the iron colored mountain and the radiant one

A small bronze snake with gilded head was also discovered in the naos of the Timna mining shrine, along with a hoard of metal objects that included a small bronze figurine of a bearded male god, which according to Rothenberg was Midianite in origin. However, whether Hathor or some other deity was the object of devotion during this period is difficult to ascertain. Beno Rothenberg, the excavator of the site, suggested that the Midianites were making offerings to Hathor, especially since a large number of Midianite votive vessels (25%) were discovered in the shrine.

In addition to the discovery of post-holes, large quantities of red and yellow decayed cloth with beads woven into it, along with numerous copper rings/wire used to suspend the curtains, were found all along two walls of the shrine. Īn Egyptian temple of Hathor at Timna continued to be used during the Midianite occupation of the site (terminal Late Bronze Age / Early Iron Age) the Midianites transformed the Hathor mining temple into a desert tent-shrine. According to Karel van der Toorn, 'By the 14th century BC, before the cult of Yahweh had reached Israel, groups of Edomites and Midianites worshipped Yahweh as their god ' this conclusion is based on identification between Midianites and the Shasu. Through their apparent religio-political connection with the Moabites they are thought to have worshipped a multitude, including Baal-peor and the Queen of Heaven, Ashteroth. It is uncertain which deities the Midianites worshipped. We believe that Haupt's proposal is to be adopted, and that Midian, rather than depicting a land, is a general term for an amorphous league of the Late Bronze Age, of wide geographical range, who, after a series of reverses, the most prominent of which are recorded in Judges 6–7, largely disappeared from the historical scene… Religion George Mendenhall suggested that the Midianites were a non- Semitic confederate group, and William Dumbrell maintained the same case: Later writers have questioned the identified sanctuary-locations but supported the thesis of a Midianite league. Elath, on the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba was suggested as the location of the first shrine, with a second sanctuary located at Kadesh. Paul Haupt first made this suggestion in 1909, describing Midian as a 'cultic collective' ( German: Kultgenossenschaft) or an amphictyony, meaning 'an association ( German: Bund) of different tribes in the vicinity of a sanctuary'. Some scholars have suggested that the name 'Midian' does not refer to geographic places or to a specific tribe, but to a confederation or 'league' of tribes brought together as a collective for worship purposes.

The iron colored mountain and the radiant one