6. _History._ Old Empire (Memphis, Pyramids); Middle Empire (Thebes, Dynasty XII., Hyksos); New Empire (Rameses II., Persians).
THE WILDERNESS OF THE WANDERING.
I. =Situation.= This region lies between Egypt and Edom, a great triangle, having for its three points the border of _Lake Menzaleh_, the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, and _Ras Mohammed_, the southern end of the peninsula. Its northern boundary is the Mediterranean Sea, the land of the Philistines, and the _Negeb_, or South Country. Its southeastern line is the depression of the _Arabah_, and the Gulf of Akaba, or aelanitic Gulf. Its southwestern line is the Isthmus of Suez and the Gulf of Suez. From Egypt, in a line due east, to the Dead Sea, is about 200 miles; from the Mediterranean, at the _Wady el Arish_ ("the River of Egypt"), to Ras Mohammed, a line a little east of south, is about 225 miles, thus making the entire area of the triangle about 22,500 square miles, or less than the aggregate area of New Hampshire, Vermont and Ma.s.sachusetts, though larger than any two of those States.
[Ill.u.s.tration: RaS ES SUFSAFEH (MOUNT SINAI).]
II. =Natural Features.= This region has two general divisions, and three others closely connected with them. 1. The Table-Land. 2. The Sinaitic Mountains. 3. The narrow plain by the western arm of the Red Sea. 4. The Arabah, or valley between the aelanitic Gulf and the Dead Sea. 5. The Negeb, or South Country.
1. The northern and central portion of the triangle is a sterile table-land of limestone, from 2,000 to 2,500 feet high, and consisting of rolling plains with a gravelly surface; with few springs, and these mostly of impure water; and watered only by the streams of the _Wady el Arish_ ("the River of Egypt"), a torrent which is dry during most of the year.
This was the Wilderness of Paran, "the great and terrible wilderness"
(Deut. 1:19) in which the Israelites wandered for 38 years. It is now called _et Tih_, "the wandering," and is traversed from east to west by two caravan routes, marked by the bleached bones of camels that have perished by the way. On the north it slopes away to a plain of white sand reaching to the Mediterranean, which was generally called the Wilderness of Shur. On the other three sides it is bounded by a chain of mountains, 4,000 feet high, called _Jebel et Tih_. It was in this wilderness country that the children of Israel were doomed to wander until all the generation that came out of Egypt died, except Caleb and Joshua. Even Moses was not permitted to more than see the Promised Land from the top of Pisgah.
2. Beyond the desert, and separated from it by the chain of mountains above named, and also by a narrow strip of sand south of the mountains, is the group of the Sinaitic Mountains. This group is triangular in form, and consists of ranges radiating from a centre. The names h.o.r.eb and Sinai seem to have been used interchangeably, though some consider the former the name of the group, and Sinai a single peak. There has been much discussion as to which is the "Mountain of the Law," from which the Ten Commandments were given. Three peaks have been most prominently presented by different explorers. _Jebel Musa_, "the Mountain of Moses," which is supported by local tradition, and by the authority of Ritter, Kurtz, Keil and Kalisch; _Jebel Serbal_, claimed by Lepsius; and _Ras es Sufsafeh_, supported by Robinson, Dean Stanley, and the most of recent travelers. This is a granite cliff standing above the plain so boldly that one may walk up and lay a hand upon its wall, which rises 1,500 feet above the plain, and 6,500 feet above the sea. The plain in front of it is called _er Rahah_, and is 2,300 yards long and 900 yards wide, sufficiently large for the presence of all the Israelites before the mount, without including another plain on the northeast, branching from _er Rahah_, and called _Wady esh Sheikh_. It is situated in a vast and dreary desert, occupied for the most part by hordes of Arabs, who subsist by plunder, and render the journey to Sinai impossible except to large and well defended caravans.
3. Between the mountains and the western arm of the Red Sea lies a narrow plain, following the line of the coast. On the northwestern section it was called the Wilderness of Etham; opposite the Sinaitic group of mountains, the Wilderness of Sin. This lower portion is now called _el Kaa_.
[Ill.u.s.tration: LANDS OF THE SOJOURN AND WANDERING.
VICINITY OF MOUNT SINAI.]
