Israel's "Tabernacle of the tent of meeting" (Exodus 39:32) at Mount Sinai is a Midianite Tent-shrine?
08 March 2010
Exodus 39:32 RSV
"Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was finished; and the people of Israel had done according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses..."
Artist's reconstruction of the 12th century BC Midianite "Tent-Shrine" or Tabernacle found at Har Timna within the Hathor Shrine's sacred enclosure wall at the westside of the Arabah, a region Israel wandered in. (see p. 24, Abb. 7. Wolfgang Zwickel. Der Salomonische Tempel. Mainz Am Rhein. Verlag Philipp Von Zabern. 1999. ISBN 3-8053-2466-9. pp. 212)
Timna Hathor Shrine, note the stone Masseboth in a row from the Midianite Tent-Shrine era. The large granite boulder or rock on the viewer's top left next to the tall standing stone was originally atop the stone basin which was filled with votive offerings which included textiles (Taf. 3a. Wolfgang Zwickel. Der Salomonische Tempel. 1999). Yahweh is described as being "a Rock" in the Exodus wanderings, and textiles were votives offered at the Sinai Tabernacle and Moses' father-in-law was a Midianite. Perhaps Midianite religious beliefs are being recalled in the Exodus narratives?
