EXO 13:17 ...when Pharaoh had let the people go, ...God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: 18 But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea:...

Though they were now free of any danger from the Philistines, there was another danger- the Amalekites. This fierce, warring people were the descendants of Esau's grandson, Amalek. Had the people of Israel taken the main wadi, they would have soon been in an open plain, completely vulnerable on all sides. By taking them through the mountains in a southerly direction, I believe God was shielding them from this enemy. At least for a while.

They replenish their water supplies at Elim and then "encamped by the Red Sea", just a few miles to the west. When they again resumed their travels, they headed east, along another east/west wadi until they come to the main north/south wadi, Wadi Afal. Elim was located in a wadi which led to the east, but I believe they took the wadi below it, on the south side of the mountains that extend west to east (see the map.)The main part of Wadi Afal is in the open plain, but by taking the wadi south of Elim when they traveled west to the Wadi Afal, they were shielded to the north by 2 long mountain arms which "shoot" across the open plain, meeting the wadi on each side. One mountains extends from the Wadi Afal to the sea; the other is a long arm of the Jebel el Lawz range which extends westward from the Holy Mountain to the Wadi Afal. And south of this passage where the 2 mountains met, they were relatively safe from invading forces.

The Biblical account tells that they made 2 encampments before reaching Rephidim- Dophkah and Alush. The only clues we have to these locations come from the definitions of the words. Dophkah means "cattle driving" and this could well apply to the fact that many years earlier, Moses had led his flocks along the Wadi Afal from his home with Jethro at present-day Al-Bad to Mt. Sinai, where he heard the Lord speak to him in the burning bush.

Down through history, the inhabitants of the region of Al-Bad have preserved the memory of Jethro and his family, and still claim to this day that it was his home. Travelers through the region in the 1800s all recorded the tales told them about Jethro; the stone circles around Al-Bad are called "the circles of Jethro":

"...From here my guide and I climbed up the cliff to visit the ‘circles' of Jethro on the summit of Musalla ridge, from which we climbed down quite easily to our camp on the far side.... A cairn marked the spot where Jethro is supposed to have prayed, and all around it are numerous circles,... From here I had a magnificent view of the whole of the Midian mountain range, with Lauz [Jebel el Lawz] and its sister peaks in the northeast..." "The Land of Midian", by H. St. John Philby, Ernest Bean Limited, London, p.222.

Al-Bad is the only large oasis in the NW Arabian plain near Jebel el Lawz- we firmly believe this was his home, and the home of Moses after he left Egypt. Dophkah and Alush were located between the encampment on the Red Sea and Rephidim, but we may never know their exact location as no information is given. We do know that they did not travel to Al-Bad, for later we learn that Jethro comes to meet Moses at Rephidim, bringing his family to him. I mention this because some people are of the opinion that Al-Bad was Elim.

After they traveled the Wadi Afal and passed between the mountains into the open plain, they immediately turned east into the foothills of the western side of Jebel el Lawz, where they soon reached Rephidim. They were now in an area of rugged hills, with the majestic range of Horeb blocking the east. But all that separated them from the open plain on the west were the foothills and hopes that they had arrived undetected.

It was at Rephidim that once again the people had become very angry at Moses because of the lack of any water source in the region.

EXO 17:4 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. 5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

It is interesting to note that at Rephidim, the rock Moses is told to strike is stated to be "in Horeb", whereas elsewhere "Horeb" refers to the "mountain of God" (as in Exo. 3:1), Mt. Sinai, or at the least, the area of the camp at Mt. Sinai. Yet, Rephidim is NOT the encampment at Mt. Sinai:

EXO 19:2 For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.

Any difficulty one may have in understanding how they could be at Horeb while they were at Rephidim disappears when we again look at the map- Rephidim is on the WEST side of Mt. Sinai, while the encampment was on the EAST side. The photo below was taken from a vantage point of about half the way up the WEST side of Mt. Sinai. This "rock" IS at Mt. Sinai, or Horeb. It's just on the opposite side of the range from the later encampment.

The size of the rock is roughly 60 feet tall, while it is about 100 feet above ground level on the hill. It is one of the most fascinating objects I've ever seen and I still get chill bumps when I read Exodus 17:6- Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb;...

When viewed from just below, it is quite evident that a tremendous amount of water flowed from between the large crack.

See the photo below which is a close-up of the lower portion of the split and the rock just below it. The smooth, water-eroded section can be seen. Just beneath, is a channel cut into the rock from the water flow. This is positive evidence that a tremendous amount of water came out here, not just a trickling stream.

PSA 78:15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. 16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

In the photo (below) of the ground directly beneath the giant rock, we can see one of the channels cut into the earth where the water flowed down and out into the plain. Notice the large boulder setting astride the channel- we have seen a similar situation at Kadesh Barnea. At Kadesh, Moses also struck the rock and water flowed out from a large hole high in a mountain range. There is a very large channel cut much deeper into the rock in the mountainside, and in this deep channel a very large boulder was placed which appears to have been shaped to fit into the channel. The only logical reason for placing these stones could have been to slow or control the water flow.

Did the water cut the channel into the earth, or did they dig the channel? We can't say, but it's possible that they dug several trenches to direct the flow. Either way, there is no doubt that several large streams of water flowed out into this plain a long time ago--streams that left their indelible mark on the rocks and on the earth.