RAPHIDIM. – An Israelite encampment during their journey from the Red Sea to Sinai, located between the wilderness of Sin and Mount Sinai (Ex. 17:1), after the stages of Daphea and Alus (Num. 33:12–13). It is famous for the spring that Moses made gush forth from the rock of Horeb (Ex. 17:1–7) and for the victory won over the Amalekites, in which the valor of Joshua was displayed (ibid., 17:8–16).
From as early as the 4th century (Eusebius, *Onomasticon*, 142:22; Egeria in the portion of the itinerary preserved in Peter the Deacon), R. was located in Wâdi Fejrân, and even today on Gebel Tahûneh, overlooking the oasis of Fejrân, the remains of churches built to commemorate the events of R. can be seen. Following the ancient pilgrims, not a few modern ones also mark the stages of the itinerary from the plain of el-Marḥah (= Wilderness of Sin?) to Sinai via the mines of Magarah (Daphea) and the valleys of Mukatteb (Aluš?) and Fejrân (R.?). But as early as 1900, Fr. Lagrange pointed out that the plain of el-Marḥah (= Wilderness of Sin?) is not topographically situated between “Elim and Sinai” (Ex. 16:1) and that, if the itinerary marked by tradition had been followed, the biblical silence regarding the oasis of Fejrân—the pearl of the Sinai peninsula—would be inexplicable. He proposed instead an itinerary from Dabbet er-Ramleh (= Wilderness of Sin) via the mines of Şerâbit el-Hâdim (Daphea) and the valleys of el-Têšš (Aluš) and Erfâjid (R.) to Sinai. This route is now preferred both because of the traces of the ancient names of Aluš and R. preserved in the Arabic names of el-ʿEšš and Erfâjid, and because it better accords with the topography of the entire region.