View source for Rephidim

{{for|the former Israeli air base|Bir Gifgafa Airfield}}
{{short description|One of the places visited by the Israelites in the biblical account of the Exodus}}
{{religious text primary|date=October 2022}}
[[File:VictoryOLord.JPG|thumb|right|180px|[[Moses]] holding up his arms during the [[Battle of Refidim]], assisted by [[Hur (Bible)|Hur]] and [[Aaron]], in [[John Everett Millais]]' ''[[Victory O Lord!]]'' (1871).]]
'''Rephidim''' or '''Refidim''' ({{langx|he|רְפִידִים}}) is [[Stations of the Exodus|one of the places]] visited by the [[Israelites]] in the biblical account of [[The Exodus|the Exodus from Egypt]].
[[File:MACCOUN(1899) p049 ELIM TO REPHIDIM.jpg|thumb|The road from Elim to Rephidim, according to an 1899 map of the Exodus.]]

== Biblical account ==
{{also|Battle of Refidim}}
This episode is described in the [[Book of Exodus]]. The Israelites under [[Moses]] have come from the [[Wilderness of Sin]]. At Rephidim, they can find no water to drink, and angrily demand that Moses give them water. Moses, fearing they will stone him, calls on [[Jehovah]] for help and is told to strike a certain "rock in [[Mount Horeb|Horeb]]," in God's name which causes a stream to flow from it, providing ample water for the people. He names the place [[Massah and Meribah]] (meaning "testing" and "quarreling").<ref>{{Bibleverse|Exodus|17:1-7|NRSV}}</ref> In the [[Book of Numbers]] a similar event is described as taking place near [[Kadesh (Israel)|Kadesh]].<ref name="CROSSCross2009">{{cite book|author=Frank Moore Cross|title=Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJqwWRDOMgEC&pg=PA311|date=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-03008-4|page=311}}</ref> 

Afterwards, the [[Amalek]]ites attack the Israelites encamped at Rephidim, but are defeated. The Israelites are led in the battle by [[Joshua]], while Moses, [[Aaron]] and [[Hur (Bible)|Hur]] watch from a nearby hill. Moses notices that when his arms are raised the Israelites gained the upper hand, but when they are down the Amalekites prevail. He sits with his hands held up by Aaron and Hur until sunset, securing the Israelite victory.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Exodus|17:8-16|NRSV}}</ref> The image of Moses raising his arms in battle against Amalek has been seen by allegorical Christian commenters as a [[typology (theology)|prefiguration]] of Jesus's arms extended on the cross battling sin.<ref name="Paczkowski">{{cite journal |last1=Paczkowski |first1=Mieczysław Celestyn |title=Amalek and the Amalekites in the ancient Christian literature |journal=Teologia i Człowiek |date=12 November 2014 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=137–160 |doi=10.12775/TiCz.2014.021 |url=https://apcz.umk.pl/TiCz/article/view/TiCz.2014.021/4518 |access-date=18 November 2021 |language=en |issn=2391-7598 |quote=Origen certainly sees Jesus crucified in the image of Moses lifting his hands, while he also notes the difference – Jesus is not simply another Moses.|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Location==
One proposal places Rephidim in the [[Wadi Feiran]], near its junction with the [[Wadi esh-Sheikh]].<ref name=Hoffmeier>[[James K. Hoffmeier]], ''Ancient Israel in Sinai'' (Oxford University Press, 2005) page 169.</ref> When they leave Rephidim, the Israelites advance into the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]] Wilderness,<ref>[[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] 19:1-2; [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]] 33:14-15</ref> possibly marching through the passes of the Wadi Solaf and the Wadi esh-Sheikh, which converge at the entrance to the er-Rahah plain (which would then be identified with the "Sinai Wilderness"), which is three kilometers long and about eight hundred metres wide. Wadi Feiran was an oasis, which would explain the battle with the Amalekites in terms of a struggle for control of water sources.<ref name=Hoffmeier />

Another proposed location for Rephidim is in northwestern Saudi Arabia north of the town of [[Al-Bad', Saudi Arabia|al-Bad]], the ancient city of [[Midian]]. Some researchers suggest that Mount Sinai was not in the Sinai Peninsula, but in Midian, which is modern-day Saudi Arabia, and subsequently place Rephidim here as well. [[Jabal Maqla]] has been the subject of several explorations since the early 1980s. To the northwest of this mountain is a large plain and a massive split rock that shows signs of water erosion (Rephidim is also where Moses is recorded as striking a rock and water coming from it for the parched Hebrews).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jabalmaqla.com/split-rock-battlefield-rephidim/|title=The Split Rock And Battlefield At Rephidim|date=2019-05-22|website=Jabal Maqla|access-date=2019-05-28}}</ref> The plain, or wadi runs from this split rock all the way to Jabal Maqla.
The name "Rephidim" ({{langx|he|רְפִידִם}}) means ''place of rest''.

More recent scholarship identifies Rephidim with Wadi Refayid in the southwest Sinai.<ref> [[Walter C. Kaiser]], ''History of Israel'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=acq2F4oW3DYC&pg=PA116 p. 116]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kotter |first=Wade R. |date=2019 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fq7qDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT2268 |chapter=Rephidim |editor-last=Freedman |editor-first=D. N. |title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible |publisher=William B. Eerdmans |isbn=978-1-4674-6046-0 |quote=Tradition has long identified Wadi Feiran near Jebul Musa as the location of Rephidim, although more recent scholarship prefers the nearby Wadi Refayid because of the similarity in name.}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Stations of the Exodus}}
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[[Category:Amalek]]