PART IV THE WANDERINGS OF THE ISRAELITES IN [AFTER their departure from Egypt, God did not lead the Israelites by the shortest and most direct way through the country of the Philistines into the Land of Canaan, but by a circuitous route through the wilderness, a journey which occupied upwards of forty years. The reasons assigned for this are; (1) that the people being unprepared for war should not, 'when they saw war, repent and return to Egypt'; (2) that they might receive a military training, which would enable them to accomplish the arduous task of subduing the warlike and powerful nations of Canaan; (3) that they might receive a code of civil and religious laws with a view to their organization into a nation, and the preservation of the worship of the true God; (4) that all those who had been corrupted by the sensuous life in Egypt, as well as the disaffected, should die in the wilderness, and their places be filled by a new and better race. How far these objects were attained may be seen from the fact that when the Israelites left Egypt, they were little better than a horde of timid slaves', but on their reaching the borders of the Promised Land they had developed into a nation, well-ordered and well trained in the art of war.] Their Journey to Marah: the bitter Waters are made Exod. 15. sweet. And Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water1. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter therefore the name of it was called Marah2. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, 1 no water, i. e. no water fit to drink. 2 Marah = 'bitterness.' Exod. 16. Exod. 17. 'What shall we drink?' And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. : Their Journey to the Wilderness of Sin. Manna and Quails are sent. And they came to Elim, where were twelve springs of water, and threescore and ten palm trees and they encamped there by the waters. And they took their journey from Elim, and came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness and said unto them, 'Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.' Then said the LORD unto Moses, 'I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel; speak unto them, saying, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; at even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread.' And it came to pass at even, that the quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning when the dew was gone, behold, upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey, and when the sun waxed hot it melted. And when the Israelites saw it, they said one to another, 'What is it?' for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, 'It is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat. Gather ye of it every morning, every man according to his eating, an omer for each man. And on the sixth day, gather twice as much, two omers for each man.' And Moses said unto Aaron, 'Take a pot, and put an omerful of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.' So Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. At Rephidim the Israelites murmur for want of Water. And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, and pitched in Rephidim : and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people strove with Moses, and said, 'Give us water that we may drink.' And Moses said unto them, 'Why strive ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?' And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, 'Wherefore hast thou brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?' And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, 'What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me?' And the LORD said unto Moses, 'Pass on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.' And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah 1, and Meribah 2, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, 'Is the LORD among us, or not?' Joshua defeats the Amalekites. Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.' So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. [Jethro visits Moses and advises him to 'appoint Judges Exod. 18. to assist him in his judicial Functions. While the Israelites were encamped in the wilderness of Sinai, Jethro visited Moses, and seeing that his duties as judge were too heavy for him, he advised him to select out of the people 'a number of able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain,' to assist him. These assistant judges had to judge the people at all seasons; every small matter they were expected to judge themselves, but every great matter they were to bring before Moses. 'So Moses hearkened unto the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said.' 1 Massah means 'temptation'. 2 Meribah means 'chiding'. Exod. 32. Subsequently Moses by God's command went up into Mount Sinai to receive the Law. For a summary of the Hebrew Legislation, see page 291. During Moses' Absence on the Mount, Aaron at the People's Request makes a Golden Calf and the People worship it. And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, 'Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.' And Aaron said unto them, 'Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.' And all the people brake off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received it at their hand, and made it a molten calf and they said, 'These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.' And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play'. And the LORD spake unto Moses, 'Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed unto it, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.' And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, with the two tables of the testimony in his hand. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, 'There is a noise of war in the camp.' And he said, 'It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.' And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with : 1 rose up to play. heathen worship. Probably alludes to the immoral rites which attended fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. And when Moses saw that the people were broken loose, then he stood in the gate of the camp, and said, 'Whoso is on the LORD's side, let him come unto me.' And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, 'Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.' And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. By God's Command Moses renews the Two Tables of Exod. 34. Stone. And the LORD said unto Moses, 'Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first.' And he did so, and rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. [The journey through the wilderness of a host of people numbering upwards of 2,000,000 must have been a painful one, and beset with difficulties of no ordinary kind. This is clearly seen from their frequent murmurings, and the wish they so often expressed 'that they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness'. On more than one occasion they seemed to have lost all confidence in their leaders, and on the return of the Twelve Spies they even threatened to elect a captain and return to Egypt.] 11. The Israelites start on their Journey from Sinai. Hobab Num. 10, accompanies them. Their Murmuring at Taberah. And Moses said unto Hobab the son of Jethro his father-in-law, 'We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it you come thou with us, and we will do thee good.' And he said unto him, 'I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred.' And he said, 'Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou shalt be to us instead of eyes.' And the Israelites set forward from the mount of the LORD; and the ark of the covenant went before them three days' journey, to seek out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the LORD was over them by day, when they set forward from the camp. And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that |