4. From the head of the Gulf of Akaba (aelanitic Gulf) a gorge extends nearly northward to the Dead Sea, an extension of the Jordan Valley, the Arabah, called in the history the Wilderness of Zin. It lies between the mountain chain on the east of the Wilderness of Paran (_et Tih_) and Mount Seir, the home of the Edomites. The opinion held by many early writers, that the Jordan once flowed through this depression into the Red Sea, may be correct as regards a past geologic period, but not as an historical fact; for it is evident that no great change has taken place in this region within the limit of historical time. Opposite the traditional Mount Hor the bed of the valley is about 500 feet above the sea-level; and from this point it slopes northward to the Dead Sea, 1,300 feet below the sea-level, and southward to the Gulf of Akaba.
5. The Negeb, or South Country, has already been described. (See p. 32.) The southern section of this region belongs to the Wilderness of the Wandering, from Mount Halak northward.
III. =Inhabitants.= The only inhabitants of this region at the time of the Israelite Wandering were the Amalekites, who roamed throughout the desert of Paran. Their origin is uncertain; and they may have belonged to the same stock with the earliest inhabitants of Canaan, as they were a distinct tribe in the times of Abraham. (Gen. 14.) They were the bitter enemies of Israel during all the period of the Wandering, attacking their rear, and destroying detached companies of them on their march. (Deut. 25:18.) The only pitched battle with them took place at Rephidim, near Mount Sinai, when they were defeated by Israel; but they attacked the Israelites again at Hormah, and inflicted serious injury.
Long afterward their power was broken by Saul (1 Sam. 15), and their destruction was completed by David. (1 Sam. 27 and 30.)
OUTLINE FOR REVIEW.
I. _Situation._ Triangle (Menzaleh, Dead Sea, Ras Mohammed). Boundaries.
North (Mediterranean Sea, Philistines, Negeb); Southeast (Arabah, Akaba); Southwest (Isthmus and Gulf of Suez). 200 miles east and west; 225 north and south.
II. _Natural Features._ Table-Land (Paran, Shur); Sinaitic Mountains (h.o.r.eb and Sinai); Plain (Etham, Sin); Arabah (Zin); Negeb (Mount Halak).
III. _Inhabitants._ Amalekites (Rephidim, Hormah).
THE LAND OF EDOM.
I. =Boundaries.= The country of Edom, or of the Edomites, lay south of that of the Moabites, the boundary between them being the brook Zered (_Wady el Ahsy_), which flows into the southern lagoon of the Dead Sea.
On the east it extended to the great Arabian desert, in that section supposed to be the "land of the Temanites." On the south its border was the country of the Midianites, and the head of the Gulf of Akaba. The western boundary was the Arabah, or sunken ravine running northward between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea. There is, however, an opinion gaining ground, that "the field of Edom" extended somewhat to the west of the Arabah, and south of Palestine.
II. =Names.= The earliest name of this country, and one often used throughout Bible history, was Mount Seir, "the rugged," from its rough, mountainous nature. This was the name of its earliest inhabitants, "the sons of Seir the Horite." (Gen. 36:20.) Afterward it was possessed by the descendants of Esau, and called Edom, "red," from the "red pottage"
for which Esau sold his birthright. Probably the red color of its sandstone mountains also aided to fix the name. In the New Testament time the word received a Greek form, and became Idumea. Josephus called it Geballene, "mountainous." At present it is divided into two sections, each having a different name; north of Petra being called _Jebal_, and south, _esh Sherah_.
III. =Natural Features.= Edom is emphatically a land of mountains. On the west, along the side of the Arabah, is a line of low limestone hills. Back of these rise higher, igneous rocks, surmounted by variegated sandstone, of peculiar color, 2,000 feet high. The eastern side of the mountains slopes gently away into the Arabian desert. But, though rough, the land is rich, and the terraced hill-sides have in all ages been bright with vegetation, and its people have been prosperous.
So the blessing of Esau (Gen. 27:39, 40) has been fulfilled in a land of "the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven." Its capital during the Old Testament period was Bozrah (now _Busireh_), near its northern border. Afterward, Sela, the _Petra_ of remarkable rock-hewn buildings, arose to prominence. Ezion-geber, at the head of the Gulf of Akaba, was its seaport.
