THE ISRAELITES IN SINAI II.

HAVING reached the goal of their pilgrimage, the Israelites encamped near the Mount of God, Har-ha-elohim (Exod. xviii. 5), a word which can also be read as height of the priests. If we identify this goal as Serabit, it follows that they encamped near the outlet of one of the gorges on the northern side of the plateau in the direction of the Wadi Suweig, probably near the outlet of the Wadi Dhaba. This was the side from which there was direct access to the cave of Sopd, and the side on which the Semitic inscriptions were found in the mines.

The physical features of the place are in closest agreement with the requirements of Scripture. For here is “a mountain with a wilderness at its foot, rising so sharply that its base could be fenced in while yet it was easily ascended, and its summit could be seen by a multitude from below.”[103]

If we go from the sanctuary down in the direction of the Wadi Dhaba and turning back, look up, we see the temple ruins standing against the skyline, with the square cutting, where the holocaust at this period presumably took place, just below it to the right.

When the Israelites were encamped, Moses was sought by Jethro, the priest, who carried out the choice of an animal and “took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God” (Exod. xviii. 12). Moses himself ascended the Mount, and after his return sanctified the people, who were now called upon to practise abstinence during three days, avoiding their wives, and washing their clothes against the third day, when “the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai” (Exod. xix. 11). This arrangement was apparently part of a widespread Semitic usage, for in the Koran we read of similar restrictions for the three days preceding the appearance of the new moon (Koran, ii. 193).

On the third day there were “thunders and lightnings,” or rather, “voices and flashes,” and the sound of a trumpet (Exod. xix. 16), and the people were led out by Moses and stood on the nether part of the Mount from where they witnessed the theophany. Fire appeared first, then smoke (Deut. v. 23), which shows that they were out before daybreak. “And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly” (Exod. xix. 18). The voice of the trumpet waxing louder, Moses spoke and God answered him by a voice (Exod. xix. 19), whereupon he went up and was charged to set bounds about the Mount. On his return he declared to the people the statutes and judgments (Deut. v. 1; Exod. xx. 1), which were vouchsafed to him.

The ceremony points to a well-established ritual which has its roots deep down in Semitic usage. For a trumpet of horn was sounded on special occasions among the Hebrews long before the Exodus. “Blow up the trumpet (shophar) in the new moon in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel and a law of the God of Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt, where I heard a language that I understood not” (Psa. lxxxi. 3-5).

In the Moslim world, nowadays, it falls to the mu-ezzin to call the announcement or prayer (the azan) from the tower of the mosque in the early morning, when a man of piety may respond.[104]

The theophany on high bearing witness to the presence of the Divinity, Moses prepared for the tribal sacrifice below by erecting an altar and setting up twelve pillars (mazzeboth). The young men slew the oxen, and Moses sprinkled the blood on the pillars and the people. Then, taking with him three priests and seventy elders, he went up into the mountain. “And they saw the God of Israel, and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone and as it were the very heaven for clearness” (Exod. xxiv. 10, 11). And they ate and they drank there.

We read that Moses’ second stay in the Mount lasted forty days and forty nights, during which he fasted (Exod. xxxiv. 28). The Moslim identified this fast as Ramadan, which, before Mohammad interfered with its date, happened during the heat of summer.[105] The Israelites at the foot of the mountain, probably observed the same fast, since Aaron’s reason for making the calf was that “to-morrow shall be a feast of the Lord,” i.e. at the conclusion of the fast, there was feasting, drinking, throwing off of clothes, dancing and much noise (Exod. xxxii. 6, 17, 25). In this case it was a question of a full moon festival, for, on a later occasion, Jeroboam made two calves of gold, one of which he set up in Bethel and one in Dan, and ordained a feast on the 15th day (1 Kings xii. 28, 32).

