Dr. Shaw's remarks on the 66 CHAP. XL. travels of the Israelites. that has been long used. Besides several mossy pro- | Seir, to Kadesh Barnea; which, from the context, ductions that are still preserved by the dew, we see all cannot be otherwise understood than of marching along over this channel a great number of holes, some of the direct road. For Moses hereby intimates how them four or five inches deep and one or two in dia- soon the Israelites might have entered upon the bormeter, the lively and demonstrative tokens of their hav-ders of the land of promise, if they had not been a ing been formerly so many fountains. Neither could stubborn and rebellious people. Whereas the number art or chance be concerned in the contrivance, inas- of their stations betwixt Sinai and Kadesh, as they much as every circumstance points out to us a miracle; are particularly enumerated Num. xxxiii. (each of and in the same manner, with the rent-in the rock of which must have been at least one day's journey,) Mount Calvary in Jerusalem, never fails to produce appear to be near twice as many, or twenty-one, in the greatest seriousness and devotion in all who see it. which they are said with great truth and propriety, From Mount Sinai the Israelites directed their Psa. cvii. 4, to have wandered in the wilderness out marches northward, toward the land of Canaan. The of the way; and in Deut. ii. 1, to have compassed next remarkable encampments therefore were in the Mount Seir, rather than to have travelled directly desert of Paran, which seems to have commenced im- through it. If then we allow ten miles for each of mediately upon their departing from Hazaroth, three these eleven days' journey, (and fewer I presume canstations' or days' journey, i. e., thirty miles, as we will not well be insisted upon,) the distance of Kadesh only compute them from Sinai, Num. x. 33, and xii. from Mount Sinai will be about one hundred and ten 16. And as tradition has continued down to us the miles. That ten miles (I mean in a direct line, as names of Shur, Marah, and Sin, so it has also that of laid down in the map, without considering the deviaParan; the ruins of the late convent of Paran, built tions which are everywhere, more or less) were upon the ruins of an ancient city of that name, (which equivalent to one day's journey, may be farther proved might give denomination to the whole of that desert,) from the history of the spies, who searched the land being about the half way betwixt Sinai and Corondel, (Num. xiii. 21) from Kadesh to Rehob, as men come which lie at forty leagues' distance. This situation to Hamath, and returned in forty days. Rehob, then, of Paran, so far to the south of Kadesh, will illustrate the farthest point of this expedition to the northward, Gen. xiv. 5, 6, where Chedorlaqomer, and the kings may well be conceived to have been twenty days' that were with him, are said to have smote the Horites journey from Kadesh; and therefore to know the true in their Mount Seir unto El Paran, (i. e., unto the position of Rehob will be a material point in this discity, as I take it, of that name,) which is in or by the quisition. Now it appears from Josh. xix. 29, 30, wilderness. From the more advanced part of the wil- and Judg. i. 31, that Rehob was one of the maritime derness of Paran, (the same that lay in the road be- cities of the tribe of Asher, and lay (in travelling, as twixt Midian and Egypt, 1 Kings xi. 18,) Moses sent we may suppose, by the common or nearest way along a man out of every tribe to spy out the land of Ca- the seacoast) non xh, Num. xiii. 21, (not as we naan, Num. xxiii. 3, who returned to him after forty render it, as men come to Hamath, but,) as men go days, unto the same wilderness, to Kadesh Barnea, towards Hamath, in going to Hamath, or in the way Num. xxxii. 8; Deut. i. 10; ix. 23; Josh. xiv. 7. or road to Hamath. For to have searched the land This place or city, which in Gen. xiv. 7 is called En- as far as Hamath, and to have returned to Kadesh in mishpat, (i. e., the fountain of Mishpat,) is in Num. forty days, would have been altogether impossible. xx. 1; xxvii. 14; xxxiii. 36, called Tzin Kadesh, or Moreover, as the tribe of Asher did not reach beyond simply Kadesh, as in Gen. xvi. 14; xx. 1; and being Sidon, (for that was its northern boundary, Josh. xix. equally ascribed to the desert of Tzin, (,) and to 28,) Rehob must have been situated to the southward the desert of Paran, we may presume that the desert of Sidon, upon or (being a derivative perhaps from of Tzin and Paran were one and the same; jy or D'an, latum esse) below in the plain, under a long may be so called from the plants of divers palm grounds upon it. "A late ingenious author has situated Kadesh Bar- chain of mountains that runs east and west through the midst of that tribe. And as these mountains, called by some the mountains of Saran, are all along, except in the narrow road which I have mentioned, near the sea, very rugged and difficult to pass over, the spies, who could not well take another way, might imagine they would run too great a risk of being discovered in attempting to pass through it. For in these eastern countries a watchful eye was always, as it is still, kept upon strangers, as we may collect from the history of the two angels at Sodom, Gen. xix. 5, and of the spies at Jericho, Josh. ii. 2, and from other instances. If then we fix Rehob upon the skirts of the plains of Acre, a little to the south of this narrow road (the Scala Tyriorum as it was after vards named) somewhere near Egdippa, the distance betwixt Kadesh and Rehob will be about two hundred and ten miles, whereas, by placing Kadesh twenty miles only from Sinai or Horeb, the distance will be three hundred and thirty miles And instead of ten miles a day, 497 Dr. Shaw's remarks on the EXODUS. according to the former computation, the spies must travels of the Israelites. to it from Gaza, in the old geography. For, as this distance was one hundred and fifty Roman miles according to Pliny, or one hundred and fifty-seven according to other authors, Eloth could not have had a more southern situation than latitude twenty-nine degrees, forty minutes; neither could it have had a more northern latitude, insomuch as this would have so far invalidated a just observation of Strabo's, who makes Heroopolis and Pelusium to be much nearer each other than Eloth and Gaza. And, besides, as Gaza is well known to lie in latitude thirty-one degrees, forty minutes, (as we have placed Eloth in latitude twenty-nine degrees, forty minutes,) the difference of latitude betwixt them will be two degrees or one hundred and twenty geographical miles; which converted into Roman miles, (seventy-five and a half of which make one degree,) we have the very distance (especially as they lie nearly under the same meridian) that is ascribed to them above by Strabo and Pliny. Yet, notwithstanding this point may be gained, it would be too daring an attempt, even to pretend to trace out above two or three of the encampments mentioned Num. xxxiii., though the greatest part of them was in all probability confined to this tract of Arabia Petræa, which I have bounded to the east by the meridian of Eloth, and to the west by that of Heroopolis, Kadesh lying near or upon the skirts of it to the northward. be "From Kadesh the Israelites were ordered to turn into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, (Num. xiv. 25; Deut. i. 40,) i. e., they were at this time, in punishment of their murmurings, infidelity, and disobedience, to advance no farther northward towards the land of Canaan. Now, these marches are called the compassing of Mount Seir, Deut. ii. 1, and the passing by from the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain of Eloth and Eziongaber, ver. 8. The wandering, therefore, of the children of Israel, during the space of thirty-eight years, (Deut. ii. 14,) was confined, in all probability to that neck of land only which lies bounded by the gulfs of "However, one of their more southern stations, Eloth and Heroopolis. If then we could adjust the after they had left Mount Sinai and Paran, seems to true position of Eloth, we should gain one considera- have been at Ezion-gaber; which being the place ble point towards the better laying down and circum- from whence Solomon's navy went for gold to Ophir, scribing this mountainous tract, where the Israelites 1 Kings ix. 26, 2 Chron. viii. 17, we may be induced wandered for so many years. Now, there is a uni- to take it for the present Meenah el Dsahab, i. e., the versal consent among geographers that ns Eloth, port of gold. According to the account I had of this Ailah, or Aelana, as it is differently named, was situ- place from the monks of St. Catharine, it lies in the ated upon the northern extremity of the gulf of that gulf of Eloth, betwixt two and three days' journey from name. Ptolemy, indeed, places it forty-five minutes them,-enjoying a spacious harbour; from whence to the south of Heroopolis, and nearly three degrees to they are sometimes supplied, as I have already menthe east; whereas Abulfeda, whose later authority, tioned, with plenty of lobsters and shell fish. Meenah and perhaps greater experience, should be more re-el Dsahab therefore, from this circumstance, may garded, makes the extremities of the two gulfs to lie nearly at the same distance from Sinai with Tor; nearly in the same parallel, though without recording from whence they are likewise furnished with the the distance between them. I have been often in- same provisions, which, unless they are brought with formed by the Mohammedan pilgrims, who, in their the utmost expedition, frequently corrupt and putrefy. way to Mecca, pass by them both, that they direct their I have already given the distance between the northmarches from Kairo eastward, till they arrive at Cal- west part of the desert of Sin and Mount Sinai, to be lah Accaba, or the castle (situated below the moun- twenty-one hours; and if we farther add three hours, tains) of Accaba, upon the Elanitic point of the Red (the distance betwixt the desert of Sin and the port Sea. Here they begin to travel betwixt the south and of Tor, from whence these fish are obtained,) we shall south-cast, with their faces directly towards Mecca, have in all twenty-four hours; i. e., in round numbers, which lay hitherto upon their right hand; having made about sixty miles. Exion-gaber consequently may lie in all, from Adjeroute, ten miles to the north north- a little more or less at that distance from Sinai; bewest of Suez, to this castle, a journey of seventy hours. cause the days' journeys which the monks speak of But as this whole tract is very mountainous, the road are not, perhaps, to be considered as ordinary and must consequently be attended with great variety of common ones; but such as are made in haste, that the windings and turnings, which would hinder them from fish may arrive in good condition. making any greater progress than at the rate, we will suppose, of about half a league an hour. Eloth, then, (which is the place of a Turkish garrison at present, as it was a presidium of the Romans in former times,) will lie, according to this calculation, about one hundred and forty miles from Adjeroute, in an east by south direction; a position which will likewise receive farther confirmation from the distance that is assigned "In the description of the East, p. 157, Eziongaber is placed to the south-east of Eloth, and at two or three miles only from it; which, I presume, cannot be admitted. For, as Eloth itself is situated upon the very point of the gulf, Ezion-gaber, by lying to the south-east of it would belong to the land of Midian; whereas Ezion-gaber was undoubtedly the land of Edom, as we learn from the authorities ( 33* ) a sea-port in Dr. Shaw's remarks on the אילת above related, viz., where King Solomon is said to | ficult to determine the situation of this city, for want From Ezion-gaber the Israelites turned back again to Kadesh, with an intent to direct their marches that way into the land of Canaan. But upon Edom's refusing to give Israel passage through his border, (Num. xx. 18,) they turned away from him to the right hand, as I suppose, toward Mount Hor, (Num. xx. 21,) which might lie to the eastward of Kadesh, in the road from thence to the Red Sea; and as the soul of the children of Israel is said to have been here much discouraged because of the way, it is very probable that Mount Hor was the same chain of mountains that are now called Accaba by the Arabs, and were the easternmost range, as we may take them to be, of Ptolemy's μchava opn above described. Here, from the badness of the road, and the many rugged passes that are to be surmounted, the Mohammedan pilgrims lose a number of camels, and are no less fatigued than the Israelites were for- | merly in getting over them. I have already hinted, that this chain of mountains, the μɛhava opn of Ptolemy, reached from Paran to Judea. Petra, therefore, according to its later name, the metropolis of this part of Arabia, may well be supposed to lie among them, and to have been left by the Israelites on their left hand, in journeying toward Moab. Yet it will be dif a of a sufficient number of geographical data to proceed upon. In the old geography, Petra is placed one hundred and thirty-five miles to the eastward of Gaza, and four days' journey from Jericho, to the southward. But neither of these distances can be any ways accounted for; the first being too great, the other too deficient. For, as we may well suppose Petra to lie near, or upon the borders of Moab, seven days' journey would be the least: the same that the three kings took hither, 2 Kings iii. 9, (by fetching a compass, as we may imagine,) from Jerusalem, which was nearer to that border than Jericho. However, at a medium, Petra lay in all probability about the half way between the south extremity of the Asphaltic lake, and the gulf of Eloth, and may be therefore fixed near the confines of the country of the Midianites and Moabites at seventy miles distance from Kadesh, towards the north-east; and eighty-five from Gaza, to the south. According to Josephus, it was formerly called Arce, which Bochart supposes to be a corruption of Rekem, the true and ancient name. The Amalekites, so frequently mentioned in Scripture, were once seated in the neighbourhood of this place, who were succeeded by the Nabathæans, a people no less famous in profane his tory. From Mount Hor, the direction of their marches through Zalmona, Punon, &c., seems to have been between the north and north-east. For it does not appear that they wandered any more in the wilderness out of the direct way that was to conduct them through the country of Moab, (Num. xxxiii. 35-49,) into the land of promise."—SHAW's Travels, chap. v., p. 304, &c. 499 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS RECORDED IN THE BOOK OF EXODUS, SHOWING IN WHAT YEAR OF THE WORLD, IN WHAT YEAR BEFORE CHRIST, IN WHAT YEAR FROM THE DELUGE, AND IN WHAT YEAR FROM THEIR DEPARTURE FROM EGYPT, EACH EVENT HAPPENED; INTERSPERSED WITH A FEW CONNECTING CIRCUMSTANCES FROM PROFANE HISTORY, ACCORDING TO THE PLAN OF ARCHBISHOP USHER. An. Dil. The Ethiopians, from the other side of the Indus, first settle in the middle of Egypt. $387 1617 Rathotis, the brother of Acenchres, began about this time to reign over the Egyptians, and reigned nine years. 2396 1608 Acencheres, the son of Rathotis, succeeds his father and reigns twelve years and six months. Levi, the third son of Jacob, dies in the 137th year of his age, chap. vi, 16.-N. B. This event is placed twenty years later by most chronologists, but I have followed the computation of Mr. Skinner and Dr. Kennicott. See the note on Gen. xxxi. 41. About this time Acenchres, son of Orus, began to reign in Egypt, and reigned twelve years and one month. 709 719 729 731 740 2400 1604 About this time it is supposed the Egyptians began to be jealous of the Hebrews, on account of their prodigious multiplication. 744 2409 1595 2421 1583 Ancencheres succeeds Acencheres, and reigns twelve years and three months. 753 765 About this time Kohath, the son of Levi, and grandfather of Moses, died in the 133d year of his age; chap. vi. 18.-N. B. There are several years of uncertainty in the date of this event. 2425 1579 2427 1577 2430 1574 Aaron, son of Amram, brother of Moses, born eighty-three years before the exodus of the Israelites; chap. vi. 20; vii. 7. Rameses succeeds Armais in the government, and reigns one year and four months. 769 771 774 2431 1573 About this time Pharaoh (supposed to be the same with Rameses Miamun) published In this year, which was the eighteenth of .Cecrops, the Chaldeans waged war with the 809 2466 1538 About this time the Arabians subdued the Chaldeans, and took possession of their 810 2473 1531 Moses, being forty years of age, kills an Egyptian, whom he found smiting a Hebrew; in consequence of which, being obliged to fly for his life, he escapes to the land of Midian, where becoming acquainted with the family of Jethro, he marries Zipporah; chap. ii. 11-22. 817 2474 1530 2494 1510 The birth of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. 818 Rameses Miamun, king of Egypt, dies about this time in the sixty-seventh year of his reign, and is succeeded by his son Amenophis, who reigns nineteen years and six months. 838 2495 1509 The death of Amram, the father of Moses, is supposed to have taken place about this 2513 1491 While Moses keeps the flock of Jethro at Mount Horeb, the Angel of God appears to Pharaoh refusing to let the Israelites go, God sends his FIRST plague upon the Egyp- 839 857 2513 1491 2514 CHRONOLOGY TO EXODUS. Pharaoh remaining impenitent, God sends immense numbers of frogs, which infest the ix. 8-12. Pharaoh still hardening his heart, God sends the SEVENTH plague, viz., a grievous hail This, through Pharaoh's obstinacy, proving ineffectual, the EIGHTH plague is sent, Pharaoh refusing to submit to the Divine authority, the NINTH plague, a total dark- Pharaoh continuing to refuse to let the people go, God institutes the rite of the pass- An. Dil. 857 An. Dil. An. Ex. The Israelites march from Succoth to Etham; thence to Pi-hahiroth, the Lord The Israelites come to Marah, and murmur because of the bitter waters; About the beginning of this month the Israelites come to Elim; chap. On the fifteenth day of this month the Israelites come to the desert of Sin, Coming to Rephidim they murmur for want of water, and God supplies this The Amalekites attack the Israelites in Rephidim, and are discomfited; chap. The Israelites come to the wilderness of Sinai. God calls Moses up to the Moses is again called up into the mount, where God renews the covenant, and On the first of this month, being the first month of the second year after their Isr. 857 1. Abib. Ijar or Zif. Sivan. Ab. Elul. 858 Tisri |