WHERE DID THE SPIES START OUT FROM? (NUMBERS 13:3; 32:8)

It would take a rather sharp-eyed critic poring through the Pentateuch to find a contradiction involving the location from which the spies were sent out into Canaan, but some people apparently spend much of their spare time just trying to find ways to discredit biblical accounts.

If you compare the two verses above, you will see that there may in fact be a clear contradiction between the two accounts. In Numbers 13:3, it states that the spies began at Kadesh-barnea (also called just Kadesh). But in 32:8 when later Moses reviews this story for the Gadites and Reubenites, he says that they began at the Wilderness of Paran. So which one is correct? Actually, they both are.

In the first place, as Ashley points out regarding the wilderness route taken by the Israelites, “The identification of geographical sites is difficult because often no trace of a biblical name remains on a site.” Therefore sometimes archeologists have to go with inferences based on the biblical accounts, local traditions, or look for present day sites having similar names. And if you think that the discussion below is confusing or unconvincing, keep in mind that an even bigger problem for Bible scholars and archeologists is to pin down the location of Mt. Sinai. There seems to be no hope in sight yet to solve that mystery.

So what about these two possible locations: Kadesh or Paran?

Kadesh-barnea

Ashley points out the uncertainty as to the assumed identification of this site with modern Ain Qadeis.

Wenham feels that it might be the name of a somewhat large area rather than a more restricted one. He notes that texts such as Numbers 34:4 and Joshua 15:3 locate Kadesh on the southern border of Canaan, and it appears to be an oasis area.

Kitchen says it was a settlement in the NE Sinai peninsula on the edge of the Wilderness of Paran to the south (see Psalm 29:8).

Ashley points out that Numbers 13:26 locates it within Paran whereas other verses in that book put it in the Wilderness of Zin (southern Negeb instead of Sinai peninsula) instead. These verses include Numbers 20:1; 33:36 and 33:36. This has caused Levine to accuse the biblical accounts of “a degree of geographical 'fudging'” whereby Kadesh is either moved south into Paran or Paran has expanded north to overlap the border with Zin. He also notes that a comparison of different biblical atlases will show that they locate Kadesh in various locations.

Kaiser adds, “Topographically, the site of Kadesh Barnea was a part of the wilderness of Paran. In fact the Greek Septuagint of Numbers 33:36 had a gloss, that is, an explanatory appositional note, that read 'in the desert of Paran, this is Kadesh.'” This note was felt to be necessary since Paran is not named in the Numbers 33 itinerary of the Israelites' wanderings.

Wilderness of Paran

As if the above were not confusing enough, it is just as hard to pin down the location of Paran. But it should be pointed out that all the commentators are in agreement that it is not just a village, city, or restricted geographical region. It is instead an extended wilderness area within the Sinai peninsula. Some even go as far as stating that Paran constituted all of the desert within it.

J. A. Thompson simply says that the exact location of Paran is not known.

Gunner locates the area in the east-central region of the Sinai. Others place it in south-central Sinai.

Ashley reviews the biblical evidence and concludes that it constituted a large area stretching as far north as Kadesh.

Kaiser says, “The desert of Paran is a poorly defined area in the east-central portion of the Sinai peninsula, bordered on the northwest by the wilderness of Shur, on the northeast by the wilderness of Zin, and by the Sinai desert on the south.”

Conclusion

Baker's Bible Atlas defines Paran as the “Wilderness between Sinai and Canaan, S of Judah,and included Kadesh-barnea.” Their historical map shows Kadesh located right at the border between the Wilderness of Zin in the north and the Wilderness of Paran in the south, with Paran basically taking up the SE quadrant of the Sinai.

Thus, we can fairly confidently state that Kadesh was located within a wilderness area right at the border between the Wildernesses of Zin and Paran. This explains (a) why the Bible sometimes places it in one desert and sometimes the other and (b) why there is no contradiction between Numbers 13:3 and 32:8 since the first account refers to the local region while the second one uses the name of the encompassing region instead.