In the Mount, Moses was directed to make a portable sanctuary on the model of actual arrangements which he was shown. “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it” (Exod. xxv. 8, 9). “And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was showed thee in the Mount” (Exod. xxvi. 30). “Hollow with boards shalt thou make it; as it was showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it” (Exod. xxvii. 8). The furniture included an ark or chest, which contained a vase and two stones, i.e. the standards of capacity and weight, and the “mercy seat” which was upon the ark (Exod. xxv. 17). There was also a standard of length, perhaps the rod of Aaron. The strict adherence to these standards was henceforth a matter of religious duty with the Israelites. “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in mete-yard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have” (Lev. xix. 35, 36). These standards were of Babylonian origin, and confirm the presence in the Mount of strong Semitic influence.

The ark further contained the two tables of testimony, which were cut in stone, but which were so brittle that they easily broke, whereupon Moses engaged to provide others (Exod. xxiv. 12; xxxii. 19; xxxiv. 1; Deut. x. 1). The commandments which they contained consisted, for the most part, of a prohibition that was followed by a precept. In this they resemble the commandments that have come out of Babylonia, which contain precepts such as these, “Thou shalt not slander, speak what is pure. Thou shalt not speak evil, speak kindly.”[106]

The tablets were in the “writing of God” (Exod. xxxii. 16), which raises the question as to the language and script that were used. Moses, as we know, was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts vii. 22). He was certainly familiar with hieroglyphs, and the fact that the commandments were preserved in two texts that differ (Exod. xx; Deut. v.), suggests that they were written in a language that was not Hebrew. But the discovery of a primitive Semitic script at Serabit itself, puts a different complexion on the matter. The “writing of God” was possibly a Semitic script.

Over and above the commandments, Moses received a collection of written customs for the guidance of those who were henceforth to decide in inter-tribal disputes. They are known as judgments (Exod. xxi. 1), which is in keeping with their being given out at a sanctuary, where Yahveh was accepted as Supreme Judge. In the Yahveh cult the pronouncements were no longer subject to the decisions at local centres. They were set down in writing and associated with the holy tent, and it was by accepting the local Baals and Ashtoreths that the Hebrews fell from the covenant and lapsed into an earlier barbarism. The discovery of the Code of Khammurabi and the points of likeness between its ordinances and those of the code accepted under the name of Moses, further corroborate the Semitic or Arabian influence of the religious centres where the ordinances were received.

Moses had many communings in the Mount, and a year had gone by when the tabernacle was set up “on the first day of the first month,” in order to celebrate the Passover (Exod. xl. 2; Num. ix. 1). On the twentieth day of the second month in the second year the fires were extinguished and the Israelites moved out of the wilderness of Sinai while a cloud lay on Paran (Num. x. 11-12). They were led by Hobab, the Kenite. Hobab is described in one passage as “the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law” (Num. x. 29), in another as “the father-in-law of Moses” (Judg. iv. 11). The Septuagint renders the term in both passages as “brother-in-law” (i.e. ?a???) of Moses. The terms of relationship are difficult to fix, but if Raguel be accepted as the tribal father, as already suggested, Jethro and Hobab may be looked upon as younger members of the tribe, perhaps his sons.

The first station was called Taberah because of the “Burning.” Here manna was again plentiful (Num. xi. 8), which shows that the district was wooded. The next place was called Kibroth-Hata-avah, i.e. burial place of Ta-avah, because of those who died of the plague and were buried. Here again quails were plentiful, which the wind brought up from the sea (Num. xi. 31). The next stopping place was Hazeroth (Num. xi. 35), the last station before they entered the wilderness of Paran (Num. xii. 16).

Robinson located Hazeroth at Ain Hudhera.[107] But if the original goal of the Israelites was Serabit, they would be moving in a northerly or north-easterly direction. In the opening lines of Deuteronomy occur the words Hazeroth and Dizahab (Deut. i, 1), for which the Septuagint substitutes Aulon, rich in gold (????? or ????? ?a? ?ata???sea).[108] The word Aulon signifies ravine, which suggests that Hazeroth must be sought somewhere along the escarpment of the Badiet TÎh, or “plain of wandering.” The map of Sinai in a north-easterly direction shows Wadi Hafera, which has some likeness to Hazeroth. The Bir Shaweis and the Bir Themed are perennial wells which the people would strike if they moved in a north-north-easterly direction.

