Modern locations of places in the Bible:

Har Zin

About

Also CalledHor HaHar, Jebel el Madra, Jebel el Medhra, Jebel Madeira, Jebel Maderah, Jebel Madrah, Jebel Madurah, Jebel Medra, Mount Zin
Latitude, Longitude30.832057, 35.056872
Palestine 1928 Grid Coordinates (?)155331/026822
Typemountain
Point Precisionpoint on mountain
Coordinates Sources
General Location Notes
  • Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible (2010) (Hor), Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (1992) (Hor (place)), New Interpreter’s Bible Dictionary (2009) (Hor), Tyndale Bible Dictionary (2001) (Hor, Mount), Expositor’s Bible Commentary (1984) (Num 20:22): “15 miles northeast of Kadesh”
  • International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1979) (Hor): “24 km northeast of Kadesh”
  • Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary (2013) (Hor, Mount): “near Kadesh”
  • Ashley, Numbers (1993) (page 394) cites Glueck, Rivers in the Desert (1959) (page 206) for Jebel Medra, which the latter calls "Jebel el-Medhra" and describes Har Zin, even though Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (2009) (Num 20:22) places it "six miles east northeast of Kadesh" and distinguishes it from "Jebel Madurah about fifteen miles northeast of Kadesh Barnea"
  • Gray, Critical and Exegetical Commentary of Numbers (1903) (page 270) also describes "Jebel Madurah" in a way that aligns it with Har Zin
Precise Coordinates Notesthis appears to be the mountain referred to in the articles on Mount Hor, but it’s located 40 miles from Kadesh Barnea. However, the original source for this claim (Trumbull, Kadesh-Barnea: Its Importance and Probable Site (1884)), I think, places it at this point instead: "near the western extemity of the Wady Feqreh" (page 132), or Nahal Zin (Aharoni, Land of the Bible (1979)). It is also "southwest of the passes Es-Sufah and El-Yemen" (page 132) and near "the border wadies--Feqreh, Madurah, Murrah, and Hanjoorat" (page 133). All except the last are visible in this area on Palestine Exploration Fund Old and New Testament Map (1898). Similarly, Burton, Biblical World, volume 31 (1908) (page 88) places it "twenty-five miles southwest of the southern end of the Dead Sea... If a line, therefore, were drawn from Ain Kadees to the southern end of the Dead Sea, Jebel Maderah would stand at about the middle point." Coupled with other sources identifying this mountain as the possible burial place of Aaron (e.g., Wikipedia), I think the "15 miles" figure is off or is not using Ain el Qudeirat as the location for Kadesh-barnea
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Biblical places associated with Har Zin

Image

panorama of Har Zin
Credit: yandud , Hamal Photography (modified)