II. TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY.

NUMBERS XXII-XXIV.

1. INTRODUCTION.

XXII. 1.

1. And the children of Israel removed, and encamped in the plains of Moab, on the other side of the Jordan, opposite Jericho.

Let us suppose that the Hebrews, continuing the course of their circuitous wanderings, had, in the fortieth year after their departure from Egypt, safely reached the region of Mount Hor on the eastern side of the mountainchain of Seir, at last determined resolutely to advance to their final goal of Canaan proper from the east of the Jordan, by the only route that was open to them. In this district, where Aaron died, they were not separated by many stations from the highland of Mount Nebo, where Moses found his grave, and whence they hoped to reach the southern parts of the Promised Land without difficulty. Although the names of many of their resting places have disappeared, not a few have been preserved, which enable us to follow the track of the advancing people, in this last section of their journeys, with some accuracy.

Travelling from a point opposite Mount Nebi Hârún, the Biblical Hor, northward, so as always to leave to the west the ridges of Seir, and consequently also the wonderful remains of Wady Músa, or Petra, the once renowned city of rocky caverns and tombs," we

a Comp. Commentary on Genesis, pp. 478-481.

reach, in six or seven hours, the principal town of the district of Esh-Shera-Shobek-which is situated on a hill presenting an extensive prospect, and doubly valued as a place of encampment on account of the abundant springs that rise at its base. Moving on in the same direction, and keeping by the old Roman road regularly paved with black stones and still in tolerable preservation, while in the east the pilgrims' way to Mecca (the derb el-hadj) is visible, we come, in another seven hours, to the ruins of Ghurundel, conspicuous by three volcanic peaks, and then, in about three hours more, to the village of Busevra, the Bozrah of the Bible, once an important Edomite settlement, now hardly comprising fifty wretched huts. After not much more than two hours, we reach, in a neighbourhood well watered and exceedingly fertile, the large hamlet of Tufile, probably the Hebrew Tophel, so eminent in early times that it was employed as a geographical landmark, and even at present distinguished as the residence of the chief of the district. Travelling from Tufile for four or five hours northward, past several villages and rocky heights, we come to the deep bed of the Wady Siddiyeh or Gerahi, where begins the district of Kerak, or the territory of ancient Moab; and another journey of rather more than seven hours in the same direction leads us, through regions rich in springs and marked by picturesque variety, to the capital Kerak itself. This is the celebrated Kir-Moabb or Kir-Hareseth of the Bible, both in earlier and in later ages the chief centre of the caravan traffic between Syria, Egypt, and Arabia, and, therefore, at all times an eagerly contested stronghold, as it was especially in the wars of the Crusaders, who occupied and fiercely defended it as the key of that country, till Saladdin brought it into his power after terrible sieges and assaults (A.c. 1188). From Kerak, the

northern path continues through a more open plain dotted by many ruins of old villages and towns, and after a four hours' stage, carries us to Rabba, the ancient Rabbath Moab, which, confounded with Ar Moab, was later called Areopolis. Always pursuing the Roman road, the milestones of which are, for the greatest part, still extant, and proceeding through a fertile country for about two hours northward, we behold, on our left hand, the isolated summit of Djebel Shihan and the village of Shihan, in which name it is easy to recognise that of the Amorite king Sihon, and in two hours more, passing through a highly luxuriant vegetation, we reach the rugged and most precipitous ravines of the Wady Môjib, the Biblical river Arnon, where the present district of El-Belka commences, and beyond which, up to the Wady Zerka, the ancient river Jabbok, the early abodes of the Moabites had extended, before these districts were occupied by the Amorites. Advancing, for about one hour, in the north of Wady Môjib, on a rough and difficult road, we arrive into a plain covered by piles of ruins which bear the name of Arair, the Scriptural Aroër, and then, in scarcely half an hour, we approach the northern extremity of the plain at Dhibhân, the Hebrew Dibon, which was successively inhabited by Gadites and Reubenites, and which, of late, has again become famous by the discovery, within its old precincts, of king Mesha's Moabite Stone,' on which distinct mention is made of a considerable number of familiar Biblical towns.a

Throughout the entire distance which we have just traversed from Mount Hor northward, Dibon is the first place which, in the completest Biblical account, is also introduced as an encamping station of the Hebrews, the interval between Hor and Dibon being filled up by the

a See the numerous interpretations of the Inscription by Ganneau, De Vogüé, Ginsburg, Nöldeke, Hitzig, etc.; comp. also Zeitschr. d.

