Hala-'l Badr

Ḥalā-'l Badr (or Hala-'l Bedr / Hallat al Badr, in حلا البدر) is a volcano in northwestern Saudi Arabia at 27.25° N, 37.235° E. The volcano has traditionally been classified as a cinder cone (or scoria-cone) type, and is located on the northeast corner of the Thadra table mountain in the al-Jaww ( الجاوّ ) basin, an erosional divide between Harrat ar-Rahah ( حرة الراحة ḥarratu ’r-raḥah) and Harrat al-'Uwayrid ( حرة العويد ḥarratu ’r-‘ūwayrid). Its eruption history is currently unknown, but geological studies have shown that Hallat al Badr erupted some time during the Holocene period, and the most recent lava flows were in the al Jaww basin. Badr has a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of at least 2, so it is capable of producing an eruption column at least 3 mi high.

Hallat al Badr is located in the land of Midian, the geographical designation generally agreed upon by numerous biblical scholars and historians as the homeland of the biblical Midianites. Writers including Charles Beke, Sigmund Freud, Immanuel Velikovsky, Colin Humphreys Eduard Meyer, Martin Noth, and Hermann Gunkel have proposed that the biblical description of devouring fire on Mount Sinai refers to an erupting volcano in the land of biblical Midian. Gunkel writes, "The characteristic Israelite narratives of Yahweh's appearance in the burning thorn bush (Exod. 3:2), in the burning and smoking Sinai (Exod. 19:9, 20:18; Deut. 4:11), and especially in the pillars of smoke and fire (Exod. 13:21)... can be explained originally from the fact that, in Israel's earliest belief, Yahweh was the god of the Sinai volcano." This possibility would exclude all the peaks on the Sinai Peninsula and Mount Seir, but would match a number of places in northwestern Saudi Arabia, of which Hala-'l Badr is worth considering as the basis of proto-Israelite theophanic tradition of a fiery mountain located in the remote desert.

Following Musil, Colin Humphreys has argued that the itinerary stations given in Numbers 33 lead directly to Hallat al Badr. He also reports that a volcano in the harrat region of NW Arabia erupted in 640 AD, but it is not known exactly which volcano this was. Conversely, James K. Hoffmeier argues that the route suggested by Humphreys would have put the supposed volcano behind the Israelites at times, not in front of the people. He also notes that the words for "cloud" and "pillar of cloud" appear frequently in Numbers - it covers the mountain, the temple built on top of the mountain, "it occupies the holy of holies in Solomon's temple" (I Kings 8:10) and "Numbers 12:5 specifically refers to God coming down in a pillar of cloud to denounce Miriam's charges against Moses after departing the mountain of God." Thus "fire and cloud are understood to be vessels of theophany." Nissim Amzallag argues for a simpler solution to Yahweh's theophany, arguing that "in antiquity, metallurgy was the only activity that could cause stone to melt. For this reason, volcanism was approached as the specific marker of the presence and/or activity of the god who patronized the metallurgical act."

According to Jacob E. Dunn, the original theophany of Yahweh may derive from ancient eyewitness accounts of volcanic eruptions along the ancient trade routes passing through the lava fields in proximity to Hallat al Badr. Dunn notes that nearly all of the features of the theophany at Sinai or Horeb (also called the "mountain of God") may derive from volcanic phenomena, such as volcanic lightning and eruption columns. Since Moses leads his Midianite father-in-law's sheep to the mountain described in Exodus 3, Dunn suggests al-Jaww (meaning the "watering place" in Arabic) was an ideal grazing region for Midianite nomads and their herds, due to an abundance of groundwater and vegetation. Dunn provides satellite imagery of a mile long (1500m) depression immediately adjacent to Hallat al Badr's southwest slope that could have stored a vast amount of drinking water for desert nomads like the Midianites or Amalekites and their flocks during ritual pilgrimages or seasonal migrations. Such a large amount of surface water (and presumably ground-water) in the presence of an active volcanic vent would then call Hallat al-Badr's cinder-cone designation into question. In light of Dunn's remarks, Badr may actually be a tuff cone and not a cinder cone. As a final piece of evidence pointing to ancient human activity around this volcano, Dunn highlights a well-worn foot path also visible in satellite imagery, winding its way up the northern escarpment of the Thadra plateau, where it ultimately leads to the above mentioned oasis at the base of the Badr volcano. Various man-made stone structures in close proximity to Hallat al Badr, including cairns and mustatils –– often called "the works of the old men" highlight the presence of nomadic tribes in this volcanic region of NW Arabia, as early as the Neolithic period.

Midianite pottery (also known as 'Qurayyah Painted Ware') dating to the end of the Late Bronze Age was found not too distant from Hallat al Badr, at Tayma and Qurayyah in NW Arabia. More recent excavations have unearthed sherds of Midianite pottery at al-Bad', confirming that the Midianites were in the right place at the right time.