Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

|

travels of the Israelites.

Basil has in such esteem and veneration that, in imitation of Moses, they put off their shoes from off their feet whenever they enter it. This, with several other chapels dedicated to particular saints, is included within the church, as they call it, of the transfiguration, which is a large beautiful structure covered with lead, and supported by two rows of marble columns. The floor is very elegantly laid out in a variety of devices in mosaic work. Of the same tessellated workmanship likewise are both the floor and the walls of the presbyterium, upon the latter whereof are represented the effigies of the emperor Justinian, together with the history of the transpresbyterium from the body of the church, there is placed a small marble shrine, wherein are preserved the skull and one of the hands of St. Catharine, the rest of the sacred body having been bestowed at different times upon such Christian princes as have contributed to the support of this convent.

making the waters of it to stand on a heap (Ps. lxxviii. 13), their being a wall to the Israelites on the right hand and on the left (chap. xiv. 22), besides the twenty miles' distance, at least, of this passage from the extremity of the gulf, are circumstances which sufficiently vouch for the miraculousness of it, and no less contradict all such idle suppositions as pretend to account for it from the nature and quality of tides, or from any such extraordinary recess of the sea as it seems to have been too rashly compared to by Josephus. "In travelling from Sdur towards Mount Sinai we come into the desert, as it is still called, of Marah, where the Israelites met with those bitter waters or waters of Marah, chap. xv. 23. And as this circum-figuration. Upon the partition which separates the stance did not happen till after they had wandered | three days in the wilderness, we may probably fix these waters at Corondel, where there is still a small rill which, unless it be diluted by the dews and rain, still continues to be brackish. Near this place the sea forms itself into a large bay called Berk el Corondel, i. e., the lake of Corondel, which is remarkable from a strong current that sets into it from the northward, particularly at the recess of the tide. The Arabs, agreeably to the interpretation of Kolzum (the name for this sea), preserve a tradition, that a numerous host was formerly drowned at this place, occasioned no doubt by what is related chap. xiv. 30, that the Israelites saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore, i. c., all along, as we may presume, from Sdur to Corondel, and at Corondel especially, from the assistance and termination of the current as it has been already mentioned.

"There is nothing further remarkable till we see the Israelites encamped at Elim, chap. xv. 27, Numb. xxxiii. 9, upon the northern skirts of the desert of Sin, two leagues from Tor, and near thirty from Corondel. I saw no more than nine of the twelve wells that are mentioned by Moses, the other three being filled up by those drifts of sand which are common in Arabia. Yet this loss is amply made up by the great increase of the palm-trees, the seventy having propagated themselves into more than two thousand. Under the shade of these trees is the Hamman Mousa or bath of Moses, particularly so called, which the inhabitants of Tor have in great esteem and veneration, acquainting us that it was here where the household of Moses was encamped.

"Mount Sinai, which hangs over this convent, is called by the Arabs Jibbel Mousa, i. e., the mountain of Moses, and sometimes only, by way of eminence, El Tor, i. e., the mountain. The summit of Mount Sinai is not very spacious, where the Mohammedans, the Latins, and the Greeks, have each of them a small chapel.

"After we had descended, with no small difficulty, down the other or western side of this mount, we come into the plain or wilderness of Rephidim, chap. xvii. 1, where we see that extraordinary antiquity, the rock of Meribah, chap. xvii. 6, which has continued down to this day without the least injury from time or accidents. This is rightly called (Deut. viii. 15), from its hardness, a rock of flint, waban n; though, from the purple or reddish colour of it, it may be rather rendered the rock of bn or na amethyst, or the amethystine or granite rock. It is about six yards square, lying tottering as it were, and loose, near the middle of the valley; and seems to have been formerly a part or cliff of Mount Sinai, which hangs in a variety of precipices all over this plain. The waters which gushed out and the stream which flowed withal, Ps. lxxviii. 20, have hollowed, across one corner of this rock, a channel about two inches deep, and twenty wide, all over incrustated like the inside of a tea-kettle that has been long used. Besides several mossy productions that are still preserved by the dew, we see all over this channel a great number of holes, some of them four or five inches deep and one or two in diameter, the lively and demonstrative tokens of their having been formerly so many fountains. Neither could art or chance be concerned in the contrivance, inasmuch as every cit cumstance points out to us a miracle; and in the same manner, with the rent in the rock of Mount Calvary in Jerusalem, never fails to produce the greatest seriousness and devotion in all who see it.