D. M. G., xxiv., 1870, pp. 212 sqq., 433 sqq.; xxv., 1871, pp. 149 sqq., 463 sqq., etc.; Colenso, Lectures on the Pentateuch, pp. 349-363, etc.

a

names of Zalmonah, Punon, Oboth, and Ije-Abarim, which is described as lying in the desert that is in the east of Moab,' or ' at the boundary of Moab,' and therefore near the Arnon. Although these resting-places cannot be identical with the Edomite or Moabite localities noticed in this sketch, as the Hebrews did not touch the territory of Edom and Moab, some of them were doubtless situated in a line parallel with, though more easterly than, those well authenticated localities."

A few additional stages within the mountain range of Abarim, which we have reached, will bring us to the point where the scene of Balaam's prophecies is laid. If, travelling from Dhiban in a north-westerly direction, we cross first the Roman road and then the small river Heidan, a tributary of the Arnon, we come, in rather more than two hours, to very considerable heaps of ruins, called by the natives Kureiyat, and corresponding to the ancient Kirjathaim, or Kirjath-huzoth, and next, after about an hour's journey, we reach the ruins of Attarus, the old Ataroth, where the country, on the western side, can be surveyed beyond the Dead Sea as far as Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Mount Gerizim. In this region must have been the next station of the Hebrews specified in the Biblical list, viz., Almon-Diblathaim; and hence passing northward, partially through very grand and surprisingly wild scenery, over Wady Zerka Main and its deep valley, where the flora is almost tropical, and, leaving the farfamed hot mineral springs of Calirrhoë to the left, and the vast tracts of ruins at Main and Madiyabeh, the Hebrew Baal Meon and Medebah, to the right, a longer

a

Comp. Num. xxxiii. 37–45.

b As the Hebrews marched from Hor first southward down to the Gulf of Akabah and then only, after having reached the eastern side of the mountain, proceeded northward (Num. xxi. 4), they must have

several times encamped west of Mount Seir. But the small number of stations given for those long routes is surprising. On conjectural identifications see Palmer, The Desert of the Exodus, ii., ch. 11.

.קרית חצות,39 .c Num. xxii

a

march brought the Israelites to the mountains of Abarim before Nebo,' a commanding peak in the ridges of Mount Pisgah, in the wilderness of Kedemoth. From hence they desired to proceed at once to the Jordan by turning to the north-west, and to cross that river near its influx into the Dead Sea. To accomplish this object, they required the permission of the Amorite king Sihon, who, not long before, had come into possession of these provinces, and who resided in Heshbon (the present Hesbân), only a little distance from Pisgah. Sihon, however, rejecting and resenting their request, marched against them with his whole army. The Hebrews, without breaking up their encampments before Nebo, went out to meet him, routed his troops, and conquered the land between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok. Never losing sight of the main end of the people's wanderings, and anxious not to leave in their rear powerful enemies who might check their progress unawares, Moses sent from Nebo military detachments to the northern and north-western parts of the country for exploration and conquest, and particularly despatched a large force to oppose Og, the formidable king of Bashan, who, after a vain resistance, shared the fate of the other Amorite ruler. After having successfully carried out the task entrusted to them, the armed bands returned to the principal encampment in Nebo. Hence the entire host and all Israel next removed north-westward to the plains of Moab;' spread in a long line over that depressed tract of land" which, partly well-watered and luxuriant in vegetation, extends along both sides of the Jordan and is, on its eastern bank, about four or five miles broad; and thus pitched their tents from Bethjesimoth, near the Dead Sea, northward to Abel-shittim, so that the chief or central part of the camp might well be described to have been ' opposite Jericho.'

a

Comp. Deut. ii. 26.

b Arabah, El-kora.

c Comp. Num. xx. 22-29; xxi. 4,

10-13, 18-31; xxxiii. 37-49; Deut. i. 4; ii. 2, 3, 8, 9, 13, 18, 19, 24, 26, 30-36; iii. 27, 29; xxxiv. 1.