66

insula.

the opposite side of the Gulf of Akaba, every sound that reaches the travelwhence they run northward, in two ler's ears. This death-like stillness is ranges, forming the mountains of broken by mysterious noises among Edom, and enclosing the Wady el- the mountain tops, and by the winds Arabah. To the west the granite which roar down the ravines, realizing, formation is found again in the south-in one sense at least, its description as ern part of Egypt. a waste howling wilderness" (Deut. The width of the peninsula, in its xxxii. 10). These mountains may be exacter limits, from Suez along the divided into two great masses-that 30th parallel of north latitude to the of Jebel Serbal (6759 feet high) in thei hills of Edom, is about 130 miles: its north-west, and the central group, length from its southern point (Ras roughly denoted by the general name Mohammed) to the same parallel is of Sinai. This group rises abruptly about 140 miles, and to the Mediter- from the Wady es-Sheykh at its north ranean upward of 20 more. The foot, first to the cliffs of the Ras Sufwidth of the southern triangle of safeh, behind which towers the pinnaprimitive rocks along the 29th paral-cle of Jebel Musa (the Mount of Moses) lel of north latitude is about 80 miles, and farther back to the right of it the and its length a little less: in fact, it summit of Jebel Katerin (Mount St. is nearly an equilateral triangle. The Catherine, 8705 feet), all being backed Desert of et-Tih has all the characters up and overtopped by Um Shaumer of limestone scenery. It is a table- (the mother of fennel, 9300 feet), which land rising to more than 2500 feet is the highest point of the whole penhigh, broken by ravines, and bounded by long horizontal ranges of mount- Of the wadys, as the Arabs call the ains, which culminate in the southern valleys and ravines, which lool. as if range of (Jebel et- Th, whose chief they had once been water-courses, the summit (Jebel Edime) rises to 4654 most important, after the Wady Mufeet. The belt of sandstone (Debbet er- katteb (valley of writing, from the celRamleh), which divides this range ebrated Sinaitic inscriptions on its from the granite group, and which is sandstone rocks), by which the region continued along the shore of the Gulf is entered, are the Wady Feiran, on of Suez, is almost the only sand in the north-east of Mount Serbal, and the peninsula, which is therefore a the great Wady es-Sheykh, on the rocky, but not a sandy desert. Finally, north of the central group, into which the great granite mass, called by the it throws up the narrow ravines of elgeneral name of the Tûr (i. e., the Loja, watered by a rivulet, and Shueib Rock), is broken into innumerable or ed Deir, which gives access to the peaks (like those called horns and convent of St. Catherine, and also to needles in the Alps), and shivered into the Wady Sebaiyeh, at the back of ravines, which in a few cases open out into wider plains. In a northern climate, these plains would be filled with lakes, and mountain torrents would rush down the ravines; but here the want of water causes a silence which adds immeasurably to the awful grand- But we think the question may be eur of the rocks themselves, and which regarded as almost settled in favor of becomes still more impressive from the Wady er-Ráhah, the great branch the clearness and reverberation of of the Wady es-Sheykh, which extenda

Jebel Musa. This last valley has lately been claimed as the encampment of the Israelites, from the desire to permit Jebel Musa to retain its traditional celebrity as the Mountain of the Law.

north-west in the form of a sleeve conclusion,” says Dr. Stanley,* “that

from the front of the precipices of Ras Sufsafeh. Here alone all the requirements of the history seem satisfied: the space for the encampment, and its accessibility for the host by way of the Wady es-Sheykh; the mountain rising abruptly in front, with the cliffs of Ras Sufsâfeh visible from and commanding the whole plain, but yet separated from it by low hills (the "bounds set unto the people round about:" Ex. xix. 12); the brook, on which Moses scattered the powder of the golden calf, running down the Wady el-Loja, with other minor points of coincidence. In fact, the only objection to this view is the mere feeling against transferring the traditional dignity of Jebel Musa to the much lower summit of Ras Sufsâfeh.†

it could only be taken for the place, if none other existed. The only advantage which it has is, that the peak [of Jebel Musa], from a few points of view, rises in a more commanding form than the Ras Sufsâjeh. . . . . I am sure that, if the monks of Justinian had fixed the traditional scene on the Ras Sufsâfeh, no one would for an instant have doubted that this only could be the spot." Still, as the same writer adds, the degree of uncertainty which must yet hang over the question, "is a great safeguard for the real reverence due to the place, as the scene of the first great revelation of God to man. As it is, you may rest on your general conviction, and be thankful."

