And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan,
all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea,
the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar (Deuteronomy 34:1-3).
Get any biblical atlas. It will show you maps of Canaan. Look up the end of the atlas. It will give you the latitudes and longitudes of the locations. Mine is Atlas of the Bible and Christianity by Tim Dowley published by Baker Books in 1997. It yields the following coordinates.
| Location | Height | Latitude | Longitude | Distance from Nebo |
| Mount Nebo | 802 m | 31o48'N | 35o48'E | 0 Km |
| Dan | 33o16'N | 35o37'E | 163.88 Km | |
| Jericho | -300 m | 31o51'N | 35o27'E | 33.5 Km |
| Zoar | 31o3'N | 35o26'E | 90 Km |
River Jordan runs from Lake Huleh in the north, through the Sea of Galilee down into the Dead Sea. Dan lies north of Lake Huleh, the northernmost part of the Promised Land, the fountainhead of River Jordan. Mount Nebo is on the north of the Dead Sea and east of River Jordan. Jericho is also on the north of the Dead Sea but on the west of River Jordan. Zoar is on the south of the Dead Sea. The four locations mentioned in Deuteronomy 34 lies along a strip of land running north-south (longitude 35o East) within a width of about 35 Km. Interested readers may visit the following link to check the surface distance between any two locations, given the latitudes and longitudes. The webpage was written by John Byers. The distance from Mount Nebo to Dan is 163.88 Km.
The next question is how far could Moses see on the top of Mount Nebo which is 0.8 Km above the sea level. Deuteronomy says that even when Moses died at an age of 120, his eyes were not dim (Deuteronomy 34:7). Let's assume that Moses' eyesight was perfect.
A simple search on the Internet will give us many webpages explaining how far we can see from a certain height. Here is one entitled "Distance to the Horizon". Following the formula sqrt(2*R*h) , without refraction, we get the following approximation. Assuming that the radius of the earth R is 6378 Km. From a height h of 0.8 Km, Moses could only see roughly 101 Km away. Of course, the calculation should be more complicated because the earth is not a perfect sphere, but the answer should not be too far off. If Moses really had to see Dan 164 Km away, the earth radius R would have been longer so that the earth surface would be flatter, thus he could see farther. It would be roughly 16785 Km instead of 6378 Km! That is too much. Or the height h from where he saw would be roughly 2.1 Km instead of 0.8 Km above ground. That is more reasonable. It is only one third the height of Mount Everest. But then, Mount Nebo would have lost 1300 metres since 1200 B.C., roughly 0.4 metre per year! Such an erosion rate is unheard of!
Therefore, Moses could see Jericho and Zoar without any problem because they lay within 101 Km from Mount Nebo. But Moses could not see with his unaided naked eyes Dan. Even a telescope could not help because a telescope enlarges an image within the visible horizon. Dan lies beyond this visible horizon. Therefore a telescope could not help. Rather, God must have televised the environment of Dan to Moses or flew Moses 2.1 Km in the sky to see Dan. Then distance would no longer be any problem.
Reading the last chapter of Deuteronomy 34 is rather disturbing for those who believe that Moses wrote the five books of Torah. Read this.
So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD,
and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Bethpeor; but no man knows the place of his burial to this day.
Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated (Deuteronomy 34:5-7).
The author wrote in the third person. It would be very very odd for Moses to write about his own death in the third person. The above verses and many others read like being penned by a biographer. Therefore, it would be more palatable if we do not insist on the authorship of Moses. Rather, the Pentateuch has the authority of Moses behind them. It is a collection of different traditions and an editor compiled them together following the teaching authority of Moses. The editor gave the following evaluation of the achievements of Moses.
And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,
none like him for all the signs and the wonders which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land,
and for all the mighty power and all the great and terrible deeds which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel (Deuteronomy 34:10-12).
Well, reading the Bible demands many many skills, including geographical ones.
Dear Lord, the more we learn about the world, the more we marvel at Your wonders. I pray that one day, we may converse with You face to face, to be fully satiated with Your wisdom. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment