Arabian Sinai: Nabonidus and the Exodus

The last King of Babylon, Nabonidus (556-539 BCE), did not fade into obscurity after the Persian conquest in 539 BCE. He led a small contingent of exiles, along with his own family and supporters, to Jerusalem. He did not remain there but continued on ＂home＂ to Tayma, in Northwestern Arabia. His journey into Egypt was to secure a relic that would eventually ’change the world’.

Nabonidus’ presence in the Hebrew Bible is intentionally hidden beneath layers of etymology, allusion, and puns because his true name was considered anathema by the early Jews. His tale begins in the Song of Solomon, which predates both Genesis and Exodus; there he is given the pseudonym ＂Solomon.＂ In Genesis, written after the exiles’ migration, he is called ＂Abraham,＂ and in Exodus he is ＂Moses.＂

This detailed analysis presents an alternative paradigm for the exodus, placing it, undeniably, in the 6th Century BCE, and locating its route from Babylon to Canaan, to Tayma, Arabia, and finally, to Sela on the ridge of the Jordan Valley. The overwhelming evidence, predominantly etymological, within the Pentateuch, the Song of Solomon, parts of Daniel, and the book of Joshua, bears witness to an extraordinary man who had visions of a unified theory of divinity but fell foul of his own hubris. His tyrannous rule over the postexilic Jews in Arabia ended, but he carried on, building a trading dynasty on the shores of the Red Sea.