The summit of Um Shaumer, to which the argument urged for Jebel But we may still regard the whole Musa, from its superior elevation, mass of Jebel Musa as Mount Sinai applies still more forcibly, satisfies in the wider sense, though Ras Suf- none of the required conditions, and safeh was that particular part of it may be rejected with certainty. But which, as visible from the whole en- there has lately been a strong current campment, was chosen as the spot of opinion in favor of Jebel Serbal. from which the law was given. We It is the first great mountain of the have not seen the observation made, range, before which the Israelites how much more convenient this lower would arrive in their march from rock would be than the distant summit of Jebel Musa for the ascents and descents of Moses and the elders (Ex. xix. 3, 20, xxiv. 1, 9); while Moses himself may have been conducted into the deeper recesses of the mountain during his abode of forty days. Nearly every traveller who has stood on Ras to Israel and the world, the scene Sufsafeh has felt convinced that this must be the spot described in Ex. xix., and the more the whole region is explored, the stronger is this impression. With equal certainty those best qualified to judge have rejected the claim of the Wady Sebaiyeh. “I came to the

Egypt. Its scenery is as grand and awful as that of Jebel Musa; and the earliest traditions were even more connected with it than with Jebel Musa. "It was impossible," says Stanley (p. 73), "on ascending it, not to feel that, for the giving of the Law

was most truly fitted. I say, 'for the giving of the Law,' because the ob jections urged from the absence of any plain immediately under the mountain for receiving the Law are unanswerable, or could only be answered if no such plain existed elsewhere in the peninsula." The Wadg Feiran is not sufficiently commanded by the mountain to satisfy the condi

* Sinai and Palestine, p. 76.

tion.

Besides, the Wady Feiran is in this character. This view seems to almost certainly the locality of Rephi- be confirmed by the use of the distincdim, the first great encampment of the tive names-Horeb for the mount of Israelites in this region (Ex. xvii.), the burning bush, and Sinai for the where they fought with Amalek, mountain of the Law, when each is where Jethro visited Moses (Ex. first mentioned, though the distinction xviii.), and whence they advanced a was almost immediately lost sight of. whole day's march to their encamp- The difficulty of discriminating Horeb ment before Sinai (Ex. xix. 2; Num. and Sinai is increased by the unxxxiii. 15). This appears from a certainty as to the meaning of both consideration of the route by which names. It is most important also to they entered the mountains, and it is observe that the earliest traditions restrongly confirmed by the details of fer not so much to the giving of the the topography. The valley is alike Law, as to "the place where Moses fit for a great encampment and for a saw God" (Stanley, p. 77). battle-field. As the first inhabitable wady in the Tur, its possession would naturally be disputed by the Amalekites, especially if it was a sacred spot; and it is marked (though we do not lay great stress on this point) by a hill, such as that called from its conspicuousness" the hill," where Moses stood in full view of the battle-field. Wady Feiran can not be both Rephidim and the scene of the encampment before Sinai.

The identity of the Horeb of Ex. iii., and the Sinai of Ex. xix. may seem to be settled by the words" When Thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God in this mountain" (Ex. iii. 12). But considering the proximity of the two places, it is surely enough to suppose that this mountain means the whole group, within which God afterward led the people to the precise spot that He had chosen-a spot purposely different from the old sanctuary, because a new worship was to be revealed.

But Serbal seems to have an importance of its own, only second to that of Sinai. From the inscriptions in the Wady Feiran, and from other Be this as it may, the Wady Feiran evidence, it seems highly probable was long regarded as a sacred spot. that it was a sanctuary of the Arab It seems to be the Paran of Deut. i. tribes before the Exodus; and for 1, and 1 K. xi. 18; and it was an this reason it may have been already episcopal see in the early Christian called the Mount of God" (Ex. iii. times. The Arabic Feiran is an 2);* and Moses, when a shepherd equivalent of Paran (Stanley, pp. 41, among the Arabs, may have visited it 43).

