The Labyrinth as Metaphor or Structure for Counting the Omer
Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt." — Exodus 13:17–18
In the story of the Exodus, God leads the people to Sinai round about, by way of the wilderness and the Sea of Reeds. Later on, the people will continue their journey through the wilderness for 40 years, a trip that, by direct route, would take mere weeks.
The labyrinth has long served as a powerful image that describes the iconic, biblical journey as well as spiritual journeys in general. As the Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress writes in her book about labyrinths, Walking A Sacred Path, "The labyrinth is a larger than life metaphor of the spiritual journey. It calls you to trust the path and to experience directly what is happening. The path, the turns, the center, and all that you encounter on the walk have something to teach you. It asks that you be present in the moment."
The labyrinth motif has been found in the Jewish tradition, going back seven centuries:
A traditional labyrinth is a pilgrimage meditation to perceiving yourself as existing in wholeness, well being, ... It is also often undertaken as a meditation upon moving from inner wilderness to wholeness, to pure awe and respect for Creator and Creation and one's place within the whole and within the holy. (http://www.reclaimingjudaism.org/teachings/it-jewish-walk-labryinth):
From Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis:
Medieval Jews who looked at the Jericho story imagined that Jericho was not just a walled city, but a seven-circuit labyrinth: that God had in fact asked the Israelites to walk the labyrinth to penetrate into the city and into the good land beyond it. Thus was born the 'Jericho Labyrinth,' a decorative motif found in medieval manuscripts of a seven-looped labyrinth, usually illustrated as a walled city, always labeled 'Jericho.' ... Thus our ancestors grasped in the story of Jericho the metaphor that life is full of reversals: that sometimes the way toward your goal may actually take you further away from it for a while, as a labyrinth does. (https://reformjudaism.org/blog/labyrinth-changes-lives)
This Jericho‑as‑labyrinth motif appears in a wider Jewish manuscript tradition, where Jericho is repeatedly drawn as a labyrinth or placed in the center of one, in manuscripts from the 9th to the 19th century. The Farhi Bible is a lavish Hebrew Bible manuscript produced in Provence in the 14th century, written by Elisha ben Avraham Crescas, usually dated between 1366 and 1383. The Jericho labyrinth is one of several “carpet pages” or full‑page illustrations in this manuscript, alongside depictions of the menorah and altar.
The drawing represents the City of Jericho with seven ring walls and a series of gates:
The labyrinth thus also serves as a compelling way to visualize the journey to Sinai and inner spiritual process of the seven weeks of the Omer. Here is the Fahri Bible labyrinth overlaid with the days of the Omer on each gate, with the three days of preparation before the 50th day, the revelation at Sinai, at the center:
