Feiran oasis

852 m above sea level

In the Bible

At Rephidim there was no water; the people quarreled with Moses, and at the LORD's word he struck the rock at Horeb, and water came out of it.

Exod 17:1–7Then the whole congregation of Israel left the Desert of Sin, moving from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?” But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt—to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What should I do with these people? A little more and they will stone me!” And the LORD said to Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take along in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

Tradition

By one tradition this oasis is Rephidim. Here stood Pharan, a town with its own bishop in Byzantine times, where Egeria rested; other traditions put Rephidim nearer the mountain.

Here today

The longest oasis of Sinai: palm groves, Bedouin gardens, Byzantine ruins and a small convent of nuns of the Sinai monastery.

Through the eyes of old pilgrims

Now, when we had arrived at Faran, which is distant thirty-five miles from the Mount of God, we had to stay there two days to recruit our strength.Egeria, c. 381–384

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Land outlines: Natural Earth (public domain).