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305 viewpoint, which compressed the Mesopotamian tales of the gods into a monotheistic mold, it was an unusual war: the ostensible purpose—the suppression of a rebellion—turns out to have been a secondary aspect of the war; the real target—a crossroads oasis in a wilderness—was never reached. Taking the southern route from Mesopotamia to Canaan, the in- vaders proceeded southward in Transjordan, along the King's Highway, attacking in succession key outposts guarding crossing points on the Jordan River: Ashterot-Karnayim in the north; Ham in the center; and Shaveh-Kiryatayim in the south. According to the biblical tale, a place called El-Paran was the real target of the invaders, but it was never reached by them. Com- ing down Transjordan and circling the Dead Sea, the invaders passed by Mount Se'ir and advanced "toward El-Paran, which is upon the Wilderness." But they were forced to "swing back by Ein-Mishpat, which is Kadesh." El-Paran ("God's Gloried Place"?) was never reached; somehow the invaders were beaten back at Ein-Mishpat, also known as Kadesh or Kadesh-Barnea. It was only then, as they turned back toward Canaan, that "Thereupon the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah and the king of Adman and the king of Zebi'im and the king of Bela, which is Zoar, marched forth and engaged them in battle in the Vale of Siddim." (See map.) The battle with these Canaanite kings was thus a late phase of the war and not its first purpose. Almost a century ago, in a thor- ough study titled Kadesh-Bamea, H. C. Trumbull had concluded that the true target of the invaders was El-Paran. which he correctly identified as the fortified oasis of Nakhl in Sinai's central plain. But neither he nor others could explain why a great alliance would launch an army to a destination a thousand miles away and fight gods and men to reach an isolated oasis in a great, desolate plain. But why had they gone there, and who was it that blocked their way at Kadesh-Barnea, forcing the invaders to turn back? There have been no answers; and no answers can make sense ex- cept the ones offered by us: The only significance of the destina- tion was its Spaceport, and the one who blocked the advance at Kadesh-Barnea was Abraham. From earlier times Kadesh-Bamea was the closest place where men could approach in the region of the Spaceport without special permission. Shulgi had gone there to pray and make offerings to the God Who Judges, and nearly a thou- sand years before him the Sumerian king Gilgamesh stopped there Abraham: The Fateful Years