tallies with our suggestion that Ḳadeš was situated near Petra. That there were the crossroads of important transport routes in the neighborhood of Ḳadeš may be inferred from the various reports already quoted, and it is more than probable that an important transport route led thence to Egypt through the northern part of the region of Šûr. This transport route descended through the an-Namala pass into al-ʻAraba and led in a west-northwesterly direction by way of ʻAbde and al-ʻAwǧa’ to Egypt. Bered must be located on the high table-land westward from al-ʻAraba, perhaps in the ruins known as al-ʻAwǧa’ (the Crooked), because of the appearance which they present from afar. At that spot there are deep wells with good, cold water, from which the name Bered might have been derived, and it forms the last station on the road from the inhabited area to the wilderness of Šûr. Ḳadeš and Bered must have been important trading stations, otherwise the position would not have been defined with reference to them. The well of Laḥaj Rô’i, which the angel pointed out to Hagar, could not have been visited often, or Hagar would easily have found it from the footprints. It was more likely a small well in a dry river bed, into which flowed the remainder of the rain water which the gravel had protected from rapid evaporation. Such a well may be recognized by a dark patch of moist sand or gravel. If a small pit is dug in the patch, water gushes into it. Hagar could not have drunk from the deep well, as there was neither a rope nor a bucket. Possibly Laḥaj Rô’i is identical with Ammu Ṯemîle (twenty-three kilometers east of al-ʻAwǧa’; see Musil, Karte von Arabia Petraea), on the junction of the roads from ʻAbde to al-ʻAwǧa’ and from Bîr as-Sabaʻ (Beersheba) to the south.
According to Genesis, 20: 1, the transport route from Ḳadeš to Šûr was crossed also by Abraham, when he was wandering between Ḳadeš and Šûr and abode at Gerar.—From this passage, as well as from others, it is obvious that Gerar must not be located, as is often done, to the southeast of Gaza on the right bank of the stream an-Nahr in the ruins of Umm al-Ǧerâr, but much farther to the south, as the southern environs of Gaza did not belong to Šûr.
Besides the passages quoted—together with Judges, 11:16 f., where there is a brief reference to the march of the Israelites from Egypt, and Psalms, 29: 8, where the wilderness of Ḳadeš is mentioned—there is no other reference to Ḳadeš in the Old Testament. From the accounts upon which we have commented it is clear that Ḳadeš indicates the wilderness or region of Ḳadeš, the city of Ḳadeš, and even the well of Ḳadeš. It must therefore have been an extensive area, which was fertile and therefore irrigated in some parts but barren in others where there was no water. In this way we may explain the various statements which are associated with Ḳadeš in the Bible. Reference is made to the wilderness of Pârân in which Ḳadeš is situated; to the wilderness of Ṣin, in which Ḳadeš is also located; to Ḳadeš Barneʻa; to Merîbat Ḳadeš or Mê Merîba, which is also Ḳadeš. All these designations may be explained, if we place Ḳadeš in the neighborhood of the ruins of Petra. The eastern part of this neighborhood is fertile and irrigated; the western part rocky, barren, and almost devoid of water.