"From Mount Sinai the Israelites directed their

"We have a distinct view of Mount Sinai from Elim, the wilderness, as it is still called, of ro Sin lying betwixt them. We traversed these plains in nine hours, being all the way diverted with the sight of a variety of lizards and vipers that are here in great numbers. We were afterwards near twelve hours in passing the many windings and difficult ways which lie betwixt these deserts and those of Sinai. The latter consist of a beautiful plain, more than a league in breadth, and nearly three in length, lying open towards the north-east, where we enter it, but is closed up to the southward by some of the lower eminences of Mount Sinai. In this direction like-marches northward, toward the land of Canaan. The wise the higher parts of this mountain make such encroachments upon the plain that they divide it into two, each of them capacious enough to receive the whole encampment of the Israelites. That which lies to the eastward may be the desert of Sinai, properly so called, where Moses saw the angel of the Lord in the burning bush, when he was guarding the flocks of Jethro, chap. iii. 2. The convent of St. Catharine is built over the place of this divine appearance. It is near three hundred feet square, and more than forty in height, being built partly with stone, partly with mud and mortar mixed together. The more immediate place of the shechinah is honoured with a little chapel which this old fraternity of St.

next remarkable encampments therefore were in the desert of Paran, which seems to have commenced immediately upon their departing from Hazaroth, three stations' or days' journey, i. e., thirty miles, as we will only compute them from Sinai, Numb. x. 33, and xii. 16. And as tradition has continued down to us the names of Shur, Marah, and Sin, so it has also that of Paran; the ruins of the late convent of Paran, built upon the ruins of an ancient city of that name (which might give denomination to the whole of that desert), being about the half way betwixt Sinai and Corondel, which lie at forty leagues' distance. This situation of Paran, so far to the south of Kadesh, will illustrate Gen. xiv. 5, 6, where Chedorlaomer,

24

Dr. Shaw's remarks on the

CHAP. XL.

and the kings that were with him, are said to have | smote the Horites in their Mount Seir unto El Paran (i. e., unto the city, as I take it, of that name), which is in or by the wilderness. From the more advanced part of the wilderness of Paran (the same that lay in the road betwixt Midian and Egypt, 1 Kings xi. 18), Moses sent a man out of every tribe to spy out the land of Canaan, Numb. xxiii. 3, who returned to him after forty days, unto the same wilderness, to Kadesh Barnea, Numb. xxxii. 8; Deut. i. 10; ix. 23; Josh. xiv. 7. This place or city, which in Gen. xiv. 7 is called Enmishpat (i. e., the fountain of Mishpat), is in Numb. xx. 1, xxvii. 14, xxxiii. 36, called Tzin Kadesh, or simply Kadesh, as in Gen. xvi. 14, xx. 1; and being equally ascribed to the desert of Tzin (†), and to the desert of Paran, we may presume that the desert of Tzin and Paran were one and the same, or may be so called from the plants of divers palm grounds upon it.

