THE ISRAELITES IN THE WILDERNESS. * 25 The above answers to the description by Volney, who, "albeit he meant not so," has offered an undesigned corroboration to the general features of the peninsula given by Moses, and serves to illustrate the account of the passage of Israel through the desert. The journeyings and encampments of the Israelites are necessarily involved in much obscurity. The direct route from Goshen to Canaan lay northward by the shores of the Mediterranean, and occupies only eight stations; but GOD was pleased to guide his people, by the eastern shore of the Gulf of Suez, almost to the very angle of the peninsula before he turned their faces northward to Canaan. When JEHOVAH appeared to Moses at the burning bush on Horeb, he gave as a token that he had sent him, "When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve GOD upon this mountain" (Ex. iii. 12); and in the 18th verse he commanded him to request of Pharaoh "to go three days' journey into the, wilderness for sacrifice" (v. 3). The reason, wherefore "he led them not through the land of the Philistines," although "that was near," he himself gave, "lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt" (Ex. xiii. 17). This sufficiently accounts for the direction taken the more so, as JEHOVAH was pleased miraculously to confirm it by his pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night. It would be well ever to bear in mind that in this, or in any other part of the journey, Moses was never left to lean to his own understanding, but was guided in every step of his way by the Divine hand. It is remarkable, that the error into which so many writers and travellers fall, of attributing the several movements of the Israelites to the wisdom and conduct of Moses, resembles that of the Israelites themselves, who, in their seasons of rebellion, continually ascribed their position and circumstances to Moses and Aaron, without any reference to the Divine guidance. "Ye have brought us into this wilderness to kill us with hunger." Hence the rebuke of Moses "What are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD. Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?" (x.; xvi. 3, 8; xvii. 2). Is there not something of the 66 same evil heart of unbelief" among us, when we attribute that to man which belongeth to God only? If so, we are not without warning! (Heb. iii. 12). From Sinai, God led them northward to the borders of Canaan; and when they permitted their fears to overcome their faith, they were turned back to wander in the country for a space of forty years, during the greater part of which little is recorded beyond the names of their encampments, which names were generally given by themselves, and had relation to particular circumstances. The direction of their journey was irregular, and their stay at the different encampments varied; both being determined by JEHOVAH without any other apparent object than the filling up of the appointed time. As, however, the general features of the Arabian peninsula correspond with the scriptural account, some of the situations enumerated in Num. xxxiii. are readily identified, and by them a general idea of the route may be obtained with sufficient accuracy. And, as Calmet observes, "it is better to offer the actual state of our knowledge, than to mislead, by affecting certainty where we ought only to mark conjecture."* The first day's journey of the Israelites was from Rameses to Succoth, where they seemed to have halted, probably to afford time for the whole 600,000 with their children to assemble. This may have been a place four leagues eastward from Cairo, called Birket-el-Hadgi, or the Pilgrim's Pool, where the caravan to Mecca actually halts at the present day for that very purpose; the spot being convenient for supplies of water and vegetation. Thence they proceeded to Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. So far was in the direct route to Canaan. Here, however, at the Divine command, they turned again, or took a southern course; and, instead of rounding the head of the gulf, which would have brought the Red sea between them and their enemies, they came to Pihahiroth, over against Baalzephon (or Suez), between Migdol (or the tower) and the sea, at the entrance of one of those ravines which intersect the mountains on the eastern bank of the Nile. To Pharaoh this must have appeared extreme madness; and he was encouraged to pursue, supposing they were "entangled in the land-the wilder ness had shut them in." After crossing the sea, they encamped at Shur, and then went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah, where they found wells of brackish water. Thence they came to Elim (Ex. xv. 27; Num. xxxiii. 9), on the skirts of the Desert of Sin, "where were twelve wells and threescore and ten palm-trees." Respecting the place of passage of the Israelites, and the positions of Marah and Elim, there is considerable diversity of opinion. Some contend, that the Israelites crossed near Suez; that, passing by the Ayoun Mousa, or springs of Moses, they came to Howara, three hours' distant from Gharendel (Corondel), and fifteen hours from Ayoun Mousa ; which, at the slow rate at which such a body would have marched, may well be considered a journey of two days, or part of three days. At Howara, where there is a well of bitter water, they would place Marah, to which there is such a resemblance in name, that early travellers speak of it under the name Marah. At Wady Gharendel, which is full of palms, acacias, tamarisks, and other shrubs, and which abounds in water, though not the purest, they place Elim. Such is Burckhardt's view. Dr. Shaw and others fix the passages of the Israelites opposite the Desert of Shur. He supposes they passed through the Valley of Baideah, which signifies miraculous, and is still called Tiah Beni Israel, the road of the Israelites. He accordingly places Marah at Gharendel, and Elim near Tor, where is a spot generally answering to the description. In the Wilderness of Sin was the miracle of manna; and, Calmet, vol. iv., p. 114. pas |