The next stopping place was “in the wilderness of Paran” (Num. xii. 16).

According to the Bible, in the first month (i.e. eleven months after leaving the Holy Mount), the Israelites abode in Kadesh, where Miriam died and was buried (Num. xx. 1). Moses once more struck water from the rock, the water as before was Meribah (Num. xx. 13), hence the name of the place Meribath-Kadesh (Ezek. xlviii. 28). The name Kadesh itself suggests a sanctuary, and Moses here again had communings with Yahveh (Num. xx. 7).

Kadesh appears as Cades in the life of Hilarion († 307), which was written by Jerome. The saint went there to see a disciple passing by Elusa (modern Khalasa).[109] There is Ain Kadeis or Gadeis marked on the modern map. Robinson, however, sought Kadesh of the Israelites near Mount Hor, at the present Ain el Waiba.[110]

Kadesh lay “in the uttermost borders of Edom,” and the Israelites would now have marched through Edom, “keeping along the king’s highway.” Perhaps the road along the Mediterranean is meant. “But Edom refused” (Num. xx. 21). They were therefore obliged to seek an entry into Canaan by compassing the land of Edom, which meant turning in an easterly direction towards Mount Hor, and then in a southerly direction to the Gulf of Akaba, the so-called “Red Sea” (Num. xiv. 25). An intercalated passage in Deuteronomy states that “the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera; there Aaron died” (Deut. x. 6). The wells must therefore be sought close to Mount Hor, and may be the so-called Wells of Moses, which are named as such by the mediÆval pilgrims. The modern map mentions Wadi Musa, which joins the Arabah coming from Petra. The Book of Numbers located the death of Aaron in “Mount Hor, by the” (border, not) “coast of the land of Edom” (Num. xx. 23). Here the Lord once more spoke to Moses, which suggests the existence of a sanctuary.

Eusebius (c. 320) wrote, “Mount Hor, in which Aaron died, a hill near the city Petra.”[111] Mount Hor is the modern Gebel Haroun or Mount of Aaron, a few miles north-west of the classical Petra. The district at the time was apparently in the possession of the Kenites, since the prophet Balaam, called upon by King Balak of the Moabites, to curse the Israelites, foretold the fall of the Amalekites, and, looking towards the Kenites, declared “Strong is thy dwelling place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock” (Num. xxiv. 21). This rock, a term which the Septuagint rendered as Petra, was probably the Ha-sela (Arabic sila, a mountain cleft) of the Bible, a name changed to Joktheel after its capture by Amaziah (c. b.c. 800, 2 Kings xiv. 7).

At Kadesh the Israelites had been told to “get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea” (Num. xiv. 25), i.e. they moved south from Mount Hor. The intercalated passage further named “Gadgodah and Jotbath, a land of brooks and water” (Deut. x. 7; LXX, Etebatha). The modern map mentions Et Taba in the depression between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, where Romans perpetuated the existence of a sanctuary in the name Ad Dianam, later Ghadiana. This movement brought the Israelites into conflict with the Amalekites and the Canaanites, with whom they fought and were discomfited even unto Hormah (Num. xiv. 45; LXX, Herman), perhaps the present El Hameima.

According to Arab tradition, Joshua fought against Samida ben Hagbar ben Malek, the Amalekite king of Syria in the land of Aila and killed him. Also Moses, after the death of Aaron, entered the land of the people El Eiss, called El Serah, and advanced to the desert Bab. There was then near Aila an important city called Asabaum or Aszyoun.[112]

This Aszyoun was “Eziongeber beside Eloth (i.e. Alia) on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom” (1 Kings ix. 26). It was the port on the Gulf of Akaba which was used by King Solomon. By way of this the Israelites passed into the plains of Moab. “And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Eziongeber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab” (Deut. ii. 8).