IV. =History.= Mount Seir was first settled by the Horites, or Horim, like the inhabitants of Palestine a people of unknown origin. During the later patriarchal age it was conquered and possessed by Esau, the brother of Jacob, and ever after occupied by his descendants, the Edomites. The refusal of this people to allow the Israelites to journey through their territory compelled them to make a long detour around Edom on the south and east, and enter Palestine by the land of the Moabites.
During the period of the Judges the Edomites are not mentioned; but they were beaten by Saul, and thoroughly conquered by David, after a severe struggle. At the division of the kingdom, B.C. 935, Edom was held by Judah. Its people rebelled in the time of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, and, although defeated by Judah, were able to maintain their independence. They joined the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar in the destruction of Jerusalem, for which the later prophecies and psalms gave them bitter denunciations. About the time of the captivity, B.C.
587-536, the Edomites gained possession of most of the country south of Judah, extending even to the confines of Egypt. But they lost their own land, Mount Seir, which became the possession of the Nabatheans. These were a race, perhaps allied to the Arabians, who laid aside their nomad habits, and founded a kingdom, whose people grew rich by the caravan trade. The Edomites, or Idumeans, south of Palestine, were conquered by the Maccabean princes and incorporated with the Jews, B.C. 130, and the Nabathean kingdom was annexed to the Roman empire, A.D. 105.
V. =Peculiarities.= The Edomites, though descended from the stock of Abraham, adopted the idolatry of the Canaanites, with whom they had intermarried. But their most remarkable feature, as a nation, was that of dwelling in caves. The mountains of Idumea are of soft sandstone, easily wrought, and are penetrated with caves and grottoes, which were used, not like those of other nations, for burial places, but for residence. The rock-hewn temples, palaces and homes of Petra, so well known to travelers, are magnificent in appearance. The custom probably arose from the fear of robbers, and from the ease with which the caves could be excavated in the sandstone rock.
OUTLINE FOR REVIEW.
1. _Boundaries._ Moab; Desert: Midianites; Arabah.
2. _Names._ Seir, Edom, Idumea, Geballene, Jebal and esh Sherah.
3. _Natural Features._ Mountains; Soil; Capitals (Bozrah, Petra).
4. _History._ Horites; Esau; Edomites; Israelite Supremacy; Chaldeans; Nabatheans; Maccabeans; Romans.
5. _Peculiarities._ Religion; Rock Houses.
THE WANDERING IN THE WILDERNESS.
There are great difficulties in fixing the location of the places and the order of events in the history of the forty years which intervened between the exodus, or "going out," from Egypt, and the entrance into the Promised Land (B.C. 1250-1210). These difficulties arise from various causes: the antiquity of the events, the fragmentary character of the history, the extent of the country, our scanty knowledge of the region, and especially the changes which have taken place in the sea-coast during the 3,000 years past. While the general course of the journey can be easily defined, the particular localities are, in many instances, exceedingly uncertain. For the convenience of the student, we divide the entire journey from Egypt to Canaan into sections.
I. =From Rameses to the Red Sea.= (Exod. 12-14; Num. 33:5-8.) The sojourn of the Israelites was pa.s.sed in the Land of Goshen, between the Nile and the Isthmus of Suez. The court of the reigning Pharaoh during the time while Moses was negotiating for the departure of the Israelites, was at Zoan, or Tanis (Psa. 78:12), the royal city of the Delta. Rameses, the place of meeting for the Israelites, was probably a district rather than a city (Gen. 47:8), but may have been at _Abu Kesheib_. Pithom (Exod. 1:11) has been discovered at _Tell Maskutor_, ten miles west of Lake Timsah. Succoth, "booths" or "tents," was probably not a city but a camp, and its location is unknown. Etham, "wall" (Exod. 13:20), may indicate a place near the great wall which extended across the isthmus. Pi-hahiroth may be at _Agrud_, near Suez.
Baal-zephon may be the mountain _Jebel Alaka_. The Israelites crossed the sea at the narrow Strait of Suez, where the distance from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e is about two-thirds of a mile. At that time the gulf probably extended several miles north of its present position. The northeast wind drove out the waters, leaving a path across the gulf, with pools on either side, as a "wall" or defense to the crossing Israelites.