"A late ingenious author has situated Kadesh Barnea, a place of no small consequence in scripture history, which we are now inquiring after, at eight hours' or twenty miles' distance only from Mount Sinai, which I presume cannot be admitted for various reasons, because several texts of scripture insinuate that Kadesh lay at a much greater distance. Thus in Deut. i. 19 it is said, they departed from Horeb through that great and terrible wilderness (which supposes by far a much greater extent both of time and space), and came to Kadesh Barnea; and in ix. 23, when the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea to possess the land; which, Numb. xx. 16, is described to be a city in the uttermost parts of the border of Edom; the border of the land of Edom and that of the land of promise being contiguous, and in fact the very same. And further, Deut. i. 2, it is expressly said, There are eleven days' journey from Horeb, by the way of Mount Seir, to Kadesh Barnea; which, from the context, cannot be otherwise understood than of marching along the direct road. For Moses hereby intimates how soon the Israelites might have entered upon the borders of the land of promise, if they had not been a stubborn and rebellious people. Whereas the number of their stations betwixt Sinai and Kadesh, as they are particularly enumerated Numb. xxxiii. (each of which must have been at least one day's journey), appear to be near twice as many, or twentyone, in which they are said with great truth and propriety, Ps. cvii. 4, to have wandered in the wilderness out of the way; and in Deut. ii. 1, to have compassed Mount Seir, rather than to have travelled directly through it. If then we allow ten miles for each of these eleven days' journey (and fewer I presume cannot well be insisted upon), the distance of Kadesh from Mount Sinai will be about one hundred and ten miles. That ten miles (I mean in a direct line, as laid down in the map, without considering the deviations which are every where, more or less) were equivalent to one day's journey, may be further proved from the history of the spies, who searched the land (Numb. xiii. 21) from Kadesh to Rehob, as men come to Hamath, and returned in forty days. Rehob then, the farthest point of this expedition to the northward, may well be conceived to have been twenty days' journey from Kadesh; and therefore to know the true position of Rehob will be a material point in this disquisition. Now it appears from Josh. xix. 29, 30, and Judg. i. 31, that Rehob was one of the maritime cities of the tribe of Asher, and lay (in travelling, as we may suppose, by the common or nearest way along the sea-coast), Numb. xiii. 21 (not as we render it, as men come to Hamath, but), as men go towards Hamath, in going to Hamath, or in the way or road to Hamath. For to have searched the land as far as Hamath, and to have returned to

travels of the Israelites.

Kadesh in forty days, would have been altogether impossible. Moreover, as the tribe of Asher did not reach beyond Sidon (for that was its northern boundary, Josh. xix. 28), Rehob must have been situated to the southward of Sidon, upon or (being a derivative perhaps from 7, latum esse) below in the plain, under a long 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 afterwards 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, according to the former computation, the spies must have travelled near seventeen, which for forty days successively seems to have been too difficult an expedition in this hot and consequently fatiguing climate, especially as they were on foot or footpads, as (their appellation in the original) may probably import. These geographical circumstances therefore, thus corresponding with what is actually known of those countries at this time, should induce us to situate Kadesh, as I have already done, one hundred and ten miles to the northward of Mount Sinai, and forty-two miles to the westward of Eloth, near Callah Nahur, i. e., the castle of the river or fountain (probably the Ain Mishpat), a noted station of the Mohammedans in their pilgrimage to Mecca.

From Kadesh the Israelites were ordered to turn into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea (Numb. 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 Eloth and Heroopolis. If then we could adjust the true position of Eloth, we should gain one considerable point towards the better laying down and circumscribing this mountainous tract, where the Israelites wandered for so many years. Now, there is a universal consent among geographers that Eloth, Ailah, or Aelana, as it is differently named, was situated upon the northern extremity of the gulf of that name. Ptolemy, indeed, places it forty-five minutes to the south of Heroopolis, and nearly three degrees to the east; whereas Abulfeda, whose later authority, and perhaps greater experience, should be more regarded, makes the extremities of the two gulfs to lie nearly in the same parallel, though without recording the distance between them. I have been often informed by the Mohammedan pilgrims, who, in their way to Mecca, pass by them both, that they direct their marches from Kairo eastward, till they arrive at Callah Accaba, or the castle (situated below the mountains) of Accaba, upon the Elanitic point of the Red Sea.

Dr. Shaw's remarks on the

EXODUS.

travels of the Israelites.

Here they begin to travel betwixt the south and "In the description of the East, p. 157, Ezionsouth-east, with their faces directly towards Mecca, gaber is placed to the south-east of Eloth, and at two which lay hitherto upon their right hand; having or three miles only from it; which, I presume, canmade in all, from Adjeroute, ten miles to the north not be admitted. For, as Eloth itself is situated upon north-west of Suez, to this castle, a journey of seventy the very point of the gulf, Ezion-gaber, by lying to hours. But as this whole tract is very mountainous, the south-east of it would belong to the land of the road must consequently be attended with great Midian; whereas Ezion-gaber was undoubtedly a variety of windings and turnings, which would hinder sea-port in the land of Edom, as we learn from the them from making any greater progress than at the authorities above related, viz., where king Solomon is rate, we will suppose, of about half a league an hour. said to have made a navy of ships in Ezion-gaber, Eloth, then (which is the place of a Turkish garrison which is ex, beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red at present, as it was a præsidium of the Romans in Sea in the land of Edom. Here it may be observed former times), will lie, according to this calculation, that the word which we render beside Eloth, about one hundred and forty miles from Adjeroute, in should be rendered, together with Eloth; not denotan cast by south direction; a position which will ing any vicinity between them, but that they were likewise receive further confirmation from the dis- both of them ports of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. tance that is assigned to it from Gaza, in the old "From Ezion-gaber the Israelites turned back geography. For, as this distance was one hundred again to Kadesh, with an intent to direct their marches and fifty Roman miles according to Pliny, or one that way into the land of Canaan. But upon Edom's hundred and fifty-seven according to other authors, refusing to give Israel passage through his border Eloth could not have had a more southern situation (Numb. xx. 18), they turned away from him to the than latitude twenty-nine degrees, forty minutes; right hand, as I suppose, towards Mount Hor neither could it have had a more northern lati- (Numb. xx. 21), which might lie to the eastward of tude, insomuch as this would have so far invalidated | Kadesh, in the road from thence to the Red Sea; a just observation of Strabo's, who makes Heroopolis and as the soul of the children of Israel is said to have and Pelusium to be much nearer each other than been here much discouraged because of the way, it is Eloth and Gaza. And, besides, as Gaza is well very probable that Mount Hor was the same chain known to lie in latitude thirty-one degrees, forty of mountains that are now called Accaba by the Arabs, minutes (as we have placed Eloth in latitude twenty- and were the easternmost range, as we may take them nine degrees, forty minutes), the difference of latitude to be, of Ptolemy's peλava opn above described. Here betwixt them will be two degrees or one hundred and from the badness of the road, and the many rugged twenty geographical miles; which converted into passes that are to be surmounted, the Mohammedan Roman miles (seventy-five and a half of which make pilgrims lose a number of camels, and are no less one degree), we have the very distance (especially as fatigued than the Israelites were formerly in getting they lie nearly under the same meridian) that is as- over them. I have already hinted that this chain of cribed to them above by Strabo and Pliny. Yet, not- mountains, the μɛλava opŋ of Ptolemy, reached from withstanding this point may be gained, it would be too Paran to Judea. Petra, therefore, according to its daring an attempt, even to pretend to trace out above later name, the metropolis of this part of Arabia, may two or three of the encampments mentioned Numb. well be supposed to lie among them, and to have xxxiii., though the greatest part of them was in all pro-been left by the Israelites, on their left hand, in jourbability 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.

"However, one of their more southern stations, after they had left Mount Sinai and Paran, seems to have been at Ezion-gaber; which being the place from whence Solomon's navy went for gold to Ophir, 1 Kings ix. 26, 2 Chron. viii. 17, we may be induced to take it for the present Meenah el Dsahab, i. e., the port of gold. According to the account I had of this place from the monks of St. Catharine, it lies in the gulf of Eloth, betwixt two and three days' journey from them, enjoying a spacious harbour; from whence they are sometimes supplied, as I have already mentioned, with plenty of lobsters and shell fish. Meenah el Dsahab therefore, from this circumstance, may be nearly at the same distance from Sinai with Tor; from whence they are likewise furnished with the same provisions, which, unless they are brought with the utmost expedition, frequently corrupt and putrefy. I have already given the distance between the north-west part of the desert of Sin and Mount Sinai, to be twenty-one hours; and if we further add three hours (the distance betwixt the desert of Sin and the port of Tor, from whence these fish are obtained), we shall have in all twenty-four hours; i. e., in round numbers, about sixty miles. Exion-gaber, consequently may lie a little more or less at that distance from Sinai; because the days' journeys which the monks speak of are not, perhaps, to be considered as ordinary and common ones; but such as are made in haste, that the fish may arrive in good

condition.

lie

neying toward Moab. Yet it will be difficult to determine the situation of this city, for want 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 near, or upon the border of Moab, seven days' journey would be the least; the same that the three kings took thither, 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 betwixt 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 corrup tion 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 history. 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 (Numb. xiii. 38, 49), into the land of promise."-SHAW's Travels, chap. v., p. 304, &c.

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.

A. M. B. C.

An. Dil.

2365 1639

2375 1629

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

2385 1619 2387 1617

2396 1608

Acencheres, the son of Rathotis, succeeds his father and reigns twelve years and six
months.

The Ethiopians, from the other side of the Indus, first settle in the middle of Egypt.
Rathotis, the brother of Acenchres, began about this time to reign over the Egyptians, and
reigned nine years.

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.
Armais succeeds Ancencheres, and reigns four years and one month.

753

765

About this time Kobath, the son of Levi, and grandfather of Moses, died in the 133rd
year of his age; chap. vi. 18.-N. B. There are several years of uncertainty in the
date of this event.

[blocks in formation]

Rameses succeeds Armais in the government, and reigns one year and four months.
Rameses Miamun succeeds Rameses, and reigns sixty-seven years.

769

771

2430 1574

Aaron, son of Amram, brother of Moses, born eighty-three years before the exodus of
the Israelites; chap. vi. 20; vii. 7.

774

2431 1573

About this time Pharaoh (supposed to be the same with Rameses Miamun) published
an edict, ordering all the male children of the Hebrews to be drowned in the Nile,
chap. i. 22.

[blocks in formation]

In this year, which was the eighteenth of Cecrops, the Chaldeans waged war with the
Phoenicians.

809

2466 1538 2473 1531

2474 1530

2494 1510

2495 1509 2513 1491

About this time the Arabians subdued the Chaldeans, and took possession of their country.
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.

The birth of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh.

810

817

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
The death of Amram, the father of Moses, is supposed to have taken place about this
time.
839

While Moses keeps the flock of Jethro at Mount Horeb, the Angel of God appears to
him in a burning bush, promises to deliver the Hebrews from their oppression in
Egypt, and sends him to Pharaoh to command him to let Israel go; chap. iii.
Aaron and Moses assemble the elders of Israel, inform them of the divine purpose, and
then go to Pharaoh and desire him, in the name of the God of the Hebrews, to let
the people go three days' journey into the wilderness to hold a feast unto the Lord.
Pharaoh is enraged, and increases the oppression of the Israelites; chap. v.
Aaron throws down his rod, which becomes a serpent. The Egyptian magicians
imitate this miracle; chap. vii.

Pharaoh refusing to let the Israelites go, God sends his FIRST plague upon the Egyptians,
and the waters are turned into blood; chap. vii. 19—25.

Pharaoh remaining impenitent, God sends immense numbers of frogs, which infest the
whole land of Egypt. This was the SECOND plague; chap. viii. 1-7.

This plague not producing the desired effect, God sends the THIRD plague, the dust of
the ground becoming lice on man and beast; chap. viii. 16-20.

Pharaoh's heart still remaining obdurate, God sends the FOURTH plague upon the nation,
by causing great swarms of flies to cover the whole land; chap. viii. 20-32.