A list of stations with further names stands in Numbers (xxx. 12, 13, 17-30), which affords no guide and confuses the issues. It is now looked upon as a post-exilic collection of caravan routes which the scribe who compiled the Book of Numbers incorporated into his account, perhaps because the number of stations named in it was forty, corresponding to the forty years’ wandering. Along some routes it mentions the stations that appear in the narrative in Exodus and Deuteronomy, but even here with deviations.

Having passed by the depression near the Red Sea, the Israelites were in districts that were occupied by the allied Moabites and Midianites. They entered into friendly relations with the Midianites; later they waged a cruel war against them.

The frontiers of Midian were always vague. According to the Bible Moses met Jethro in the “land of Midian,” which suggests that the peninsula of Sinai was included in Midian at the time. Midian is called Madian in the Septuagint and by the Arab writers. Antoninus Martyr (c. a.d. 530) held that the city Pharan, situated between the convent and Egypt, was in “the land of Midian” with its inhabitants descended from Jethro (c. 40).

Makrizi († 1441) described Madian as of wide extent including many cities, chief among which were El Khalasa and El Sanuto. “On the side of the sea of Kalzouna (i.e. Suez) and El Tor the cities of Madian are Faran, El Ragah (i.e. Raithou), Kolzoum, Aila and Madian. In the town of Madian there are still to-day wonderful ruins and gigantic columns.”[113]

In modern parlance the term Midian is applied to the eastern shore of the Gulf of Arabia, between Akaba and Muweileh, which has made some writers believe that Moses went into this part of Arabia, and further led to the identification of Jethro of Scripture with Shoeib, a prophet of the land of Midian.

Sir Richard Burton in 1877 visited the ruins of the city of Midian, the position of which agreed with that of Madiama mentioned by Ptolemy.[114] The valleys which here cut into the high plain of Nedched contained the remains of silver, copper and gold mines, and near the city were great loculi cut into the rock which were known as the Mughair (caves of) Shoeib.

Shoeib was one of the prophets of the Arab past. In the Koran we read, “And we sent to Madian, their brother Shoeib. He said, O my people, worship God, no other God have you than He: give not short weight and measure: I see indeed that you revel in good things, but I fear with you the punishment of the all encompassing day.... And when our decree came to pass, we delivered Shoeib and his companions in faith, and a violent tempest overtook the wicked, and in the morning they were found prostrate in their houses as if they had never dwelt in them. Was not Madian swept off even as Themoud was swept off?” (xi. 89). According to other passages, an earthquake put an end to the dwellers in Al Ayka, the forest of Madian, who treated their apostles as liars (vii. 90, xxix. 30).

The name of Shoeib now attaches to the valley in Sinai in which lies the great convent, and tradition identified Shoeib of the forest of Midian with Jethro, the priest of Midian of the Bible. Their identification is said by Sir Richard Burton to go back to the Arab writer El Farga of about a.d. 800.

It was endorsed by Eutychius, patriarch of Alexandria (935-940), who stated that Moses fled to the Hadjaz and dwelt in the city of Madyan, where Jethro (whom the Arabs call Shoeib) was priest of the temple.[115] But Masudi († 951), while accepting that the daughter of Shoeib married Moses, pointed out that this Shoeib, chief of the Midianites, was a very different person from Shoeib the prophet, who was mentioned in the Koran. “There are centuries between these two Shoeibs.”[116]

The identification of Jethro with the prophet Shoeib may be due, in the first instance, to the claims which these prophets made on their people. Moses, who was in contact with Jethro, received the standards of weight and capacity in the Mount, the strict adherence to which was henceforth a matter of religious observance to the people. Shoeib, according to the Koran, impressed upon the people of the forest the need to give measure and weight in fairness, and the disregard to his command was the cause of their destruction (Koran, lxxi. 88, xxvi. 178).