II. =From the Red Sea to Mount Sinai.= (Exod. 15-19; Num. 33:8-15.) The general direction can be traced with certainty, but the precise places of encampment are only conjectural. It is probable that so vast a body of people, about two millions, must have occupied a large extent of territory, and the "stations" were the various headquarters of the camp.
This section of the journey was mostly spent in the two narrow plains along the coast, the Wilderness (or desert) of Etham, and that of Sin.
At Marah (_Ain Hawarah_) the bitter waters were healed; at Elim (_Wady Ghurundel_) they were refreshed by the "twelve wells and three-score and ten palm trees." At the next station, No. 9, "the encampment at the Red Sea," they saw for the last time the waters of the western gulf, and the land of Egypt beyond them. Here they turned eastward, and, pa.s.sing the mountain barrier, entered the Wilderness of Sin. (This is to be distinguished from the Wilderness of Zin, or the Arabah, on the eastern side of the peninsula.) In this wild and barren country, food failed them, and the manna began to be supplied (Exod. 16), to last for forty years. Their general course was now eastward, through the _wadies_, or dry beds of winter torrents. At Rephidim (station 13) two events are recorded as occurring. The want of water led to a miraculous supply from the smitten rock (Exod. 17:2-7); and the Israelites fought the first battle in their history, with the wandering Amalekites, who attacked the rear of the scattered host. Under Joshua, who here appears for the first time, they were defeated, and devoted to complete destruction. (Exod.
17:8-16; Deut. 25:18.) The next station was Mount Sinai, in front of which they encamped, probably on the plain _er Rahah_. Their journey thus far had occupied two months and a half, and here they remained for a year. The princ.i.p.al events at Mount Sinai were: 1. The giving of the law. (Exod. 19-31.) 2. The worship of the golden calf, and its punishment. (Exod. 32.) 3. The building and consecration of the Tabernacle. (Exod. 35-40.) 4. The numbering and organization of the people. (Num. 1-2.)
III. =From Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea.= After a year spent at and around Mount Sinai, the camp was taken up, and the host, led by the Ark of the Covenant, entered once more upon its march. The direction of the journey was northeast, and the route was probably through the _Wady Saal_. At Taberah (station 15), the "fire of the Lord" consumed some on the verge of the camp who murmured against G.o.d"s commands. (Num.
11:1-3.) At Kibroth-hattaavah (station 16), (perhaps the same place with the preceding), a dislike of the manna and a l.u.s.t for flesh-meat seized the crowd of people, and for a month they fed upon quails, but were punished by a plague, which destroyed mult.i.tudes, and gave a name to the place, "the graves of l.u.s.t." (Num. 11:4-35.) At Hazeroth (probably _Ain Hudherah_), Miriam instigated Aaron to a rebellion against Moses, but was smitten with leprosy, though healed at the prayer of Moses. (Num.
12:1-16.) The Israelites followed the mountain chain by the Red Sea, keeping upon the western side of the hills, and, pa.s.sing through the edge of the Wilderness of Paran and along the Arabah, followed up the line of the "Mount of the Amorites" (which appears to have been a general name for the mountains in the southern portion of the Negeb, or South Country), until they came to Kadesh-barnea. The location of this place is the great difficulty in the geography of the period. The name appears to be used with reference to a region, and more definitely referring to a place. Three localities have been claimed, all on the border of the "Mount of the Amorites," or the South Country. The most southerly location is that now known as _Ain esh Shehabeh_, on the _Wady Jerafeh_; the most westerly, at _Ain Gadis_, or _Quadis_, directly south of the land of Judah; the one farthest to the north and east, at _Ain el Weibeh_, in the edge of the Arabah, south of the Dead Sea. The latter has been regarded by most explorers since Dr. Robinson, as the correct site, and as it appears on the older maps. But the Rev. J. Rowlands, on a journey through the entire region, identified _Ain Quadis_ as the true Kadesh-barnea, and his conclusion was confirmed by Dr. H. C. Trumbull after a thorough investigation of all the three places. It is now accepted by most writers. We have therefore regarded _Ain Quadis_ as Kadesh-barnea, and have made it the center of Israelite journeying during the thirty-eight years of the wandering. The change in the location of Kadesh-barnea may necessitate a change in the location of Mount Hor, which Trumbull places at _Jebel Maderah_, but we have retained the old locality on the edge of Edom. Twice the Israelites were encamped at Kadesh, which marked the beginning and end of the thirty-eight years" wandering in the Wilderness of Paran. From Kadesh the twelve spies were sent northward into the Land of Canaan, and the adverse report of ten of them caused such terror and rebellion in the host, that G.o.d declared that they should not enter the Promised Land until all that generation should have pa.s.sed away. (Num. 13, 14.) They were ordered to turn back into the wilderness, but disobeyed, and, against their leaders" advice, undertook to force a pa.s.sage to Canaan, probably up the pa.s.s _es Sufa_. But the inhabitants of the mountains (Amorites, Canaanites, and Amalekites in alliance) attacked them to their utter defeat at Hormah, and effectually barred their entrance to the land through the South Country, as the warlike Philistines had closed it against them by the way of the plain by the sea. (Exod.
