Kibroth Hattaavah or Kibroth-hattaavah ( he, קִבְרוֹת הַתַּאֲוָה, ''graves of craving'') is one of the locations which the
Israelites
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
passed through during
their Exodus journey, recorded in the
Book of Numbers
The book of Numbers (from Greek Ἀριθμοί, ''Arithmoi''; he, בְּמִדְבַּר, ''Bəmīḏbar'', "In the desert f) is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah. The book has a long and c ...
. It was at this place, according to the biblical narrative, that the Israelites loudly complained about constantly eating only ''
manna
Manna ( he, מָן, mān, ; ar, اَلْمَنُّ; sometimes or archaically spelled mana) is, according to the Bible, an edible substance which God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert during the 40-year period follow ...
'', and that they had enjoyed a much more varied diet, of fish, vegetables, fruit and meat, when they lived in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
; the text states that this led
Moses, in despair, to cry out to
Yahweh
Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he poss ...
, who then promised them so much meat that 'they would vomit it through their nostrils'. The narrative goes on to tell of a huge number of
quails
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy.
Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New Wor ...
brought by the winds to both sides of the Israelite encampment, which the people gathered. Modern translations imply that Yahweh sent the
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pe ...
as they were chewing the first meat that fell
The biblical narrative argues that name of ''Kibroth-hattaavah'', which appears to mean ''graves of lust'',
derives from these events,
since the plague killed the people who ''lusted after'' meat, who were then buried there.
According to
biblical scholars
Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 For ...
, this is merely an
aetiological myth to theologically justify a pre-existing place name;
['' Peake's Commentary on the Bible'' ] a number of biblical scholars have proposed that the ''graves'' (''kibroth'') in the name ''kibroth-hattaavah'' actually refers to a
stone circle or
cairns, or to recently discovered
Chalcolithic
The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...
(~fourth Millennium BC)
megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
ic burial sites known as ''
nawamis
Nawamis (singular: namus) are circular prehistoric stone tombs located in the Sinai desert of Egypt, Yemen and Oman. The bones found in the tombs of Egypt date from 4000–3150 BCE.
Nawamis are constructed from sandstone, about high and in diam ...
'', meaning ''mosquitos'', which are unique to the central
Sinai Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is ...
and southern
Negev
The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its sout ...
.
According to
textual scholars, the account concerning Kibroth-hattaavah is part of the
Jahwist text, and occurs at the same point in the Exodus narrative as the account of
Taberah According to the Book of Numbers, Taberah ( he, תבערה) is one of the locations which the Israelites passed through during their Exodus journey. The biblical narrative states that the place received its name, which means ''the pӀace of burning ...
in the
Elohist text;
[Cheyne and Black, ''Encyclopedia Biblica''] indeed, one or both of ''Tabarah'' (תבערה) and ''Hattavah'' (התאוה) may be
phonological
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
and
typographical
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), and ...
corruptions of the same original word.
Taberah is not listed in the full
stations list later in the Book of Numbers, with the people going straight from
Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai ( he , הר סיני ''Har Sinai''; Aramaic: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܣܝܢܝ ''Ṭūrāʾ Dsyny''), traditionally known as Jabal Musa ( ar, جَبَل مُوسَىٰ, translation: Mount Moses), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is ...
to Kibroth-hattavah, and there is no hint that the Israelites had to travel from Taberah to Kibroth-hattaavah, implying that they were the same location;
[''Jewish Encyclopedia''] nevertheless, Taberah and Kibroth-hattaavah are listed as different places by a passage in
Deuteronomy, which textual scholars ascribe to the
deuteronomist, and consequently date to over two centuries later than the Jahwist and Elohist, and also later than the combined
JE text.
Taberah is described by the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
as being three days journey from
Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai ( he , הר סיני ''Har Sinai''; Aramaic: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܣܝܢܝ ''Ṭūrāʾ Dsyny''), traditionally known as Jabal Musa ( ar, جَبَل مُوسَىٰ, translation: Mount Moses), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is ...
, and therefore its modern identification relies heavily on the identification of Mount Sinai. The traditional identification of Mount Sinai as one of the mountains at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula would imply that Taberah and ''Kibroth-hattaavah'' was/were probably in the
Wadi Murrah, about 30 miles north-east of the southern tip, and exactly a
day's journey
A day's journey in pre-modern literature, including the Bible, ancient geographers and ethnographers such as Herodotus, is a measurement of distance.
In the Bible, it is not as precisely defined as other Biblical measurements of distance; the dis ...
from '
Ain Hudherah; in this area, at the
Erweis el-Ebeirig, an ancient encampment has been found, but it dates to the
Early Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
(the early third millennium BC). The traditional location of Mount Sinai has been rejected some scholars , as well as theologians, who favour a location at
Mount Seir
Mount Seir ( he, הַר-שֵׂעִיר, ''Har Sēʿīr'') is the ancient and biblical name for a mountainous region stretching between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba in the northwestern region of Edom and southeast of the Kingdom of Judah. I ...
or in north western
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
, and others views propose locations in the
Negev
The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its sout ...
, or the central or northern
Sinai desert
Sinai commonly refers to:
* Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God
Sinai may also refer to:
* Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
.
In culture
* In the 1858 boys' novel ''
Eric, or, Little by Little'' certain unnamed "vile" activities (presumably
masturbation) are referred back to Kibroth-Hattaavah - "Don't you remember Rowlands' sermon not two weeks ago on Kibroth-Hattaavah?"
[ Eric, or, Little by Little, Frederic W Farrar, 1858]
References
Bibliography
* Grant R. Jeffrey, ''The Signature of God'', Pages 60–68, 132–135
{{coord, 28, 55, N, 34, 29, E, source:kolossus-plwiki, display=title
Book of Numbers