ATHARIM

(Athʹa·rim).

The Israelites are reported to have traveled “by the way of Atharim” when journeying to the Promised Land from Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Hor. (Num. 21:1) They were thereupon attacked by the king of Arad in the Negeb region. Atharim may refer to a place or to a particular route, but as yet the location is unknown. In the itinerary of the nation’s travel through the wilderness compiled by Moses at Numbers chapter 33, Atharim does not appear as one of the stopping places. Lexicographers Brown, Driver and Briggs (Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, p. 87) relate Atharim to an Arabic word meaning footprint or track and suggest that Atharim may refer to a caravan route. One such trade route passed near Kadesh-barnea and then turned north, passing through Beer-sheba, not far from the proposed site of Arad.