The Egyptian king still refusing to dismiss the Hebrews, God sends his FIFTH plague,
which is a universal murrain or mortality among the cattle; chap. ix. 1—7.
This producing no good effect, the SIXTH plague of boils and blains is sent; chap.

ix. 8-12.

857

Chronology to Exodus.

[blocks in formation]

2513 1491

2514

An. Dil.

Pharaoh still hardening his heart, God sends the SEVENTH plague, viz., a grievous hail, 857
which destroyed the whole produce of the field; chap. ix. 22-26.
This, through Pharaoh's obstinacy, proving ineffectual, the EIGHTH plague is sent,
immense swarms of locusts, which devour the land; chap. x. 1—20.
Pharaoh refusing to submit to the divine authority, the NINTH plague, a total darkness of
three days' continuance, is spread over the whole land of Egypt; chap. x. 21-24.
Pharaoh continuing to refuse to let the people go, God institutes the rite of the pass-
over, and sends the TENTH plague upon the Egyptians, and the first-born of man and
beast died throughout the whole land. This was in the fourteenth night of the month
Abib. The Israelites are driven out of Egypt, chap. xii. 1-36; and carry Joseph's
bones with them; chap. xiii. 19.

The Israelites march from Succoth to Etham; thence to Pi-hahiroth, the Lord
guiding them by a miraculous pillar; chap. xiii. 20-22; xiv. 1, 2.
Towards the close of this month, Pharaoh and the Egyptians pursue the
Israelites; God opens a passage for these through the Red Sea, and they
pass over as on dry land, which the Egyptians essaying to do, are all
drowned; chap. xiv.; Heb. ix. 29.

The Israelites come to Marah, and murmur because of the bitter waters;
Moses is directed to throw a certain tree into them, by which they are
rendered sweet; chap. xv. 23-25.

About the beginning of this month the Israelites come to Elim; chap. xv. 27.
On the fifteenth day of this month the Israelites come to the desert of Sin,
where, murmuring for want of bread, quails are sent, and manna from
heaven; chap. xvi.

Coming to Rephidim they murmur for want of water, and God supplies this
want by miraculously bringing water out of a rock in Horeb, chap.
xvii. 1-7.

The Amalckites attack the Israelites in Rephidim, and are discomfited; chap.
xvii. 8-16.

The Israelites come to the wilderness of Sinai. God calls Moses up to the
mount, where he receives the ten commandments and other precepts; chap.
xix.-xxiv.: is instructed how to make the tabernacle; xxv.-xxviii. Aaron
and his sons are dedicated to the priest's office; chap. xxviii.
Moses delaying to come down from the mount, the people make a molten calf,
and worship it. Moses, coming down, sees their idolatry, is distressed, and
breaks the tables; three thousand of the idolaters are slain; and, at
the intercession of Moses, the rest of the people are saved from destruction;
chap. xxxii.

Moses is again called up into the mount, where God renews the covenant, and
writes the two tables afresh. Moses desires to see the Divine glory; his
request is partially granted; chap. xxxiii. 18-23, xxxiv. 1—27.
Moses, after having been in the mount forty days and forty nights, during
which time he ate nothing, comes down with the two tables of stone: his
face shines so that he is obliged to cover it with a veil ; chap. xxiv. 29–35.
1490 From this time to the month Adar, including Marcheshvan, Cisleu, Thebet, and
Sebat, Bezaleel, Aholiab, and their assistants are employed in constructing
the tabernacle, &c., according to the pattern delivered to Moses on the
mount; chap. xxxvi.-xxxix.

On the first of this month, being the first month of the second year after their
departure from Egypt, the tabernacle is reared up, and Aaron and his sons
set apart for the priest's office; chap. xl. 17-32.-N. B. The ceremonies
attending this consecration form the chief part of the following book,
LEVITICUS.

Jethro brings Zipporah and her two sons to Moses in the wilderness, and
gives him wholesome directions concerning the best mode of governing the
people, which Moses thankfully accepts, and God approves; chap. xviii.,

and see the notes there.

[blocks in formation]
« ÎnapoiContinuă »