given. Some are given by commentators on the text, some by scholars (Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and non-religious), and some by pseudo-scholars (like myself). Although I would prefer to not even acknowledge some of the possibilities suggested, I would be remiss if I didn’t explain why the most obvious explanation for traveling “on the road to Mt. Seyir” cannot be considered.

Some insist that Mt. Sinai is not really on the Sinai Peninsula, but on the eastern side of the Gulf of Aqaba, in what is now Saudi Arabia. If Mt. Sinai is in Saudi Arabia (Jebel al-Lawz is one of the mountains suggested), someone traveling from there to Kadesh Barneya would head towards (and past) Mt. Seyir. (This would also explain why Moshe asked Edom for permission to pass through their land, as they would be coming from the southeast, traveling northwest, and passing through Seyir is the shortest route to get there; Seyir is in the wrong direction for anyone coming from Sinai — I addressed this issue in http://rabbidmk.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/parashas-balak-5770. Also, if Mt. Sinai was in Saudi Arabia Moshe wouldn’t have had to travel anywhere near as far to get to the “burning bush“ while tending Yisro’s flock.) There are many reasons to reject the notion that Mt. Sinai is in Saudi Arabia (see http://tinyurl.com/mv7vxqr and http://tinyurl.com/l3gdc87); for now I will only include those that come from a Biblical perspective. (Since it is theoretically possible for the Children of Israel to have crossed the Gulf of Suez and for Mt. Sinai to be in Saudi Arabia, I am not including any of the many, many arguments against the Gulf of Aqaba being the crossing point.)

First of all, if the Children of Israel could get to the Promised Land (when they sent the spies) from Saudi Arabia without having to get permission from Edom, why did Moshe have to ask for it in the 40th year (Bamidbar 20:17)? And if they needed permission both times, why did Edom give it in the 2nd year but not in the 40th? Why didn’t Moshe mention having gone through Seyir (and possibly back again) when he made the request in year 40? Were the (almost) 40 years after spygate spent wandering in Saudi Arabia, or in the Sinai Peninsula? If they were in Saudi Arabia, why did they have to circumvent Edom (Bamidbar 2:5) to get to the Plains of Moav? Why travel south (ibid) to go north (D’varim 2:3) instead of just going north past Edom to Moav and then on to Sichon? Additionally, G-d had told them they would die “in this desert” (Bamidbar 14:29/32); if they went back to Saudi Arabia, it would be a different desert! On the other hand, if they didn’t go back to Saudi Arabia (but stayed in the Sinai Peninsula), how could Moshe remind them that they had stayed “in this great desert for 40 years” (D’varim 2:7) if they had been in several “deserts.” Also, does it make sense, after going all the way east into Saudi Arabia to escape from Egypt, with G-d being concerned that they would try to return to Egypt when things got tough, to now stay closer to Egypt than they had been? When Aharon met Moshe at “G-d’s mountain” (Sh’mos 4:27), Moshe had already traveled far enough to check into a place of lodging (4:24), and was considered as if he had already “returned to Egypt” (4:20). It doesn’t sound like Mt. Sinai is close to Midyan; if anything, Moshe and Aharon seem to have met somewhere in the middle, perhaps even closer to Egypt. (Now back to other, real, possible explanations for why the Children of Israel traveled via “the road to Mt. Seyir” if Kadesh Barneya was significantly east of Mt. Seyir.)

