In our search for the Exodus path we first started off with what we believed to be the actual trail of the children of Israel. That was from Elephantine to Wadi el Hol or the valley of the Hol (where there have been discovered ancient Hebrew artifacts), Until the South Galala Plateau, where we believed that the children of Israel crossed the red sea, over to Sarabit el Khadim (a site in which the most ancient Hebrew artifacts have been discovered) to Bekot H'gigi (where an ancient Hebrew candlestick marks the trail). Afterward they traveled on the ancient path of Gebel Sha 'ira and upward into the land of Midian. To a site where John Burckhardt, the Swiss explorer, stumbled upon Petra by chance in 1812. Until then, the city had been lost for centuries.

Burckhardt lived and traveled in the Middle East for many years and was on a journey from Damascus to Cairo when he heard about Petra from local Bedouin. Known among the Arabs as Ibrahim ibn Abdallah, Burckhardt assumed the role of a Moslem in order to move about unexplored areas without arousing suspicion. Five years after the explorer's untimely death in 1817, Burckhardt's account of his Petra discovery was published in his book, Travels in Syria.

In Petra the treasury's size and magnific details dazzle the visitor who emerges from the Siq -- the entrance to Petra. The facade of the two-story tomb is 92 feet wide and 130 feet to the top of the 11-foot-high urn which crowns its central portion. Six columns enclose the tholos, or central domed structure on top of which a Corinthian capital supports the columned porch, a central doorways lead into small side rooms presumably used by priests. Arabs call this tomb Khaznat-el-Faroun, the Treasury of the Pharaoh, because an Arab legend relates that here, in this opulent building, Pharaoh deposited his gold. The first temple identified at Petra is a marvelous ruin known as the "Palace of the Daughter of Pharaoh." Modern bedouin folklore relates Petra to events of the Exodus. As mentioned previously, Petra is supposed to be in the Wadi Musa, the Valley of Moses. There, Moses struck the rock to obtain water. The ancient ruins to the entrance to Petra, and proceeded through the ancient ruins to the foots of Jebel Haroun (the traditional burial place of Aaron, brother of Moses). A ancient Syriac document specks of an earthquake destroyed "half of Petra." This document, purportedly a letter by Cyril of Jerusalem, was recently found and published by a British scholar. It provided a description of an earthquake which destroyed materials collected by the Jews of Jerusalem for the rebuilding of the Temple. Along with the assessment of the damage done in Jerusalem, the document lists a series of other sites in Syro-Palestine which also suffered damage. Among them was "RQM" or Rekem, the Semitic (Nabataean) name of Petra. The earthquake was pinpointed to Monday, May 19, 363 A.D. between the third and ninth hours of the night. Hence, the document enables us to date the destruction of Petra with precision and accuracy. The fourth century AD earthquake was not the only time events in Jerusalem and Petra were bound together, for Petra was the capital of Nabatene as the Nabataean Kingdom is called and the Nabatene is intertwined with Jerusalem. Although the origins of the Nabataen people are obscure, by about the first century....

In the 12th century, Petra had a brief revival when King Baldwin I fortified the Jordan's eastern bank. A fort was erected just outside the ancient city site of Petra ("the Castle of the Valley of Moses"), with a smaller outpost inside, atop Jebel Habis. The Arabs today call the wadi, or dry riverbed, in which Petra is located the Wadi Musa or "Valley of Moses." According to Arab tradition, it was here that Moses struck the rock to obtain water (Numbers: 13:2-13). Our investigation of the site made us come to the conclusion (based upon Nabataeans reference to the town and the local Arabs story of the Exodus taking place in the area) that Petra was ancient Rekem of the Midian kings that Moses and the children of Israel faced in the wilderness (Num. 31:8).