Secret_History

422 The Secret History of the World
Also, since portable precious items were missing, it seems safe to assume,
therefore, that the population abandoned the town in haste.
The Dilmun civilization of Bahrain is said to have existed from 3200 BC until
1600 BC. The Indus Valley civilization is said to have ended around 1700 to 1600
BC. The Great Babylonian Empire ended around 1600 BC. The Middle Kingdom
in Egypt is said to have ended around 1600 BC (though we now think that the 18 th
dynasty was the last of the Middle Kingdom dynasties). The Xia Dynasty in China
ended in 1600 BC. The use of Stonehenge ended around 1600 BC. In nearly every
case, the end of the civilization and the mass destruction read in the record
unearthed by the spade is ascribed to war and rampaging Sea Peoples or tribes of
barbarians on the march.
Two of the most influential German scholars, von Rad and Noth, have argued
that, “The Exodus and Sinai traditions and the events behind them were originally
unrelated to one another”. 301 Von Rad pointed out that the Sinai covenant in the
Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated at Shechem while the settlement tradition was
celebrated at Gilgal with the Feast of Weeks. Von Rad also noted that the salvation
history was strikingly silent about the Sinai events in Deuteronomy 26. It was then
proposed that early Israel was actually a tribal league more or less like city-state
confederations later attested in Greece and Italy and known to the Greeks as
“amphictyonies”. 302 If such tribal groups were later amalgamated during the reign
of Hezekiah, it would then be necessary to “create” a national history, utilizing the
available oral traditions. And this is, of course, where it becomes most interesting
because it seems that at least one small group - Abraham and his wife Sarai - had a
series of experiences during these times that was utterly extraordinary.
There are various suggestions as to where Mt. Sinai really was. Jewish tradition
seems to place Mt. Sinai in Arabia. Demetrius stated that Dedan was Jethro’s
ancestor which is identified with the oasis of el-’Ela, and when Moses went to
Midian he stayed in Arabia. 303
In 1954 Mendenhall put forth the idea that the Sinai covenant is similar to the
Hittite suzerainty treaties. There does seem to be clear parallels between the Sinai
covenant and ancient suzerainty treaties, and ancient tribal leagues did exist.
In Josephus’ book Antiquities of the Jews he placed Sinai where the city of
Madiane was. 304 In the Babylonian Talmud 305 R. Huna and R. Hisda say, “the Holy
301 Nicholson, E.W., Exodus and Sinai in History and Tradition (Richmond: John Knox Press 1973).
302 Ibid.
303
De Vaux, Roland, The Early History of Israel translation by David Smith. (Philadelphia:
Westminster Press 1978) p. 435.
304 Antiquities, II.264; III.76.
305 Sotah 5a, Freedman and Simon 1935, pp. 18-19.