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King's Highway, The Reality</title><link rel="stylesheet"

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content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body>Aspaqlaria has posted a new

item, '<a href="https://www.aishdas.org/asp/the-kings-highway-the-reality">The

King's Highway, The Reality</a>'<br>

<br>

<font size=+1><br>

<p>In parashas Chuqas, <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Numbers.20.17"

target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bamidbar 20:17</a>, Moshe asks of the nation of

Edom:</p>

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p dir="rtl"><span class="he"

lang="he">נַעְבְּרָה־נָּ֣א בְאַרְצֶ֗ךָ לֹ֤א

נַעֲבֹר֙ בְּשָׂדֶ֣ה וּבְכֶ֔רֶם וְלֹ֥א

נִשְׁתֶּ֖ה מֵ֣י בְאֵ֑ר דֶּ֧רֶךְ

הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ נֵלֵ֗ךְ לֹ֤א נִטֶּה֙ יָמִ֣ין

וּשְׂמֹ֔אול עַ֥ד אֲשֶֽׁר־נַעֲבֹ֖ר

גְּבֻלֶֽךָ׃</span></p><p><span class="en" lang="en">Allow us, then,

to cross your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, and we

will not drink water from wells. We will follow the king’s highway, turning

off neither to the right nor to the left until we have crossed your

territory.”</span></p></blockquote>

<p>This expression “<em>Derekh haMelekh</em> – the King’s

Highway” is the name of something specific in the area. Here is a map,

taken from Wikipedia:</p>

<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter

size-large"><img loading="lazy" width="408" height="364"

src="https://i1.wp.com/www.aishdas.org/asp/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/map_new_wa1.gif?resize=408%2C364"

alt="" class="wp-image-6489" data-recalc-dims="1"/><figcaption>Derekh haMelekh

(in red)</figcaption></figure></div>

<p>Israel, being at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa, was along some

major trade routes. Two ran on either side, the Derekh haYam, the Sea Highway,

on its Mediterranian coast, and the <em>Derekh haMelekh</em> along the

<em>shevatim </em>in Trans-Jordan.</p>

<p>Edom sits between the Gulf of Eilat and the Dead Sea, so that portion of

the Derekh haMelekh ran through their territory. But it was a heavily

trafficked caravan route. The Jews were far more people than usual, but the

route Edom denied us was in constant use. There wasn’t a novel violation

of Edomi sovereignty or a risk to their agriculture.</p>

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You may view the latest post at<br>

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href="https://www.aishdas.org/asp/the-kings-highway-the-reality">https://www.aishdas.org/asp/the-kings-highway-the-reality</a><br>

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Best regards,<br>

micha<br>

micha@aishdas.org</body></html>