13:17.) Discouraged and despairing, the host of Israel again turned their faces once more toward the terrible Wilderness of Paran.
IV., V., VI. =From Kadesh-barnea to Mount Hor, Ezion-geber, and Return.= The period of the next thirty-eight years remains in shadow. Scarcely an event is named which certainly belongs to this division, the longest by far in the journey. In the history at Num. 14:45, there is a break in the record, and other topics are referred to until we find the people at Kadesh once more, at the end of the 38 years, in chapter 20; and the list of stations in Num. 33:18-36, is only a barren catalogue of 18 places, in which not one is clearly recognized, and only two or three can be even guessed at. Some have thought that the entire period was spent in the Arabah, wandering up and down, as two of the stations plainly belong there. But it is more probable that the people wandered over the borders between the Negeb (South Country) and the Wilderness of Paran. For convenience we may subdivide this period of wandering into its three journeys. From Kadesh, through 12 unknown stations, to Moseroth, which is afterward named in the account of Aaron"s death (Deut. 10:6), showing that it was near Mount Hor. This is indicated on the Map as Journey IV. Journey V. was from Mount Hor down the Arabah southward to Ezion-geber, at the head of the aelanitic Gulf. Journey VI.
was once more through the Arabah, northward to Kadesh-barnea, completing the period of the punishment for the rebellion of 38 years before. Here three events took place. 1. The rock was smitten by Moses, when G.o.d had bidden him speak to it, in order to bring forth water; and, as a penalty, he was not permitted to enter Canaan. (Num. 20:1-13.) 2. The Israelites asked of the Edomites (on whose western border they were encamped at Kadesh), the privilege of crossing their territory on their journey to Canaan, but their request was denied. 3. Soon after this, the king of the Canaanite city of Arad, in the Negeb, or South Country, 20 miles south of Hebron, hearing of Israel"s approach by the same route as that of the spies, 38 years before, went out to meet the invading host.
He was repulsed near the same place where Israel had suffered a defeat before, and which was thenceforth called Hormah, "destruction." (Num.
21:1-3.)
+-------------+---------------------------------------+-------------+NORTH.WEST.+-----------++-----------++-----------+EAST.DAN,ASHER,NAPHTALI,+-----------+62,700.41,500.53,400.+-----------+BENJAMIN,+-----------++-----------++-----------+JUDAH,35,400.CAMP OF DAN.74,600.+-----------++---------------------------------------++-----------++---+ TRIBE OF LEVI.+-----------+G+--------------+ +---------++-----------+MANa.s.sEH,EMERARITESISSACHAR,32,200.R+--------------+54,400.+-----------+S+--------------+AARON+-----------+HTABERNACLE+-----------+O+--------------+MOSES+-----------+EPHRAIM,N+--------------+ZEBULON,40,500.IKOHATHITESPriests57,400.+-----------+T+--------------++-----------+ETRIBE OF LEVI.CAMP OFS+---------+CAMP OF+---+EPHRAIM. +---------------------------------------+ JUDAH.CAMP OF REUBEN.+-----------++-----------++-----------+GAD,SIMEON,REUBEN,45,650.59,300.46,500.+-----------++-----------++-----------++SOUTH.+-------------+---------------------------------------+-------------+
[Ill.u.s.tration: CAMP OF ISRAEL.]