Netziv (D’varim 1:2) says that this “Kadesh Barneya” is not the same one from which the spies were sent, but is on the border with Mt. Seyir, inside the Promised Land. Had the nation not sinned they would have entered from there, and would have taken the road to Mt. Sayir to get there. (Netziv doesn’t explain what their sin was; he is likely referring to the craving for meat described in Bamidbar 11:1-6, although he could be referring to the desire to send spies, which meant going to the other Kadesh Barneya.) Therefore, included in Moshe’s opening rebuke is the implication that had they not sinned, they would have entered the Promised Land in 11 days rather than after 40 years; since they sinned, though, they went to the other Kadesh Barneya, which led to the 11 days becoming 39 more years. One factor that supports Netziv’s approach is that the road the Torah says they actually took was “the road to the mountains of the Emori” (D’varim 1:19), not “the road to Mt. Seyir”; we will come back to this discrepancy shortly. Aside from there being no textual indication that there are two different places with the name “Kadesh Barneya,” the Kadesh Barneya the Netziv refers to is the one listed as a border marker, which does not seem to be close to Mt. Seyir. (It may be close to where some Edomites lived, but it’s not next to the mountain range that this road is supposed to lead to.)

Some maps (e.g. in the Carta Bible Atlas and one in James Hoffmeier’s “Ancient Israel in Sinai”; my thanks to Rabbi Gil Student for tweeting me a picture of the latter, see http://tinyurl.com/nbblbhz) have “the road to Mt. Seyir” being a relatively short road that goes from the southern end of the Sinai Peninsula to the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, where it meets other major roads. If “the road to Mt. Seyir” didn’t really go to Mt. Seyir, but met with the major trade route that did (“The King’s Highway,” see Bamidbar 20:17), we can understand not only why it’s called “the way to Mt. Seyir” even if it doesn’t go there, but why the Children of Israel would take it if they weren’t going to Mt. Seyir. Once they reached the end of that road, rather than taking The King’s Highway to Mt. Seyir, they took “the road to the mountains of the Emori” to Kadesh Barneya. It should be noted that the “trup” (the musical notes used when the Torah is read) creates a “pause“ between “the road to” and “Mt. Seyir,” indicating that it is not a proper name but a description (i.e. the road people would take to get to Mt. Seyir). “The road to the mountains of the Emori, on the other hand (as well as “King’s Highway” and “the way to the land of the P’lishtim” (Sh’mos 13:17, the latter being the well known trade route known as the Via Maris) has no pause after “the way of,” indicating that it is a proper name. If “the way to Mt. Seyir” was only a description, not a proper name, there is no issue with it not actually reaching Mt. Seyir, since those traveling from south Sinai would take this road to get to Mt. Seyir. [In “Eileh Mas’ay” (pg. 185) R’ Dun Schwatrz suggests that “the road to Mt. Seyir” and “the road to the mountains of the Emori” are one and the same, with “Seyir” referred to as “Emori” because Eisav/Edom, who lived in Seyir, acted like Emorites (see Rashi on B’raishis 48:22). Aside from stretching the wordplay from Eisav=Emori to Sayir=Eisav=Emori, if this was the verse’s intent we would have expected Chazal (or an earlier commentator) to make this connection. Based on the above, there is no need to make such a stretch.]

Most understand the “11 days” as referring to how long it would take a traveler to get from Chorev to Kadesh Barneya, from where the spies left on their mission, even though it took the nation longer (see Rashi on D’varim 1:2). Netziv, after quoting this approach, suggested that the “11 days” refers to the time it would have taken to get to the “Kadesh Barneya” that is next to Mt. Seyir, even though the nation didn’t go there (at least not yet). Another possibility is that the Torah is referring to the just-mentioned place Moshe was speeking from, “on the other side of the Jordan” (1:1), telling us that although it took almost 40 years to get there from Chorev, the trip from Chorev to the Plains of Moav should take only 11 days. How would one get there in only 11 days? By traveling “on the road to Mt. Seyir.” Not on the western side of Mt. Seyir, where Kadesh (and according to Netziv, the other “Kadesh Barneya”) is, but on the eastern side, passing by Seyir/Edom and Moav. (Practically speaking, this meant connecting with The King’s Highway.) They didn’t travel that way, taking “the road to the mountains of the Emori,” going to Kadesh Barneya instead (which is why it is referenced in the verse), but the “11 days” reference could refer to how long such a trip would take.