It has been strangely overlooked here that the word translated back signifies, as a geographical term, the west. Without pos

itively insisting on this meaning here, we may point out its suitability to the position of Mount Serbal.

Egyptian Chariot. The son of King Rameses with his charioteer. (Wilkinson.)

CHAPTER XII.

A.M. 2513-4. B.C

1491-0.

§ 5.

§ 1. General view of the journey from Egypt to Canaan-Its three divisions : i. From Egypt to Sinai-ii. From Sinai to the borders of Canaan-iií. The wandering in the wilderness and the final march to Canaan. § 2. From Egypt to the Red Sea-Point of departure-Rameses--SuccothEtham-Pi-hahiroth. § 3. Passage of the Red Sea. § 4. Wilderness of Shur-Thirst-Marah-Elim-Encampment by the Red Sea. Wilderness of Sin-Hunger-The Manna-Revival of the Sabbath. § 6. Dophkah, Alush, and Rephidim-The Water from the rock. § 7. The battle with Amalek in Rephidim-Jehovah-Nissi-Doom of Amalek. § 8. Visit of Jethro-Appointment of assistant judges. § 9. Wilderness of Sinai-Encampment before the Mount-PreparationThe people's place among the nations-Their covenant with Jehovah. § 10. God's descent on Sinai-The Ten Commandments--Other precepts given to Moses as Mediator-Promises-The angel Jehovah their Guide and Captain-Sinai and the Mount of the Beatitudes-The Law given by angels. § 11. The covenant recorded and ratified by bloodThe elders behold God's glory-Moses in the Mount. § 12. Idolatry of the golden calf-Intercession of Moses-The tables of the Law broken-Punishment-Fidelity of Levi-Self-sacrifice of Moses-Type of the offering of Christ-God speaks with him before the people, and shows him His glory-Moses's second abode in the Mount-The Tables renewed-The veil over his face. § 13. The Tabernacle prepared, and set up-Consecration of Aaron and his sons-The glory of God upon and in the Tabernacle.

§1. THE whole journey of the Israelites, from Egypt into the land of promise, may be divided into three distinct por tions:

i. The March out of Egypt to Mount Sinai, there to wor ship Jehovah, as he had said to Moses. This occupied six weeks, making, with the fourteen days before the Passover, two months; and they were encamped before Sinai, receiving the divine laws, for the remaining ten months of the first ecclesiastical year. The tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month (Abib) of the second year (about April 1, 1490 B.C.); and its dedication occupied that month.* On the first day of the second month, Moses began to num ber the people, and their encampment was broken up on the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, about May 20, 1490 B.C.°

5

ii. The March from Sinai to the borders of Canaan, whence they were turned back for their refusal to enter the land. This distance, commonly eleven days' journey,' was divided by three chief halts." The first stage occupied three days,' followed by a halt of at least a month." The next halt was for a week at least." After the third journey, there was a period of forty days, during which the spies were searching the land; and they returned with ripe grapes and other fruits." All these indications bring us to the season of the Feast of Tabernacles, just six months after the Passover (Oct. 1490 B.C.).

13

iii. The Wandering in the Wilderness, and entrance into Canaan. This is often vaguely spoken of as a period of forty years, but, in the proper sense, the wanderings occupied thirty-seven and a half years. The people came again to Kadesh, whence they had been turned back, in the first month of the fortieth year." Advancing thence, they overthrew the kings Sihon and Og, and spoiled the Midianites; and reached the plains of Moab, on the east of Jordan, opposite to Jericho, by the end of the tenth month, early in January, 1451 B.C.' The rest of that year was occupied by the final exhortation and death of Moses. We are not told the exact date of the passage of the Jordan; but the harvest-time identifies it with the season of the Passover;" and thus the cycle of forty years is completed, from the beginning of Abib, 1491, to the same date of 1451 (see table on the following page):

15

1 Ex. iii. 12.

4 Ex. xl. 17.

16

2 Ex. xix. 1.

3

Comp. Ex. xii. 2.

5 Num. i. 1.